Uncategorized
- Humans
Letters from the July 24, 2004, issue of Science News
Whee! I can pretty easily tell what was going through the kiddo’s mind while trying “in vain to scoot down a miniature slide” (“Toddlers’ Supersize Mistakes: At times, children play with the impossible,” SN: 5/15/04, p. 308: Toddlers’ Supersize Mistakes: At times, children play with the impossible). 1. “Slides are fun. Why not pretend to […]
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This article shouldn’t make parents any less wary of allowing their children to come in contact with the chromated-copper arsenate wood structures. What children pick up on their hands from a deck or play set may wind up inside via hand-to-mouth transfers. John Peterson MyersWhite Hall, Va.
- Earth
Skin proves poor portal for arsenic in treated wood
Direct contact with old-style pressure-treated lumber should pose little risk that arsenic will penetrate the skin.
- Health & Medicine
New cholesterol guidelines advise more treatment
Citing results from five recent trials of anticholesterol statin drugs, U.S. health officials recommend that physicians use the drugs to treat many more patients with high cholesterol.
- Paleontology
Chipmunks in Wisconsin toughed out ice age
Analyses of DNA from chipmunks in parts of the U.S. Midwest hint that some populations of the creatures stayed in northern refuges rather than migrating south at the beginning of the last ice age.
- Animals
A first for mammals: Tropical hibernating
The fat-tailed lemur, the first tropical mammal documented to hibernate, exploits local heat spikes to save energy during the long snooze.
- Chemistry
Tarantula venom disrupts cells in unexpected way
The unusual way in which the chemical components of tarantula venom disrupt cells could inspire the design of new drug therapies.
- Archaeology
Seeds of agriculture move back in time
Excavations in Israel indicate that people began to eat large quantities of wild grass seeds and wild cereal grains by around 23,000 years ago, which pushes back by 10,000 years the estimated shift to a plant-rich diet.
- Astronomy
Two newly found space molecules
Researchers have detected two new organic chemicals in a large interstellar cloud.
- Math
Generous Players
Game theory is helping to explain how cooperation and other self-sacrificing behaviors fit into natural selection.
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The cover type “Farewell to Hubble?” makes me wonder why we haven’t seen the headline “Farewell to the Current NASA Administrator?” The only reason I have heard for the cancellation of the planned servicing mission is “it’s too dangerous.” Almost anything worth accomplishing has some degree of danger associated with it. The administrator is just […]
- Astronomy
End of the Line for Hubble?
With a space shuttle mission to repair and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope now canceled, astronomers are pondering how to best use the flying observatory during its final years.
