Uncategorized
- Health & Medicine
Early Start: Fetuses generate immune response to vaccination
A fetus can manufacture immune cells and antibodies in direct response to vaccine given to the mother during pregnancy.
- Earth
Ice Age Ends Smashingly: Did a comet blow up over eastern Canada?
An extraterrestrial object apparently exploded above Canada about 12,900 years ago, sparking devastating wildfires and triggering a millennium-long cold spell.
-
19839
Rather than concluding that the object that hit Canada 12,900 years ago was a comet, I wonder whether there might not be an alternate reason that geologists haven’t discovered a large hole. If a meteor hit a kilometer-thick glacier, would it have left a crater in the rock underneath the ice? Peter ShorWellesley, Mass. Scientists […]
-
- Humans
Letters from the June 2, 2007, issue of Science News
Where there’s fire Regarding “Risky Flames: Firefighter coronaries spike during blazes” (SN: 3/24/07, p. 180), was the increased death rate due to firefighters having a higher rate of heart disease than people do in other jobs? An analysis of eating habits may reveal more insight. Jim SchmitzSt. Louis, Mo. The study looked only at what […]
- Earth
Using seismometers to monitor glaciers
Seismic instruments could be used to estimate the amount of ice that shears away from glaciers as they flow into the sea, offering a way to better estimate sea level rise due to the breakup of those ice masses.
- Physics
Carbon’s mysterious magnetism
An X-ray experiment has yielded the most conclusive evidence to date that carbon can be magnetic.
- Planetary Science
Powering Enceladus’ plumes
The action of Saturn's gravity is responsible for plumes of water vapor shooting out from cracks on the moon Enceladus.
- Health & Medicine
Stem cells not required
Insulin-producing cells in the pancreas proliferate by cell division, unlike other body tissues, which regenerate from adult stem cells.
- Tech
Powering the Revolution
Sensors and other electronic devices that can scavenge energy could open a new realm for technology.
-
19838
I would debate the “1,000 watts or more” value attributed to typical adults during strenuous exercise as mentioned in this story. Hiking up steep slopes, I rarely exceed 250 W myself, and typical hikers are going much slower. The 1,000-watt figure can only apply to elite athletes during brief periods of peak exertion. David B. […]
- Ecosystems
Slime Dwellers
The health of corals, and their adaptability in the face of adversity, may rest largely on the microbes they recruit into a slime that coats their surfaces.
