Uncategorized
- Earth
Composted sewage captures dirt’s lead
Lead-contaminated soil in urban parks, gardens, and schoolyards could be made safer by adding composted organic waste.
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Uncertainty fires up some neurons
In monkeys, a small set of brain cells that transmit the chemical messenger dopamine to various neural destinations works as an uncertainty meter.
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After West Nile Virus
As biologists try to estimate the impact of West Nile virus on wildlife, it's not the famously susceptible crows that are causing alarm but much rarer species.
- Earth
When do EMFs disturb the heart?
Whether electromagnetic fields can blunt the healthy variability in heart rate may depend on an exposed individual being aroused or stressed during exposure.
- Earth
Methylmercury’s toxic toll
More than 60,000 children are born each year with neurodevelopmental impairments due to their prenatal exposure to methylmercury.
- Earth
China: A mercury megapolluter
China's heavy reliance on coal burning makes it a world leader in mercury air pollution.
- Earth
Living routes to toxic routs
Scientists are developing novel techniques for removing perchlorate, a potentially carcinogenic pollutant, from water.
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When autism aids memory
People with autism may often have a superior memory for factual details, possibly because of their inability to use context in remembering information.
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Looking for the brain’s g force
Controversial evidence suggests that a frontal-brain network underlies psychological measures of general intelligence.
- Astronomy
X-ray flare from a dim source
An X-ray flare coming from a old, failed star has surprised astronomers.
- Computing
Pictures Only a Computer Could Love
New, unconventional lenses shape scenes into pictures for computers, not people, so that computer-equipped microscopes, cameras, and other optical devices can see more with less.
- Astronomy
A comet’s chilly origin
Astronomers have detected argon in comet Hale-Bopp, the first time an inert gas has been found in one of these icy bodies and an indication that the comet formed in the frigid outer solar system between the orbits of Uranus and Neptune.
