All Stories by Science News
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19246
This article details an advance in human-cloning efforts. The researchers charging into this field think that we should pass laws to keep others from abusing their research. Ha! Do they really think they can keep this genie in a bottle? If this keeps up, it won’t be long before people are cloning themselves and maybe […]
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19245
Your article refers to a virus as a “microbe.” I think of a virus more as a seed or spore. What definition is Science News using for the word? Neil MurphyWalnut Creek, Calif. Medical dictionaries differ in defining viruses as microbes . Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary Eleventh Edition ( 2003, Merriam-Webster ) says that viruses are […]
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From the February 3, 1934, issue
alt=”Click to view larger image”> SHORT-WAVE PHONE SYSTEM SERVES BRIDGE BUILDERS Curiously, radio is helping to build a bridge. Special short-wave transmitting and receiving sets make possible communication among groups of contractors scattered on land and water along the eight-and-one-quarter-mile route of work on the San Francisco-Oakland bridge. These men on the job also talk […]
- Astronomy
A Habitable Planet
NASA offers kids a chance to search for and build a fictional planet on which people could live. This multimedia, interactive Web site guides students through a sequence of role-playing steps, starting with observations of the effects that changes to Earth can have and what’s needed for survival. Go to: http://astroventure.arc.nasa.gov/
- Humans
Letters from the Feb. 7, 2004, issue of Science News.
Warm topic I was fascinated by the article on heat production in flowers (“Warm-Blooded Plants?” SN: 12/13/03, p. 379: Warm-Blooded Plants?). It speculated on the evolutionary origins of such thermogenesis and observed how it predominates in ancient lineages of flowering plants like magnolias and water lilies. But thermogenesis goes back much farther than this, for […]
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19300
Regarding this article, did the researchers image the brains of disabled people who know the meaning of a verb but can’t perform the action, or of people without any disabilities who know the meaning of a verb such as “scull” but have never performed the action? It seems that without the above-mentioned types of tests, […]
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19378
The thought that anyone, Eskimo or otherwise, would willingly kill a member of an endangered species that may have been swimming when George Washington was still alive makes me sick at heart. Honoring one’s ancestors could surely be achieved by going out in a whaleboat, engaging in a mock hunt, and showing true reverence for […]
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19299
This article could leave the impression that the evolutionary significant unit (ESU) is the de facto concept employed for all listing decisions under the Endangered Species Act. In fact, the ESU has not been used in the vast majority of recent listing decisions under the act. Nor should it be. The act allows the National […]
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19377
Of course animals think, I’d say. But you say, “Many [scientists] theorized that nonhuman animals react to their surroundings without actually thinking.” My observation over the decades has been that most humans do the same, most of the time. George BlenderSan Diego, Calif. You don’t need all the elaborate experiments described in the article. If […]
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19298
The statement by Kyeongjae Cho that “we don’t have enough platinum” for a hydrogen economy based on fuel cells is simply wrong. Anyone who is working in the fuel cell industry expects the amount of platinum used in fuel cells to drop by the time this technology will be available for a mass market. If […]
- Humans
From the January 27, 1934, issue
alt=”Click to view larger image”> FLASH-OVER AT 125,000 VOLTS Beauty is, indeed, the most important if not the only reason for the choice of this week’s front-cover picture. A glass insulator, of the kind that electrically isolates high-tension [power lines] so that they may carry their power uninterruptedly, is shown flashing over after withstanding a […]
- Astronomy
Historical Astronomy and More
The NASA Astrophysics Data System offers access to a huge, searchable database of journal articles and abstracts in the fields of physics and astronomy. The collection includes many historical publications in astronomy, including observatory reports, bulletins, and annals. It also has more than 300,000 abstracts from the Physical Review series published by the American Physical […]
