Did walking on 2 feet begin with a shuffle?

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Somewhere in the murky past, between four and seven million years ago, a hungry common ancestor of today’s primates, including humans, did something novel. While temporarily standing on its rear feet to reach a piece of fruit, this protohominid spotted another juicy morsel in a nearby shrub and began shuffling toward it instead of dropping on all fours, crawling to the shrub and standing again.


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All News summaries for May 29, 2008

Ruthenium in a Clinch

2 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- Amines are needed for the production of pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals, agrochemicals, plastics, dyes, pigments, and additives. Most important are compounds with a terminal amino group (–NH2), known as primary ...

Scientists map panda genome: Chinese media

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Scientists in China have mapped the genome of the giant panda, which could yield a better understanding of why the endangered animals are so famously sex-shy, state media said on Monday.

Lost manatee rescued in Mass. dies on trip to Fla.

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(AP) -- An animal welfare official says a wayward manatee that was rescued from cold Cape Cod waters died on the way home to Florida.

Astrocytes and synaptic plasticity

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By mopping up excess neurotrophic factor from neuronal synapses, astrocytes may finely tune synaptic transmission to affect processes such as learning and memory, say Bergami et al.

Biologists spy on the secret inner life of a cell

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The transportation of antibodies from a mother to her newborn child is vital for the development of that child's nascent immune system. Those antibodies, donated by transfer across the placenta before birth or via breast ...