More Stories from the November 24, 2007 issue
- Tech
A smaller magnetometer
A novel sensor the size of a rice grain can detect magnetic fields as small as those produced by brain or heart waves.
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Eastern farms have native-bee insurance
If honeybees somehow vanished, the pockets of wild land in the Delaware Valley still harbor enough native bees to fill in and do the tough job of pollinating watermelon farms.
- Astronomy
One star, five planets
With the discovery of a fifth planet circling the nearby star 55 Cancri, astronomers have found the most abundant—and heaviest—planetary system beyond the sun's.
- Math
Net advantage
When damaged, networks that seem resilient can still become inefficient to the point of being unusable.
- Tech
Crystal clear
Growing nanowires directly on a crystal might lead to high-density memory chips and transparent LEDs
- Health & Medicine
9/11 reflux
Up to 20 percent of 9/11 workers in New York City experience symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease, also called acid reflux.
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Tadpole Slayer: Mystery epidemic imperils frogs
An emerging protozoal disease has begun to trigger mass die-offs of frog tadpoles throughout much of the United States.
- Paleontology
A toothy smile
Nigersaurus boasted more than 500 teeth, arranged in rows across its mouth.
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Hold the Embryos: Genes turn skin into stem cells
Scientists have found a way to convert a person's skin cells directly into stem cells without creating and destroying embryos.
- Plants
It Takes a Village: Tweaking neighbors reroutes evolution
The other residents of a plant's neighborhood can make a big difference in whether evolutionary forces favor or punish a plant's trait.
- Materials Science
Snappy Transition: Venus flytrap inspires new materials
Inspired by the quick-shut action of the Venus flytrap, researchers have designed a patterned surface with microscale hills that can rapidly flip to form valleys.
- Health & Medicine
Wrong Way: HIV vaccine hinders immunity in mice
An HIV vaccine hurts, not helps, the immune systems of mice, say scientists.
- Physics
Einstein Unruffled: Relativity passes stringent new tests
The moon's orbit and the dilated time of speeding atoms give new meaning to 'Einstein was right.'
- Health & Medicine
Biohazard: Smoking before or after pregnancy may harm daughters’ fertility
Smoking before pregnancy or during breastfeeding might impair the female offspring's fertility, a study in mice shows.
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Showdown at Sex Gap
Faced with two contrasting reports on the science of sex differences in mathematics and science aptitude, researchers at a meeting held in October tried to figure out what's really known about this controversy and how the findings apply to education and test taking.
- Tech
Bad Vibrations
Despite computer models and wind tunnel tests, bridges show surprising vibrations and movements that engineers are still learning to cope with.
- Humans
Letters from the November 24, 2007, issue of Science News
Blame where it’s due Although multinational agreements on global warming try to spread the burden among all nations, data from the MILAGRO project in Mexico City (“What Goes Up,” SN: 9/8/07, p. 152) suggest that the major responsibility for excess production of greenhouse gases and other pollutants lies with the megacities, which constitute a rather […]
