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  1. Chemistry

    Some bacteria in wastewater can break down a common plastic

    These microbes can break the carbon bonds that make PET plastics so hard to degrade. This type of plastic makes up almost one-third of plastic waste.

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  2. Tech

    Meet 5 types of robots with living body parts

    Creature-machine mash-ups seem weird or even creepy. But biohybrids that make use of living tissue could be the future of robotics.

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  3. Climate

    2024 set new record for hottest year, passing a dangerous heat threshold

    For the first year in recorded history, Earth’s average temperature topped 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.

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  4. Plants

    Microbes give plants a way to make ‘meaty’ nutrients

    Enzymes from animals helped a test plant make two nutrients essential for a balanced diet. Normally, those nutrients would only be found in meat.

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  5. Tech

    High-speed lasers write data — to last millennia — inside glass

    Project Silica is advancing a new way to store data — potentially forever. Some students plan to use this new media to send a message into space.

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  6. Artificial Intelligence

    Scientists Say: Large language model

    Large language models, or LLMs, are language-processing systems that underpin advanced AI technologies such as ChatGPT.

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  7. Computing

    This computer scientist uses math to help people be treated fairly

    Ariel Procaccia has designed computer algorithms that help split up credit on group projects, distribute donations, pick citizens’ assemblies and more.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    Can you really die of a broken heart?

    Death by heartbreak doesn't just happen in stories. In real life, severe stress can cause takotsubo syndrome — a sometimes fatal heart problem.

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  9. Animals

    A surprising number of animals eat poop 

    A new tally finds more than 150 vertebrate species willing to snack on feces. Eating poop offers nutrients and other benefits.

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  10. Tech

    This teen engineer’s device sniffs out common food allergens

    Inspired by his own severe food allergies, Thermo Fisher JIC finalist Samvith Mahadevan built a device to protect people from allergen exposure.

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  11. Chemistry

    Let’s learn about chocolate

    Humans have been making chocolate for millennia. Now scientists are investigating how to make this tasty treat more abundant and nutritious.

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  12. Earth

    Scientists Say: Avulsion

    As rivers seek out easier routes to the sea, path reroutes can transform our world. This is ‘avulsion’ refers to in geology. In medicine, the word can describe injuries.

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