Science News

All Stories by Science News

  1. 19322

    Your article neglects the most difficult problem associated with sending a probe to the vicinity of Earth’s core: sending the information back. Even a few feet of earth will stop conventional radio waves. Extra-low-frequency transmissions would do the job, but a transmission could take years. Augusto Soux San Diego, Calif. David J. Stevenson of the […]

  2. 19242

    There is another interpretation of the mitochondrial DNA data presented in this article. The data make it clear that the more advanced Cro-Magnon males only mated with Cro-Magnon females; however, there is no evidence that the Cro-Magnon females didn’t mate with the more muscular Neandertal males. Jeff Nicoll and Joan Cartier Washington, D.C. Much mixing […]

  3. 19321

    Your article was very interesting. While hiking in terrains ranging from midwestern prairies to alpine environments, I’ve seen different forms of buckling due to freezing forces. Though evaporation was given a nod in the article, it too can be a significant force to form patterned ground. In March of 2002, I walked out to the […]

  4. Humans

    From the May 13, 1933, issue

    RISING SILENTLY TO PROTECT NATIONS TIME Almost as silently as you view the new domed building in the cover picture, this all-steel structure is rising at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington. There is no hammering of rivets to fray the nerves of humans and upset the accuracy of the delicate Naval Observatory clocks that […]

  5. Planetary Science

    Mars Photo of the Day

    With a stock of more than 120,000 images, the camera team for NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor mission has started daily postings of pictures to showcase the diversity of Martian landscapes. Click on the photo to obtain additional information about what the image reveals. Go to: http://www.msss.com/

  6. 19320

    This article could have been a little less disingenuous. It would still have been a very good article if you had used “sulfuric acid” instead of “odorless hydrogen sulfate” and admitted that the process still required a little alkali to neutralize this waste stream that is “carried away by water trickling over the foam.” Jim […]

  7. 19319

    Your article says, correctly, that our research group performed ultrasound of the main blood vessel of the women’s arms as a measure of vessel-cell function throughout the body. However, we identified women at risk of preeclampsia by performing ultrasound tests to assess blood-flow restriction of arteries in the uterus during the second trimester of pregnancy. […]

  8. 19241

    I’m doing an elk-calf mortality study in Yellowstone National Park. We can differentiate between scavenging and predation only by such evidence as signs of struggle at the scene, a trail of blood, evidence of a chase, and the pattern of flesh wounds. We cannot make the determination based on bone-consumption pattern alone. Therefore, I question […]

  9. 19318

    In regard to natural causes of coal fires, another cause not mentioned in the article involves the oxidation of pyrite, an iron sulfide that commonly occurs in coal beds. When oxygenated groundwater percolates through fractures in the coal, the sulfide in pyrite will be oxidized to sulfate. This reaction is exothermic and may produce enough […]

  10. 19240

    I was diagnosed 12 years ago with Klinefelter’s syndrome, which has as a symptom low testosterone. After starting bimonthly injections of testosterone, I experienced some mild body changes but nothing excessive. I’m nearly 65 but feel like I’m 55. Testosterone may kill me some day by causing prostate cancer, but I’ll gladly take the risk […]

  11. Humans

    From the May 6, 1933, issue

    AMERICAS FALCON POSES AGAINST PERFECT BACKGROUND Rarely is a perfect bird photographed against so perfect a background as the duck hawk, or American falcon, shown on the front cover of this issue of the Science News Letter. The photograph is by Dr. A.A. Allen of Cornell University, and the magnificent cataract plunging in the background […]

  12. Shadows of the Infinite

    The European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) and the London Institute joined forces to explore interactions between art and science. This Web site presents glimpses of some of the resulting productions and events–a play called “Life’s a Monkey,” an exhibition of artworks by 12 of Europe’s leading artists, a major symposium on art and science, […]