Uncategorized
- Health & Medicine
Bug be gone
An experimental device that combines a special comb with a forceful air blower kills head lice and their nits.
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19760
This article explained how research was being done to find a way to get rid of head lice without the use of harsh chemicals. While the method mentioned might work, I found a much lower-tech approach. I tried a multitude of things to get rid of these vermin when my daughter was infested, and the […]
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Jet lag might hasten death in elderly
Mimicking jet lag in old mice brought on an early death in the animals.
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19759
A better simulation of jet lag than that described in this article would have been to shift daytime forward 1 week, then back the next, and continue alternating for the 8 weeks of the experiment. This would mimic actual travel, rather than simulating endless trips around Earth in one direction. Dian Duchin ReedSoquel, Calif.
- Animals
Tough policing deters cheating in insects
In insect societies that have tough police, it's coercion, rather than kinship, that's preventing crime.
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19758
It is not only the scientific literature that documents the unexpected “doughnut” pattern in swarms. Italo Calvino’s fictional Mr. Palomar observed (rather more lyrically) about the flocking of Roman starlings, “Finally a form emerges from the confused flutter of wings, advances, condenses: it is a circular shape, like a sphere, a bubble, the balloon-speech of […]
- Math
The Mind of the Swarm
Mathematics is helping explain how animals form flocks, swarms, and schools.
- Chemistry
Chemical Pop-Up Books
Chemists and engineers have designed two-dimensional structures that self-fold into functional, three-dimensional objects, such as miniature chemistry laboratories and drug-delivery devices.
- Humans
Letters from the November 25, 2006, issue of Science News
Wasted youth The experiments with mice infected with the 1918 influenza virus are important but not surprising (“The Bad Fight: Immune systems harmed 1918 flu patients,” SN: 9/30/06, p. 211). John Barry’s The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History (2004, Viking) explains that many, perhaps most, of the victims were […]
- Health & Medicine
Bone Health
The Web site of the International Osteoporosis Foundation offers information for health professionals and the public about osteoporosis, a disease that reduces the density and quality of a person’s bones. It includes a 1-minute osteoporosis risk test, patient stories, facts and statistics on the disease, articles, and more. Go to: http://www.iofbonehealth.org/
- Humans
From the November 14, 1936, issue
Counting dust particles, fighting viral diseases, and aging whiskey.
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Derailing a Disease: Stem cells slow dogs’ muscular dystrophy
Injecting a special type of stem cell into dogs with the canine equivalent of Duchenne muscular dystrophy significantly slowed the disease's progression.
