Science News

All Stories by Science News

  1. 19395

    This article was an eye-opener. Our courts may be accepting many analytical techniques that haven’t been adequately validated. We should be careful, especially where the death penalty is involved, not to be guilty of hubris in the application of scientific knowledge. Bob SauerPrinceton, Mass.

  2. 19394

    This article suggests that pregnant rattlesnakes might give their offspring a better chance of survival if they congregated for birth. If that were true, one might expect that there would also be a convergence of birth times. While doing research over 25 years ago, we had five of six pregnant rattlesnakes caged together all give […]

  3. Humans

    From the March 17, 1934, issue

    An African snake handler, the speed of lightning, and the emptiness of nebulae.

  4. Coral Reef Report

    Coral Reef Report is a new online magazine that aims to “celebrate the power and mystery of the planet’s coral reefs.” It features articles, personal stories, audio interviews, photo galleries, news items, and other materials devoted to exploring and elucidating the beauty of coral reefs. Go to: http://coralreefreport.info/

  5. Humans

    Letters from the March 20, 2004, issue of Science News

    What’s the difference? I thought that the X and Y chromosomes determined gender in animals, but I see no mention of them in “When to Change Sex” (SN: 1/17/04, p. 40: When to Change Sex). Does this mean that on a genetic basis, males and females in these organisms are identical? Neil H. MurphyWalnut Creek, […]

  6. 19393

    The word love needs to be more carefully defined in the study described in this article. Love may also mean finding the economic resources to give a child a better future. Wolf’s description of Taiwanese mothers giving their children away when “socially acceptable alternatives” were available is reminiscent of our society’s advice to young unwed […]

  7. 19392

    Your article describes how the male bean weevil’s spiked reproductive part damages the female’s reproductive tract to reduce the chance that she will mate with other males. Could this also explain the barbs on the organ of the domesticated tom cat? I have read that the pain of copulation induces the female’s ovulation, but I […]

  8. 19391

    The article about tuberculosis states that Robert Koch in 1882 was the first person to link a particular microbe to a disease. References indicate that Armauer Hansen demonstrated in 1868 that Mycobacterium leprae was associated with the tissues of leprosy patients. He may not have had Koch’s postulates to prove this linkage, but many credit […]

  9. 19390

    I believe a reader rushed to judgment regarding the environmental impact of splitting water to produce hydrogen for fuel (“Letters: Dry Hole?” above). The split water isn’t ultimately consumed, only recycled. Burning hydrogen reunites it with oxygen, returning water to the environment. Much more intriguing questions might concern the human-accelerated migration of water from liquid […]

  10. Humans

    Letters from the March 13, 2004, issue of Science News

    Dry hole? “Tapping sun’s light and heat to make hydrogen” (SN: 1/17/04, p. 46: Tapping sun’s light and heat to make hydrogen) seems to be delivering good news for the environment: “Clean” hydrogen can be produced from water using solar energy. This seems to me, however, to be even more horrifying than the burning of […]

  11. Humans

    From the March 10, 1934, issue

    High-speed photography, artificial radioactivity, and earthquake prediction.

  12. Medieval Science

    This page provides links to a wide variety of materials devoted to different aspects of medieval science. Compiled by James McNelis, editor of a journal on medieval literature, the links cover such topics as alchemy, hunting and falconry, archaeoastronomy, horology, mathematics, botany, medicine, and cartography. Go to: http://members.aol.com/mcnelis/medsci_index.html