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Corn Defenses: Bitten plants deploy gut-rotting enzyme
Some corn varieties that arose on the Caribbean island of Antigua defend themselves with chemical attacks that leave insect gut linings in tatters.
- Health & Medicine
Smoking Gun? Mouse tests link nicotine to crib death
Nicotine may impair a molecule that's necessary for arousing people and other animals from sleep, an effect that could account for the heightened risk of sudden infant death syndrome in babies born to women who smoked during pregnancy.
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There are unfortunate multiple misuses of the word “artificial” in describing lab-grown diamonds in this article. In gemological use, artificial means imitation or not real. In fact, the lab-grown diamonds described in your article are real, synthetic diamonds with all the properties and chemistry of natural diamonds. Fred WardBethesda, Md.
- Materials Science
Better-Built Diamonds: Fast growth, purity may multiply uses
A research group has fabricated the purest diamonds ever made or found, and another has devised a way to grow high-quality diamonds up to 100 times faster than typical growth rates.
- Math
Doing the Wave
It was the first home game of the season for the University of Maryland football team. About 48,000 fans had crowded into Byrd Stadium to watch the Terrapins take on the University of Akron Zips. Inevitably, during a lull in what turned out to be a rather one-sided contest, the assembled spectators created their own […]
- Humans
From the March 8, 1930, issue
LEAVES OLDER THAN GRAND CANYON FOUND Fossil remains of plants found in the walls of the Grand Canyon show that many millions of years ago stunted vegetation of very singular aspect grew in a great, red, sandy floodplain under a semi-arid climate in northern Arizona. This great red land has been found by Dr. David […]
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Making Waves
Dive into ocean waves, tides, currents, and much more at the Office of Naval Researchs oceanography Web site. This educational resource for students and teachers provides information on topics such as the creatures inhabiting hydrothermal vents, suggests simple experiments focusing on the forces that keep ships afloat and allow submarines to sink, and offers quick […]
- Humans
Small Steps: World Summit delegates wrangle over eco-friendly future
Twenty thousand delegates from around the world met in Johannesburg last week for a contentious World Summit on Sustainable Development.
- Astronomy
Birth of a Tiny Galaxy: In the universe, dwarfs may pop up last
Using the Hubble Space Telescope to observe a tiny galaxy still in the process of being born, astronomers are getting a rare glimpse of how larger galaxies formed early in the history of the universe.
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Distressing Dispatches: Some journalists feel stress wounds of war
A substantial and largely unnoticed minority of war reporters and photographers develops symptoms of a severe stress reaction as a result of the job.
- Chemistry
Money Allergies: Two-toned euro coins shed metallic allergen
The two-alloy composition of some euro coins makes them release large amounts of nickel, a common skin allergen.
- Humans
From the September 10, 1932, issue
COVER PICTURE PURSUED OVER NEW ENGLAND HILLS By chasing a blue hole in the screen of cloud that covered part of New England, a party of eclipse observers that included Prof. John Q. Stewart, Princeton astronomer, successfully saw the corona in clear sky and obtained the News Letter‘s cover picture. Originally they planned to view […]
