All Stories by Science News
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18958
The study in “Marijuana may boost heart attack risk” appears to be more about the effects of smoking and deep inhalation than a useful examination of the effects of tetrahydrocannabinol, which is what marijuana smokers seek. The report makes it sound as though this active ingredient is the cause of the marginal increase in heart […]
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18957
The article says, “Logging and burning for agriculture currently claim about 1 percent of the Amazon rain forest per year.” This simply is not true. We have been hearing this and even more alarming “statistics” about Amazon deforestation for more than 20 years. Yet NASA Landsat images show that little more than 10 percent of […]
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Kelp! Kelp!
We can’t see this forest for the seas, but several Web sites offer colorful introductions to the variety and complexity of kelp forests. The State University of New York at Stony Brook site presents a photo album of different kelp forests. The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary pages summarize the ecology of these complex ecosystems. […]
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From the July 11, 1931, issue
HOT WAVES BRING NORTHWEST GRASSHOPPER INVASION MENACE Grasshopper outbreaks in Nebraska and South Dakota may be only the advance guards of a much worse and more widespread insect horde to arrive before very long if hot waves continue to sweep the country. So say entomologists of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The coming of these […]
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18956
Both smokers and nonsmokers should appreciate results of studies of the effect of organic selenium on angiogenesis. A report last year by Cheng Jiang et al. in Molecular Carcinogenesis (vol. 29, issue 4) reports sustained suppression of angiogenesis in breast and prostate cancer cells. However, inorganic selenium supplements induce less favorable effects. Millard M. Mershon […]
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18955
I am writing to correct a significant inaccuracy in your recent article “Landfills make mercury more toxic.” As a member of the National Research Council’s committee that produced the report you cite, I feel obligated to correct your statement, attributed to that report: “Some 60,000 U.S. children are born with developmental impairments triggered by fetal […]
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18935
The statements made concerning the effect of vitamin E on the immune system in cattle don’t concur with the bulk of the data available. Many studies have indicated either marginal or no response. Only when the animal has been held on a deficient ration is the response dramatic. The idea that vitamin E could be […]
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A Mite Bizarre
Just in case anybody thought real life paled before the twisted creatures of sci-fi movies, check the Mite Photo Gallery by biologist David Walter of the University of Queensland in Australia. Portraits of more than 40 species offer plenty of weird shapes. The peacock mite, for example, bristles with little leaf-shaped flaps, and a “pan-tropical […]
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From the July 4, 1931 issue
MAGNIFYING EYE WOULD SEE STRANGE THINGS If we could only convert our eyes into magnifying glasses at will, we would see a lot of astonishing things that escape us now because they are too small. The little walking gargoyle shown on the cover of Science News Letter, for example. It is a juvenile stage of […]
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18934
“Faces of perception” states, “Early visual input to the right brain, which arrives via the left eye, proves vital. . . .” Then, the story presents findings based on people born with left-eye cataracts that were later removed. Unfortunately, the signals from the eyes are mixed almost immediately behind the eyes in the optic chiasma. […]
- Chemistry
Universe of Molecules
For chemistry students, Molecular Universe offers a host of images, explanations, and other resources concerning molecules and chemical systems. Developed by Richard Catlow of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, the site features lessons and material on protein folding, the molecular basis of taste, and many other topics. Go to: http://www.molecularuniverse.com/
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18954
I was surprised that the article “Dances with robots,” while mentioning Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers (1959, Putnam), should speak of “master-slave telerobotic devices.” As any fan of the dean of science fiction knows, these devices are most properly called Waldos. Mark Sicking Spring Shadow, Conn. I am reading Science News on this anniversary of our […]
