Uncategorized

  1. 19879

    Although multinational agreements on global warming try to spread the burden among all nations, data from the MILAGRO project in Mexico City suggest that the major responsibility for excess production of greenhouse gases and other pollutants lies with the megacities, which constitute a rather small number of culprits and ones that not all nations possess. […]

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  2. Earth

    What Goes Up

    A massive scientific field study in Mexico City, along with lab experiments and computer simulations, show that pollution from the world's megacities has a global impact.

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  3. Bipolar Express: Mental ailment expands rapidly among youth

    Diagnosis of bipolar disorder in kids and teenagers has dramatically increased since 1994, raising concerns that this severe mood disorder is being overdiagnosed.

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  4. 19878

    Two recent articles hit on the same theme. This one discussed the recent sharp increase in the diagnosis of bipolar disorder. The summary of the new book Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness (SN: 11/17/07, p. 319) hit much closer to the mark. If you want to know why these diagnoses have increased so […]

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  5. Earth

    Sonic Sands: Uncovering the secret of the booming dunes

    The age-old mystery of sand dunes that produce loud, thrumming noises is explained by a new theory that involves a resonant layer of dry sand.

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  6. Role Change: Mast cells show an anti-inflammatory side

    Cells that cause inflammation in allergic skin reactions to poison ivy also produce a protein that subdues the reaction a few days later.

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  7. Live Wires: Axons can influence nerve impulses

    Axons are not simply passive carriers of electrical signals in the brain, but influence how neurons fire.

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  8. Astronomy

    Killer Collision: Dino demise traces to asteroid-family breakup

    The asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago was a wayward fragment from a violent collision in the asteroid belt.

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  9. The Venter Decryption: Biologist decodes his own genome

    For the first time, one man's genome, including both sets of chromosomes, has been decoded.

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  10. Animals

    Hive Scourge? Virus linked to recent honeybee die-off

    A poorly understood virus seems to have a connection to the recent widespread demise of honeybees.

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  11. Humans

    Letters from the September 8, 2007, issue of Science News

    Patent pending If Drs. Glass and Venter succeed in assembling a viable synthetic bacterial genome (“Life Swap: Switching genomes converts bacteria,” SN: 6/30/07, p. 403), 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 […]

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  12. Humans

    From the August 28, 1937, issue

    Trying to revive an ancient Australian tree called Great-Grandfather Peter, first report of the eerie light known as Cerenkov radiation, and the discovery of a new vitamin.

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