Uncategorized
- Chemistry
Nanoscale Networks: Superlong nanotubes can form a grid
Researchers have made extraordinarily long carbon nanotubes and aligned them to create tiny transistors and sensors for detecting chemical and biological agents.
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Paddle Power: Surprising shape of key cellular pore unveiled
A molecular pore that controls the flow of ions into cells has an unexpected shape and mechanism.
- Math
A Geometric Superformula
The notion of a simple equation that you can use to generate a wide variety of geometric shapes is an immensely appealing one. Johan Gielis of Antwerp, Belgium, proposes one such formula in the March American Journal of Botany. “Many geometrical forms, both in nature and culture, can be interpreted as modified circles,” Gielis states. […]
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19251
This article says that the S waves travel at about one-half the speed of the P waves. Then, in “Seismic waves resolve continental debate” on page 285 of the same issue (Available to subscribers at Seismic waves resolve continental debate), it would appear that the P waves travel at one-half the speed of the S […]
- Earth
Sensing a vibe
A sprawling network of seismometers that covers the Los Angeles area could be adapted to provide warning of damaging ground motions from earthquakes in the seconds before those seismic vibes arrive.
- Physics
Crystal Bash: Shocking changes to light’s properties
Prized, light-manipulating microstructures known as photonic crystals may transform light in new and technologically tantalizing ways when jolted by shock waves.
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19250
Regarding this article, consider how many species current Homo sapiens would be divided into using the criteria of paleoanthropologists, considering Pygmies and basketball players. Rick Fisher Richland, Wash.
- Anthropology
Ancestral Bushwhack: Hominid tree gets trimmed twice
In separate presentations at scientific meetings, two anthropologists challenged the influential view that the human evolutionary family has contained as many as 20 different fossil species.
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19249
A mild objection: This article on lichens mentioned that lichens are composed of fungi and algae, a type of protist, as if it were a given that all agree to. While it is true that the majority of taxonomists would classify an alga as a protist, there still are a large number of modern taxonomists […]
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19248
This article suggests that exposure to microbes in early life helps develop a child’s immune system. Speaking of dietary habits among 18th-century “Scotch-Irish” immigrants to the back-country regions of colonial America, David Hackett Fischer notes in Albion’s Seed (1989, Oxford University Press): “The quality of butter was believed to be improved in proportion to the […]
- 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 […]
