Uncategorized
- Tech
EPA council sets priorities
The Environmental Protection Agency's Science Policy Council has outlined the agency's nanotechnology-research needs.
- Health & Medicine
Emerging bug pilfers DNA
A virulent bacterium invading U.S. hospitals and the battlefields of the Middle East pilfers its genes from other bacteria.
- Chemistry
Scrubbing troubles
Triclosan, an antibacterial agent found in many soaps, may increase a person's exposure to a potentially toxic chemical.
- Earth
Hibernation concentrates chemicals
Some pollutants accumulate in grizzlies during the bears' hibernation.
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19808
When considering a spin rate of 1,122 revolutions per second, has anyone determined the diameter of the neutron star XTE J1739-285? If, for example, it were the same diameter as Earth, it would be traveling far in excess of the speed of light at its equator. In order to remain within the limitations of the […]
- Astronomy
Dance of the dead
Astronomers have found what appears to be the fastest-spinning stellar corpse known.
- Computing
Games Theory
Online games can not only entertain but also provide valuable data for researchers tackling computer-vision and other tough computational problems.
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19807
It is ironic that this article describes a captcha [completely automated Turing test to tell computers and humans apart] and then goes on to demonstrate how to defeat it. An automated program that is supposed to pass this difficult computation test just has to forward the captcha image to a real person, at a different […]
- Agriculture
Herbal Herbicides
Scientists are tapping plants, and the self-defense chemicals they make, for new weed killers, many of which may find use in organic farming.
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19806
I find it absolutely incredible that anyone is seriously contemplating an escalation of “natural” herbicides as mentioned in this article. As there is no “additive” sprayed on the crop, no testing is likely in animal or human clinical trials. We in the first world must bear the brunt of this wholesale testing on populations, as […]
- Humans
Letters from the March 17, 2007, issue of Science News
Disputable thesis “Counterintuitive Toxicity: Increasingly, scientists are finding that they can’t predict a poison’s low-dose effects” (SN: 1/20/07, p. 40) took a wrong turn into Hormesis Swamp. The hormesis thesis has been thoroughly discredited by all major radiation organizations and professional societies, and its past conferences have been sponsored by tobacco companies and the U.S. […]
- Humans
From the March 6, 1937, issue
Machines creating new jobs, stopping smoke with sound, and conflicts over atomic structure.
