Science News

All Stories by Science News

  1. Humans

    From the January 9, 1937, issue

    A new AAAS president, preventing blood clots, and new elements in the sun.

  2. 19780

    Would it be feasible for the government to require both folate and vitamin B12 in grain products? Nancy PowerAltadena, Calif. Researchers say that such double fortification is theoretically possible. However, vitamin B12 is more expensive than folate, and it turns flour pink. —B. Harder

  3. 19779

    Do cows and other domestic-herd animals really emit more methane than bison and other wild-herd animals emitted before people came along? Do grass, alfalfa, and other pasture plants remove less carbon dioxide than do forests? There were open grasslands before pastures replaced some forests. I hope the people who are researching these things take such […]

  4. 19778

    Morse code “fist” analysis can easily be defeated by a software buffer that conforms the intervals between all types of strokes. Actual Morse buffers are already in regular use among ham operators. “Writeprints” can also be defeated. “Clickprints” aren’t as easy to conceal, perhaps, but some clever software designer will devise a foil for them […]

  5. Humans

    Letters from the January 13, 2007, issue of Science News

    Sunny exposition “The Antibiotic Vitamin” (SN: 11/11/06, p. 312) reminds me that in preantibiotic days, tuberculosis patients were put on a fresh-air-and-sunshine regimen. Could the vitamin D so acquired account for the cures this system sometimes produced? Nancy AxfordSacramento, Calif. Researcher John J. Cannell points to TB sanitariums as anecdotal evidence that sunlight fights infections.—J. […]

  6. Planetary Science

    From the January 2, 1937, issue

    The beauty of snow, a very large number, and a robot brain machine.

  7. Earth

    Meteorites on Ice

    Join a recent expedition to the Antarctic to search for meteorites. Check out reports from the 2006-2007 trek in the daily expedition blog. Go to: http://geology.cwru.edu/~ansmet/ and http://www.humanedgetech.com/expedition/ansmet2/

  8. 19777

    At least on Earth, rock impacts result in charging of the particles. In space, wouldn’t this have a great effect on the motion of the rocks? Stuart HoenigTucson, Ariz. According to researchers, it’s true that the electrostatic charging of space dust and rocks may affect the motions of small particles. However, little is known about […]

  9. 19776

    Without a corresponding study of bone densities, it’s not possible to determine whether the link between proton-pump inhibitors and increased fractures in people over age 50 is due to increased numbers of falls (dizziness, etc.) or to bone damage. It would be extremely helpful to try to tease out the cause behind this linkage. Dan […]

  10. Humans

    Letters from the January 6, 2007, issue of Science News

    Gone with the heat? “Feeling the heat of an extrasolar planet” (SN: 10/28/06, p. 285) made me wonder how long a gas planet is expected to survive when one of its faces is more than 1,000°C. The conventional model of our solar system assumes that gas planets can form and survive only in a cold […]

  11. 19775

    The statement in the article that astronomers “don’t yet have” a probe to journey to the vicinity of a black hole is puzzling. As far as I know, the closest known black hole is V4641, more than 1,500 light-years away. Given that, the implied assumption that a probe will someday be able to reach a […]

  12. Visions of Infinity

    Tiling a hyperbolic floor inspires both mathematics and art. Go to: Visions of Infinity