Uncategorized
- Planetary Science
A view of Mars, European style
Although the Mars lander Beagle 2 is presumed dead, its mother craft, the European Space Agency's Mars Express, has transmitted its first data from a polar orbit about the Red Planet.
- Math
Computing on a Cellular Scale
The behavior of leaf pores resembles that of mathematical systems known as cellular automata.
- Math
Computation’s New Leaf
Plants in which large numbers of simple units interact with one another appear to compute how to coordinate the actions of their cells effectively.
- Astronomy
Bare-Naked Galaxies
A decade's worth of observations is spotlighting how the vast sea of gas surrounding a cluster of galaxies can alter the shape of a galaxy plowing through it.
- Tech
The rat in the hat
A compact positron-emission tomography (PET) brain scanner may make possible studies of awake rats that link brain functions and behaviors.
- Health & Medicine
Pill Puzzle: Do antibiotics increase breast cancer risk?
A new study links antibiotic use to breast cancer, although it's not clear the drugs cause the disease.
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In answer to this article, infections elevate activity of the immune system, so they might indirectly suppress tumors of all kinds. If so, antibiotics could increase the incidence of cancer by reducing the duration and degree of infection. The widespread practice of sterilizing our home and work environments could have a similar effect. Edward P. […]
- Health & Medicine
Drug Racing: Gene tied to HIV-drug response
A genetic mutation more common in blacks than in whites increases the odds that people taking a common HIV medicine will suffer side effects that lead them to halt treatment.
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Monkey Love: Male marmosets think highly of sex
A new brain-imaging study in marmosets suggests that males sexually aroused by the scent of females may be thinking carefully before they mate, opposing the notion that nonhuman male mammals act purely upon a primal urge.
- Earth
Nanosponges: Plastic particles pick up pollutants
Nanometer-scale polymer particles can extract pollutants from contaminated soil.
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Your article says that tsunamis “disrupt winds,” leading to the appearance of dark bands. I propose that upwelling above the crests creates a new surface initially unaffected by the wind and therefore slick. Such bands of slick water formed by tides are a common sight in Puget Sound. Harry HigginsSeattle, Wash.
- Earth
Catching Waves: Ocean-surface changes may mark tsunamis
A new theoretical model that describes a tsunami's interaction with winds may explain enigmatic observations associated with the waves and could lead to a technique for spotting them long before they hit shore.
