Uncategorized
- Earth
Greenland’s ice is thinner at the margins
The central portion of Greenland's ice sheet is, on the whole, not getting any thinner, but most margins of the ice sheet are thinning substantially and contributing to rising sea levels.
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E. coli toxin shows its deadly touch
A toxin from a bacterium that causes food poisoning appears to kill cells by interacting with a protein called Bcl-2.
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Sexual orientation linked to handedness
A metanalysis reveals right-handedness is more common among heterosexuals than homosexuals, suggesting a neurobiological basis for sexual orientation.
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19302
I beg to differ with the quote, attributed to Ethan Temeles in this article: “This is the first really unambiguous example of ecology playing a role in the morphological differences between the sexes.” The statement exhibits the annoyingly common practice among zoologists to think and generalize as if only animals (and, even worse, only vertebrates) […]
- Animals
Flowers, not flirting, make sexes differ
Thanks to lucky circumstances, bird researchers find rare evidence that food, not sex appeal, makes some male and female hummingbirds look different.
- Physics
Device Sees More inside Live Cells
A new type of optical microscope, which can discern objects smaller than a supposedly fundamental limit for visible-light viewing, may make it possible to see finer details of the insides of living cells.
- Humans
From the March 4, 1933, issue
FISH OF DIFFERENT “FEATHER” OFTEN FLOCK TOGETHER Game herds of the African veldt have long been a marvel to travelers because of the extraordinary variety of animals seen together: zebras, gnus, antelope of many species, even elephants and ostriches, mingling in a wonderful patchwork quilt of moving life. Only lions and other predators are outsiders […]
- Humans
From the July 19, 1930, issue
TWISTER POSES Perhaps the finest photograph ever taken of a tornado–certainly at any rate a most unusual one–was obtained by Ira B. Blackstock, a Western railroad executive, at Hardtner, Kansas, on Sunday, June 2, 1929, at about 4:30 p.m. Mr. Blackstock let the windy monster approach as closely as he dared, standing with one foot […]
- Physics
A Curie-ous Tale
Marie Curie discovered two elements and won two Nobel Prizes for her pioneering studies on radioactivity. A new online exhibit at the American Institute of Physics’ history site depicts how she displayed her ardor and brilliance in many other facets of life as well, such as organizing and equipping a radiological medicine unit for French […]
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Bioscience Challenges
Why preserve life’s variety? How fragile is our planet? What does the genome reveal? How is biotech changing the world? The Action Bioscience Web site offers original material and links to articles and classroom resources that help shed light on these and other issues affecting everyday life in a variety of ways. Go to: http://www.actionbioscience.org/
- Math
Cracking Fermat Numbers
Fermat numbers have what mathematicians sometimes describe as a “beautiful mathematical form,” involving powers of 2. They were of interest 400 years ago and are now the subject of a wide-ranging worldwide computer search. A Fermat number has the form 22n + 1, where n is a whole number equal to or greater than 0. […]
- Earth
Ancient Taint: Likely source of old dioxins identified
Lab experiments show that the burning of peat from coastal areas of Scotland could be responsible for the enigmatic concentrations of dioxins sometimes found in pre-20th-century soils.
