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From the April 25, 1931, issue
FUNGUS BEAUTIFIES SELF WITH FUR-TRIMMED EDGE The picture on the front cover of this weeks SCIENCE NEWS LETTER looks like a fur-trimmed opera cloak for Queen Titania of the fairies, but it is nothing more romantic than a rather common small fungus, Schizophyllum commune, that feeds on dead sticks in the woods. The furry effect […]
- Math
Temple Circles
One tradition that flourished 200 years ago in Japan, during its period of isolation from the western world, involved Euclidean geometry. Scholars and others would inscribe geometric problems on wooden tablets, then hang the tablets under the eaves of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples as offerings. Such a tablet is called a sangaku, which means […]
- Math
Temple Circles
One tradition that flourished 200 years ago in Japan, during its period of isolation from the western world, involved Euclidean geometry. Scholars and others would inscribe geometric problems on wooden tablets, then hang the tablets under the eaves of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples as offerings. Such a tablet is called a sangaku, which means […]
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18930
According to “Vitaminlike compound eases rare disorder,” coenzyme Q10 is an “expensive, unregulated supplement.” Unregulated, yes, but expensive? That will come as a surprise to the tens of thousands of consumers who buy it regularly in nutrition stores, discount drug stores, and over the Internet. It may not be as cheap as a vitamin, but […]
- Health & Medicine
Vitaminlike compound eases rare disorder
A vitaminlike substance called coenzyme Q10 helps people with familial cerebellar ataxia, a hereditary disorder that damages the spine and the part of the brain responsible for coordination.
- Tech
Novel fuel cell gets hot, but not by a lot
A new type of fuel cell that works above the boiling point of water—but not too much above it—may lead to improved nonpolluting power sources suitable for cars and portable electronic gadgets.
- Anthropology
Human ancestors made ancient entry to Java
Layers of hardened volcanic ash on the Indonesian island of Java have yielded evidence that Homo erectus reached eastern Asia by 1.5 million years ago and remained there until about 1 million years ago.
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The early nerve gets the brain space
Sensory nerves of the star-nosed mole may race to occupy brain space early in development.
- Health & Medicine
Blood markers of clogging arteries emerge
The concentration in blood of one chemically transformed cholesterol-carrying molecule may signal to doctors when a patient's heart disease has dangerously worsened.
- Earth
Big dam in China may warm Japan
Construction of the Three Gorges Dam across the Yangtze River in China may lead to warmer temperatures in Japan, because any diversion of water for Chinese agriculture could initiate convection in the Japan Sea that brings warmer water to the surface.
- Health & Medicine
Natural antidepressant has its limits
St. John's wort, a popular ingredient in herbal remedies, may not help people with moderate or severe forms of depression.
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18929
Your article on the importance to an elephant family of having as its leader a matriarch of considerable age reminded me of the postulation that one of the reasons menopause evolved in humans was to allow some women to survive to old age. In preliterate societies, old people were the libraries. Some of the knowledge […]
