All Stories by Science News
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From the March 26, 1932, issue
EASTER LILY UNFOLDS TALE TO X-RAY’S PIERCING EYE Ordinarily it is necessary to pull a flower to pieces to find what it is doing at any given moment in its development–and that, naturally, precludes one from following its development any further. One must turn to other flowers, at other stages of their unfolding, and ruin […]
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Seaweed Sights
Should dabberblocks, murlins, and sea whistles come up in conversation, here’s the page for figuring out what’s going on. The seaweed Web site, hosted at the National University of Ireland, Galway, offers a gallery of glamour photos of prominent seaweeds, as well as an introduction to the seaweeds we may not have realized we were […]
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19068
If an animal can boost its immune system in response to shortening days, why would it not keep its immune system operating at that higher level all the time? Is there some physiological cost to maintaining a higher level of immune response? Michael LehnerGreenfield, N.H. According to Staci D. Bilbo of Johns Hopkins University in […]
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19067
At certain points in this article, the word evolution is directly tied with a verb in ways that perpetuate (however unintentionally) the misconception that evolution proceeds with a purpose or goal, perhaps even with a guiding sentience. It is obvious that you are simply using such phrases to make the articles easy to read and […]
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19066
The article says of physicists’ thinking about black holes in Earth’s atmosphere, “Those newly created black holes would then quickly decay, harmlessly raining subatomic particles down onto our planet and ourselves.” Surely not every physicist thinks the possibility of creating a black hole is not dangerous. Could we not hear from the opponents of make-your-own-black-hole […]
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19065
I was surprised to see no mention of small comets hitting Earth’s atmosphere over the eons as a source of surface water. This explanation, based on atmospheric observations, has gained growing acceptance over the past several years. Kenneth Saum Cotuit, Mass. Jonathan I. Lunine says that if local bodies provided water to Earth, then “Mars […]
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From the March 19, 1932, issue
EXPLOSIONS USED TO LOCATE OIL FIELDS IN SOUTHWEST A beautiful explosion, so large that the camera could only catch a part of it with sufficient clarity to detail its streaked and billowing effects, is reproduced on the front cover of this week’s Science News Letter. It is one of hundreds of such blasts that have […]
- Physics
Signatures of the Invisible
Contemporary artists worked with CERN particle physicists to create pieces of art that respond to (rather than simply illustrate) the preoccupations of modern physics. This quirky Web site, hosted by the London Institute, provides glimpses of the artworks that resulted from this collaboration. Go to: http://www.signatures.linst.ac.uk/
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18997
The article on star formation in the Eagle nebula badly misrepresents the implications of recent observations of this object. For example, the subtitle is “The Eagle’s EGGs: Not so fertile,” yet the stated conclusion of the recent work is that more of the Eagle’s EGGs contain young stellar objects than might have been expected. Rather […]
- Health & Medicine
Fibroid Maladies
Every year, roughly 200,000 women in the United States get a hysterectomy–surgical removal of the uterus–to alleviate the pain and pressure of uterine fibroids. These noncancerous growths affect millions of women in child-bearing years. A good source of information on symptoms, treatments, surgical options, and possible causes is found at this site, compiled by the […]
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From the March 12, 1932, issue
UNEARTH NEW PORTRAIT OF KING TUT’S GIRL-WIFE A new portrait of the girl-wife of that well-known Egyptian pharaoh, Tutankhamon, has been unearthed from the ruins of Tel-el-Amarna, where the Egypt Exploration Society has been excavating. The portrait is a beautiful little head, with exquisitely modeled features. It is less than 2 inches long. Identity of […]
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18996
In this article, Alan R. Templeton of Washington University used 10 sources of DNA for his geographic study of human origins. Peter A. Underhill of Stanford feels the population sampled was too small for statistical significance. How many would it take for an expanded version to be significant? Is there a chance such an enlarged […]
