All Stories by Science News
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In regards to the picture accompanying this article, it might be helpful to remind readers that such colorful depictions of nanoscale materials are slightly fanciful. These structures exist in realms so small that visible light, and therefore color, has little meaning. James HedbergPortland State UniversityPortland, Ore.
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I’m confused. This article says that “atherosclerosis isn’t linked to oxidation of bad cholesterol.” If not, why does the article “Telltale Charts” (Telltale Charts) name cholesterol as one of the traditional risk factors? What is really going on with cholesterol? Sandor FrecskaLancaster, Pa. Good question. While epidemiological studies offer compelling evidence that blood-cholesterol concentrations influence […]
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This article, or at least part of it, could have been titled “Danger on Dock” or maybe “Danger under Dock.” After reading about how chromated-copper arsenate (CCA) is leached from the wood, I began wondering how it affects aquatic organisms. Many fish, especially bluegills and other sunfish, make these docks their preferred habitat. If not […]
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Something jumped out at me from this article. It’s that there were no published data supporting the 50 percent rule taught for years in medical schools. I think this speaks volumes about science and medicine in this country. Charlie WelchBrighton, Mass. I’m confused. “Wine Surprise: Heart-protective effect is independent of antioxidants” (SN: 1/31/04, p. 68: […]
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From the January 20, 1934, issue
alt=”Click to view larger image”> GRAVE OF PREHISTORIC CHIEF’S DAUGHTER EXCAVATED A girl of 20, almost toothless! This is the pathetic picture of prehistoric Alaska revealed in the skeleton of an Eskimo chief’s daughter. The grave of the girl, discovered in southwestern Alaska by Dr. Frederica de Laguna of the University of Pennsylvania Museum, yielded […]
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Telegraph Days
Samuel F.B. Morse invented the electromagnetic telegraph and the Library of Congress holds an extensive collection of his papers. About 6,500 of these documents are now available online. They document Morse’s invention, his participation in the development of telegraph systems in the United States and abroad, his career as a painter, his family life, his […]
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The political pseudoscience press strikes again. Now, we are told that by 2050, as many as 31 percent of species will be wiped out by a temperature increase of 0.8 to 1.7°C. I find this impossible to believe, in that these organisms are all presently surviving with diurnal, seasonal, yearly, and cyclical average-temperature fluctuations that […]
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Once again, we see evidence that supports what we knew all along. As my mother told me growing up, “Just sleep on it.” David VarnerPortland, Ore.
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John Harris is quoted as saying that the absence of opossums is a “curious exception” to the list of current mammals of the Los Angeles Basin preserved in the La Brea tar pits. But the presence of opossums on the West Coast is well documented to be very recent. All current California opossums derive entirely […]
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One of your sources in this article claims, “After all, even the sacred first law’s conservation of energy breaks down in the quantum realm, albeit in a limited way, he notes. That’s because Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle allows energy momentarily to appear from nothing, although it must be quickly paid back.” This claim is heard occasionally, […]
