Uncategorized
- Astronomy
Help Spot Galaxies
Although computer programs can be written to sort galaxies into general categories, they would inevitably throw out the unusual, the weird and the wonderful, astronomers say. Because the human brain is much better at recognizing patterns, astronomers launched a site this week recruiting the public to help identify spiral galaxies on sky photos. Instructions are […]
- Math
Free Choice + Punishment = Cooperation
In a computer simulation of a multi-player game, cheaters didn't prosper when other participants could choose not to play.
- Humans
From the July 10, 1937, issue
Photographing the earliest developmental stages of opossum eggs, a 'heavy electron' in cosmic rays, and teaching chimpanzees to use sign language.
- Physics
Pulling Strings: Stretching proteins can reveal how they fold
Unfolding a single protein by pulling on its ends reveals the molecular forces that make it fold up.
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Forget About It: How the brain suppresses unwanted memories
Two newly discovered neural processes give people the ability to intentionally forget upsetting memories.
- Astronomy
Shattering Find? Comet fragments show surprising uniformity
Close observations of fragments of a comet indicate that its interior was remarkably similar to its surface, meaning that repeated solar heating didn't much change its outer layers.
- Health & Medicine
Smoke This: Parkinson’s is rarer among tobacco users
Life-long smoking cuts the chance of getting Parkinson's disease by about half.
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19857
This article says that “there may be some fundamental difference in susceptibility to nicotine addiction between people who develop Parkinson’s and those who don’t.” If so, how would you explain the fact that “after smokers stubbed out their last butts, the protective effect faded”? Tobacco smoking is becoming unpopular, and for good reason, but I […]
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19856
In this article, researchers found “astronomical concentrations” of deca-BDE in the residents of Guiyu, and the article cites studies showing that related PBDEs harm brain development in mice and rats. So, has any actual increase in brain-development problems been found in people in and around Guiyu? Joanne Raisner NaradLos Altos, Calif. The researchers know of […]
- Earth
E-Waste Hazards: Chinese gear recyclers absorb toxic chemicals
People who live in an area of China where electronic devices are dismantled and recycled, as well as villagers 50 kilometers away, have high concentrations of flame retardants in their blood.
- Ecosystems
Sea Change: People have affected what penguins eat
Adélie penguins in Antarctica significantly changed their eating habits about 200 years ago, after whaling and other human activities transformed the ocean ecosystem.
- Health & Medicine
Tumor Suicide: Gene therapy makes cancer cells self-destruct
Microscopic bubbles of fat that deliver a suicide gene to tumor cells show success in treating pancreatic cancer in mice.
