Uncategorized
- Tech
Device fingers chemical thugs at scene
A compact, new instrument exploits quantum mechanics to rapidly identify illegal drugs, pollutants, and other chemicals, on the spot.
- Tech
Robosaur roams with spring in its step
The novel dinosaur robot Troodon takes two-legged walking machines onto new terrain.
- Tech
Polymer takes dim view of explosives
By spraying surfaces with a light-emitting polymer, researchers have taken a step toward making new sensors for traces of common explosives.
- Paleontology
Sahara yields second-largest dinosaur
Excavations near an Egyptian oasis have unearthed the fossils of an animal that probably ranks as the second-most-massive dinosaur known.
- Paleontology
Fossil footprints could be monumental
Trace fossils found in a vacant lot in a small town in Utah, including the footprints of meat-eating dinosaurs, could soon be protected as part of a new U.S. national monument.
- Chemistry
Hassium holds its place at the table
Researchers have performed the first ever chemical studies on the element hassium.
- Chemistry
Chemists make hard-to-catch molecules
Chemists have devised a new way to stabilize highly reactive molecules called carbenes.
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Thinking of Zero
For anyone deeply interested in logic and the history and philosophy of zero, Hossein Arsham of the University of Baltimore offers an thought-provoking Web-based discussion of such topics as the meaning of division by zero, the role of zero in limits and divergent series, and the concept of zero as a void. Go to: http://ubmail.ubalt.edu/~harsham/zero/ZERO.HTM
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From the June 20, 1931, issue
HUGE ELETROMAGNET INSTALLED AT LEIDEN A huge electromagnet weighing 14 tons, about two-thirds as much as a street car, just erected at Leiden, Holland, by the Siemens Halske Company of Berlin, will enable scientists to wrench atoms apart as never before. This marks the realization of a dream of the late Dr. H. Kammerlingh Onnes, […]
- Health & Medicine
Coming to Terms with Death
Some newly recognized forms of cell death might be harnessed to aid people with cancer and other serious diseases.
- Physics
New probe zooms in on midgets of magnetism
A new microscope for peering at magnetic materials provides the first glimpses of how such materials behave on a scale of only tens of atoms.
- Earth
Alaska’s coastal permafrost is eroding
Aerial photographs taken over the past 50 years show that Alaska's coastlines of permafrost aren't that permanent after all.
