Uncategorized
- Anthropology
The Human Wave
Anatomically modern people evolved in small groups of ancient Homo sapiens that never traveled too far but continually interbred with nearby groups, including other Homo species, creating a genetic wave that moved from Africa across Asia, a new model suggests.
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19578
Does the name of Honda’s robot, Asimo, have a meaning in Japanese, or is it just a tip of the hat to Isaac Asimov? Dennis LynchGlenshaw, Pa. Asimo’s name stands for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility.—N. Moreira
- Tech
Easy Striders
New robots based on the mechanics of human walking use less energy and move more naturally than traditional bipedal robots do, suggesting new ways to approach two-legged robots and prosthetic design.
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- Humans
From the July 27, 1935, issue
The geometry of honeycombs, high-energy, man-made gamma rays, and an electrical speed trap.
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Virtual Insects
Created by entomologist Alexei Sharov of Virginia Tech, this Web site provides dramatic, close-up, three-dimensional views of various insects, as presented in animated images or using the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML). Virtual insects on display include the ant, stag beetle, water strider, and termite. Requires a QuickTime plug-in (movies) or a VRML plug-in (virtual […]
- Earth
What’s Gotten into Everybody? Survey of bodily contaminants finds encouraging declines and new exposures
The U.S. population's exposure to lead, secondhand smoke, and certain other harmful chemicals has trended downward, but some newly measured contaminants are present in a sizable fraction of the nation's residents, according to an updated report.
- Health & Medicine
Echinacea Disappoints: There’s still no cure for the common cold
The folk remedy echinacea shows no benefit against the common cold.
- Planetary Science
Cassini eyes youthful-looking Saturnian moon
On July 14, the Cassini spacecraft came within 175 kilometers of the south polar region of Saturn's bright, tiny moon Enceladus, revealing a tortured terrain of faults, folds, and ridges.
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Fickle Finger’s Funny Feel: Digit illusion modifies touch perception
The brain rapidly adjusts its internal map of the body's skin surface, according to a new study of people who underwent laboratory procedures that induced illusions of finger growth or shrinkage.
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Boning Up: Tissue for grafts grown inside the body
Scientists have discovered a new way to stimulate one part of an animal's body to grow extra bone tissue that can be transplanted elsewhere.
- Paleontology
Young and Helpless: Fossils suggest that dinosaur parents cared
Skeletal remains found in the fossilized eggs of an early dinosaur hint that adults of the species may have cared for their hatchlings.
