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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 […]
- Anthropology
Measure Your Giant Carefully And His Size Will Shrink
Ongoing controversy over a hobbitlike hominid.
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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 […]
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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
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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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