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Dinosaur Odyssey: Fossil Threads in the Web of Life by Scott D. Sampson
The past three decades have seen a plethora of major discoveries, described here, about dinosaurs and prehistoric Earth. DINOSAUR ODYSSEY: FOSSIL THREADS IN THE WEB OF LIFE BY SCOTT D. SAMPSON University of California Press, 2009, 332 p., $29.95.
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Gifts from the Ancestors: Ancient Ivories of Bering Strait by William W. Fitzhugh, Julie Hollowell and Aron L. Crowell, eds.
The histories of Arctic cultures are explored through scholarly essays, illustrations and photos of the region’s intricately carved relics. GIFTS FROM THE ANCESTORS: ANCIENT IVORIES OF BERING STRAIT BY WILLIAM W. FITZHUGH, JULIE HOLLOWELL AND ARON L. CROWELL, EDS. Yale University Press, 2009, 328 p., $55.
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Before the Big Bang: The Prehistory of Our Universe by Brian Clegg
A scientist-writer explains theories of the universe’s origin for the nonscientist. BEFORE THE BIG BANG: THE PREHISTORY OF OUR UNIVERSE BY BRIAN CLEGG St. Martin’s Press, 2009, 306 p., $25.99.
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The Humans Who Went Extinct: Why Neanderthals Died Out and We Survived by Clive Finlayson
An evolutionary ecologist argues that humans weren’t superior to other hominid species, only luckier. THE HUMANS WHO WENT EXTINCT: WHY NEANDERTHALS DIED OUT AND WE SURVIVED BY CLIVE FINLAYSON Oxford University Press, 2009, 273 p., $29.95.
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Making informed decisions about mammograms
In November, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a nongovernmental advisory panel of health experts, recommended that routine mammography for breast cancer screening start at age 50, not 40. It met with a chorus of objections. Lisa Schwartz, a general internist at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice in Lebanon, N.H., investigates […]
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Science Future for February 13, 2010
February 22–26 The American Geophysical Union’s Ocean Sciences meeting is held in Portland, Ore. See www.agu.org/meetings/os10 March 5–6 Researchers and clinicians meet in San Diego to discuss genomic medicine’s future. See www.scripps.org/events March 18 Debut of an interactive exhibit on extreme weather at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. See www.msichicago.org
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Science Past from the issue of February 13, 1960
DISCOVERY ADDS CLUES TO COMPOSITION OF LIGNIN — The sugar glucose is part of the answer to a biochemical riddle — the exact composition of lignin. Lignin, which together with cellulose comprises wood, is a highly complex carbohydrate whose complete structure is unknown. It is considered a waste product…. Experiments … have shown that in […]
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Letters
Snack addicts The experiment outlined in “Junk food turns rats into addicts” (SN: 11/21/09, p. 8) seems to have overlooked an ingredient list. The junk foods fed to the rats were junky, to be sure, but which foods were the most addictive? Many junk foods are filled with alarming amounts of things like monosodium glutamate. […]
- Life
Carried aloft, tiny creatures avoid parasites, sex
Dry and blowing in the breeze, rotifers are safe from a deadly fungus — and perhaps from the vulnerabilities presumed to accompany asexual reproduction.
- Health & Medicine
Neurons may function more solo than thought
Neurons coordinate activity less often than previously thought.
- Climate
Water vapor slowed recent global warming trend
A decline in stratospheric water vapor has slowed Earth’s surface warming slightly in recent years.
- Health & Medicine
Running barefoot blunts foot’s force
A new study finds that going shoeless tempers impact but can’t say whether this difference reduces injuries.
