More Stories from the August 13, 2011 issue
- Physics
Rare earth elements plentiful in ocean sediments
The economically vital metals could be mined from the deep sea, Japanese geologists propose.
- Animals
Chimp has an ear for talk
Human-raised Panzee challenges the notion that only people can discern acoustically altered words.
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- Space
Astronomers probe matter in early universe
Smeared light from the dawn of time confirms ideas about a mysterious dark energy permeating the cosmos.
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- Life
Oil spill didn’t hurt seagrass-dwelling juvenile fish
Long-term effects of early exposure to hydrocarbons remains unknown.
- Math
Varying efficacy of HIV drug cocktails explained
Steepness of slope in dose-response curve tips off researchers to importance of timing in virus’s life cycle.
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- Life
Genes & Cells
Human livers implanted in mice, plus new eye of newt, the potato genome and more in this week’s news.
- Psychology
Narcissists need no reality check
Masters of vanity know they’re arrogant and disliked, but see own bigheadedness as justified.
- Humans
Mirror system gets an assist
Study finds two brain systems are surprisingly active when an amputee observes a task she can’t perform.
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- Health & Medicine
Something in the air may cause lung damage in troops
Unexplained breathing problems in soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan come from deposits that damage tiny passages in the lungs.
- Life
The lion eats tonight …
Attacks on humans peak after a full moon, when feline bellies tend to rumble.
- Earth
Small volcanoes add up to cooler climate
Airborne particles sent skyward by eruptions since 2000 have counteracted the warming effects of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide.
- Life
A tryst, then the power to resist
House mice in Europe got some of their tolerance for rodenticides from hybridizing with a completely different species
- Life
Genes & Cells
Genes for butterfly wings and maintaining maleness, plus turtles meet their lizard relatives and more in this week’s news.
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SN Online
ATOM & COSMOS NASA’s Dawn spacecraft enters orbit around the asteroid Vesta. Read “Dawn on Vesta.” MOLECULES Tasting fat gives rats the munchies. See “Fat stimulates binge eating.” BODY & BRAIN Armor-clad knights use about twice as much energy to move as non-armored fighters. Read this tale and others in “News in Brief: Body & […]
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Science Past from the issue of August 12, 1961
“CLIMBERS” PRONE TO ILLNESS — “Nonhazardous” occupations can be dangerous for men who work their way up. Eighty-four out of 139 young men between the ages of 22 and 32 who had attained managerial positions showed more illness than 55 co-workers who stepped into the same kind of job right out of college…. The men […]
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Science Future for August 13, 2011
August 17 – 21 Explore antique tractors and other equipment at Columbus, Ohio’s Center of Science and Industry. Go to www.cosi.org August 30 Launch into the sun’s cosmic neighborhood in a show at New York City’s Hayden Planetarium. See bit.ly/SNsolarnbhd August 31 In Portland, learn about the technology behind iPhone games. Ages 21 and up. […]
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The Sun’s Heartbeat: And Other Stories from the Life of the Star That Powers Our Planet by Bob Berman
Light-hearted tales trace human understanding of Earth’s nearest star and of the sun’s effects on Earth. Little, Brown and Co., 2011, 304 p., $25.99
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Falling to Earth: An Apollo 15 Astronaut’s Journey to the Moon by Al Worden with Francis French
An astronaut offers a candid look at his trip to the moon, including the scandal that ended his spacefaring days. Smithsonian Books, 2011, 304 p., $29.95
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The Mathematics of Life by Ian Stewart
In this engaging overview, a mathematician describes how the field of biomathematics is answering key questions about the natural world and the origins of life. Basic Books, 2011, 358 p., $27.99
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Avian Architecture: How Birds Design, Engineer, and Buildby Peter Goodfellow
A browsable, amply illustrated overview of avian construction from mere scrapes in the sand to edible structures people prize for soup. Princeton Univ. Press, 2011, 160 p., $27.95
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BOOK REVIEW: Weeds: In Defense of Nature’s Most Unloved Plants by Richard Mabey
Review by Sid Perkins.
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BOOK REVIEW: Eruptions That Shook the World by Clive Oppenheimer
Review by Alexandra Witze.
- Health & Medicine
One problem, many paths
Autism’s many genetic players may act through common networks.
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Letters
Prescient sci-fi It took the Science News editor in chief to recognize the most prescient science “fiction” movie of all time, Forbidden Planet (“Science brings real life to the technologies of fiction,” SN: 7/2/11, p. 2). Beyond civilization without instrumentalities, the film also brought us lasers before there were masers, Robby [the Robot] analyzing molecular […]
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Russians Dig to Reach Below Earth’s Crust
During the space race, U.S. and Soviet teams also engaged in a less-famous contest — to drill down to the boundary between the Earth’s crust and mantle.
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War’s Waste: Rehabilitation in World War I America by Beth Linker
An account of how World War I influenced veteran medical treatment delves into the rise of rehabilitation therapy and the costs of supporting wounded veterans. Univ. of Chicago Press, 2011, 291 p., $35
