More Stories from the April 7, 2012 issue
- Chemistry
Taste of fructose revs up metabolism
The pancreas pumps more insulin in response to the sugar, potentially throwing the body’s energy-storage machinery out of whack.
- Space
Visible echoes reprise 19th century spectacle
By capturing light that arrived from a stellar eruption more than 150 years ago, astronomers gain clues to its cause.
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- Life
The bloom isn’t off this ancient plant
Using fruit found in Siberia’s permafrost, scientists grow oldest flowering specimen ever produced from preserved tissue.
- Life
Old-fashioned fish regrow fins
Fish on an ancient line can regenerate lost limbs with newt-like flair, suggesting that ability was shared among ancient ancestors.
- Humans
Shelters date to Stone Age
Middle Eastern foragers inhabited dwellings for months at a time around 20,000 years ago.
- Physics
Loose cable blamed for speedy neutrinos
In uncovering a technical flaw, physicists now know why an experimental result that couldn’t have been true wasn’t.
- Life
Eggs may be made throughout adulthood
The discovery of stem cells in human ovaries suggests that women are not born with a lifetime’s supply of gametes.
- Earth
Less sea ice brings more snow
A melting Arctic shifts atmospheric patterns across much of the Northern Hemisphere, causing severe weather elsewhere.
- Life
After a breakup, coral embryos live on as clones
Even modest waves can break apart embryonic corals, but the bits that survive can grow into separate clones.
- Earth
Fault’s twists may shake up earthquake forecasts
Deep angles along the southern San Andreas mean future temblors may be stronger than predicted.
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- Life
Sawfish don’t saw
Spiked snouts whack prey to the bottom, helping the predator better get its mouth around dinner.
- Physics
Lose a memory, use energy
Lab experiment confirms link between erasing information and heat flow.
- Psychology
Pi master’s storied recall
Remembering more than 60,000 consecutive numbers takes exhaustive practice at spinning yarns.
- Humans
Teens win big at science competition
The top awards in the 2012 Intel Science Talent Search go to young scientists working on cancer, innovative sources of energy and behavioral genetics.
- Humans
Evolution takes Asian refuge
Multiple humanlike species may have arisen in cold-weather retreats and then interbred with ancient people.
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SN Online
SCIENCE & SOCIETY Intel Science Talent Search finalists present their research. See “Science competition finalists go public.” ESO, B. Tafreshi, TWAN (twanight.org) ATOM & COSMOS Reflected light yields chemical clues in “Aura of life captured in Earthshine.” ENVIRONMENT A plastics ingredient bumps up insulin production. See “BPA fosters diabetes-promoting changes.” ON THE SCENE BLOG Researchers […]
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Science Future for April 7, 2012
April 20–29 Science festivals in Philadelphia and Cambridge, Mass., both include science carnivals with games, plus check out video game-making in Cambridge and Astronomy Night in Philly. See bit.ly/fairCam and bit.ly/fairPhilly April 28–29 Meet Bill Nye and the hosts of the TV show MythBusters at the USA Science & Engineering Festival in Washington, D.C. See […]
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Science Past from the issue of April 7, 1962
FRESH WATER FOR SPACE—Spacemen on the moon or on a space platform or spaceship may continuously produce more water than they need with a new high-temperature method of burning wastes described at the American Chemical Society meeting in Washington, D.C. Frank J. Hendel of North American Aviation, Inc., Downey, Calif., told the Society of a […]
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Vesuvius (Wonders of the World) by Gillian Darley
This history of the famous Italian volcano examines its role as a cultural icon through the ages. Harvard Univ., 2011, 245 p., $22.95
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Across Atlantic Ice: The Origin of America’s Clovis Culture by Dennis J. Stanford and Bruce A. Bradley
A pair of archaeologists explore the earliest days of the first humans in North America and suggest these people may have had European roots. Univ. of California, 2012, 336 p., $34.95
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How Not to Be Eaten: The Insects Fight Back by Gilbert Waldbauer
Insects’ ingenious means of avoiding becoming lunch are examples of evolutionary one-upmanship in action. Univ. of California, 2012, 221 p., $27.95
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The Life of Super-Earths: How the Hunt for Alien Worlds and Artificial Cells Will Revolutionize Life on Our Planet by Dimitar Sasselov
The astronomer who coined the term “super-Earth” reviews the hunt for these possibly life-holding planets. Basic Books, 2012, 240 p., $25.99
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BOOK REVIEW: The Forever Fix: Gene Therapy and the Boy Who Saved It by Ricki Lewis
Review by Alexandra Witze.
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- Animals
Furry Friends Forever
Humans aren’t the only animals who benefit from having someone to count on.
- Psychology
Visions For All
People who report vivid religious experiences may hold clues to nonpsychotic hallucinations.
- Physics
Bits of Reality
Not just for codes and computers, quantum information holds clues to the nature of the physical universe.
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Letters
A Boy Scout’s salute I am a Boy Scout doing the Communications Merit Badge. I am supposed to write to the editor of a magazine and express my opinion. I’ve always loved the Atom & Cosmos section because I’m very interested in particle physics and on the other end of the scale, cosmology. “Earth-y orb […]
- Anthropology
Measure Your Giant Carefully And His Size Will Shrink
Ongoing controversy over a hobbitlike hominid.
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Wired for Culture: Origins of the Human Social Mind by Mark Pagel
A biologist examines the development of human culture and argues that evolutionary history has shaped humankind’s social tendencies. W.W. Norton & Co., 2012, 416 p., $29.95
