Uncategorized
- Physics
Dropping the Ball: Air pressure helps objects sink into sand
A ball plunges deeper into sand under atmospheric pressure than under a vacuum, because the presence of air allows sand to flow like a liquid.
- Materials Science
Allergy Nanomedicine: Buckyballs dampen response of cells that trigger allergic reactions
Drugs based on soccer ball–shaped carbon molecules could one day help fight allergies.
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Hidden Smarts: Abstract thought trumps IQ scores in autism
Autistic children and adults do better on a nonverbal test of abstract reasoning than they do on standard IQ tests, suggesting that their intelligence has been underestimated.
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19854
The article didn’t mention that traditional IQ tests are in one sense “language” tests. The Ravens test doesn’t involve language processing in a typical manner. A person with a language disorder, as an autistic person is assumed to be, would do better on a nonverbal test. That the intelligence of autistic people can be underestimated […]
- Health & Medicine
Bad News for Cats: Cat allergen hits all allergic people
People allergic to dust mites, mold, grass, and other common irritants—but not to cats—still have greater breathing difficulties when they live around the animals.
- Animals
Faker Crayfish: Males keep bluffing but don’t get caught
Some male Australian crayfish fake out their rivals by brandishing claws that look impressive but have little strength.
- Earth
Polymer Breakdown: Reaction offers possible way to recycle nylon
A new chemical process offers hope that the thousands of tons of nylon thrown away every year could one day be recycled.
- Health & Medicine
Antibiotics in infancy tied to asthma
Infants who get several courses of antibiotics before their first birthdays are more likely to develop asthma later.
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19853
This article offers two explanations for the correlation of asthma with early infancy antibiotics: a need for the immune system to be trained by early exposure to microbial toxins and a need for normal intestinal microflora in the development of normal immune response. Another possibility is that the rashes and infections that prompted the use […]
- Physics
Smallest laser minds the gap
The smallest, most efficient laser yet represents a step toward speedier information transfer within computers.
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Oldest siblings show slight IQ advantage
The oldest boys in families, including those who became oldest after the death of an earlier-born brother, have a slight IQ edge over their younger siblings.
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Enzyme is target in parasite
The flatworm that causes the tropical disease schistosomiasis may be vulnerable to drugs that neutralize an essential enzyme in the parasite.
