Uncategorized
- Plants
It Takes a Village: Tweaking neighbors reroutes evolution
The other residents of a plant's neighborhood can make a big difference in whether evolutionary forces favor or punish a plant's trait.
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Hold the Embryos: Genes turn skin into stem cells
Scientists have found a way to convert a person's skin cells directly into stem cells without creating and destroying embryos.
- Math
A Video That’s Worth a Million Words
Award-winning video reveals the simplicity and beauty of an abstract mathematical tool.
- Paleontology
A toothy smile
Nigersaurus boasted more than 500 teeth, arranged in rows across its mouth.
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Tadpole Slayer: Mystery epidemic imperils frogs
An emerging protozoal disease has begun to trigger mass die-offs of frog tadpoles throughout much of the United States.
- Health & Medicine
9/11 reflux
Up to 20 percent of 9/11 workers in New York City experience symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease, also called acid reflux.
- Tech
Crystal clear
Growing nanowires directly on a crystal might lead to high-density memory chips and transparent LEDs
- Math
Net advantage
When damaged, networks that seem resilient can still become inefficient to the point of being unusable.
- Astronomy
One star, five planets
With the discovery of a fifth planet circling the nearby star 55 Cancri, astronomers have found the most abundant—and heaviest—planetary system beyond the sun's.
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Eastern farms have native-bee insurance
If honeybees somehow vanished, the pockets of wild land in the Delaware Valley still harbor enough native bees to fill in and do the tough job of pollinating watermelon farms.
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This article says that patches of uncultivated land provide a haven for native bees that can help with pollination. Flowering hedgerows, as used in England instead of fences, would also ensure a source of wild bees as well as a refuge for wild bird populations. Roger W. OttoSan Mateo, Calif.
- Humans
Letters from the November 24, 2007, issue of Science News
Blame where it’s due Although multinational agreements on global warming try to spread the burden among all nations, data from the MILAGRO project in Mexico City (“What Goes Up,” SN: 9/8/07, p. 152) suggest that the major responsibility for excess production of greenhouse gases and other pollutants lies with the megacities, which constitute a rather […]
