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168,132 articles from ScienceDaily


TUESDAY 16. DECEMBER 2008


Goose Eggs May Help Polar Bears Weather Climate Change

Polar bears -- especially the marginal individuals like some sub-adult males -- could adapt to changes in ice and the ability to hunt seals by eating snow goose eggs. According to new calculations, bear movement should coordinate more and more with nesting as the Arctic warms, especially near Hudson...

Toxic Brown Recluse Spiders Pose Danger As They Look To Move In For The Winter

As the cold weather creeps in, so do brown recluse spiders. True to their name, the brown recluse is a shy, reclusive spider looking for a warm home. Drawn to clutter, closets and complex storage environments, the spiders actually want to stay away from humans. But, if care is not taken, people could find themselves sharing their home with one of 'the big three,' according to entomologists. Often,...

Once Upon A Time, Scales Were Displayed In Parlors, Not Hidden In Bathrooms

Stepping onto a scale after a calorie-filled holiday season isn't an activity many 21st-century Americans relish. But in the late 19th century, scales were all the rage at festive gatherings -- the 1800s' answer to Guitar Hero. "A family would think it fun to weigh themselves before and after a big holiday dinner to see how much they had gained," said Deborah I. Levine, Ph.D. "Knowing your weight...

Over 1,000 Species Discovered In The Greater Mekong In Past Decade

A rat thought extinct for 11 million years and a hot-pink, cyanide-producing dragon millipede are among a thousand new species discovered in the Greater Mekong Region of Southeast Asia in the last decade, according to a new report by World Wildlife Fund. First Contact in the Greater Mekong reports that 1,068 species were discovered or newly identified by science between 1997 and 2007 -- which...

Light Shines For Potential Early Cancer Diagnosis Technique

Scientists have developed a new optical technique that holds promise for minimally invasive screening methods for the early diagnosis of cancer. The researchers have shown for the first time that nanoscale changes are present in cells extremely early on in carcinogenesis. Their simple yet sensitive technique can detect subtle abnormal changes in human colon cancer cells even when those same cells...

Tiny Ecosystem May Shed Light On Climate Change

Rsearchers have created a microbial ecosystem smaller than a stick of gum that sheds new light on the plankton-eat-plankton world at the bottom of the aquatic food chain. The work may lead to better predictions of marine microbes' global-scale influence on climate.

Method Sorts Out Double-walled Carbon Nanotube Problem

It's hard to study something with any rigor if the subject can't be produced uniformly and efficiently. Researchers who study double-walled carbon nanotubes find themselves in just this predicament. The problem is that current techniques for synthesizing double-walled carbon nanotubes also produce unwanted single- and multi-walled nanotubes. Researchers now offer a clever solution: They used a...

Hawaii's Bird Family Tree Rearranged

A group of five endemic Hawaiian songbird species were historically classified as "honeyeaters" due to striking similarities to birds of the same name in Australasia. Scientists at the Smithsonian Institution, however, have discovered that the Hawaiian birds share no close relationship with the other honeyeaters and in fact represent a new family of birds -- unfortunately, all members of the new...

Ocean-bearing Planets: Looking For Extraterrestrial Life In All The Right Places

Scientists are expanding the search for extraterrestrial life -- and they've set their sights on some very unearthly planets. Cold 'super-Earths' -- giant, "snowball" planets that astronomers have spied on the outskirts of faraway solar systems -- could potentially support some kind of life, they have found. Such planets are plentiful; experts estimate that one-third of all solar systems contain...

Computer Scientists Launching Indoor Navigation System

Now that navigation systems are here to stay, we can hardly imagine life without them. Aside from private use for getting about on roads, they play an essential role in air and ocean traffic, and even in rail transport for guiding and monitoring trains. Now researchers are developing positioning and navigation technologies to be used in the field of traffic logistics and for emergency services....