Uncategorized
- Health & Medicine
Bilirubin: Both villain and hero?
Bilirubin, which causes jaundice in newborns, may protect against cellular damage.
- Astronomy
Sizing up small stars
Astronomers have for the first time measured with high precision the size of a small star, Proxima Centauri, the known star nearest to the solar system.
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19165
“Waves,” or crenulations, occur not only on water icicles, but also in caves on dripstone and flowstone speleothems composed of calcite, epsomite, goethite, and even mud. All of these formations display “wavelengths” of around 1 centimeter. The origin of these crenulations is due not to heat, but to greater evaporation and carbon dioxide loss from […]
- Physics
Icicle waves go with the flow
A new model of icicle growth may explain the strange fact that ripples often found on those icy spikes typically sit about 1 centimeter apart, whether the icicles themselves are big or small.
- Health & Medicine
In Silico Medicine
Medical researchers are increasingly turning to computer simulations to help them understand the complexity of living systems, design better drugs, and treat patients more effectively.
- Astronomy
Milky Way’s Last Major Merger
Astronomers have found new evidence supporting the view that the Milky Way and many other spiral galaxies suffered their last major collision billions of years ago.
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Viral enzyme tackles strep throat
An enzyme from viruses that chew up bacteria may be a new kind of antibiotic.
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19193
I note with some incredulity that happiness (joy, elation) in some form is missing from the list of “basic” universal emotions, and even from the extended list of 9 or 10. Is happiness not considered a basic emotion? Did ancient Hindus not experience joy and hence not express it in dance? Or is happiness considered […]
- Humans
From the December 10, 1932, issue
CALVES RETAIN PART OF WILD THINGS’ CHARM Cows are prosaic. Like all the rest of us who have grown into maturity and (alas!) responsibility, they have their workaday jobs in a workaday world, seeing to it that we get butter and, eventually, beefsteaks. But calves still have something reminiscent of the long-lost wild freedom of […]
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Grossology
This Web site from the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh accompanies a traveling exhibit, based on the book Grossology by Sylvia Branzei, that addresses many of the “slimy, oozy, crusty, stinky” questions that kids love to ask about the human body. Visitors can view scenes from the exhibit, listen to gross body sounds, try out […]
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19213
This article says that in cavitation, “bubbles form when falling pressure permits dissolved gases to pop out of solution.” A cavitation-vapor bubble is formed when the pressure drops below the vapor-liquid saturation pressure for the liquid. Dissolved gas bubbles will just give you a fizzy cola. A.J. McPhateBaton Rouge, La.
- Tech
Deadly Bubble Bath: Ultrasound fizz kills microbes under pressure
A modest pressure increase on a liquid agitated by ultrasound dramatically boosts the microbe-killing power of those high-frequency sound waves.
