All Stories by Science News
- Humans
From the October 13, 1934, issue
A wingless rooster, production of artificial radioactive elements, and novae proposed as the origin of cosmic rays.
- Animals
Bird Calls
The Macaulay Library at Cornell University has the largest collection of animal sounds in the world. More than 67 percent of the world’s birds are represented in the center’s 160,000 recordings, along with sounds made by insects, fish, frogs, and mammals. The Library also archives and preserves a sampling of the behaviors of different animal […]
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19472
Because the purpose of wind machines is to take energy out of the wind, it is counterintuitive to find the wind’s average velocity increases inside the wind farm. This is not what I learned in Aerodynamics I. Some clarification, please. John ToomayCarlsbad, Calif. Remember boundary layers. The wind speed at windmill level is higher than […]
- Math
A Catalog of Random Bits
The generation of random numbers is too important to be left to chance.
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19471
My response as an educator to much of the outrageous science depicted in so many of the recent blockbuster hits is very different from that of many of the scientists quoted in your article. The films provide a wonderful source of science projects that students actually relish. The more outrageous the science, the greater they […]
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19470
I found your two articles on vitamin D very interesting. My question now is whether the rays received in a tanning bed can cause the skin to manufacture vitamin D. Wendy WadeKalamazoo, Mich. Ultraviolet–B radiation triggers the skin to produce vitamin D, whether those rays come from the sun or a lamp. However, not all […]
- Humans
From the October 6, 1934, issue
Glass models of rotifers, anthrax as a threat among agricultural workers, and cosmic-ray studies in the stratosphere.
- Earth
Eye on Mount St. Helens
Keep an eye on the ongoing volcanic activity at Mount St. Helens in the state of Washington. Images taken by the Johnston Ridge Observatory’s VolcanoCam, at an elevation of about 4,500 feet, are updated roughly every 5 minutes. They’re snapped from a distance of about 5 miles from the volcano, looking approximately south-southeast across the […]
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19469
This article dealt with the alteration of the nuclear decay rate of beryllium-7. I believe you may have misinterpreted the researchers to be saying they had found “the largest such artificial hastening of an atom’s decay rate ever observed.” Whereas you report the authors observing a 0.83 percent change, I published a paper in Physical […]
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19468
This article mentions that the traffic volume was reduced following the attacks, yet fails to mention another likely factor in the increased deaths: Less traffic usually results in higher average speeds. Del DietrichSan Jose, Calif.
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19467
I found both your articles on vitamin D very interesting. My question now is whether the rays received in a tanning bed can cause the skin to manufacture vitamin D. Wendy WadeKalamazoo, Mich. Ultraviolet–B radiation triggers the skin to produce vitamin D, whether those rays come from the sun or a lamp. However, not all […]
- Humans
Letters from the October 2, 2004, issue of Science News
On a diet While heart disease victim Jody Gorran’s lawsuit against the Atkins empire will be decided in court (“Counting Carbs,” SN: 7/17/04, p. 40: Counting Carbs), the deadlier battle is being waged in the research laboratory. Several studies confirm that low-carbohydrate diets cause marked cholesterol elevations for many individuals. In contrast, a vegetarian diet […]
