Uncategorized
- Plants
Tiny pool protects flower buds
A rare structure on flowers, tiny cups that keep buds underwater until they bloom, can protect the buds from marauding moths.
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19832
Doesn’t this article on flywheels leave out a significant aspect: the gyroscope effects of a rotating large mass? Wouldn’t it be a benefit for moving installations (stabilization) and a problem for immobile installations? Lee HukillPalo Alto, Calif. In the article, the flywheels depicted appear to have vertical axles. I presume that this prevents inertial forces […]
- Physics
Spinning into Control
High-speed flywheels could replace batteries in hybrid vehicles and help make the electrical grid more reliable.
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19831
Kudos for Science News for this article. I think this holistic view of the microbe community—rather than investigating the single organism—offers a hopeful path to numerous insights for preventive measures for optimum health. Terry MooreCorvallis, Ore.
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Our Microbes, Ourselves
Trillions of microbes live in the human gut and skin, and they may be essential to health.
- Math
Miles from Nowhere
Scientists have developed a new technique for calculating the ecological value of road-free areas of land and representing them geometrically.
- Humans
Letters from the May 19, 2007, issue of Science News
Merry go round When considering a spin rate of 1,122 revolutions per second, has anyone determined the diameter of the neutron star XTE J1739-285 (“Dance of the dead,” SN: 3/17/07, p. 173)? If, for example, it were the same diameter as Earth, it would be traveling far in excess of the speed of light at […]
- Math
A Grove of Evolutionary Trees
"Trees of life" show patterns of evolutionary descent, and they fit together mathematically to form an abstract forest.
- Humans
From the May 8, 1937, issue
Finishing a telescope, finding new matter, and launching rockets.
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X-treme Microbes
This graphics-heavy online feature tells the stories of microbes that survive and even thrive in inhospitable environments, including bone-dry deserts, boiling acid, and radioactive rock. The National Science Foundation launched the site last month. Go to: http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/microbes
- Humans
Extreme Encyclopedia: Every living thing will get its own page
A consortium of museums and laboratories has unveiled plans to create a free, Web-based Encyclopedia of Life with an entry for every living species.
- Physics
Invisible Trail: Analyzing the vortices in the wake of a bat
Flying bat generate lift and thrust with their wings much differently than birds do.
