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Phages take breaks while ejecting DNA
Bacterial viruses, or phages, inject DNA into their prey in a way that is more complicated than researchers had previously thought.
- Earth
Lightning creates radiation-safe zone
A relatively safe region within the seas of radiation that surround Earth owes its existence to lightning storms.
- Astronomy
Moon story waxes fuller
A new analysis may have put the final piece in the puzzle of how the Moon formed.
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Plants fix genes using copies from ancestors
Some plants can reinstate genes missing from their own chromosomes but that had been carried by previous generations.
- Planetary Science
Dusty rejuvenation
The Mars rover Spirit recently had its dirty solar arrays cleaned off, possibly by a dust devil, allowing the craft to generate nearly as much energy as it did when it first landed on the Red Planet in January 2004.
- Humans
Letters from the April 9, 2005, issue of Science News
Big ideas Your article “Life on the Scales” (SN: 2/12/05, p. 106) reminded me that taking a bird’s song and transposing it down four octaves makes it sound like a whale’s song. The opposite is also true. To hear this, go to http://www.mind.net/music/birdwhaleDemo.mp3. Todd BartonAshland, Ore. The article would imply that the only anomaly to […]
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Code of Many Colors
Researchers have yet to find markers for race in the genome, but understanding the biology underlying perceptions of race could have dramatic social and personal consequences.
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19538
Your article gives a simplistic and generally inaccurate account of the relationship between Fst [also called Wright’s F statistic] and race/subspecies/species. Fst reflects the relative amount of total genetic variation between populations. While there is bound to be a correlation between Fst and species status, Fst is not normally used to define species. An Fst […]
- Math
Manuscripts as Fossils
A new mathematical model estimates how many medieval manuscripts have survived to the present.
- Math
Sea Shell Spirals
The golden ratio doesn't figure into the spiral structure of the chambered nautilus shell.
- Humans
From the March 30, 1935, issue
Dust storms over Washington, D.C., 300 successive generations of fruit flies, and the world's oldest cemetery.
- Humans
Science Cartoons
The science-themed cartoons of Sidney Harris have entertained readers of magazines ranging from American Scientist to The New Yorker for many years. You can find a selection of his delightful cartoons, organized by topic, in this Web gallery. Go to: http://www.sciencecartoonsplus.com/gallery.htm
