All Stories by Science News
- Health & Medicine
2009 Science News of the Year: Nutrition
Natural vanilla extract comes from pods (shown), but most vanillin is synthesized in the lab. Credit: De-Kay/istockphoto That yeast smells good Yeast has long been pressed into service for making beer and bread. Now the fungus has been tapped for a loftier flavor: vanillin, vanilla’s dominant compound (SN: 5/23/09, p. 9). Natural vanilla comes from […]
- Life
2009 Science News of the Year: Life
Breeding records for sheep on Hirta offer an unusual opportunity to study inheritance. Image Credit: Arpat Ozgul Gentler winters shrink sheepWarming has trumped the benefits of fat to shrink sheep on the remote North Atlantic island of Hirta, a new analytical approach has revealed (SN: 8/1/09, p. 12). Weights for wild female Soay sheep dropped […]
- Physics
2009 Science News of the Year: Matter & Energy
First programmable quantum computer Ultracold beryllium ions are at the heart of the first programmable quantum computer, an advance that brings scientists closer to harnessing the power of quantum systems for general computing. The new system, researchers report in Nature Physics, flexed its versatility by performing 160 randomly chosen processing routines (SN: 12/19/09, p. 13). […]
- Health & Medicine
2009 Science News of the Year: Body & Brain
Numbers of passengers arriving from Mexico in March and April 2008 show which cities would have been most vulnerable to H1N1 transmission. Credit : The New England Journal of Medicine ©2009 H1N1 strikes and spreads Like the years 1957 and 1968, 2009 will be known as a pandemic flu year. The springtime eruption of a […]
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- Space
2009 Science News of the Year: Atom & Cosmos
A post-crash plume kicked up from the moon contained vapor and ice. NASA crashed an unmanned spacecraft into the lunar surface on October 9 in order to analyze the resulting debris for signs of water. Image Credit: NASA Water on the moonThe moon isn’t bone dry: Although planetary scientists had suspected as much for years, […]
- Humans
2009 Science News of the Year: Humans
An artist’s illustration shows how a female Ardipithecus may have looked. An analysis of Ardi’s bones, uncovered from 1992 through 1997, was released this year. Credit: J.H. Matternes Ardi puts new spin on hominid evolution A 4.4-million-year-old partial female skeleton discovered in Africa, along with fossils from at least 36 of her comrades, provide the […]
- Earth
2009 Science News of the Year: Environment
Recent monitoring (from a gondola in Washington state, shown) reveals that rates of tree death are up. Credit: Univ. of Washington Routine tree deaths doubled Small background rates of everyday tree death have doubled in old-growth, western forests since 1955, possibly because of climate change, researchers report (SN: 2/14/09, p. 8). In 76 plots with […]
- Tech
2009 Science News of the Year: Technology
A polymer doped with a color-changing molecule turns red seconds before snapping. Credit: D. Stevenson, A. Jerez, A. Hamilton, D. Davis About to breakEngineers one day may not need to guess when a bridge is near its breaking point. New materials that flush red in response to damage may provide a visual warning sign of […]
- Humans
2009 Science News of the Year: Science & Society
Activists plead for a new agreement during the 2007 U.N. Climate Change Conference. Credit: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images Leaders warm to climate action Throughout the year, global leaders used various summits around the world to declare their intention to take firm, though often unilateral, action to reduce their nations’ carbon footprints. In December, negotiators from more […]
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Science Past from the issue of January 2, 1960
MORE JOBS THAN MEN IS PICTURE FOR ENGINEERS — The college engineer market, subject to the fickle swing of the employment pendulum, will be getting a good picking over by industry in the early 1960’s when demand for engineering graduates will exceed supply. The Engineering Manpower and Scientific Manpower Commissions reported that industries intend to […]
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Science Future for January 2, 2010
January 13–16Members of several mathematical societies meet for a joint conference in San Francisco. See www.ams.org January 20–22Experts in various disciplines meet in Washington, D.C., to discuss greening the economy. See ncseonline.org/conference/greeneconomy January 27 Intel Science Talent Search finalists are announced. See www.societyforscience.org
