Science News

All Stories by Science News

  1. Humans

    Letters from the December 17, 2005, issue of Science News

    C plus Ewan Cameron, who in 1971 began to collaborate with Linus Pauling on vitamin C and cancer, typically initiated patients with 10 grams per day of vitamin C given intravenously for about 2 weeks, followed by an oral dosage continued indefinitely. The two Mayo Clinic trials referred to in “Vitamin C may treat cancer […]

  2. 19622

    I’m pleased that images are now available to prove that self-control over pain works. Actually, I and many other moms could have helped the researchers. During childbirth, we simply focused on various breathing techniques and discovered that the pain became manageable or disappeared. I’ve continued to use these breathing techniques in the dentist’s chair for […]

  3. 19621

    This article raises the question of how oxygen levels have changed over the past 2 centuries, when carbon dioxide has been increasing. John MillsDecatur, Ala. There is a problem in this interesting article. The graph of oxygen content versus time doesn’t agree with the text. Specific example: “About 255 million years ago … the oxygen […]

  4. Humans

    From the December 7, 1935, issue

    Indian art at Boulder Dam, ice under pressure, and vitamin A's role in vision.

  5. Bug Guide

    BugGuide.Net is an online community of naturalists who enjoy learning about and sharing their observations of insects, spiders, and other related creatures. The site features amazing photos and useful information, such as size, range, habitat, and life cycle, about a host of different species. Go to: http://www.bugguide.net/

  6. 19620

    While it is extraordinary that an unprotected insect larva survives gut passage, it is not the first demonstration that insects may be carried inside of birds. The larvae of phytophagous wasps living inside the seeds of the multiflora rose pass unharmed through the guts of mockingbirds. C.A. NalepaRaleigh, N.C.

  7. Humans

    Letters from the December 10, 2005, issue of Science News

    Big Bang bashing The recent discovery of “mature” galaxies at distances corresponding to the remote cosmic past (“Crisis in the Cosmos? Galaxy formation theory is in peril,” SN: 10/8/05, p. 235) threatens more than galaxy-formation theory. It threatens to shatter the increasingly fragile Big Bang paradigm by showing that the composition of the cosmos is […]

  8. 19619

    The lack of the linguistic device “recursion” in the Pirahã language might be more subtle than investigator Dan Everett suspects. I’ve heard examples of the sentence given as recursion—”When I finish eating, I want to speak to you”—rendered as a run-on sentence by speakers new to English and by lifelong speakers as well: “I finish […]

  9. Humans

    Letters from the December 3, 2005, issue of Science News

    Eye on energy “Cosmic Ray Font: Supernova remnants rev up ions” (SN: 10/1/05, p. 213) is unfortunately murky. It’s confusing to state that accelerating charged particles to high speeds “therefore” produces cosmic rays. And what “charged particles”? Is the “energized” gas in fact “ionized”? “Energized” is too general a word. Finally, why are high-speed particles […]

  10. Humans

    From the November 30, 1935, issue

    A giant salt container, slimming down overweight children, and taking isotopes for a spin.

  11. Physics

    Shadows of Reality

    If you’re curious about different ways of viewing the fourth dimension, this Web site provides some intriguing glimpses of this strange realm. The site was created by New York artist Tony Robbin in advance of the publication of his book, Shadows of Reality, on the fourth dimension in relativity, cubism, and modern thought. The site […]

  12. 19618

    The evidence at best is fuzzy for bee recognition of faces. Both sugar water and quinine have unique odors that are probably readily recognizable by bees. And what do the feeders look like in the bee spectral range? Jacques M. DulinSequim, Wash. For the test of bees’ face recognition, the researchers used empty, identical feeders […]