Science News

All Stories by Science News

  1. 19811

    Was the increased death rate due to firefighters having a higher rate of heart disease than people do in other jobs? An analysis of eating habits may reveal more insight. Jim SchmitzSt. Louis, Mo. The study looked only at what the firefighters were doing at the time of death. It didn’t compare their heart-disease rates […]

  2. 19810

    I couldn’t help noticing the last sentence in this article: “One of the system’s 30 possible climate subtypes—a temperate climate with a cold, dry summer—wasn’t found anywhere on Earth.” The comment reveals that the writer has never read Mark Twain’s comment that the coldest winter he ever spent was a summer in San Francisco. Jay […]

  3. 19809

    Has anyone ever considered the possibility that interbreeding between Neandertals and humans would have produced sterile individuals? They would have had the traits of both parents, but with no further reproduction, Neandertal DNA wouldn’t be found in humans today. Ernie CasbeerOglesby, Texas Researchers who argue for human-Neandertal hybrids say that fossil evidence argues against sterile, […]

  4. Humans

    Letters from the March 24, 2007, issue of Science News

    Story panned So we shouldn’t cook food in easily cleanable pots because we might release a little bit of maybe-not-even-toxic chemicals into the food (“Heating releases cookware chemicals,” SN: 1/27/07, p. 61)? Because a common chemical found worldwide is merely suspected of being linked to worldwide rates of exposure? Why are our U.S. companies being […]

  5. Humans

    From the March 13, 1937, issue

    Man helping snake, paraffin lenses for neutrons, and glass with a past.

  6. Earth

    More Than Monarchs

    More Than Monarchs.org exists to raise awareness about the devastating impact of illegal logging on the environment and local communities in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in central Mexico. The Web site provides a platform for villagers, community leaders, government officials, and other people to communicate and collaborate toward ending the destruction of forests that […]

  7. 19808

    When considering a spin rate of 1,122 revolutions per second, has anyone determined the diameter of the neutron star XTE J1739-285? If, for example, it were the same diameter as Earth, it would be traveling far in excess of the speed of light at its equator. In order to remain within the limitations of the […]

  8. 19807

    It is ironic that this article describes a captcha [completely automated Turing test to tell computers and humans apart] and then goes on to demonstrate how to defeat it. An automated program that is supposed to pass this difficult computation test just has to forward the captcha image to a real person, at a different […]

  9. 19806

    I find it absolutely incredible that anyone is seriously contemplating an escalation of “natural” herbicides as mentioned in this article. As there is no “additive” sprayed on the crop, no testing is likely in animal or human clinical trials. We in the first world must bear the brunt of this wholesale testing on populations, as […]

  10. Humans

    Letters from the March 17, 2007, issue of Science News

    Disputable thesis “Counterintuitive Toxicity: Increasingly, scientists are finding that they can’t predict a poison’s low-dose effects” (SN: 1/20/07, p. 40) took a wrong turn into Hormesis Swamp. The hormesis thesis has been thoroughly discredited by all major radiation organizations and professional societies, and its past conferences have been sponsored by tobacco companies and the U.S. […]

  11. Humans

    From the March 6, 1937, issue

    Machines creating new jobs, stopping smoke with sound, and conflicts over atomic structure.

  12. Earth

    National Environmental Education Week

    The third annual National Environmental Education Week will take place April 15-22, 2007, culminating with Earth Day on April 22. This site provides information about activities planned for that week. Go to: http://www.eeweek.org/