Uncategorized
- Humans
From the August 29, 1936, issue
Fighting forest fires with science, a young Milky Way, and atom-smashing cosmic rays.
- Ecosystems
Madagascar’s Fantastic Forests
Produced by WBUR in Boston to accompany a special program on Madagascar, this award-winning Web site offers a remarkably detailed look at life on this island, with a focus on the struggle to preserve Earth’s diversity of life. It includes photo galleries, audio clips, videos, maps, and much more. Go to: http://www.wbur.org/special/madagascar/
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Katrina’s Two-Sided Impact: Survey finds disorders, resilience after tragedy
In the year after surviving Hurricane Katrina, Gulf Coast residents experienced a surge in serious mental disorders combined with elements of personal growth and emotional resilience.
- Planetary Science
Doggone! Pluto gets a planetary demotion
The solar system has only eight planets, and Pluto isn't one of them, according to the first-ever definition of a planet, approved last week by the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union.
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19726
I was sorry to learn Pluto did not qualify as a planet (“New Solar System? Twelve planets and counting,” SN: 8/19/06, p. 115, and this article). Pluto has a diameter comparable with the Earth’s moon. The size of our moon relative to Earth might cause any observer to consider Earth and its moon as double […]
- Health & Medicine
Head to Head: Brain implants are better for Parkinson’s patients
Parkinson's patients who get electrodes surgically implanted in their brains regain some muscle control and have improved quality of life.
- Paleontology
Frozen rainforest
Fossils trapped in amber provide evidence that the Amazonian rainforest dates back 10 to 15 million years.
- Earth
When a Shot Is Not: PCBs may impair vaccine-induced immunity
Exposure to certain pollutants early in life may do lasting harm to the immune system by blocking its response to vaccinations.
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Moss Express: Insects and mites tote mosses’ sperm
A lab test has shown that mosses have their own version animal-courier system for sperm that's similar to pollination.
- Tech
Wheel of Life: Bacteria provide horsepower for tiny motor
Crawling bacteria can power a micromotor.
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Engineering a Cure: Genetically modified cells fight cancer
By inserting a gene into normal immune cells isolated from melanoma patients, scientists have turned the cells into cancer fighters.
- Animals
Flea treatment shows downside of social life
The flealike parasites that build up in a shared burrow take an unexpectedly large toll on the ground squirrel's reproductive success.
