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A monkey with a brain implant the size of a fingernail can move a cursor on a computer screen just by thinking. One day scientists may be able to implant similar chips in human brains so that we can control complex devices with our minds.

Humans have actually already been implanted with a device that allows mind control of a cursor, but the new implant, devised by John Donoghue, chairman of neuroscience at Brown University, is smaller and fewer neurons.
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In Science News, J. Raloff writes that boys’ birth rates are falling and scientists aren’t sure why. During fetal development, "the male sex is clearly the more fragile one," says Bruce B. Allan, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Alberta, Canada. While some 125 males are conceived for every 100 females, only about 106 boys are actually born for every 100 girls. Stillbirths and miscarriages disproportionately affect boys.

Devra Lee Davis of the World Resources Institute (WRI) in Washington, D.C., and her colleagues have analyzed recent surveys by Allan and others who have looked at trends in sex ratios in several countries. They find a broad pattern of decling male births and increasing reproductive defects.
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A national study by the U.S. Geological Survey of U.S. streams across 30 states shows they are polluted by the painkillers acetaminophen and ibuprofen, prescription medicines for cardiac disorders and hypertension, and female sex hormones used in birth control pills and hormone replacement therapy.

The national survey specifically targeted 95 organic wastewater contaminants. The researchers sampled 139 stream sites throughout the country, during 1999-2000. In addition to medications, caffeine and cotinine, a nicotine breakdown product, were also among the most frequently detected compounds. So too were cholesterol and coprostanol, steroids that can be indicative of fecal contamination.
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See if you can answer these mind-bending questions.

1) How long did the Hundred Years War last? 2) Which country makes Panama hats? 3) From which animal do we get catgut? 4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution?5) What is a camel’s hair brush made of? 6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal? 7) What was King George VI’s first name? 8) What color is a purple finch? 9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from? Check your answers: 1) 116 years 2) Ecuador 3) Sheep and Horses 4) November 5) Squirrel fur 6) Dogs 7) Albert 8) Crimson 9) New Zealand

NOTE: This news story, previously published on our old site, will have any links removed.read more