Uncategorized
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19779
Do cows and other domestic-herd animals really emit more methane than bison and other wild-herd animals emitted before people came along? Do grass, alfalfa, and other pasture plants remove less carbon dioxide than do forests? There were open grasslands before pastures replaced some forests. I hope the people who are researching these things take such […]
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Stem cells float in amniotic fluid
Scientists have discovered a new type of stem cell in the fluid that bathes fetuses in the womb.
- Health & Medicine
Putting the kibosh on black cohosh
The herbal supplement black cohosh is no more effective than a placebo in reducing the number of daily hot flashes in menopausal women.
- Health & Medicine
Good news for people with clotting disorder
Several experimental drugs show promise against the bleeding disorder known as immune thrombocytopenic purpura.
- Tech
A backpack with a suspension system
A new backpack design that uses elastic cords to minimize the pack's vertical motion could lessen bodily strain on wearers and reduce the effort required to carry a load.
- Earth
Yes, it’s asbestos
Federal mineralogists have corroborated earlier evidence that Sierra-foothills communities around Sacramento, Calif., are built atop soils naturally laced with asbestos.
- Computing
Digital Fingerprints
New methods to identify Internet users by their behavior can uncover criminals online, but these techniques may also track millions of innocent users.
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19778
Morse code “fist” analysis can easily be defeated by a software buffer that conforms the intervals between all types of strokes. Actual Morse buffers are already in regular use among ham operators. “Writeprints” can also be defeated. “Clickprints” aren’t as easy to conceal, perhaps, but some clever software designer will devise a foil for them […]
- Physics
Cellular Contortionist
Mounting, but controversial, evidence suggests that DNA flexes more easily than previously thought, with potentially important implications for genetics, cell biology, and nanotechnology.
- Humans
Letters from the January 13, 2007, issue of Science News
Sunny exposition “The Antibiotic Vitamin” (SN: 11/11/06, p. 312) reminds me that in preantibiotic days, tuberculosis patients were put on a fresh-air-and-sunshine regimen. Could the vitamin D so acquired account for the cures this system sometimes produced? Nancy AxfordSacramento, Calif. Researcher John J. Cannell points to TB sanitariums as anecdotal evidence that sunlight fights infections.—J. […]
- Planetary Science
From the January 2, 1937, issue
The beauty of snow, a very large number, and a robot brain machine.
- Earth
Meteorites on Ice
Join a recent expedition to the Antarctic to search for meteorites. Check out reports from the 2006-2007 trek in the daily expedition blog. Go to: http://geology.cwru.edu/~ansmet/ and http://www.humanedgetech.com/expedition/ansmet2/
