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Math
Paper Enigma
The enigma machine was used by Germany during World War II to encrypt and decrypt messages. Created by Mike Koss, the plans and detailed instructions offered on these Web pages allow you to build your own fully functioning, paper version of this infamous machine. Go to: http://mckoss.com/Crypto/Enigma.htm
By Science News -
Earth
Rice with a Human Touch: Engineered grain uses gene from people to protect against herbicides
A human gene inserted into rice enables that plant to break down an array of chemicals used to kill weeds.
By Ben Harder -
Animals
Funny Walks: Cranes bob, bob, bob along when hunting
The jerky neck motions of a whooping crane may help it spot food by keeping its head motionless about half the time.
By Susan Milius -
Physics
Built for Speed: Novel transistor design spurns limits
The novel design of what's now the world's fastest transistor opens the possibility of even speedier devices that could operate as fast as a trillion cycles per second.
By Peter Weiss -
Astronomy
Cosmic Primitive: Old star sheds light on early stellar formation
Astronomers have found one of the most chemically primitive stars known, dating to just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang.
By Ron Cowen -
Anthropology
Stone Age Cutups: Deathly rituals emerge at Neandertal site
A new analysis of 130,000-year-old fossils found in a Croatian cave a century ago suggests that Neandertals ritually cut up corpses of their comrades and perhaps engaged in cannibalism.
By Bruce Bower -
Health & Medicine
Messy Mix? Combined vaccine yields fewer antibodies
Some common childhood vaccines don't seem to work as well when administered with, or at the same time as, other vaccines.
By Nathan Seppa -
Paleontology
Egg-Citing Discovery: Dinosaur fossil includes eggshells
The first-ever find of shelled eggs inside a dinosaur fossil bolsters ideas about the reptiles' reproductive physiology.
By Sid Perkins -
Humans
Letters from the April 16, 2005, issue of Science News
Ax questions, hard answers Another hypothesis for the polish on the Stone Age corundum ax head is that the Stone Age people never had absolutely pure corundum, which indeed would have required diamond to polish (“In the Buff: Stone Age tools may have derived luster from diamond,” SN: 2/19/05, p. 116). It is possible that […]
By Science News -
Health & Medicine
Smelly garlic: A lung tonic?
Fresh garlic or its powdered equivalent might prevent a potentially lethal condition in which pulmonary blood pressure is selectively elevated.
By Janet Raloff -
Breath training aids sprint power
Breath training may help athletes who perform short, high-intensity activities such as sprinting.
By Janet Raloff -
19542
In this article researcher S. Jill James implicates low glutathione and heavy metal exposure in autism. This may be the case, but glutathione has a number of important functions that have nothing to do with heavy metal binding. As an antioxidant, glutathione reduces toxic free radicals. Glutathione is also a key factor in the maintenance […]
By Science News