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2011 Science News of the Year: Technology
Courtesy of J. Rogers Epidermal electronics Scientists have created an ultrathin electronic device that puckers, stretches, wrinkles and bends just like human skin (SN: 9/10/11, p. 10). This flexible patch could one day allow the human body to enter the digital world, enabling Internet browsing without the mouse or communication without words. The patch’s electronics […]
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2011 Science News of the Year: Earth
NASA Warming slowdown The planet’s overall temperature has been climbing upward, but that trend stalled during the early 2000s — and now scientists think they can explain why. Several studies suggest that tiny sulfur-rich particles called aerosols, which shield the Earth from the sun’s incoming rays, are to blame. Some of those particles come from […]
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2011 Science News of the Year: Humans
While the Han Chinese (left) don’t show genetic contributions from Denisovans, Australian Aborigines (right) do.BLACKRED/ISTOCKPHOTO; GARY RADLER/ISTOCKPHOTO Asia takes a bow Often overlooked as a geographic player in human evolution, Asia has stepped into the scientific spotlight. New comparisons of ancient and modern DNA indicate that Stone Age humans migrated to Asia in two stages. […]
- Humans
Smells like a bear raid
Analysis of stock trading data suggests an effort to manipulate the market in 2007.
- Psychology
Face deficit holds object lesson
A brain-damaged man yields controversial clues to how people identify complex objects.
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American and Dutch physicists reach new low temperature
Physicists compete in a race to the bottom with a finish line that can never be reached.
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Letters
Thinking probabilistically In the excellent article “Beware the long tail” (SN: 11/5/11, p. 22), the areas under each curve in the figure “Spotting the tail” should be unity (the total probability must be one). Therefore, the red curve should be lower in the center than the black one. Filson Glanz, Durham, N.H. Yes, the area […]
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SN Online
BODY & BRAIN Some U.S. presidents go gray in four years, but they still tend to live longer than average. See “Presidency not a death sentence.” A program in Nepal enlisting motorbike owners as emergency transport saves the lives of people bitten by snakes. Read “Scooters save lives of snakebite victims.” GENES & CELLS Tiny […]
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Science Future for December 31, 2011
January 6–February 17 See five science and nature films on a 90-foot domed screen at the Science Museum of Minnesota’s Omnifest. Visit www.smm.org/omnifest January 19 The St. Louis Science Center hosts a science café event to discuss space travel. See bit.ly/SNsltravel February 4 The Maryland Science Center introduces a hands-on insect exhibit. See bit.ly/SNmdinsect
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Science Past from the issue of December 30, 1961
EARTH AND PLANETS FORMED FROM DUST DRAWN TO SUN — The Earth and all the other planets of the solar system were formed from tiny dust particles accumulating around the sun as it passed through a vast dust cloud in space. This theory on the origin of the solar system was proposed in London by […]
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An Engineer’s Alphabet by Henry Petroski
A selection of quotations, anecdotes and other engineering trivia is arranged into a mini-encyclopedia of the profession. Cambridge Univ., 2011, 360 p., $21.99
