Uncategorized
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Popularity of germ fighter raises concern
The growing use of the antiseptic triclosan in products ranging from mouthwash to cutting boards and hunting clothes may create bacteria resistant to antibiotic drugs.
- Animals
The whole beehive gets a fever…
When bee larvae are fighting off disease, the nest temperature rises, so the whole hive gets a fever.
- Math
Card Shuffling Shenanigans
Shuffling cards is a tricky business. It’s also a lucrative one for gambling casinos. In a game such as blackjack, an astute player can try to memorize the cards already played to have a better chance of predicting which cards will come up later, thus potentially gaining an advantage over the dealer and the casino. […]
- Health & Medicine
Salt trial provokes DASH of skepticism
Though a new study finds that dramatic salt restriction can lower blood pressure, even among people without hypertension, some critics challenge its value in setting new dietary guidelines for all adults.
- Astronomy
Newfound Galaxy Goes the Distance
Astronomers have discovered a galaxy so remote that the light reaching Earth left the body some 13.6 billion years ago, making it the most distant object ever detected.
- Astronomy
Something New on the Sun
The sharpest visible-light images of the sun ever recorded are revealing puzzling, new features of sunspots, the dark regions where the sun's powerful magnetic field is concentrated.
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19153
Your article describes the economic and environmental costs of semiconductor chips. Interestingly, the impacts on the environment are very similar for the manufacture of solar cells. Many environmentalists place such unrealistic expectations on solar cell energy that they overlook certain facts. First, solar cells yield at most 30 percent efficiency. Second, solar cells do not […]
- Tech
Hidden Costs: It takes much stuff to make one tiny chip
A new analysis reveals that the production of a single 2-gram microchip requires nearly 2 kilograms of chemicals and fossil fuels.
- Health & Medicine
Attack of the Clones: Immune cells single out melanoma tumors
Scientists can extract immune system cells that recognize tumor cells from people with melanoma, culture the rare cells to greatly increase their number, and inject them into the patients, sometimes putting the brakes on cancer.
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The Brain’s Funny Bone: Seinfeld, The Simpsons spark same nerve circuits
Brain scans of people watching sitcoms show that different brain regions spark with activity when a person initially gets a joke versus when he or she subsequently responds to its humor.
- Animals
Ear for Killers: Seals discern foes’ from neighbor-whales’ calls
Harbor seals eavesdrop on killer whales and can tell the harmless neighborhood fish eaters from roving gangs with a taste for fresh seal.
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19152
It’s not surprising that training may enhance intellect in the elderly. What would be remarkable would be for the elderly to be completely incapable of learning. The real question is whether cognitive training works against whatever causes cognitive decline in the elderly or whether it merely boosts base-level ability. The former would be indicated only […]
