Uncategorized
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19888
Other than people with HIV or AIDS, the prime model for a group overrepresented among those taking the option of physician-assisted suicide would appear to be educated, insured, financially comfortable, psychologically fit, nondisabled white males between the ages of 21 and 80. Perhaps the research simply demonstrates that we are loath to yield control, even […]
By Science News -
Archaeology
Lake-Bottom Bounty: Some Arctic sediments didn’t erode during recent ice ages
Sediments in a few lakes in northeastern Canada were not scoured away during recent ice ages, a surprising find that could prove a boon to climate researchers.
By Sid Perkins -
Dangerous DNA: Genes linked to suicidal thoughts with med use
Two gene variations mark many patients who develop suicidal thoughts when treated with widely used antidepressants.
By Bruce Bower -
Humans
Letters from the October 6, 2007, issue of Science News
Cat scam? Oscar the cat possibly does identify dying patients (“Grim Reap Purr: Nursing home feline senses the end,” SN: 7/28/07, p. 53), but the story you printed presents anecdotal rather than scientific evidence and does not belong in a science magazine. Julie EnevoldsenSeattle, Wash. Correlation is not causation. Could it not be that, somehow, […]
By Science News -
Agriculture
They fertilized with what?
Fields fertilized with human urine yield bigger cabbages.
By Janet Raloff -
Health & Medicine
Lonely white cells
In chronically lonely people, white blood cells show abnormal gene activity that may affect health through immune responses.
By Brian Vastag -
Earth
Iron to blame
Typhoons that drench Madagascar and spill iron-rich runoff into the Indian Ocean account for that region's massive but sporadic algal blooms.
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Animals
Tough-guy bluebirds need a frontier
As western bluebirds recolonize Montana, the most aggressive males move in first, paving the way for milder-mannered dads to take over.
By Susan Milius -
Planetary Science
Neptune’s balmy south pole
Neptune's south pole is about 10°C warmer than any other place on the planet.
By Ron Cowen -
Plants
Stalking the Green Meat Eaters
Pitcher plants in a New England bog hold little ecosystems in their leaves, and also act as indicators of the bog's ecological health.
By Susan Milius -
19887
In Rio Linda, Calif., on Oct. 4, 1957, my seventh grade classmates and I (the front edge of the baby boom) were busily clipping news accounts of Sputnik for our daily current-events assignment. Less than a year later, we became the first eighth grade class in the school’s history to enroll in Algebra I. Our […]
By Science News