Uncategorized
- Planetary Science
Odyssey’s Homer: Hints of water near both poles of Mars
Sensors on board the Mars Odyssey spacecraft have spied strong signs of ice buried near both poles of the Red Planet, exactly the regions where scientists previously had said that such frozen water deposits could exist.
- Health & Medicine
Dieting woes tied to hunger hormone
A rise in the appetite-enhancing hormone ghrelin after weight loss may explain why dieters regain pounds.
- Health & Medicine
Arthritis drug fights Crohn’s disease
The inflammation-fighting drug infliximab can hold off the painful symptoms of Crohn's disease for as long as a year in many patients.
- Math
Candy for Everyone
Several students are sitting in a circle. Each student has an even (though not necessarily the same) number of wrapped pieces of candy. On a signal, each student passes half of his or her trove to the student on his or her right. Between signals, the teacher (reaching into an inexhaustible goody bag) gives any […]
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From the January 4, 1930, issue
PILTDOWN MAN EARLIEST HUMAN BEING The ape-man of Darwin was read out of man’s family tree and the dawn-man of Sussex, older than 1,250,000 years, was elevated to the position of man’s progenitor by Dr. Henry Fairfield Osborn, president of the American Museum of Natural History, New York. A new picture was painted by Dr. […]
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Physics 101
From atoms and magnetism to fractals and Murphys Law, the American Physical Societys “Century of Physics” timeline provides a sweeping, colorful review of important discoveries and inventions associated with physics and technology. Visitors can move along the timeline year by year, consult an alphabetical index to find a particular topic or event, or search by […]
- Health & Medicine
Operation overload: Kids’ backpacks
Sixth-graders in Italy routinely carry school backpacks that equal, on average, 22 percent of their body weight, a finding researchers link to an earlier report that more than 60 percent of children in this age group had experienced low-back pain more than once.
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19013
Concerning kids’ backpacks, these are not “backpacks.” These are better called “school” or “convenience” packs. A true backpack carries the load on the hips and waist, with shoulder straps for hold and balance, and does not encourage a stooped posture from carrying the load on the shoulders. Joseph KostkaNatrona Heights, Pa. I am 74 years […]
- Health & Medicine
Hysterectomy often improves sex life
A study of more than 1,000 women who had hysterectomies finds that after the operation, women generally wanted and had sex more often, were more likely to reach orgasm, experienced less vaginal dryness, and were less likely to have pain during sex than was the case before surgery.
- Astronomy
A Dark View of the Universe
Two new studies suggest that galaxies may be surrounded by vast halos of dark matter extending at least 1.5 million light-years from each galaxy's center.
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19072
This article describes the use of interference patterns from laser light sources to measure the effects of gravity waves. This might lead one to conjecture whether there is an interference pattern that gravity waves by themselves might produce. A gravitational interference effect would correspond to gravitational “fringes” with more or less gravity and, therefore, areas […]
- Physics
Catch a Wave
Detection of gravitational waves predicted by Einstein's 1916 general theory of relativity may finally occur, thanks to a new generation of laser-based observatories.
