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The Advances section of Scientific American 's October issue includes coverage of preschoolers' innate sense of the scientific method, a report suggesting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is failing to do enough to regulate contaminants in tap water, recently re-discovered texts by Archimedes, and more. For those interested in learning more about the developments described in this section, a list of selected further reading follows.

To vocalize, animals create sound waves in their pipe-like vocal tracts. Shorter pipes produce higher-frequency sounds, so small animals like the cuddly koala should have high voices. [Koala sound.] Or not.

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By Erika Check Hayden of Nature magazine When the synthetic biology industry was in its infancy a decade ago, it offered some world-changing opportunities. [More]

The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) announced the winners of its latest round of grants yesterday in a telephone conference. The funds will advance research projects geared toward improving energy efficiency, developing alternative fuels, improving electrical infrastructure and reducing U.S. dependence on foreign resources.

The private spaceflight firm SpaceX will try to build the world's first completely reusable rocket and spaceship, a space travel method that could open the gates of Mars for humanity, the company's milionaire CEO Elon Musk announced Thursday (Sept. 29).

By Krittivas Mukherjee and Michael Szabo NEW DELHI/LONDON (Reuters) - European Union plans to charge airlines for carbon emissions are "discriminatory" and violate global laws, a group of 26 countries including the United States and China said in a joint declaration released by the Indian government on Friday.

By Ayesha Rascoe WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. nuclear regulator said on Friday it has sent a letter to Dominion Resources laying out the requirements for the restart of the company's quake-rattled North Anna nuclear plant.

Recently, we’ve noted that a public composed mostly of non-scientists may find itself asked to trust scientists , in large part because members of that public are not usually in a position to make all their own scientific knowledge.

By Declan Butler of Nature magazine How much radiation is 'unsafe' for humans? For those exposed to fallout from the disaster at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, the question is all too real. [More]

By Kate McAlpine of Nature magazine Diagram of 1630 Halo by Christoph ScheinerA print of a diagram that was feared lost details the astonishing halo effects seen over Rome in 1630.Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenb

Vast deposits of rare earth elements and critical minerals found in Afghanistan by U.S. [More]

A critically endangered South China tiger ( Panthera tigris amoyensis ) has killed another of its kind, sad news for efforts to save this rarest tiger subspecies from extinction. The death took place at the Laohu Valley Reserve in South Africa, where the organization Save China’s Tigers maintains a conservation project to breed South China tigers and teach them to hunt and survive in the wild, a process known as “rewilding.” The eventual goal is to release some of these tigers back into a reserve in China. [More]

By Elena Berton PARIS (Reuters) - Paris launches its first car-sharing project next week with the aim of clearing its traffic-clogged boulevards and delivering what its backers hope will be a major boost for electric vehicles.

The Mind: Leading Scientists Explore the Brain, Memory, Consciousness, and Personality Edited by John Brockman.