Uncategorized
- Planetary Science
Neptune’s balmy south pole
Neptune's south pole is about 10°C warmer than any other place on the planet.
- Plants
Stalking the Green Meat Eaters
Pitcher plants in a New England bog hold little ecosystems in their leaves, and also act as indicators of the bog's ecological health.
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19887
In Rio Linda, Calif., on Oct. 4, 1957, my seventh grade classmates and I (the front edge of the baby boom) were busily clipping news accounts of Sputnik for our daily current-events assignment. Less than a year later, we became the first eighth grade class in the school’s history to enroll in Algebra I. Our […]
- Astronomy
Sputnik + 50
The launch of Sputnik 1, 50 years ago, ushered in a scientific and technological revolution, but dreams of the human conquest of space have faded.
- Agriculture
Web Special: You fertilized with what?
A study shows that farmers can substitute human urine for conventional fertilizer.
- Humans
From the September 25, 1937, issue
Insulin's molecular structure revealed, a new supernova observed less than a fortnight after an earlier one, and a hypothesis for how X rays kill cancer cells.
- Animals
Not Your Ordinary Amphibians
They resemble mondo worms or perhaps eels and snakes. But caecilians (seh sil yenz) are actually legless amphibians, and along with deep sea fishes are among the least well known vertebrates on the planet. Some run to a meter or more in length. Although information on these elusive animals and photos of them are hard […]
- Anthropology
Sail Away: Tools reveal extent of ancient Polynesian trips
Rock from Hawaii was fashioned into a stone tool found in Polynesian islands more than 4,000 kilometers to the south, indicating that canoeists made the sea journey around 1,000 years ago.
- Health & Medicine
Lack of Evidence: Vaccine additive not linked to developmental problems
Thimerosal, a mercury-containing vaccine preservative, shows no signs of causing memory, attention or other problems in children.
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Bugs in Space: Genes explain why salmonella grow deadlier when freed from Earth’s gravity
Bacteria that flew on a space shuttle became deadlier than their earthbound counterparts.
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Double Trouble: Tumors have two-pronged defense
By depleting an essential amino acid and releasing a toxin, cancer cells can ward off attack by the immune system.
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Jungle Down There: What’s a kelp forest doing in the tropics?
Kelp, algae that grow in cold water, turn out to be surprisingly widespread in tropical seas.
