Uncategorized
- Life
Sleeping ugly
Analysis pinpoints genes that help springtails dehydrate and tough out the winter.
- Space
Jupiter takes it on the chin
Images reveal that an object has recently bashed into Jupiter, 15 years after the first of 21 chunks of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 struck the giant planet and created a memorable display of dark spots, waves and plumes.
- Life
Web decorating with garbage
Spider webs adorned with decaying food remains attract more attacks, but maybe there’s a defensive trade-off at work.
- Health & Medicine
Early testing for Alzheimer’s
Spinal fluid test in people with mild cognitive impairments can predict in many cases who will develop the disease.
- Paleontology
Diggin’ dinos
Structures found in Australian rocks may be the filled-in remains of the world’s oldest dinosaur burrows.
- Physics
Raindrops go it alone
A new study using a high-speed camera finds the shattering of solitary drips can produce a variety of sizes.
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When Humor Humiliates
For gelotophobes, even good-natured laughter can sound a lot like ridicule.
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The Biofuel Future
Scientists seek ways to make green energy pay off.
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Science Past from the issue of August 1, 1959
Rename discomfort index — This summer you have a chance to “do something about,” not the weather, but the combination of heat and humidity that often makes so many persons so uncomfortable. The Weather Bureau in June started experimentally … publishing for the summer what it then called the “Discomfort Index.” The immediate results were […]
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Science Future for August 1, 2009
August 12–15 Scientists convene at the American Ornithologists’ Union meeting in Philadelphia. Visit www.birdmeetings.org/aou2009 August 31 Proposals to digitize scientist Wernher von Braun’s notes due to NASA. See www.nasa.gov/directorates/somd/home September 12 The Smithsonian Institution hosts a symposium on Darwin in Washington, D.C. See www.mnh.si.edu/calendar.asp
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Letters
Lead or poverty’s later toll Most toxic materials have the most deleterious effects at the earliest exposure ages, so I was puzzled by the study outcome in “School-age lead exposures may do more harm than earlier exposures” (SN: 6/6/09, p. 13). Did the study control for social and financial background? It would make sense for […]
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