Uncategorized
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From the May 14, 1932, issue
DOVE ORCHID MAKES FITTING FLOWER FOR WHITSUNDAY Sunday, May 15, is the Feast of Pentecost, or Whitsunday, when many of the churches commemorate the descent of the Holy Spirit. In the lands of tropical America, where delicate orchids can be had by anybody, many an imaginative Latin will mingle poetry with his piety as he […]
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Spying Natural Hazards
NASA’s Earth Observatory Web site offers spectacular satellite images of natural hazards around the world–just about as they happen. Continually updated, the site focuses on wildfires, severe storms, floods, volcanic eruptions, and major air-pollution events, such as dust storms, smog, and smoke. Go to: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/
- Math
Song-and-Dance Fermat
The proof of a mathematical conjecture–even one as famous as Fermat’s last theorem–may sound like an improbable subject for an off-Broadway-style musical. Yet there’s plenty of drama and passion in the story of Fermat’s last theorem. These elements take center stage in Fermat’s Last Tango, a musical written by the husband-and-wife team Joshua Rosenblum and […]
- Animals
No Tickling: Common caterpillars deploy defensive hair
The caterpillars of the European cabbage butterfly have a chemical defense system that scientists haven't documented before.
- Health & Medicine
Feel the Burn: Alcohol sets pain-sensing nerves aflame
Alcohol makes certain pain-generating nerves trigger more easily than normal.
- Health & Medicine
Hidden Damage: Parkinson’s harm to nerves in heart may explain dizziness and fainting
Parkinson's disease patients have damaged nerve endings in the heart, kidneys, and thyroid gland, suggesting the disease harms the autonomic nervous system that regulates involuntary functions of these and other organs and glands.
- Astronomy
Heavenly Taffy: Galaxies in collision
Astronomers have discovered a pair of colliding galaxies connected by a bridge of high-speed electrons and elongated magnetic fields.
- Chemistry
Minimotor: Single molecule does some work
A single molecule has performed mechanical work—pulling and releasing a cantilever tip—when exposed to light.
- Physics
Unexpected Boost: A superconductivity killer’s silver lining
Among superconductors—materials able to conduct electricity without resistance—an effect that normally diminishes current-carrying ability surprisingly turns out to sometimes enhance it.
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19061
In this article it was speculated that calorie restriction reduces the production of free radicals. We have found that food deprivation almost doubles concentrations of melatonin in various parts of the gastrointestinal system. Melatonin, a very potent scavenger of free radicals, has increased the lifespan of mice in several studies. It could be that the […]
- Animals
Dogged Dieting: Low-cal canines enjoy longer life
The first completed diet-restriction study in a large animal shows that labrador retrievers fed 25 percent less food than those allowed to eat as much as they desired tend to live longer and suffer fewer age-related diseases.
- Earth
September’s Science: Shutdown of airlines aided contrail studies
The shutdown of commerical aviation within the United States for 3 days after Sept. 11, 2001, provided scientists with a unique opportunity to study the influence of high-flying jet aircraft on Earth's climate.
