Uncategorized
- Math
Riding on Square Wheels
A square wheel can roll smoothly if it travels over a roadway of the right geometric shape.
- Earth
Night space images show development
Scientists may have come up with a way to use satellite images taken at night to estimate the rate of population growth in fire-prone areas and thereby better assess fire risk to specific groups of residents.
-
19400
Using laser technology that has an apparent resolution of only about half a centimeter is somewhat laughable. I also wondered whether the “fresh coat of desert varnish” was an April fool joke. Actually, I really look forward to every new issue. You do a great job. Fred DombroseCharlotte, N.C. For images that weren’t three-dimensional, the […]
- Archaeology
Laser scanners map rock art
Researchers have developed a way to use laser-based surveying equipment to quickly and easily create detailed images of ancient rock art.
-
19399
Again, humans are implicated in the promotion and distribution of our own misery. However, if bitumen was wrongly credited with darkening the skin of mummified remains, what caused it? Robert FizekNewton, Mass. The coating on the mummies was actually a rub made up of oils, spices, salts, and tree resins. These substances, particularly the resins, […]
- Humans
Medieval cure-all may actually have spread disease
Powdered mummies, one of medieval Europe's most popular concoctions for treating disease, might instead have been an agent of widespread germ transmission, new research suggests.
-
Suppressed thoughts rebound in dreams
Thoughts that are consciously suppressed during the day often pop up in dreams, regardless of whether they involve emotionally charged desires, a new study suggests.
- Earth
New U.N. treaty on toxic exports
The United Nations enacted a new treaty to ban exportation of any of a list of toxic chemicals without the prior informed consent of an importing nation.
- Health & Medicine
Phthalate exposure from drugs?
Use of an ingestible prescription drug may explain the highest blood concentration of a chemical plasticizer ever observed.
- Chemistry
Microbes craft unusual crystals
Bacteria dwelling in an abandoned iron mine form unusual crystals that could help scientists look for signs of previous life on Mars.
- Health & Medicine
All Roads Lead to RUNX
Genetic mutations that predispose some people to the autoimmune diseases lupus, psoriasis, and rheumatoid arthritis appear to have a common molecular feature: They derail the work of a protein, called RUNX1, that regulates how active certain genes are.
- Humans
Letters from the April 3, 2004, issue of Science News
Lack of data? Something jumped out at me from “Telltale Charts: Is anticipating heart disease as easy as 1, 2, 3, 4?” (SN: 1/31/04, p. 72: Telltale Charts). It’s that there were no published data supporting the 50 percent rule taught for years in medical schools. I think this speaks volumes about science and medicine […]
