Uncategorized
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Wondering About
Stimulating scientific curiosity is one aim of questions posed at the “Did You Ever Wonder. . ?” Web page, produced by the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. Sample questions: How would you rebuild the surface of a cell, and how can you carve with light? Answers to the questions, colorfully illustrated and presented in language accessible to […]
- Health & Medicine
Newfound flu protein may kill immune cells
A dash of serendipity led to the discovery of a new protein, produced by most strains of the influenza A virus.
- Animals
Crows appear to make tools right-handedly
A study of 3,700 leaf remnants from crows making tools suggests that the birds prefer to work "right-handed."
- Materials Science
Bonds make a sacrifice for tough bones
Researchers report that easily broken bonds in collagen may help prevent bones from easily fracturing.
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Winter depression may heed hormonal signal
A biological signal of seasonal change, similar to that observed in many mammals, appears to trigger recurring cases of winter depression.
- Tech
Little lamp may set quantum tech aglow
By reliably emitting just one photon when excited by just one voltage pulse, a sophisticated takeoff on a common class of tiny lamps called light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, may help usher in exotic technologies that rely on quantum mechanics, including quantum cryptography and quantum computers.
- Health & Medicine
Boost in protein repair extends fly lives
In warmer-than-normal conditions, fruit flies that overproduce a protein-repair enzyme live about one-third longer than typical flies.
- Health & Medicine
Gene Therapy for Sickle-Cell Disease?
By adding a useful gene to offset the effects of a faulty one, scientists have devised a gene therapy that prevents sickle-cell anemia in mice.
- Earth
Early last month, the iceberg cracked
A huge crack across the floating portion of an Antarctic glacier has cleaved the ice shelf and spawned a new iceberg much more quickly than scientists had expected.
- Earth
Charcoal warms the whole world
The techniques used in developing nations to transform wood into charcoal are net emitters of greenhouse gases, even though the wood used to produce the fuel removed globe-warming carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as it was growing.
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The methane and carbon monoxide released during charcoal production have short atmospheric lifetimes compared with that of fossil fuel carbon dioxide. In the long run, the net effect of charcoal on the climate is nil because the wood used to produce charcoal was formed from carbon dioxide by photosynthesis. Recommending that nations convert from charcoal […]
- Chemistry
Compounds cool without minty taste
Scientists have created a compound that delivers a more potent version of the cooling sensation of menthol, without the minty taste or smell.
