Uncategorized
- Animals
Lamprey Allure: Females rush to males’ bile acid
An unusual sex attractant has turned up in an analysis of sea lampreys, and it may inspire new ways to defend the Great Lakes against invasive species.
-
Night Patrol for Tired Cops: Police lose sleep over workday hassles
A large proportion of big-city police officers suffers from insomnia and other serious sleep problems that stem from chronic work stress.
- Materials Science
Osmium is Forever: Rare metal’s strength humbles mighty diamond’s
A new route to materials harder than diamond may have opened with the surprising finding that the rare metal osmium resists compression better than diamond does.
-
19070
According to this article, osmium is the least compressible of materials. When I looked at an encyclopedia article about osmium, I was surprised to discover that its name comes from a Greek root that means “odor.” I’d always thought it was named after the generic Anglo-Saxon word for a god, which is “os.” Gerald BakerCedar […]
-
Hot Cereal: Rice reveals bumper crop of genes
Two research groups have identified all the genes in rice, the world's most important crop.
- Archaeology
New World hunters get a reprieve
New radiocarbon evidence indicates that, beginning around 11,000 years ago, human hunters contributed to North American mammal extinctions that had already been triggered by pronounced climate shifts.
- Archaeology
Stone Age Siberians move up in time
Siberian sites previously thought to have been bases for early human excursions into North America may only date to about 11,300 years ago, when people have traditionally been assumed to have first reached Alaska.
- Earth
Satellites discover new Arctic islands
Danish researchers analyzing satellite observations of remote Tobias Island, discovered in 1993 off the northeastern coast of Greenland, have stumbled upon a new group of small islands nearby.
- Health & Medicine
A tasty discovery about the tongue
Scientists can now explain how the tongue tastes the amino acids in proteins.
- Animals
Real pandas do handstands
A giant panda that upends itself into a handstand may be sending a message that it's one big bamboo-thrasher and not to be messed with.
- Chemistry
Noble gases and uranium get cozy
Chemists have created the first compounds containing both uranium and noble gases.
- Health & Medicine
Clotting protein hinders nerve repair
A blood-clotting protein called fibrin seems to exacerbate the regrowth problems that plague severed nerves.
