
I Got Rhythm, I Got Reading
Kids who could keep a beat had superior skills related to reading and language than did those whose rhythm strayed. Cynthia Graber reports
Cynthia Graber is a print and radio journalist who covers science, technology, agriculture, and any other stories in the U.S. or abroad that catch her fancy. She's won a number of national awards for her radio documentaries, including the AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award, and is the co-host of the food science podcast Gastropod. She was a Knight Science Journalism fellow at MIT. Follow Cynthia Graber on Twitter @cagraber
Kids who could keep a beat had superior skills related to reading and language than did those whose rhythm strayed. Cynthia Graber reports
The new device rids the blood of bacteria, fungi, viruses and toxins using nanoscale-size magnetic beads. Cynthia Graber reports
Sulfates used in water treatment become sulfuric acid in our sewers, eating away at the concrete infrastructure. Cynthia Graber reports.
A graphite disk resting on carbon foam collects sunlight to heat water directly to steam with 85 percent efficiency. Cynthia Graber reports
Raising beef uses 28 times more land, 11 times more water and six times more fertilizer than the average expenditures for other livestock. Cynthia Graber reports
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Small changes in the protein sequence of sodium channels of American compared with German cockroaches leave the latter susceptible to a venom that has little effect on the former. Cynthia Graber reports
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A preliminary map of the bread wheat genome includes the locations of more than 75,000 genes. Cynthia Graber reports
Liver transplant time from human donor to patient is limited to 12 hours, but rats that got livers specially stored for three days were going strong three months later. Cynthia Graber reports
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Satellite data can help geologists predict major floods up to 11 months in advance in areas where snow melt or groundwater is a significant contributor. Cynthia Graber reports
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By analyzing what came out of Neandertals, researchers have verified that at least some of them mixed vegetation into their meaty diet. Cynthia Graber reports
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Isotope composition within fish tails found in London archaeological digs shows that the city began importing cod from northern Scandinavia some 800 years ago. Cynthia Graber reports
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Sections of Peru's coastline were stabilized by the activities of indigenous people, the demise of whom following the Spanish invasion led to an alteration of the geography. Cynthia Graber reports
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Like humans, mice start life with sterile lungs that soon get colonized by microbes, which appear to protect the lung tissue from an asthmalike reaction in the presence of dust mites. Cynthia Graber reports
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Using laser sensing of insect wing beats, plus location and time of day, researchers report 99 percent accuracy identifying individuals in a group of six insect species. A future surveillance system would be of interest to farmers and insect-borne disease monitors...
The fork-tailed drongo can mimic the alarm calls of dozens of other species of animals, including nonbirds, to drive them off and steal their food. Cynthia Graber reports
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Corn plants bred to be planted very close together thrive in good weather but appear to be particularly vulnerable to the droughts predicted in the coming decades. Cynthia Graber reports
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Sneeze and cough particles form a cloud whose turbulence pulls in surrounding air, which allows the goop to maintain buoyancy and move farther than expected. Cynthia Graber reports
A razor clam's subtle movements reduce drag and let it move quickly through wet sand. A robotic version could be used in a variety of undersea tasks. Cynthia Graber reports
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Based on humans' ability to discriminate between various close odors, researchers calculate that the average person can distinguish at least a trillion smells. Cynthia Graber reports
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Inserted specialized carbon nanotubes could allow plants to harvest more energy from the sun or identify the presence of pollutants or dangerous substances. Cynthia Graber reports.
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