Uncategorized
- Paleontology
Ancient wood points to arctic greenhouse
Chemical analyses of wood that grew in an ancient arctic forest suggest that the air there once was about twice as humid as it is now.
- Health & Medicine
Fecal glow could improve meat safety
Workers who process animal carcasses into meat might soon use a novel type of laser scanner to identify products that have been contaminated with feces.
- Astronomy
Supernovas, gamma-ray bursts: Two of a kind?
Astronomers have uncovered direct evidence that gamma-ray bursts are linked to supernovas.
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19321
Your article was very interesting. While hiking in terrains ranging from midwestern prairies to alpine environments, I’ve seen different forms of buckling due to freezing forces. Though evaporation was given a nod in the article, it too can be a significant force to form patterned ground. In March of 2002, I walked out to the […]
- Earth
Patterns from Nowhere
Scientists are developing geophysical models that may explain the polygonal patterns that appear in and on the ground in remote regions of the Arctic, Antarctica, and possibly the surface of Mars.
- Chemistry
Plastic Electric
Scientists are finding new ways to improve the molecular order and electrical conductivity of a commercially important conducting plastic.
- Humans
From the May 13, 1933, issue
RISING SILENTLY TO PROTECT NATIONS TIME Almost as silently as you view the new domed building in the cover picture, this all-steel structure is rising at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington. There is no hammering of rivets to fray the nerves of humans and upset the accuracy of the delicate Naval Observatory clocks that […]
- Planetary Science
Mars Photo of the Day
With a stock of more than 120,000 images, the camera team for NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor mission has started daily postings of pictures to showcase the diversity of Martian landscapes. Click on the photo to obtain additional information about what the image reveals. Go to: http://www.msss.com/
- Math
Sequence Puzzles
Given a sequence consisting of the whole numbers 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, and 49, what number comes next in the sequence? The most likely answer is 64–the next number in a sequence of squares of consecutive integers, starting with 1. Such sequence puzzles are a staple of textbook exercises, brainteaser collections, and various […]
- Math
Coins for Making Change Efficiently
The item I had just bought cost 29 cents. I gave the cashier a dollar bill, and she gave me two quarters, two dimes, and a penny in change. She could just as well have given me seven dimes and a penny or some other combination of coins adding up to 71 cents, but there’s […]
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19320
This article could have been a little less disingenuous. It would still have been a very good article if you had used “sulfuric acid” instead of “odorless hydrogen sulfate” and admitted that the process still required a little alkali to neutralize this waste stream that is “carried away by water trickling over the foam.” Jim […]
- Tech
A Breath of Fresh Air: Bacteria rid sewage of its stink
Wastewater-treatment plants can use hydrogen sulfide-degrading bacteria instead of chemicals to reduce odors.
