Harvard celebrates the goofy side of science

Darkfrog submitted, created time 21 hours 8 minutes (www.nature.com)

The Ig Nobel prizes were given out last Thursday. Winners included the team that showed that a stripper's ovulatory cycle affected her tips (economics) and some folks who taught slime molds to solve mazes (cognitive). The archaeology prize went to a team who documented armadillos messing up their dig site. As to whether they found a way to keep the little dudes out ...not mentioned.

The evening culminated with "Win a date with Benoît Mandelbrot."

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A quarter of mammals face extinction

sea-maid submitted, created time 19 hours 25 minutes (www.nature.com)

One in four of the world's mammal species is threatened with extinction, according to the first comprehensive survey of this class of animal. Populations are declining in half of all mammal species, with some experiencing an extreme decline; Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) numbers plummeted by 60% over the

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Short cut to cell replacement

sea-maid submitted, created time 19 hours 21 minutes (www.nature.com)

Moving from one differentiated cell type from another may not require a 'stop-over' in an undifferentiated state

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Africa ill-equipped for fight against cancer

sea-maid submitted, created time 8 hours 18 minutes (www.scidev.net)

African governments are ill-prepared to address the continent's growing cancer burden, warn Hany Besadaand and Vadim Ermakov.

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HPV DNA test 'promising' for cervical cancer

sea-maid submitted, created time 8 hours 13 minutes (www.scidev.net)

A test developed to detect carcinogenic human papillomavirus in women in developing countries has shown promise in trials

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