Monthly Archives: August 2003

cooties date clothing

It’s hard to know when clothing originated because cloth fibers don’t last as long as, say, bones or stone tools. But researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany have found an ingenious way to date the … Continue reading

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hello, darkness, my old friend

Researchers presented yet more evidence in last week’s Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society that the universe is eventually going to end up a dark, cold place, the stars winking out one by one. Research student Ben Panter and … Continue reading

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breaking up bird-style

Divorce can be a good thing, but you need to be the dumper and not the dumpee, at least if you’re the shorebird known as the oystercatcher. Dik Heg of the University of Bern in Switzerland and his colleagues studied … Continue reading

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science eye for the nonscience guy

There’s no escaping it. Science has officially been made hip, thanks to the trendy science-couture magazine, Seed. Billing itself as “the new face of science,” Seed has serious articles and photo essays by MIT artist-in-residence Felice Frankel, but is also … Continue reading

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nice guys finish first

Contrary to popular opinion, the big, dominant male isn’t the one the ladies like. For certain salmon and quail, the wimpy guys make the girls swoon, reports New Scientist. At an Animal Behavior Society meeting in Idaho last month, Jason … Continue reading

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oldest spider silk found

Do you think the ancient cobwebs hanging in your attic are old? Well, Samuel Zschokke of the University of Basel in Switzerland has you beat. Zschokke reports in the Aug. 7 Nature that he has found a strand of spider … Continue reading

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the iceman fighteth

The famous 5,000-year-old iceman nicknamed “Otzi” died fighting, researchers from the University of Queensland in Australia told the BBC. Found in the Italian Alps in 1991, Otzi’s discovery made headlines around the world because his frozen remains were almost perfectly … Continue reading

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dating tips from the world of science

Are you unhappy with your love life? Do you ever wonder who your perfect mate should be? Want some good advice, but don’t know where to turn? Skip the television psychic, and try talking to some scientists instead. Many researchers … Continue reading

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perfumes provoke pests

Having a problem with hornets bothering you at the family picnic? Perhaps it’s the perfume you’re wearing — or even the food you’re eating. Masato Ono of Tamagawa University in Tokyo and colleagues report in the August 7 Nature that … Continue reading

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it’s a small e-mail world after all

More than 30 years ago, research by psychologist Stanley Milgram suggested that any person on the planet can be connected to any other person by an average of six social ties. This “small-world hypothesis” with its famed “six degrees of … Continue reading

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