Uncategorized
- Health & Medicine
Statin reduces dementia risk
A popular anticholesterol drug reduces older adults' chances of developing dementia.
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19864
A simpler explanation for orangutans walking upright like humans is that this feature evolved in a common ancestor that did not include African apes. In other words, orangutans, not chimpanzees, are our closest living relatives. This would make sense of all the similarities in sexuality, reproduction, physiology, anatomy, and behavior that are unique to humans […]
- Anthropology
Red-Ape Stroll
Wild orangutans regularly walk upright through the trees, raising the controversial possibility that the two-legged stance is not unique to hominids.
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- Humans
Letters from the August 4, 2007, issue of Science News
Here comes the sun When “Reaching for Rays: Scientists work toward a solar-based energy system” (SN: 5/26/07, p. 328) says that “scientists don’t expect traditional silicon-based solar cells to become competitive with fossil fuels,” one has to ask, “Ever?” Can anyone accurately predict the future price of polysilicon or of fossil fuels? Peter A. KaczowkaLenox, […]
- Ecosystems
Bee All
With continuing concerns about the decline of honeybees in North America—and especially the newly recognized Colony Collapse Disorder—here’s a site to learn more about the important role these and other bees play in plant health and agriculture. This academic site links to plenty of related places on the Web that also address threats to not […]
- Humans
From the July 24, 1937, issue
Records of floods are written in mud, predictions that locusts will invade areas once thought safe, and the Eiffel Tower hosts the world's most powerful television transmitter.
- Physics
Slick serpent
Oil poured into a pan of the same liquid drags along a surrounding air layer, which can make it skip in and out of the surface before it mixes in.
- Astronomy
Heavenly Chemistry: Astronomers announce astrophysical anion
Astronomers' discovery of a rare negatively charged organic molecule sheds light on conditions in interstellar gas clouds, where amino acids, sugars, and other prebiologic compounds form.
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Sweet Gatekeeper: Receptor depends on sugar and water
Water and sugar molecules play a previously unsuspected role in the way that a ubiquitous receptor passes chemical messages between cells.
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19863
Oscar the cat possibly does identify dying patients, but this story presents anecdotal rather than scientific evidence and does not belong in a science magazine. Julie EnevoldsenSeattle, Wash. Correlation is not causation. Could it not be that, somehow, Oscar the cat is killing these patients? Jan SteinmanSalt Spring Island, British Columbia
- Health & Medicine
Grim Reap Purr: Nursing home feline senses the end
A nursing home cat in Rhode Island knows when the end is nigh, predicting with uncanny accuracy when residents will die.
