All Stories by Science News
- Humans
Letters from the May 15, 2004, issue of Science News
Drug benefits There are added benefits to methotrexate and etanercept for rheumatoid arthritis patients, such as myself (“Two arthritis drugs work best in tandem,” SN: 3/13/04, p. 174: Two arthritis drugs work best in tandem). After a recent major flare-up, my rheumatologist put me on that therapy. Many people don’t realize that along with inflammation […]
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From the May 12, 1934, issue
William M. Welch and public health, a thymus-gland extract for speeding up growth, and mass-three hydrogen.
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Chem Demos
They may not be as dramatic as the real thing, but online video and descriptions of lecture demonstrations involving combustion and other chemical and physical effects still fascinate. The Chemistry Learning Center at the University of Illinois offers tantalizing glimpses of methanol combustion, electrolysis of water, hydrogen ignition, the effect of liquid nitrogen on a […]
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19419
This article on the spread of Bt pollen ended with the question, “Is this a big deal or a small effect?” The fact that this phenomenon has gone missing from bioengineering papers for 20 years makes one wonder what else hasn’t appeared. Bioengineers saying “we know what we’re doing” should now be humbled. The article […]
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19418
I can pretty easily tell what was going through the kiddo’s mind while trying “in vain to scoot down a miniature slide.” 1. “Slides are fun. Why not pretend to slide on a toy slide to get the feeling you get from the real one?” 2. “Wow, I’m big now. I’ll prove it.” So, perhaps […]
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19417
While reading about the amazing properties of Archimedes’ Stomachion, I wondered whether a mere child’s toy would exhibit such mathematical precision, with each vertex falling on a lattice point of a 12-by-12 grid. Perhaps Archimedes took the basic plan of the toy and tweaked it to see what properties he could induce. Jeffry D. MuellerEldersburg, […]
- Humans
From the May 5, 1934, issue
Steel pipes of the Boulder Canyon project, diphtheria and the blood-brain barrier, and weather effects of volcanic eruptions.
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19416
The phenomenon described in your article, an animal manufacturing natural poisons using chemical precursors in the environment, has been described before—in a work of science fiction! In Arthur Herzog’s 1974 novel The Swarm, later made into a movie, killer bees learned to metabolize organophosphate insecticides and incorporate those molecules into their venom. Dave LeisingLowell, Mich.
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19415
Other librarians and I regularly discuss illiterate, functional, aliterate, and avid readers. I am pleased that research has begun into what happens in readers’ brains. The study as presented, however, doesn’t seem to control for the individual attention given by the tutors, a factor that may have influenced the results. I hope this research continues. […]
- Humans
A National Science Museum
If you can’t make it to Washington, D.C., to visit the recently opened Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences, check out the museum’s online exhibits. Explore how DNA analysis can catch criminals and stop epidemics, witness the potential effects of global warming, and glimpse the frontiers of scientific research. Go to: […]
- Humans
Letters from the May 8, 2004, issue of Science News
Listen carefully Perhaps Stefan Koelsch’s study should have been limited to trained musicians, rather than exclude them (“Song Sung Blue: In brain, music and language overlap,” SN: 2/28/04, p. 133: Song Sung Blue: In brain, music and language overlap). Word and visual associations in music are vigorously reinforced in movie soundtracks, cartoons, and elsewhere. But […]
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19414
The study by Hyde and Peretz about people inept at all things musical made me think of my spouse of 20 years. In addition to a lifetime of utter tone deafness, he also nearly didn’t receive his graduate degree because he couldn’t pass a required language course. He was examined by a university psychologist, who […]
