Uncategorized
- Astronomy
Urgently Wanted—Star Counters
Through March 8, an organization known as GLOBE at Night is asking for help tallying celestial bodies in the constellation Orion. Designed as a teaching aid, this star-counting program aims to emphasize the loss-of-darkness throughout the globe, a problem which hinders ground-based astronomy. Students, families, and the general public can report their results online by […]
- Humans
From the February 26, 1938, issue
Evidence of religious head-hunting in ancient Peru, the link between climate and body size, and chest pain tied to obesity.
- Animals
Hidden Depths: Antarctic krill startle deep-ocean scientists
The first camera lowered 3,000 meters to the seabed off the coast of Antarctica videoed what biologists identify as the supposedly upper-ocean species of Antarctic krill.
- Anthropology
Digging that Maya blue
The unusual pigment Maya blue was probably made over an incense fire as part of a ceremony honoring the rain god Chaak, a new analysis of a pot reveals.
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19930
I feel that Rachel Ehrenberg was entirely too glib in this article. The description of an ancient Mayan religious ritual as “plucking the hearts from humans and tossing the bodies into the sacred cenote” is disrespectful. I am sure that Science News would never describe any contemporary religious rituals in this manner. Here is hoping […]
- Health & Medicine
Pinning down malaria’s global reach
A new survey and map of malarial areas worldwide show 2.4 billion people at risk.
- Earth
Greener Green Energy: Today’s solar cells give more than they take
With new production techniques, the total emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants from making and using solar panels are now only one-tenth as high as those of conventional power generation.
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Drug or No Drug: Placebos may be more than appeasing
A new analysis of FDA data concludes that placebo pills generally offer almost as much symptom relief to depressed patients as antidepressant medications do, raising questions about physicians' antidepressant-prescription practices.
- Astronomy
Hefty Find: Density has starring role in making stars massive
Astronomers find new insights into how massive stars form.
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True Blue: Electron jumps make protein shine like an LED
A protein thought to be fluorescent instead emits light the way an LED does, suggesting that some living things might do the same.
- Anthropology
Hairy Forensics: Isotopes can identify the regions where a person may have lived
The proportions of certain chemical isotopes in someone's hair can help detectives pin down that individual's region of origin and track their recent movements, a finding that could be particularly useful in forensic investigations.
- Animals
Great spots for white sharks
The great white sharks of the eastern Pacific may be genetically isolated from the world's other white sharks, and tagging data reveal that the animals stick to specific routes and destinations.
