Uncategorized
- Math
Probabilities in Bingo
One of the little pleasures of our annual winter vacation is an evening Bingo party. After a day of sledding and cross-country skiing, it’s relaxing to indulge in a social game that requires minimal thought, affords young and old the same chance of winning, and has a strong element of suspense. To play Bingo, each […]
- Paleontology
Sea Dragons
About 235 million years ago, as the earliest dinosaurs stomped about on land, some of their reptilian relatives slipped back into the surf, took on an aquatic lifestyle, and became ichthyosaurs—Greek for fish lizards.
-
19104
In this article Swedish scientists report finding “as much as 200 µg/kg [of acrylamide] in mashed potatoes,” while stating in a subsequent paragraph that boiling potatoes “appeared to generate none.” I am curious to know how they make mashed potatoes in Sweden. I always boil mine. Paul NelsonHouston, Texas You state that boiled potatoes have […]
- Health & Medicine
Cooking Up a Carcinogen
The discovery that acrylamide—a known animal carcinogen—forms in many foods as they fry or bake has prompted the development of an international research network to investigate whether it poses a threat.
-
19105
As a trainer of tracking dogs, I was interested in your article about attempts to duplicate electronically the scenting ability of dogs. Even if these expensive, high-tech artificial dog noses are successful, however, they are not likely to be of much benefit to the “62 countries worldwide” strewn with “more than 100 million land mines.” […]
- Humans
From the February 15, 1930, issue
ACRES OF PENGUINS IN ANTARCTICA Penguins by the acre are among the profusion of water animals inhabiting the regions adjacent to the desolate lands of Antarctica that help make its exploration of value, Dr. Isaiah Bowman, director of the American Geographical Society, told the American Philosophical Society. Dr. Bowman spoke in the 141-year-old hall of […]
- Math
Troublesome Weather Trends
Unlike the day or year, the week isn’t tied to any naturally recurring phenomenon. When meteorologists detect a trend that follows a weekly rhythm, they suspect that human activities–and the 5-day work week–are responsible. In 1998, researchers at Arizona State University in Tempe reported that daily oceanic rainfall shows a weekly precipitation cycle across a […]
- Math
Troublesome Weather Trends
Unlike the day or year, the week isn’t tied to any naturally recurring phenomenon. When meteorologists detect a trend that follows a weekly rhythm, they suspect that human activities–and the 5-day work week–are responsible. In 1998, researchers at Arizona State University in Tempe reported that daily oceanic rainfall shows a weekly precipitation cycle across a […]
-
Issues of Genetic Fitness
Using historic photographs and documents, the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s DNA Learning Center presents an eye-opening, troubling chronicle of the U.S. eugenics movement in the early 20th century. The archive’s aim is to stimulate people to think about possible similarities between eugenics, dedicated to improving human genetic stock through better breeding, and some current discussions […]
- Health & Medicine
Budding Tastes: Higher blood pressure in newborns links to salt preference
Babies who tolerate a salty flavor have higher blood pressure on average than their less tolerant counterparts do.
- Math
Testing for Divisibility
The crisp new dollar bill that I have just taken from my wallet bears the serial number 24598176. It’s easy to tell that the number is exactly divisible by 2 but not by 5. Is it divisible by 3? by 4? by 11? In a 1962 Scientific American article, Martin Gardner noted that during the […]
- Earth
Nature’s Own: Ocean yields gases that had seemed humanmade
Chemical analyses of seawater provide the first direct evidence that the ocean may be a significant source of certain atmospheric gases that scientists had previously assumed to be produced primarily by industrial activity.
