More Stories from the August 25, 2012 issue
- Physics
How to walk on water
Physicists use X-rays to probe how a fluid can support a person's weight.
- Life
Study shows where identical twins part ways
By birth, genetic doubles are already using their DNA differently.
- Humans
Mideast violence goes way back
One-quarter of skulls excavated in troubled region display injuries from clubs or other weapons.
- Health & Medicine
Sperm analyzed, one by one
A close look at the sex cell’s DNA reveals basic molecular processes.
- Math
Test decodes dolphins’ math skills
Dolphins could use mental math to locate prey in clouds of bubbles.
- Life
Little animals spread sperm for smelly mosses
Sex-specific odors may entice springtails to kick off fertilization.
- Life
Fake jellyfish so real it even swims
Constructed of silicone and heart cells, medusoid moves like the real thing.
- Life
Polar bears’ ancient roots pushed way back
Full genetic blueprints suggest the animals split from brown bears millions of years ago.
- Earth
Night lights may foster depression
In animals, chronic dim light triggers brain changes that disappear with the return of nightlong darkness.
- Humans
Altruistic kidney donors help many
Mass exchanges result in more kidneys for difficult-to-match recipients.
- Earth
External ills imperil tropical reserves
Impacts just outside park boundaries cause ecosystems within to decline.
- Earth
Stronger storms may destroy ozone
Extra water vapor churned high into the atmosphere by climate change–fueled tempests could trigger destructive chemical reactions.
- Health & Medicine
Male circumcision tied to lower HIV prevalence
Clinical programs in eastern and southern Africa also seem to be changing people’s views on the operation.
- Health & Medicine
19th International AIDS Conference
Highlights from the AIDS meeting, July 22-27, Washington, D.C.
- Anthropology
Sticks, stones and bones reveal emergence of a hunter-gatherer culture
A cave in southern Africa was occupied by people very much like those living in the region today.
- Earth
Greenland enters melt mode
This year’s record-breaking island-wide thaw punctuates an ongoing warming trend.
- Planetary Science
Wheels down, Mars rover takes in the view
After a safe landing, NASA’s Curiosity begins transmitting images back to Earth.
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Saving primates with a dog and scat
View the video Graduate student Joseph Orkin, left, follows canine field assistant Pinkerton on a hunt for primate poop. Sun Guo-Zheng Joseph Orkin has found an unusual way to study highly endangered — and highly elusive — primates in southwestern China. Orkin hikes into isolated mountaintop forests accompanied by a four-legged assistant who avidly sniffs out scat left by […]
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Science Future for August 25, 2012
September 13 Take a swig of beer science at the Museum of Life + Science in Durham, N.C. Event will include samples of 10 local beers plus a chance to learn about beer chemistry and physics. See bit.ly/SFncbeer September 15 Visit the Argonne National Laboratory outside Chicago for an inside look at the lab’s energy […]
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SN Online
ON THE SCENE BLOG The man at the rover lab’s helm talks to Science News. See “A lifetime of curiosity: An interview with JPL director Charles Elachi.” Courtesy Helmut Tischlinger, Eichstätt Museum of the Jurassic LIFE An unusually well-preserved fossil suggests dino ancestors were fluffy. Read “All dinosaurs may have had feathers.” HUMANS DNA tracks […]
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Rainy Brain, Sunny Brain: How to Retrain Your Brain to Overcome Pessimism and Achieve a More Positive Outlook by Elaine Fox
An overview of recent research suggests ways to take advantage of the brain’s malleability to change patterns of thinking. Basic Books, 2012, 256 p., $26.99
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Gifts of the Crow: How Perception, Emotion, and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans by John Marzluff and Tony Angell
Tales of crows’ amazing feats are complemented by original artwork in this look at the birds’ intelligence. Free Press, 2012, 289 p., $25
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Gravity: How the Weakest Force in the Universe Shaped Our Lives by Brian Clegg
A history of attempts to understand the universe’s most mysterious force also explores gravity’s importance in people’s everyday lives.St. Martin’s, 2012, 336 p., $25.99
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Is American Science in Decline? By Yu Xie and Alexandra A. Killewald
Two sociologists look at fears of falling behind the global competition and find that U.S. research is changing but is still in good health. Harvard Univ., 2012, 230 p., $45
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101 American Geo-Sites You’ve Gotta See (Geology Underfoot) by Albert B. Dickas
This handy guide has plenty of labeled photos and diagrams to help you find geological sites of interest in all 50 states. Mountain Press, 2012, 250 p., $24
- Health & Medicine
19th International AIDS Conference
Highlights from the AIDS meeting, July 22-27, Washington, D.C.
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Himalaya Rush
Scientists scurry to figure out the status of glaciers on the roof of the world
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Tangled Roots
Mingling among Stone Age peoples muddies humans’ evolutionary story.
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Uncommon Carriers
People have a surprising number of rare genetic variants.
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Letters
Higgs affects inertia, not gravity In the articles on the Higgs field in the July 28 issue, the Higgs boson was described as giving rise to the mass and therefore the inertia of particles, and the articles said the Higgs causes particles to “resist motion.” Newton’s first law states that inertia or mass is the […]
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Science Past from the issue of August 25, 1962
RUBY LASER PIERCES A SAPPHIRE CRYSTAL — A pulsed ruby laser piercing a sapphire crystal is shown on this week’s front cover. The laser at the Radio Corporation of America Laboratories in Princeton, N.J., generates energy so intense that it can bore a sixteenth of an inch hole in the sapphire in a thousandth of […]
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BOOK REVIEW: The Marvelous Learning Animal: What Makes Human Nature Unique
Review by Bruce Bower.
