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If your cell phone battery is depleted for no obvious reason, another possibility is an attack by law enforcement. Special firmware may have been surreptitiously downloaded into your phone, turning it into a bug that operates even if the phone appears to be off. Steven R. NewcombBlacksburg, Va.
- Humans
Undergrad science and engineering are broadly useful
Although they aren’t researchers, the majority of people who earned bachelor’s degrees in science and engineering at least 10 years ago find their knowledge of those fields useful in their current workplaces. The findings, which come from an analysis of three national databases of college graduates, were reported in August by Mark C. Regets of […]
- Chemistry
Compounds pass the smell test
A vile-smelling but versatile class of compounds may find a role in more chemistry laboratories with the introduction of easily made, inoffensive versions. Isonitriles, chemicals characterized by a triple bond between a carbon and a nitrogen atom, are useful in many reactions. But many chemists have shunned them because of their pungency, says Michael C. […]
- Humans
Women: Where are your patents?
Business-school researchers find a big gender gap among academic life scientists in patenting rates.
- Health & Medicine
Forewarning of preeclampsia
Scientists have found an early warning sign of preeclampsia, a pregnancy complication marked by high blood pressure. Pregnant women with too much of a protein called soluble endoglin in their blood have a heightened risk of preeclampsia, the researchers say. Endoglin normally sits on the surface of blood vessels, where it plays a role in […]
- Chemistry
Better protection
A new molecular catalyst shortens a widely used reaction into a one-step process, with a bonus: It makes the reaction’s products into one of two possible mirror-image forms. When chemists synthesize compounds, they often add a protective group of atoms to a specific site on a molecule to prevent that site from reacting in subsequent […]
- Earth
Magma heats up as it crystallizes
Molten rock moving through a volcano's plumbing prior to an eruption can sometimes heat up substantially as it approaches Earth's surface.
- Animals
Battle of the Hermaphrodites
A biologist argues that combining the sexes can actually make gender wars worse.
- Health & Medicine
Pick Your Antipoison
New research may soon make treating venomous bites and stings less expensive, less risky, and more effective.
- Humans
Letters from the September 16, 2006, issue of Science News
Hot topic It seems more likely that a decline of total precipitation and humidity would be the direct cause of both temperature and fire incidence (“The Long Burn: Warming drove recent upswing in wildfires,” SN: 7/8/06, p. 19). It is fashionable to blame every weather problem on greenhouse gases and global warming, but in this […]
- Math
Does Defense Win Championships?
In pro football, a good defense doesn't generally trump a good offense.
- Humans
From the September 5, 1936, issue
A field divided, hope for mine workers exposed to silica dust, and taking the brain's temperature.
