Uncategorized

  1. Math

    A Golden Sales Pitch

    A design incorporating the golden ratio makes blue jeans aesthetically pleasing, or so the manufacturer claims.

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  2. Humans

    Bad Science

    Ben Goldacre, M.D., a columnist for the British newspaper The Guardian, looks at science and medicine through a skeptical lens in this popular blog. Go to: http://www.badscience.net

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  3. Humans

    From the June 26, 1937, issue

    Fur fashions from Ethiopian monkeys, the Big Bang as the source of cosmic rays, and ensuring airline pilots get enough oxygen.

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  4. Anthropology

    Ape Aid: Chimps share altruistic capacity with people

    Chimpanzees, as well as 18-month-old children, will assist strangers even when getting no personal reward, suggesting that human altruism has deep evolutionary roots.

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  5. Health & Medicine

    Immune Abuse: Methamphetamine is linked to cardiac damage

    The illicit drug methamphetamine alters immune proteins unleashed in the body, possibly explaining why some longtime methamphetamine abusers suffer heart problems.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    Alcohol Answer? Drinks lower glucose to protect heart

    Moderate consumption of beer, wine, or gin lowers blood glucose, perhaps helping to stave off type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

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  7. 19851

    It has been reported that vinegar, taken before a meal, can lower postmeal blood glucose. If so, the lowering of postmeal blood glucose by alcohol, as reported in your article, may be the result of the alcohol being metabolized to acetic acid by the body. William HaagBloomer, Wis. While both alcohol and vinegar lower blood […]

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  8. Animals

    Cat History: DNA study finds domestic-cat kin

    DNA evidence shows that the Near Eastern lineage of the wildcat, one of five lineages of Felis silvestris, gave rise to today's domestic kitty cats.

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  9. Tech

    Biowarfare: Engineered virus can invade bacterial film

    A genetically engineered virus not only kills bacteria but makes an enzyme that breaks up the biofilm in which the bacteria live.

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  10. Tech

    Cellular Smugglers: Laden nanoparticles hitch a ride on bacteria

    Molecular cargoes loaded onto nanoparticles can sneak into mammalian cells on the backs of bacteria.

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  11. Tech

    Life Swap: Switching genomes converts bacteria

    Transplanting the entire genome of one species of bacteria into another paves the way for making synthetic microbes with manmade DNA.

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  12. 19850

    If Drs. Glass and Venter succeed in assembling a viable synthetic bacterial genome, will the genome or the new life form itself be patentable? Virgil H. SouleFrederick, Md. The team that performed this work stirred controversy when it applied for a patent on a synthetic bacterial genome in October 2006. The patent hasn’t yet been […]

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