Uncategorized
- Humans
Letters from the December 2, 2006, issue of Science News
Concerns vented “Venting Concerns: Exploring and protecting deep-sea communities” (SN: 10/7/06, p. 232) barely scratches the surface of the problem. What is stopping someone from gene splicing the disease of choice onto heat-loving bacterium? Something that can live near the 600°F of melting lead will certainly survive the standard hospital-sterilization process. D.J. KavaBeaumont, Texas The […]
- Humans
From the November 21, 1936, issue
Wild turkeys, a life-extending diet, and seeing through fog.
- Physics
Snow Crystals
This Web site, created by Caltech physicist Kenneth G. Libbrecht, is all about snow crystals and snowflakes. With many beautiful images, it provides a guide to snowflakes, information on growing snowflakes, an introduction to the physics of snowflake formation, and ideas for snow and ice activities. Go to: http://www.snowcrystals.com/
- Earth
Balancing Act: El Niños and dust both affect coral bleaching
Most of the annual variation in the extent of coral bleaching in the Caribbean is driven by two factors: the amount of dust and other particles suspended in the atmosphere, and the climate phenomenon known as El Niño.
- Health & Medicine
Ticking toward Trouble: Long-term rise in heart rate portends death
Men whose hearts beat faster over time are likely to die earlier than those whose hearts keep an unchanging cadence year after year, according to a 20-year study.
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Age Becomes Her: Male chimpanzees favor old females as mates
Male chimpanzees in Uganda prefer to mate with older females, a possible sign of males' need to identify successful mothers in a promiscuous mating system.
- Physics
Super Silicon: Top semiconductor turns into a superconductor
A heavy dose of boron transforms silicon, the superhero material of electronics, into a superconductor.
- Health & Medicine
Kidney Progress: Drug slows cyst growth
The trial drug roscovitine has been shown to reverse polycystic kidney disease in mice.
- Astronomy
Cosmic Pops: Nearby galaxy is hotbed of supernova formation
Large galaxies usually have no more than three supernovas blow up in a century, but the nearby galaxy NGC 1316 has had two such explosions within the past 5 months and four in the past 26 years.
- Animals
Fighting Styles: Gene gives flies his, her conflict moves
Switching forms of one gene can make a male fruit fly fight like a girl, and vice versa.
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Toxin Buster: New technique makes cottonseeds edible
Scientists have engineered cotton plants that produce seeds missing a toxic compound that had previously made them inedible.
- Math
Geometry in Court
The Pythagorean theorem and geometric series played leading roles in two legal disputes.
