Uncategorized
-
Autism Advance: Mutated genes disrupt nerve cell proteins
Two gene mutations that cause autism suggest that nerve cell connections called synapses are key to the disorder.
- Math
Poe’s Secret
Writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) is famous for his short stories of the mysterious and the macabre. His popular tale “The Gold-Bug,” published in 1843, is often cited as one of the best works of fiction that turn upon a secret message. Poe had a longstanding interest in cryptology. When he became editor of Graham’s […]
- Math
Poe’s Secret
Writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) is famous for his short stories of the mysterious and the macabre. His popular tale “The Gold-Bug,” published in 1843, is often cited as one of the best works of fiction that turn upon a secret message. Poe had a longstanding interest in cryptology. When he became editor of Graham’s […]
- Animals
Careful Coots: Do birds count their eggs before they hatch?
A coot may tally the eggs in her nest, a rare example of an animal counting in the wild, suggests a new study.
- Health & Medicine
Progress Against Dementia: Drug slows Alzheimer’s in severely ill patients
The drug memantine slows the progression of late-stage Alzheimer's disease in patients previously considered untreatable.
- Math
Mathematical Art on Display
The term “mathematical art” usually conjures up just one name–that of Dutch graphic artist M. C. Escher (1898–1972). Many people are familiar with Escher’s endless staircases, hyperbolic tilings, Möbius ants, intricate tessellations, and other creations. They may also be aware of the intertwining of mathematics and art during the Renaissance, with the development of perspective […]
-
19233
Good grief, I can’t believe this is a surprise that dinosaurs were cannibals. Frogs eat frogs. Rabbits eat their young. We can go on for quite a time enumerating mammals (including people), reptiles, birds, and insects that eat their own. The surprise is finding ones that aren’t cannibals. Barbara BennettPreston, Md.
- Paleontology
Family Meal: Cannibal dinosaur known by its bones
Analyses of the gnaw marks on bones of Majungatholus atopus, a carnivorous dinosaur from Madagascar, indicate that the creatures routinely fed on members of their own species.
- Math
Dots and Boxes
The familiar pencil-and-paper game of Dots-and-Boxes sounds exceedingly simple. Given a square or rectangular array of dots, two players take turns joining two adjacent dots with a horizontal or vertical line. When such a move adds the fourth side of a box, the player who did the deed claims the box (marking it with his […]
- Humans
From the December 20, 1930, issue
alt=”Click to view larger image”> ARACHNE PROVIDES LOVELIER FESTOONS FOR CHRISTMAS TREE Christmas trees, with their exotic and ephemeral flowing of tinsel and bright paper, are apt to arouse in moralizing adults sentiments of vague regret that all this splendor is for a few hours only. Children, fortunately, are spared such thoughts: For them the […]
- Humans
From the December 13, 1930, issue
alt=”Click to view larger image”> SUSA, OLDEST CITY ON EARTH, TELLS ABOUT EARLY CULTURE Ur of the Chaldees, lately hailed as the oldest city on Earth, must yield place to a city that is older still. The home town of Abraham, which stood on the Mesopotamian plain before the Flood, received its first settlers and […]
- Humans
From the December 6, 1930, issue
alt=”Click to view larger image”> ENGINEERS CAMOUFLAGE ARLINGTON BRIDGE DRAW Engineers put a span in the Arlington Memorial Bridge and then hid it. So cleverly designed and camouflaged is the million-dollar, double-bascule draw of the Arlington bridge, which is nearing completion here, that it is difficult for one to tell the span made of steel […]
