Uncategorized
- Health & Medicine
Challenges in testing for West Nile virus
The Food and Drug Administration is trying to figure out how blood banks can detect signs of West Nile infection in blood donors and, eventually, test donated blood for the virus itself.
- Anthropology
Iceman mummy shares last meals
DNA analyses of food remains from the intestines of a 5,000-year-old mummified man found in Europe's Tyrolean Alps indicate that his last two meals included meat from mountain goats and red deer, as well as wild cereals.
-
19092
This article may be confusing to readers who don’t know the quantitative difference between an ice age and a little ice age, as referred to in the story. During the last ice age, the average cooling in the Northern Hemisphere was about 5C, but the cooling during the last little ice age was only about […]
- Tech
Beads and glue defeat forgers
Researchers have devised a cheap, translucent material that, when embedded in credit cards and other items, would endow the items with unique identifiers that are almost impossible to tamper with or copy.
- Earth
Moderate flows help carve rivers
Measurements of erosion in a rocky river channel in Taiwan suggest that the day-to-day flow of water accounts for more rock wear there than occasional catastrophic floods do.
-
Gene found for big, firm sheep rumps
Scientists have found the gene that gives sheep unusually big, muscular bottoms.
- Tech
Ribbon to the Stars
Advances in one of the tiniest of technologies—carbon nanotubes—is bringing the concept of a space elevator closer to reality.
-
A Man’s Job
Sperm contain an unexpected payload of RNA, a discovery offering insight into infertility, cloning, and contraception.
- Humans
From the October 1, 1932, issue
WARNING SPOTS OR TARGETS? Eye-spots, like those on the wings of the Cecropia moth on the front cover, are commonly interpreted either as warning markings, to scare off enemies, or as “targets” to draw the enemy’s attention to a non-vital spot. But moths get eaten anyway.–(Photo by Cornelia Clarke). COSMIC RAYS BOMBARD EARTH WITH 40,000 […]
- Tech
Cool Contraptions
The J. Paul Getty Museum’s intriguing online exhibition, “Devices of Wonder,” features optical devices, robots, thinking machines, and other fanciful contrivances of yesteryear. Check out a variety of ingenious contraptions for projecting images, playing music, revealing secrets, and more. Go to: http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/devices/choice.html
- Humans
From the April 12, 1930, issue
MEDICAL WORLD HONORS DR. WELCH While the whole medical world united in honoring Dr. William Henry Welch on his 80th birthday on April 8, and the president of the United States delivered an address at the Washington celebration, few outside the world of science know who Dr. Welch is or why he was honored in […]
- Physics
Interacting with Physics
Drag an electric charge to see how it affects a nearby water molecule. Fool around with a laser to cool an atom. The University of Colorado’s Physics 2000 Web site relies heavily on interactive animations to demonstrate important concepts and discoveries in modern physics. Topics range from X rays and CAT scans to the quantum […]
