They Wanted Research Funding, So They Entered the Lottery
A survey of New Zealand scientists found that recipients of a randomized funding program favored random allocations of some kinds of grant money.
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Science
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The More Gender Equality, the Fewer Women in STEM
A new study explores a strange paradox: In countries that empower women, they are less likely to choose math and science professions.
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The Navy's Patent for a Compact Nuclear Fusion Reactor Is Wild
The designs seemingly stretch the limits of science.
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These Ants Use Germ-Killers, and They’re Better Than Ours
Parasitic fungi do not seem to develop resistance to the chemicals, suggesting new ways to prevent antibiotic resistance.
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What makes dogs so special and successful? Love.
After searching for dogs' intelligence, a top canine scientist concluded that their true gift is affection.
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How Does Antarctica’s Only Native Insect Survive Extreme Cold?
The Antarctic midge spends more than half its life frozen. A better understanding of how it does so could have implications for human health.
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The Space Between Galaxies Isn’t Empty
Most of the atoms in the universe lie in its flyover country.
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How a shallow fault running directly below Seattle went undiscovered for a millenium
About 1,100 years ago, a major earthquake rocked Puget Sound, suddenly shooting what is now Restoration Point on Bainbridge Island up about 23 feet while Seattle's West Point sunk more than three feet. The quake, which would likely have had a magnitude greater than 7.5, rattled along the Seattle Fault Zone, a several-mile-wide fault that runs east-west, from Issaquah to Hood Canal, passing through the stadiums and Alki on its way.
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No, someone hasn’t cracked the code of the mysterious Voynich manuscript
Medieval scholar: "Sorry, folks, 'proto-Romance language' is not a thing."
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People Are Clamoring to Buy Old Insulin Pumps
How an obsolete medical device with a security flaw became a must-have for some patients with type 1 diabetes
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NASA Kelly twins study shows harsh effects of space flight and a brutal return to Earth
Scott Kelly says he didn’t feel normal until 8 months after he returned from the International Space Station.
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Weird water phase “ice-VII” can grow as fast as 1,000 miles per hour
Science of fiction: Exotic form of ice could freeze an alien ocean in a few hours.
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The Fertility Doctor’s Secret
Donald Cline must have thought no one would ever know. Then DNA testing came along.
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Why Do Zebras Have Stripes? Scientists Camouflaged Horses to Find Out
If you spend time around horses or flies, you might want to invest in some zebra print.
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One Giant Step for a Chess-Playing Machine
The stunning success of AlphaZero, a deep-learning algorithm, heralds a new age of insight — one that, for humans, may not last long.
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Freshwater is getting saltier, threatening people and wildlife
Road de-icing, industrial activity and other culprits are pushing salt levels in rivers and streams to alarming levels.
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The Search for Alien Life Begins in Earth’s Oldest Desert
In the Martian landscape that is the Atacama desert, astrobiologists are learning how to recognize extraterrestrial organisms.
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Killer Tulips Hiding in Plain Sight
Thanks to the compounds used to protect precious flowers, antifungal resistance is here—and it could be just as dangerous to humans as antibiotic resistance.
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Is Science Stagnant? - The Atlantic
Despite vast increases in the time and money spent on research, progress is barely keeping pace with the past. What went wrong?
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The Pentagon is studying an insect army to defend crops. Critics fear a bioweapon.
"Insect Allies" exploits the latest in CRISPR gene editing to help imperiled crops, but critics fear such technology could evolve into a biological weapon.
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This major discovery upends long-held theories about the Maya civilization
Archaeologists have uncovered 61,480 structures in Guatemala -- a number the lead author in the study called "humbling."
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How Will Police Solve Murders on Mars?
Mars P.D. will have to deal with new blood-spatter patterns, different body decay rates, and space-suit sabotage—and they won’t be able to fire guns indoors.
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Maria Konnikova Shows Her Cards
The well-regarded science writer took up poker while researching a book. Now she’s on the professional circuit.
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Spiders Can Fly Hundreds of Miles Using Electricity
Scientists are finally starting to understand the centuries-old mystery of “ballooning.”
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The Electric Flight of Spiders
Scientists are finally starting to understand the centuries-old mystery of “ballooning.”
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Climate Change Can Be Stopped by Turning Air Into Gasoline
A Harvard professor says his company should be able to suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, at industrial scales, by 2021.
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Why Whales Got So Big
It’s often said that the ocean releases them from the constraints of life on land. It’s actually the opposite.
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A Twist in Our Sexual Encounters With Other Ancient Humans
A new study suggests that early humans mated with the mysterious Denisovans in two separate waves.
