“Long before it’s in the papers”
November 20, 2008
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  = EXCLUSIVES = 

    CONTENTS

Photo captures 3 planets by distant sun
The tech­nol­o­gy for imag­ing worlds in far-off so­lar sys­tems is mak­ing strides, as­tro­no­mers say.

Videogame craving may rev up brain’s addiction circuits
When the urge to play a vi­deo game strikes, some play­ers show si­mi­lar brain acti­vity to that of drug ad­dicts, a study sug­gests.

“Other half” of Dar­win’s theory passes test
Some flir­ta­tious mi­crobes have con­firmed Dar­win’s view of how sex­ual ad­vert­is­ing evolves, bio­lo­g­ists say.

Researchers explore amnesia, sex link
Investigators are puzzled by reports sug­gesting sex­u­al in­ter­course may oc­cas­ional­ly lead to tem­po­rary am­ne­sia.

Report: cells “from space” have unusual makeup
A line­age of mys­ter­ious mi­crobes found in some rain give off colors in a strange way, two sci­en­tists are re­port­ing.

Washington’s doctors absolved
The states­man was bey­ond help when his much-mal­igned doc­tors found him one fate­ful morn­ing, a study con­cludes.

Dolphins and the evolution of teaching
Some dolphins seem to teach their young to forage, by re­peat­ing act­ions many times and “point­ing” at things, sci­ent­ists re­port.

“Extreme” rain follows global warming
Heavy rain is com­ing un­ex­pect­edly more of­ten as glob­al warm­ing con­tin­ues, re­search­ers say.

Drug may trick body into “thinking” you exercised
A new study is creating both hope, and wor­ries that a re­mark­able sub­stance could be ripe for abuse.

Tit-for-tat: birds found to re­pay war­time help
Pied fly­catch­ers and red-winged black­birds share two traits, studies suggest: they’re feisty de­fend­ers and shrewd ac­count keep­ers.

Eat the parents
In a prac­tice thought to be over 100 mil­lion years old, some crea­tures feed on their moth­ers’ skin.

Tests back up theory of hot springs on Mars
Mars may have ex­pe­ri­enced life-giv­ing pro­cesses si­m­i­lar to those that oc­cur at Yel­low­stone Na­tion­al Park, re­search­ers say.

Dip in brainpower may follow drop in real power
Researchers say lack of sta­tus seems to erode men­tal func­tion—with comp­li­cated im­pli­ca­tions for so­ciety.

Musical genes may be coming to light
Mu­si­cal abil­ity seems to share ge­net­ic roots with lan­guage, sci­ent­ists re­port.

The inbred—betrayed by scent?
Fe­male mice can sniff out in­bred males, and the same might be true of oth­er spe­cies, re­search­ers say.

The evolution of drug abuse
New research chal­lenges tradi­tional ex­plan­a­tions of why we wal­low in chem­ical grat­i­fi­ca­tion.

After jeers, some recognition for “reverse evolution” theorist
A leading sci­en­tif­ic journal is set to pub­lish genetic find­ings by a re­search­er of people who walk on all fours.

Moon systems, not planets, may be place to find life
Alien life might be both ea­sier and more in­ter­est­ing to dis­cover through a new stra­te­gy, a study sug­gests.

A function for “gay genes” after all?
Stud­ies of some un­usu­al men in the re­mote Pa­cif­ic have led sci­en­tists to sur­pris­ing con­clu­sions.

Study revisits bizarre theory of alien cells in rain
A con­tro­ver­sial claim con­cern­ing re­cent strange, red rains may fit with some his­tori­cal ac­counts, a study con­cludes.

Science gives beauty some of its mystery back
There may be more to good looks than aver­age­ness, af­ter all.

Google’s kinship with the mind
Think­ing and us­ing a Web search en­gine might seem to be very dif­fer­ent ac­ti­vi­ties. But a study sug­gests they draw on si­m­i­lar prin­ci­ples.

Drastic diet may extend human life: study
Re­search­ers knew it worked in ani­mals, but whe­ther we’d get the be­ne­fits has been un­clear.

Genes affecting generosity may be found
One gene underlying al­t­ru­ism is an evo­lu­tion­ar­ily an­cient strip of DNA also found in ro­dents, a stu­dy in­di­cates.

Probing ancient ship­wrecks with DNA
DNA can help tell what long-sunk­en trans­port jars con­tained, say sci­ent­ists stu­dy­ing a Greek wreck.

 = MORE NEWS = 

    CONTENTS

• Vast under­ground glaciers reported on Mars

• Signs of dark matter found?

• Woolly-mammoth genome decoded

• “Earliest nuclear family” unearthed

• “Super-aged” brains reveal secrets of sharp old-age memory

• Mouth microbes helping the chef make magic?

• Forgotten but not gone: leprosy lives on in America

• Bullies may enjoy others’ pain

• Cancer genome sequenced

• Giant simulation could help solve “dark matter” mystery

• Kids’ musical practice pays off in other skills

• Same gene, different results

• “Real” Crusoe’s island said to yield clues to sojourn

• Study: red enhances men’s attraction to women

• Thin line between love, hate? Science explains why

• Green space better for kids’ waist­lines, health

• Two asteroid belts found in solar system’s young “twin”

• World’s smallest storage space: an atomic nucleus

• Warm hands, warm hearts

• Dancing molecules “trapped”

• Key to fighting poverty: toilets

• Dino crests may have had communication role

• Scientists: one brain cell may reverse muscle paralysis

• “Peacenik” chimps not always so nice

• Study: narcissists tend to lead, but not better

• Why some kids suffer chronic bullying

• Craft “ready” to map outer solar system

• Found: earliest known animal footprints?

• Religion can spur goodness-but it depends

• AIDS pandemic may be a century old

• “Nanoparticles” may seep through skin

• NASA: Snow found in Martian skies

• One more terror for ancient fish: monster ducks

• Possible oldest-known rocks found

• Temporary collider shutdown a “blow”

• Something beyond visible universe detected?

• “Smoothest” mirror could lead to new microscopes

Strange glow from Saturn Sat­urn has its own u­nique brand of au­ro­ra, a mag­net­ic light show that lights up the po­lar cap, re­searchers say. The au­ro­ra re­vealed it­self to one of the in­fra­red in­stru­ments on NASA's Cas­si­ni space­craft. "We've nev­er seen an au­ro­ra like this else­whe­re," sa­id Tom Stal­lard, a sci­entist work­ing with Cas­si­ni da­ta at the U­ni­ver­si­ty of Leices­ter, U.K. Stal­lard is lead au­thor of a pa­per that ap­pears in the Nov. 13 is­sue of the jour­nal Na­ture. "It's not just a ring of au­ro­ras like those we've seen at Ju­pi­ter or Earth. This au­ro­ra co­vers an e­nor­mous ar­e­a a­cross the pole. Our cur­rent ideas on what forms Sat­urn's au­ro­ra pre­dict that this re­gion should be emp­ty, so find­ing such a bright au­ro­ra he­re is a fan­tas­tic sur­prise." Aur­oras form on plan­ets, in­clud­ing Earth, when their mag­ne­tic fields in­ter­act with charged part­i­cles from the Sun. (Credit: NA­SA/JPL/University of Arizona).

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News alerts
* Copernicus’ remains and grave found (AP)
* Doctors transplant windpipe with stem cells (AP)
* Real-life Furbys rediscovered (MSNBC)
* Big particle collider repairs to cost $21 million (AP)

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