Uncategorized
- Physics
Pas de deux for a three-scoop particle
Physicists have discovered the first particle containing one member of each of the three families of quarks.
- Health & Medicine
Linking stress and senility
A gene that's active in the brain may help explain why emotional stress seems to increase a person's likelihood of getting Alzheimer's disease.
- Humans
Letters from the July 7, 2007, issue of Science News
Hex sine? The NASA researchers baffled by the hexagonal shape in Saturn’s soupy atmosphere at its northern pole (“A hexagon on the ringed planet,” SN: 4/28/07, p. 269) should read “As waters part, polygons appear” (SN: 6/3/06, p. 348). It is worth investigating whether there is a similar phenomenon—I still suspect some sort of standing […]
- Earth
Icebergs can be biological hot spots
Icebergs carry nutrients from the land and shed them into the sea, nourishing life in the frigid waters near Antarctica.
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Blind people excel at serial recall
Blind people recall strings of words better than sighted people do, perhaps because of their greater reliance on memory in dealing with the tasks of daily life.
- Health & Medicine
Restoring Scents
Experimental treatments may activate the sense of smell in people who can detect few or no odors.
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19852
This article concerning schizophrenia in Palau reported a high incidence of the disorder among first- and second-generation immigrants to the West from developing countries. Could the phenomenon of relatively successful immigrants to the West (or their children) being drawn into acts of terrorism be a manifestation of schizophrenia? Robert E. HubbardWinter Haven, Fla. Schizophrenia isn’t […]
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Trouble in Paradise
Schizophrenia strikes inhabitants of the Micronesian nation of Palau, especially the men, at an unusually high rate, raising questions about culture's role in a disease usually regarded as purely biological.
- Math
A Golden Sales Pitch
A design incorporating the golden ratio makes blue jeans aesthetically pleasing, or so the manufacturer claims.
- Humans
Bad Science
Ben Goldacre, M.D., a columnist for the British newspaper The Guardian, looks at science and medicine through a skeptical lens in this popular blog. Go to: http://www.badscience.net
- Humans
From the June 26, 1937, issue
Fur fashions from Ethiopian monkeys, the Big Bang as the source of cosmic rays, and ensuring airline pilots get enough oxygen.
- Anthropology
Ape Aid: Chimps share altruistic capacity with people
Chimpanzees, as well as 18-month-old children, will assist strangers even when getting no personal reward, suggesting that human altruism has deep evolutionary roots.
