Science News

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"If you are really stupid, I would call that a disease," says Watson, now president of the Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory, New York. "The lower 10 per cent who really have difficulty, even in elementary school, what's the cause of it? A lot of people would like to say, 'Well, poverty, things like that.' It probably isn't. So I'd like to get rid of that, to help the lower 10 per cent."

Watson, no stranger to controversy, also suggests that genes influencing beauty could also be engineered. "People say it would be terrible if we made all girls pretty. I think it would be great."

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"This nepotistic behavior indicates that ant workers are able not only to detect kin relationships, but also to pursue their selfish genetic interests if the costs to their colony are not prohibitive," said researcher Liselotte Sundstrom.

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The coral reef, which attracts vivid tropical fish and thousands of tourists a year to view them, may be being smothered by pollution, the Productivity Commission said in a report on the health of the 2,000-km (1,200-mile) reef along the Queensland coast.