Notebook

SN Online

EARTH Scientists get closer to knowing the exact makeup of Earth’s innards. Read “Oxygen a bit player in Earth’s outer core.” NASA GENES & CELLS A sense-mixing condition in which some people see smells or taste colors may have genetic roots. See “Unraveling synesthesia.” BODY & BRAIN An illusion that tricks people into thinking a […]

Science Future for December 17, 2011

January 1 Last day of the “Science of Gingerbread” exhibit at the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana, Calif. See bit.ly/SNginger January 22 Last day to visit an exhibit on race at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, N.C. See bit.ly/SNrace January 31 Deadline for entries in the 2012 Neuro Film Festival to […]

Science Past from the issue of December 16, 1961

HORMONES AFFECT NERVES — Add sex hormones to all the other things that can make you feel depressed on some days and elated on others. Evidence that sex hormones can affect the body’s central nervous system in roles unrelated to sexual functions has been reported by physiologists at the University of California, Berkeley. The findings […]

Nemesis: Searching for the sun’s deadly companion star

Read the full article (PDF) | Vote on future topic | Search archives September 1, 1984 | Vol. 126 | No. 9 Nemesis: Searching for the sun’s deadly companion star If the sun is not a member of a binary or multiple star system, it is among the minority of stars. Yet if the sun has a […]

SN Online

LIFE Schooling fish stay together by focusing on neighbors rather than the group. See “School rules.” Gustavo Hormiga Spiders known for their web architecture can trace their lineage to one crafty ancestor that lived 200 million years ago. See “The origin of orbs.” BODY & BRAIN Scientists have pinpointed what makes hearing nails on a […]

Science Future for December 3, 2011

December 5 Discuss scientist Ellen Prager’s book Sex, Drugs, and Sea Slime in Portland. Go to www.omsi.edu/sciencepubportland December 15 Explore the Maryland Science Center with baby at Infant Wonders. See www.mdsci.org December 17–23 Learn more about trains at the Center of Science and Industry in Columbus, Ohio. See www.cosi.org

Science Past from the issue of December 2, 1961

ELECTRONIC COIN TOSSING — An electronic method of tossing coins that determines “heads” or “tails” 200,000 times a second has been devised at the U.S. Navy Electronics Laboratory, San Diego, Calif. The new machine is not a gambling device but is being used to develop automatic signal detection methods for future Navy radar. It promises […]

Cornell project brings peregrines back to the eastern United States

With a little help, peregrine falcons make a comeback from the devastating effects of DDT.

SN Online

LIFE Cycads, often called “dinosaur plants,” aren’t so ancient after all. Read “Cycads not ‘living fossils.’ “ HUMANS Ancient cooking pots show diets shifted slowly from fishing to agriculture. See “Early farmers’ fishy menu.“ ON THE SCENE BLOG The Drake Equation for tallying alien life turns 50. See “The Drake Equation: All in the family,” […]

Science Future for November 19, 2011

November 22Learn cocktail chemistry at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Go to www.hmns.org December 1Explore all things that glow at San Francisco’s Exploratorium. Ages 18 and up. See www.exploratorium.edu/afterdark December 5Make folded structures in a workshop at St. Paul’s Science Museum of Minnesota. See www.smm.org/librarylaboratory

Science Past from the issue of November 18, 1961

NEW EVIDENCE FOUND OF EXPANDING UNIVERSE — The universe is expanding, then collapsing again after a long time, evidence from photographs taken with the 200-inch telescope atop Mt. Palomar indicate. Dr. William A. Baum of Mt. Wilson and Palomar Observatories, Pasadena, Calif., said that present-day observations are not compatible with a steady-state universe in which […]

Science Past from the issue of November 4, 1961

ARTIFICIAL HEART VALVE — A previously hopeless condition of the heart — a defective heart valve — can now be corrected by successful surgery, it was reported at the American Heart Association meeting in Miami Beach, Fla. Many of the 500 gravely ill patients described by three teams of surgeons who did partial or total […]