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In This Issue
- Silk: Mimicking how spiders make their complex array of silks could usher in a tapestry of new materials, and other animals or plants could be designed to be the producers
- Itch: Scientists trace a new path behind the maddening, unrelenting, screaming desire to scratch
- Half-life (more or less): Physicists are stirred by claims that the sun may change what’s unchangeable—the rate of radioactive decay
- This week's table of contents
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There are reasons that terrorists have been sending anthrax—and threatening anthrax exposure—to people around the United States: It’s scary (and deadly). Understanding that, the Medical Library Association has put together a Web page to help physicians, parents, teachers, and others learn more about anthrax, smallpox, botulinum toxin, plague, and other bioterrors—and the extent to which government agencies and medical organizations are ready to cope with outbreaks. Moreover, it offers readings and citations to books that suggest how adults might work at soothing a young child’s or even a teen’...Published: Monday, October 22nd, 2001
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Business firms range in size from boutiques operated by individuals to huge multinational corporations employing thousands. You would expect that there are fewer large businesses than small ones. In economics, however, it's useful to characterize the size distribution of firms more precisely than that. Within an industry, for example, the firm size distribution would indicate the degree of industrial concentration—a quantity that might be of interest in setting antitrust policy.To determine the firm size distribution in the United States, Robert L. Axtell of the Brookings Institution in Washin...Published: Thursday, October 18th, 2001Found in: Numbers -
MATERNAL CARES MULTIPLY WITH COMING OF COLDWinter has breathed a hint of its coming already, in puffs of frosty air that make us forget the heat of summer that is gone, even of the unseasonable hot spell of early September. But the coming of the cold bodes only ill for the cold-blooded creatures of field and forest. They have but two alternatives: to die, leaving eggs, larvae or pupae in safe places to carry on the life of the species next year; or to endure the cold and drought in the death-like slumber of hibernation.Spiders take both courses. Some species leave their egg-balls hidden in cre...Published: Monday, October 15th, 2001
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Ready to party? If you're familiar with Avogadro's number, 6.02 x 1023, you can join the celebration of Mole Day on Oct. 23 from 6:02 a.m. to 6:02 p.m. Check out the Web site of the National Mole Day Foundation for a history of this event and other tidbits from the not-so-furry realm of chemistry, where 1 mole of any substance contains Avogadro's number of atoms or molecules. This year's theme is "2001: A Molar Odyssey."Go to: http://www.moleday.org/Published: Monday, October 15th, 2001
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Once you've seen the White House and the Washington Monument, either in person or virtually, spare a minute for another national treasure: the United States Algal Collection. The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History offers a bite-size introduction to the collection's tens of thousands of specimens. The Web site describes each of the major groups of algae and offers a variety of images and links to other great cyber-algal hot spots, many at the University of California.Go to: http://www.nmnh.si.edu/botany/projects/algae/Alg-Menu.htmPublished: Tuesday, October 9th, 2001
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For chefs who savor the flavor of fresh, organic ingredients, what could be better than cooking just-picked mushrooms for dinner?That attitude appears to have gotten a few French gourmands in trouble—big trouble, according to a report in the Sept. 13 New England Journal of Medicine. Over a 9-year period, a dozen people were poisoned, three of them lethally, by consumption of a local mushroom. Until the new report, the species they ate had had a global reputation for being tasty and safe.Toxicologist Edmond E. Creppy of the University of Bordeaux in France and his colleagues reviewed case repor...Published: Tuesday, October 9th, 2001Found in: Biomedicine -
For chefs who savor the flavor of fresh, organic ingredients, what could be better than cooking just-picked mushrooms for dinner?That attitude appears to have gotten a few French gourmands in trouble—big trouble, according to a report in the Sept. 13 New England Journal of Medicine. Over a 9-year period, a dozen people were poisoned, three of them lethally, by consumption of a local mushroom. Until the new report, the species they ate had had a global reputation for being tasty and safe.Toxicologist Edmond E. Creppy of the University of Bordeaux in France and his colleagues reviewed case repor...Published: Tuesday, October 9th, 2001Found in: Biomedicine -
For chefs who savor the flavor of fresh, organic ingredients, what could be better than cooking just-picked mushrooms for dinner?That attitude appears to have gotten a few French gourmands in trouble—big trouble, according to a report in the Sept. 13 New England Journal of Medicine. Over a 9-year period, a dozen people were poisoned, three of them lethally, by consumption of a local mushroom. Until the new report, the species they ate had had a global reputation for being tasty and safe.Toxicologist Edmond E. Creppy of the University of Bordeaux in France and his colleagues reviewed case repor...Published: Tuesday, October 9th, 2001Found in: Biomedicine -
X-RAYS FIND NEW BEAUTIES FOR STUDENTS OF FLOWERSSearching the secrets of a flower’s heart acquires new esthetic significance at least, and may become of importance in plant physiology and anatomy, too, through an X-ray technique developed by Mrs. Hazel Engelbrecht of Des Moines. It is not the first time that X rays have been used on flowers, but Mrs. Engelbrecht has brought to bear a rare combination of most sensitive control of her unusual medium and an appreciation of pictorial composition that makes the result, though novel, art in its truest sense.SCIENTIST SAYS UNIVERSE IS ACTUALLY EXPLOD...Published: Tuesday, October 9th, 2001
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Ladybugs are among the most familiar of beetles. More than 4,000 species are found throughout the world, ranging in size from 4 to 18 millimeters. Also known as lady beetles or ladybirds, these insects (coccinellids) have rounded bodies and bright red, orange, or yellow wing covers, which usually bear an array of contrasting black spots or other markings.Different species generally exhibit distinctive, recognizable patterns. Spot patterns are most common, but some species have stripes or a combination of spots and stripes. In every case, the patterns are symmetric. The position, size, and colo...Published: Tuesday, October 2nd, 2001Found in: Numbers -
Ladybugs are among the most familiar of beetles. More than 4,000 species are found throughout the world, ranging in size from 4 to 18 millimeters. Also known as lady beetles or ladybirds, these insects (coccinellids) have rounded bodies and bright red, orange, or yellow wing covers, which usually bear an array of contrasting black spots or other markings.Different species generally exhibit distinctive, recognizable patterns. Spot patterns are most common, but some species have stripes or a combination of spots and stripes. In every case, the patterns are symmetric. The position, size, and colo...Published: Tuesday, October 2nd, 2001Found in: Numbers -
A SEA-GOING LIZARD FROM GALAPAGOSWhen Darwin, as a young naturalist just out of school, visited the Galápagos islands, he saw a number of things that helped to crystallize and precipitate in his mind the concept, already seeded there, that later revolutionized all biology and much of philosophy. Not the least provocative of speculation was a most peculiar species of sea-going lizard, the marine iguana that basked—and still does bask—in thousands on the sun-warmed rocks, slipping off into the water betimes to browse on the thick-growing seaweeds.Reptiles, Darwin knew, are predominantly dry-land...Published: Monday, October 1st, 2001
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Interested in playing around with some mathematical knots? Manuel Arala Chaves of the University of Porto in Portugal has created a table illustrating all 75 knots with up to 9 crossings in their standard representation. If your computer can handle LiveGraphics3D, you can manipulate the knots in three dimensions and look at them from different angles. The instructions are in English and Portuguese.Go to: http://www.fc.up.pt/atractor/nos/Published: Monday, October 1st, 2001Found in: Numbers
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In the sport of orienteering, a competitor uses a detailed map (and perhaps a compass) to navigate his or her way across varied terrain following a course drawn on the map. Selecting the best available route, each participant races from one marker to the next in the required sequence. The winner is the person who completes the course in the shortest time.Even in recreational orienteering, participants typically start off at staggered times. In that way, each person (or group) navigates the course individually and obtains no help from others on the course. In practice, however, competitors some...Published: Friday, September 28th, 2001Found in: Numbers -
Should researchers be allowed to tinker with our genetic codes, or create copies of human beings? Could we somehow be harming future generations by aiding sick people today? Public Agenda Online offers a nonpartisan guide to these and other policy issues related to medical research.Go to: http://www.publicagenda.org/issues/frontdoor.cfm?issue_type=medical_researchPublished: Monday, September 24th, 2001
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