Uncategorized
- Humans
From the July 24, 1937, issue
Records of floods are written in mud, predictions that locusts will invade areas once thought safe, and the Eiffel Tower hosts the world's most powerful television transmitter.
- Physics
Slick serpent
Oil poured into a pan of the same liquid drags along a surrounding air layer, which can make it skip in and out of the surface before it mixes in.
- Astronomy
Heavenly Chemistry: Astronomers announce astrophysical anion
Astronomers' discovery of a rare negatively charged organic molecule sheds light on conditions in interstellar gas clouds, where amino acids, sugars, and other prebiologic compounds form.
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Sweet Gatekeeper: Receptor depends on sugar and water
Water and sugar molecules play a previously unsuspected role in the way that a ubiquitous receptor passes chemical messages between cells.
- Health & Medicine
Grim Reap Purr: Nursing home feline senses the end
A nursing home cat in Rhode Island knows when the end is nigh, predicting with uncanny accuracy when residents will die.
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19863
Oscar the cat possibly does identify dying patients, but this story presents anecdotal rather than scientific evidence and does not belong in a science magazine. Julie EnevoldsenSeattle, Wash. Correlation is not causation. Could it not be that, somehow, Oscar the cat is killing these patients? Jan SteinmanSalt Spring Island, British Columbia
- Materials Science
Sop Story: New porous gel soaks up heavy metal
A new porous gel efficiently removes mercury from contaminated water and may also have the ability to catalyze chemical reactions such as those that generate hydrogen for fuel.
- Earth
Stunting Growth: Ozone will trim plants’ carbon-storing power
Increasing ground-level ozone due to pollution will stifle the growth of vegetation in many regions, accelerating the buildup of planet-warming carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
- Health & Medicine
Good Light: Sun early in life could protect against MS
Childhood exposure to direct sunshine may protect people against developing multiple sclerosis later.
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Weighting for Friends: Obesity spreads in social networks
Obesity spreads as a social contagion through networks of friends and relatives, apparently because associating with overweight people encourages a laxer attitude toward weight gain.
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19862
People don’t need another reason to shun fat people. This group represents the last scapegoat for righteous discrimination in our image-obsessed society. There are myriad reasons a person becomes obese. Friendship is not one of them. Shawn DehneLittleton, Colo. As such studies progress, it will be interesting to learn if the opposite—weight loss—is also influenced […]
- Math
A Twist on the Möbius Band
The twisted, single-sided loop known as a Möbius band, when made from a stiff material such as paper, takes on a complicated shape that researchers have finally calculated.
