Uncategorized
- Humans
Matt Crenson, Reconstructions
Tools tell a more complicated tale of the origin of the human genus.
- Health & Medicine
Coffee delivers jolt deep in the brain
Caffeine strengthens electrical signals in a portion of the hippocampus, a study in rats finds.
- Humans
Two feet or four, software is the same
All walking animals use the same basic nerve patterns to put one leg in front of the other(s).
- Psychology
Babies may benefit from moms’ lasting melancholy
Fetuses pick up on maternal depression and thrive after birth if mothers don’t get better, a new study suggests.
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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 […]
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Letters
Clocking neutrinos In response to “Hints of a flaw in special relativity” (SN: 10/22/11, p. 18): When supernova 1987a was detected in the Large Magellenic Cloud (a distance of roughly 168,000 light-years) an influx of neutrinos was detected simultaneously (or nearly so) in Japan, the United States and Russia. Had these neutrinos traveled at the […]
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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 […]
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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
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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 […]
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Caterpillars by Marilyn Singer
A colorful look at caterpillars — sometimes woolly, sometimes spotted, occasionally sporting fake faces — shows how they transform into delicate, winged insects. EarlyLight Books, 2011, 40 p., $14.95, ages 4–7
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Catch the Wind, Harness the Sun: 22 Super-Charged Projects for Kids by Michael J. Caduto
Do try these at home: Writing with the sun, powering a battery with a bicycle and creating mini-windmills are projects that help kids learn about renewable energy. Storey Publishing, 2011, 223 p., $16.95, ages 8–13
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What’s So Hot About Volcanoes (What’s So Cool About Geology) by Wendell A. Duffield
A volcanologist transports readers to Hawaii, Chile and Japan to show how volcanoes form, why they erupt and how scientists are trying to predict eruptions. Mountain Press, 2011, 89 p., $16, young adult
