Uncategorized
- Planetary Science
Titan’s organic cloud
The Cassini spacecraft has imaged a huge cloud that engulfs most of the north pole of Saturn's icy moon Titan and could be a source of the moon's hydrocarbon lakes.
- Health & Medicine
Small tweaks prevent 1918-flu transmission
Just a couple of small genetic changes in a pandemic flu virus prevented it from passing efficiently between lab animals.
- Health & Medicine
Orexin-blocking pill speeds sleep onset
A new compound that inhibits the activity of the alertness-promoting brain peptide orexin shows promise as a potential sleeping pill.
-
Terrorism sparks heartfelt aftermath
Although terror-attack survivors often rebound emotionally, their bodies stay on heightened alert long after such traumas, according to tests of witnesses to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
- Astronomy
Tiny shutters for new observatory
A recently developed device, known as a microshutter, will allow the proposed James Webb Space Telescope to simultaneously record the spectra of light from 100 galaxies.
-
Two dimensions of mind perception
A new survey indicates that people discern the presence or absence of a mental life in others by assessing two general dimensions of thought.
- Animals
What’s Going on Down There?
In a 10-year, global effort, researchers exploring the unknowns of marine life have found bizarre fish, living-fossil shrimp, giant microbes, and a lot of other new neighbors.
-
19793
I enjoyed reading this article about the marine census that’s been taking place, but I was waiting for some mention of the organisms’ parasites. Granted, worms are not glamour-pusses, but they are fascinating creatures. If we want a complete survey, they must be included. Ann GardnerLincoln, Neb.
-
Net Heads
With a new arsenal of mathematical approaches, neuroscientists are unraveling the surprisingly few steps messages take to traverse the vast networks of brain cells underlying thought and perception.
-
19792
This article points out that vital intrinsic neural activities may in part stem from a person’s random thoughts and daydreams, or from neural efforts to balance the opposing signals of cells simultaneously trying to jack up and cool down brain activity, or could occur during an internal process of generating predictions about upcoming environmental demands […]
- Humans
Letters from the February 17, 2007, issue of Science News
Fear factor In response to “The Predator’s Gaze” (SN: 12/9/06, p. 379), I write as a psychiatrist and a mother. My ex-husband is now in prison, and my son likely carries the genes of sociopathy. The quality of fearlessness mentioned in the article seems to be one of the temperamental traits most associated with the […]
- Math
Divide-and-Conquer Multiplication
The most efficient way to multiply two large numbers is often far from obvious.
