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Astronomers confirm the first image of an exoplanet

An international team of astronomers reports today confirmation of the discovery of a giant planet, approximately five times the mass of Jupiter, that is gravitationally bound to a young brown dwarf. This puts an end to a year long discussion on the nature of this object, which started with the detection of a red object close to the brown dwarf.

Dream teams thrive on mix of old and new blood

When the Boston Red Sox won their first World Series title since 1918 last year, the team had some new blood, including key players Curt Schilling, Orlando Cabrera and Doug Mientkiewicz, to mix with the old and help the team achieve the pinnacle of baseball success. In a new paper, researchers turned to a different type of team — creative teams in the arts and sciences — to determine a team’s recipe for success. They discovered that the composition of a great team is the same whether you are working on Broadway or in economics.

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Dream Teams Thrive With Mix of Old, New Blood
Breast-Cancer Risk Tied to Car Fumes
‘Unprecedented’ water level rise in Somalia
Prospecting for lunar water
Prenatal coke has subtle effects on school kids
Scientists Confirm Earth’s Energy Is Out of Balance
Exposure to Alcohol-Related Words Increases Men’s Sex Drive
Antibiotic might fight HIV-induced neurological problems
It takes a village to stop a drunk
Artifical cornea lets woman blind 20 years see

Prospecting for lunar water

The next time you look at the Moon, pause for a moment and let this thought sink in: People have actually walked on the Moon, and right now the wheels are in motion to send people there again. The goals this time around are more ambitious than they were in the days of the Apollo program. NASA’s new Vision for Space Exploration spells out a long-term strategy of returning to the Moon as a step toward Mars and beyond. The Moon, so nearby and accessible, is a great place to try out new technologies critical to living on alien worlds before venturing across the solar system.

Prenatal cocaine exposure exerts subtle effects on schoolchildren

Children exposed to cocaine before birth show subtle but discernible differences in their ability to plan and problem-solve once they reach school age, University of Florida researchers report. Still, most fare far better in the first few years after birth than many experts once predicted, contradicting the notion that as a rule, cocaine-exposed infants would be born with devastating birth defects or miss major developmental milestones.

Scientists Confirm Earth’s Energy Is Out of Balance

Scientists have concluded more energy is being absorbed from the sun than is emitted back to space, throwing the Earth’s energy “out of balance” and warming the globe. Scientists from NASA, Columbia University, New York, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, Calif. used satellites, data from buoys and computer models to study the Earth’s oceans. They confirmed the energy imbalance by using precise measurements of increasing ocean heat content over the past 10 years.

Exposure to Alcohol-Related Words Increases Men’s Sex Drive

Many men who have consumed alcohol while on dates or at parties know it can have a significant impact on their night. Sometimes a few drinks can make them more sociable or fuel their sexual arousal, while other times it can make them sick, tired and unable to perform sexually. It also can produce what are called “beer goggles,” which causes people who are intoxicated to judge others as more attractive than they are. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia have found that just the mere exposure to words that describe alcohol can increase the male sex drive.

Artifical cornea lets woman blind 20 years see

A severe allergic reaction to a medication robbed Elma Phifer of her vision two decades ago when she was 39. The reaction scarred her corneas and reduced the ability of her eyes to soothe their damaged surfaces by remaining moist. Now, twenty years later, Elma is able to see again, thanks to the implantation of an artificial cornea into one of her eyes.