Uncategorized
- Health & Medicine
Thinking blurs when blood sugar strays
Blood sugar concentrations that are too high or too low can impair thinking and, in the case of low blood sugar, driving ability.
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This concerns the story discussing the ability of flowers to protect their reproductive parts by closing up during a rain storm. I recently observed what may be other mechanisms to achieve the same end in flowers that can’t close up. As a storm approaches, Queen Anne’s lace dips its flat umbels to a vertical position […]
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Shut up! A thunderstorm’s on the way
The narrow-leafed gentian, a mountain blossom, is the first flower shown to close when a thunderstorm apporaches.
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A bad month for condors
Two California condors in the wild—a hatching and a just-released juvenile—died the same week, as a third went missing.
- Astronomy
A comet continues to crumble
Ever since astronomers first spied a comet 6 months ago and officially dubbed it C/2001 A2, the icy body has been breaking apart.
- Astronomy
A new giant in the Kuiper belt
An icy body in the Kuiper belt, a reservoir of comets in the solar system beyond Neptune, is a record setter for the belt and bigger than Pluto's moon Charon.
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Tests hint bird tails are misunderstood
A test of starling's tails in a wind tunnel suggests that the standard practice of extrapolating bird tail aerodynamics from delta-wing aircraft may be a mistake.
- Health & Medicine
Radiation harms blood vessels before gut
The side-effects of radiation therapy may result from initial damage to blood vessels.
- Health & Medicine
Sticky platelets boost blood clots
Tests for genetic variations of a key protein on platelets, the cell-like blood components that form clots, and their propensity to clump could help physicians determine optimal medication for heart disease patients.
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Sticky Situations
Bacteria find strength in numbers as members of huge, mucous-covered communities called biofilms that can stall, equip, and initiate fierce infections.
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Vitamin A calibrates a heart clock, 24-7
Scientists have discovered a molecular clock that keeps the circulatory system in sync with the rest of the body, and they show it's regulated by vitamin A.
- Materials Science
Titanium dioxide hogs the spotlight
Researchers have created new coatings that break down toxins and keep mirrors from fogging when the materials are exposed to visible light.
