Uncategorized
- Paleontology
Paleotrickery: A lengthy lineage for leaf-mimicking insects
Species in one group of insects have escaped the hungry eye of predators by looking like foliage and moving like swaying leaves for at least 47 million years, a new fossil find suggests.
- Tech
Loopy Light: Rings that delay photons may advance microchips
Chains of tiny, high-precision, light-conducting loops of silicon may open the door to using optical circuits to carry enormous data flows within computer chips.
- Health & Medicine
Bad to the Bone: Acid stoppers appear to have a downside
Popular acid-reducing drugs called proton-pump inhibitors may increase the risk of hip fractures in people over 50.
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19776
Without a corresponding study of bone densities, it’s not possible to determine whether the link between proton-pump inhibitors and increased fractures in people over age 50 is due to increased numbers of falls (dizziness, etc.) or to bone damage. It would be extremely helpful to try to tease out the cause behind this linkage. Dan […]
- Humans
Letters from the January 6, 2007, issue of Science News
Gone with the heat? “Feeling the heat of an extrasolar planet” (SN: 10/28/06, p. 285) made me wonder how long a gas planet is expected to survive when one of its faces is more than 1,000°C. The conventional model of our solar system assumes that gas planets can form and survive only in a cold […]
- Humans
When budgeting for quakes, dig deep
If earthquakes that struck the United States since 1900 are any guide, the nation can expect to suffer seismic damages of about $2.5 billion dollars each year in the future.
- Earth
Scraping the bottom
A survey of deep waters in western Lake Superior has revealed the tracks left by massive icebergs scraping bottom there during the last ice age.
- Earth
Glaciers give major boost to sea level
The ongoing disappearance of glaciers and other small ice masses worldwide makes a larger contribution to sea level rise than the melting of ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica does.
- Earth
Dating a massive undersea slide
Pieces of moss buried in debris left along the Norwegian coast by an ancient tsunami have enabled geologists to better determine the date of the immense underwater landslide that triggered the inundation.
- Humans
Longer work hours may warm climate
U.S. workers put in more hours than most other workers around the world, and one consequence is dramatically higher energy and environmental costs per employee.
- Chemistry
For sweat’s sake
Soldiers and emergency crews may one day find comfort as well as safety in their chemical-protection gear, now that researchers have created a breathable, chemical-blocking composite material.
- Ecosystems
Most Bees Live Alone
Concern about honeybee shortages has inspired new interest in bees that lead solitary lives and don't bother storing honey.
