Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Humans
Letters from the March 17, 2007, issue of Science News
Disputable thesis “Counterintuitive Toxicity: Increasingly, scientists are finding that they can’t predict a poison’s low-dose effects” (SN: 1/20/07, p. 40) took a wrong turn into Hormesis Swamp. The hormesis thesis has been thoroughly discredited by all major radiation organizations and professional societies, and its past conferences have been sponsored by tobacco companies and the U.S. […]
- Humans
From the March 6, 1937, issue
Machines creating new jobs, stopping smoke with sound, and conflicts over atomic structure.
- Humans
Bad Influence: TV, movies linked to adolescent smoking
White adolescents who have frequent exposure to television and R-rated movies are more likely to try smoking than are their peers with less exposure to these media.
- Humans
Letters from the March 10, 2007, issue of Science News
Cosmic cling At least on Earth, rock impacts result in charging of the particles (“Rocky Finding: Evidence of extrasolar asteroid belt,” SN: 1/6/07, p. 5). In space, wouldn’t this have a great effect on the motion of the rocks? Stuart HoenigTucson, Ariz. According to researchers, it’s true that the electrostatic charging of space dust and […]
- Archaeology
Spicy finds from before Columbus
Ancient Americans cultivated and ate chili peppers at least 6,100 years ago, setting the stage for the spicy condiment to spread throughout the world after Columbus' voyages to the New World.
- Health & Medicine
Long-Term Threat
Survivors of a childhood cancer face a sixfold risk of developing a new cancer later in life, compared with people in the general population.
- Humans
Marlin Crash May Be Worse Than Reported
A newly identified species of billfish resembles white marlins so closely that its presence might be masking how decimated Atlantic stocks of the marlin really are.
- Humans
From the February 27, 1937, issue
Testing thermometers, measuring clouds, and a very useful mineral.
- Humans
Lucid Movement
Lucid Movement is a regularly updated video blog that documents the world through the lens of a high-speed video camera. The resulting videos give viewers unique perspectives on a wide range of phenomena in the world around them, depicting motions that are ordinarily too fast for the human eye to see. Go to: http://www.lucidmovement.com/
- Anthropology
Tools for Prey: Female chimps move to fore in hunting
For the first time, researchers have observed wild chimpanzees making and using tools to hunt other animals, a practice adopted mainly by adult females and youngsters.
- Health & Medicine
Nice Shot: Hepatitis E vaccine passes critical test
An experimental vaccine for hepatitis E has proved nearly 96 percent protective in a test in Nepalese soldiers.
- Humans
Letters from the March 3, 2007, issue of Science News
Up, down, around I haven’t seen any reference to the similarity between the “morphing” wing (“Ahead of the Curve: Novel morphing wing may reduce aircraft’s fuel use,” SN: 12/23&30/06, p. 406) and the “warping” wing that the Wright brothers used on their gliders and powered aircraft. It seems we’ve come full circle in our quest […]
