Uncategorized
- Animals
Crouching Scientist, Hidden Dragonfly
Although dragonflies are among the most familiar of insects, science is just beginning to unravel their complex life stories.
- Humans
Letters from the August 12, 2006, issue of Science News
Dates of contention Are the dates quoted in “Stones of Contention: Tiny Homo species tied to ancient tool tradition” (SN: 6/3/06, p. 341) correct? I didn’t think Homo existed as a genus 840,000 years ago. David AdamsBoothwyn, Pa. Fossil finds indicate that the Homo genus originated roughly 2.4 million years ago.—B. Bower No juicy story […]
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- Humans
Letters from the August 5, 2006, issue of Science News
Rod is the spoiler While I applaud the work that is looking at the biochemical correlates of aggressive and delinquent behavior, it is important to emphasize that environmental factors still predominate when we are searching for the roots of violence (“Violent Developments: Disruptive kids grow into their behavior,” SN: 5/27/06, p. 328). Although there is […]
- Humans
From the August 1, 1936, issue
A destroyer revealed, light linked to chlorophyll, and hemoglobin analyzed.
- Humans
Cryptology for Kids
Interested in learning about making and breaking codes? The National Security Agency has created an interactive Web site for kids, allowing them to play games and solve puzzles as they learn about codes, ciphers, cryptology, and more. Go to: http://www.nsa.gov/kids/
- Animals
Hot and hungry bees hit hot spots
New lab experiments suggest that bumblebees like warm flowers and can learn color cues to pick them out.
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Autism’s Cell Off: Neural losses appear in boys, men with disorder
The brains of boys and men with autism, a developmental disorder that impairs communication and social interaction, contain low numbers of neurons in a structure involved in emotion and memory.
- Humans
Racial IQ Gap Narrows: Blacks gain 4 to 7 points on whites
African Americans reduced the racial gap on IQ-test scores by about one-third between 1972 and 2002.
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I suspect the findings in this article might be correlated with the reduction in lead exposure over the same timeframe. I wonder if the greater reduction in early-childhood blood lead for blacks might be sufficient to explain the effect described in the study. Richard B. MottRingoes, N.J. What can we conclude from these facts? Not […]
- Earth
Stung Lung: Volatile chemical may cut respiratory capacity
Para-dichlorobenzene, a chemical in some air fresheners and pest-control products, may slightly impair lung function in millions of people.
- Tech
Microbial Mug Shots: Telltale patterns finger bad bacteria
A sophisticated pattern-recognition technique that borrows from automated face recognition may permit identification of harmful bacteria faster and more cheaply than conventional methods do.
