Uncategorized
-
Eye-Grabbing Insights: Visual structure grips infants’ attention
Babies take their first major strides with their eyes, not their legs, as they rapidly distinguish among playpens, pacifiers, and a plethora of other objects.
By Bruce Bower -
AnimalsLizard’s Choice: Mating test pits physique versus domain
When she decides to move in, is it him or is it his real estate?
By Susan Milius -
Health & MedicineCoconspirator? Genital herpes linked to cervical cancer
Having a genital herpes infection doubles the risk of cervical cancer among women who have human papillomavirus.
By Nathan Seppa -
AstronomyNeutron Star Stuff: Just neutrons, no quarks
A new study suggests that although neutron stars may be weird, they’re not strange.
By Ron Cowen -
MathMath Trails in Ottawa
Housed in a spectacular building redolent of crystals and light, the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa was recently the setting for a highly unusual school event–a mathematics field trip! National Gallery of Canada For several years, math teacher Ron Lancaster of Hamilton, Ontario, has been creating “math trails” for both students and teachers as […]
-
TechNanotech Switch: Strategy controls minuscule motor
Researchers have modified a rotating protein fragment so that it starts and stops spinning with the addition and removal of zinc.
-
EarthWildfire Below: Smoldering peat disgorges huge volumes of carbon
Set alight by wildfires, thick beds of decaying tropical plant matter can pump massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, rivaling those produced globally each year from the combustion of fossil fuels.
By Ben Harder -
19150
Your article reports that only two category 5 storms have hit our coastlines. We here in southern New England know that the “Hurricane of 1938” should be counted, too. The indirect evidence of the storm’s power is compelling. The only wind instrument, over 50 miles from landfall, recorded a gust of 189 miles per hour […]
By Science News -
HumansFrom the November 5, 1932, issue
FIELD MUSEUM VISITORS SEE BIT OF ABYSSINIA Visitors to Chicago can make an effortless side trip to the wilds of Abyssinia by walking down the Carl Akeley Memorial Hall of African Animals in the Museum of Natural History. At the end, a remarkable new group of African mammals has been arranged so as to give […]
By Science News -
ArchaeologyDigging into Ancient Texts
For both scholars and amateur archaeologists, the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative Web site offers fascinating glimpses of a distant past. Visitors can view images of thousands of carefully catalogued cuneiform tablets from Mesopotamia. The texts include early creation myths, legal codes, medical prescriptions, and recipes for beer. Many are more mundane–ledgers, deeds, receipts, and lists […]
By Science News -
19030
Although we seldom have the deep and persistent snowfields needed to support watermelon snow in the spring, I did note it a couple of springs ago in persistent snowdrifts in and near tree shelterbelts in the high plains of northwest Kansas. One must be cautious of red snow in this area, however, because we occasionally […]
By Science News -
PhysicsMotor design flouts physical law
A proposed silicon device the size of a red blood cell would transform random thermal motion into useful mechanical power in violation of the second law of thermodynamics, its designers claim.
By Peter Weiss