Uncategorized
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Nausea drug may aid alcoholism treatment
A drug that lowers the activity of serotonin and other chemical messengers in the brain may boost the effectiveness of psychological treatments for a severe form of alcoholism.
- Earth
Cars’ ammonia may sabotage tailpipe gains
Though cars' catalytic converters clean up some of the acidic contributors to urban haze and particulates pollution, a subset of these pollution-control devices seems to foster the production of ammonia, another pivotal ingredient in haze and particulates.
- Animals
Toothy valves control crocodile hearts
The odd cog teeth of the crocodile heart may be the first cardiac valve known to control blood flow actively.
- Chemistry
HArF! Argon’s not so noble after all
Researchers have for the first time coerced argon into forming a stable and neutral compound with other elements.
- Computing
Computation Takes a Quantum Leap
A quantum computation involving a custom-built molecule furnishes experimental evidence that a quantum computer can solve certain mathematical problems more efficiently than can a conventional computer.
- Humans
From the April 22, 1933, issue
SPARKING PROCESS STUDIED WITH LICHTENBERG FIGURES What is an electric spark made of, is the question partly answered by the brilliant whirligig figure on the front cover of this weeks Science News Letter. The picture is one of several hundred made during research of Prof. C. Edward Magnusson of the University of Washington, Seattle. Prof. […]
- Humans
From the April 29, 1933, issue
LEAVING THE NEST While dredges grappled with her sister ships twisted girders and soaked fabric in the watery Atlantic grave off Barnegat Light, the Macon took to the air. The front cover presents the new queen of the skies as she appeared before being “walked” from the huge Akron air dock for the first trial […]
- Physics
Soap Bubbles in Space
While aboard the International Space Station, astronaut Don Pettit took some time off to experiment with soap bubbles and films. This NASA Web page presents the surprising and startling results of his soapy ventures in a zero-g environment. Go to: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/25feb_nosoap.htm
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19317
This article speaks of a very interesting phenomenon that makes the cloning of primates seemingly impossible. Perhaps the nature of our DNA will resist our attempts to clone it because it was never meant to be cloned. Mark WeilnauSt. Louis, Mo. The article notes that it is “almost impossible to clone a person by using […]
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Egg’s missing proteins thwart primate cloning
Scientists have identified a reason why cloning a person may be difficult, if not impossible.
- Physics
Not even bismuth-209 lasts forever
Touted in textbooks as the heaviest stable, naturally occurring isotope, bismuth-209 actually does decay but with an astonishingly long half-life of 19 billion billion years.
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19239
This article says that the alpha decay of bismuth-209 was not listed in any reference table. As much as I hate to disagree, the “Chart of the Nuclides,” 12th edition revised to April 1977, by Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory for Naval Reactors, USDOE, that I have hanging on my wall lists the half-life of bismuth-209 […]
