Uncategorized
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18939
I am writing in response to an article in the July 28 issue, “Having gathered moss, water drops roll.” You should have taken the time to find out that Lycopodium is not a moss. It’s true that a common name for the plant is club moss, but Lycopodium is in the division Lycophyta, sometimes called […]
- Tech
Having gathered moss, water drops roll
A coating of water-repellent powder transforms water droplets into remarkably mobile and resiliant balls, hoops, or peanut-shaped blobs.
- Tech
Biotechnology may fortify U.S. Army
A government-sponsored study says the U.S. Army may benefit from advances in biotechnology during the next 25 years, including sensors that identify soldiers by the food they ate, protein-based computers, near-instant vaccines, and automated wound treatments.
- Astronomy
Bow-wowing them with radar
The sharpest radar image ever of an asteroid shows features on 1999 KW4 as small as 7.5 meters—about the length of a stretch limo.
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From the July 25, 1931, issue
98-TON BUTTERFLY VALVE, A SIMPLE DEVICE A good place for a photographer to take a picture, this penstock will be serving an even better purpose when it begins to carry water through the dam to turn the huge turbines of the Ruskin power plant, British Columbia. The flow of water through this 19-foot-diameter intake pipe […]
- Planetary Science
Space Flight Basics
For armchair space explorers, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory offers a tutorial on how to operate an interplanetary space mission. Originally created a decade ago, the newly updated guide includes information on spacecraft engineering, mission design, trajectories, launch, navigation, telecommunications, and much more. Go to: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/basics/
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Alarming Butterflies and Go-Getter Fish
Recent studies suggest that there may be more ways to create new species than Darwin imagined.
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18938
In grad school, I read and learned from Ernst Mayr’s Populations, Species, and Evolution (1963, 1970, Harvard University Press). I think that “Alarming butterflies and go-getter fish” extremely simplifies Mayr’s position on speciation. The article says that Mayr focuses solely on geographic separation, “allopathic speciation.” This ignores the fact that Mayr discussed a variety of […]
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Depression therapies converge in brain
Depressed people who benefit from either talk therapy or antidepressant drug treatment may experience similar brain changes, according to a pair of new studies.
- Health & Medicine
Herpes virus homes in on cancer target
Herpes simplex virus 1 has an affinity for cells with a mutation that marks many tumors, indicating how the virus may be refined as a cancer therapy and that certain new drugs might attack herpes itself.
- Astronomy
Landing data confirm Eros’ primitive nature
Gamma rays detected by the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft after it landed on asteroid 433 Eros add to evidence that the rock is unaltered since the birth of the solar system.
- Tech
Optics oddity challenges microchip makers
An obscure optical effect called instrinsic birefringence has suddenly appeared as a threat to technology for making denser, faster microchips.
