For thousands of years, the marshes at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in modern day Iraq were an oasis of green in a dry landscape, hosting a wealth of wildlife. The culture of the Marsh Arab, or Ma'dan, ...
Environment
Mar 24, 2016
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77
With the world's population exploding to well over 7 billion, feeding the human race is getting even more challenging. Increasing the yield from crops such as wheat, maize, rice and barley, is paramount to growing enough ...
Biotechnology
Mar 24, 2016
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783
We can't control when the wind blows and when the sun shines, so finding efficient ways to store energy from alternative sources remains an urgent research problem. Now, a group of researchers led by Professor Ted Sargent ...
Materials Science
Mar 24, 2016
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71
After the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Republican senators, led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, announced that they would neither consider nor vote on any nominee to the court picked by President ...
Social Sciences
Mar 24, 2016
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36
How do neurons become neurons? They all begin as stem cells, undifferentiated and with the potential to become any cell in the body.
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 24, 2016
0
19
For about 60 million years during the Eocene epoch, the Indian subcontinent was a huge island. Having broken off from the ancient continent of Gondwanaland, the Indian Tectonic Plate drifted toward Eurasia.
Evolution
Mar 24, 2016
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739
Outbreaks of the southern pine beetle can't be stopped by its main predator, but risks to forests from this tree-killing insect can be predicted with a simple, inexpensive monitoring program, according to a study by Dartmouth ...
Ecology
Mar 24, 2016
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9
Viruses that infect bacteria are among the most abundant life forms on Earth. Our oceans and soils, and potentially even our own bodies, would be overrun with bacteria were it not for bacteria-eating viruses—called bacteriophages—that ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 24, 2016
0
6
In humans inhaled air is conditioned poorly in the nasal cavity in comparison with primates, such as chimpanzees and macaques, according a recent study published in PLOS Computational Biology. Unlike our protruding external ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 24, 2016
0
15
Methane is the world's most abundant hydrocarbon. It's the major component of natural gas and shale gas and, when burned, is an effective fuel. But it's also a major contributor to climate change, with 24 times greater potency ...
Materials Science
Mar 24, 2016
0
30
