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As you may remember from back in February , the Guardian U.S. and NYU s Studio 20 journalism lab teamed up to learn what all citizens think about the upcoming election, not just those who care about politics with a capital P.Back then, the ques…

Scientific American

Sumatra: A World-Record Earthquake, but Thankfully No Tsunami

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I’m sorry. Very, truly sorry. I know the recent earthquake in Sumatra isn’t precisely breaking news, and I really meant to say something about it earlier. Let me explain: in the immediate aftermath, I was hoping Chris Rowan would do up …

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Who matters (or should) when scientists engage in ethical decision-making?

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One of the courses I teach regularly at my university is “Ethics in Science,” a course that explores (among other things) what’s involved in being a good scientist in one’s interactions with the phenomena about which one is buil…

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The Real Heart of the Ocean

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One hundred years ago, a ship sideswiped an iceberg on its way across the ocean, and the Titanic legend was born. Speaking of legend, James Cameron’s film was so sweeping and dramatic that some folks think it must have been entirely fict…

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When Science and Politics Mix: Fang Lizhi (1936 2012)

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Fang Lizhi, from his University of Arizona web page I was saddened to learn from The New York Times this past weekend that astrophysicist and human-rights advocate Fang Lizhi had died at age 76. I met Fang in 1994, a few years after he fled China w…

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A Titanic Timeline, 1909-2012 [Interactive]

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Mystery of Alaskan "Goo" Rust Solved at Last

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Light, sweet, orange goo crude. Last fall the small Alaskan coastal village of Kivalina was inundated by a mysterious orange “goo”(click for photo) . Locals and others suspected a toxic algal bloom ( see here for image ), or perhaps some…

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A Brief History of Clocks

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Humankind’s efforts to tell time have helped drive the evolution of our technology and science throughout history. The need to gauge the divisions of the day and night led the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans to create sundials, water clocks …

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New Molecule Could Help Cool Planet

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By Nina Chestney LONDON (Reuters) – A new molecule has been detected in Earth's atmosphere which could help produce a cooling effect, scientists said, but it remains to be seen whether it can play a major role in tac…

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Three Tiny Exoplanets Suggest Solar System Not So Special

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Adding to its already long roster of firsts , NASA's Kepler spacecraft has found the three smallest extrasolar planets ever detected — all of them smaller than Earth, and the most diminutive no larger than Mars. The newly discovered trio forms a …

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Future Studies Will Extend Census of Middleweight Black Holes

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Editor's note: In her article, " Goldilocks Black Holes ," Jenny E. Greene discusses the search for black holes with masses ranging from roughly 1,000 suns to a million suns–middleweights on the cosmic scale. These intermediate-mass h…

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A Plenitude of Planets: Galactic Search Finds Exoplanets Are More Commonplace Than Stars

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The next time you look up at the night sky and find yourself marveling at the number of stars overhead, know that you are only seeing part of the magnificent bounty that our galaxy holds. Most of those Milky Way stars are not isolated orbs. Rather an a…

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