Uncategorized
- Chemistry
Compounds pass the smell test
A vile-smelling but versatile class of compounds may find a role in more chemistry laboratories with the introduction of easily made, inoffensive versions. Isonitriles, chemicals characterized by a triple bond between a carbon and a nitrogen atom, are useful in many reactions. But many chemists have shunned them because of their pungency, says Michael C. […]
- Humans
Women: Where are your patents?
Business-school researchers find a big gender gap among academic life scientists in patenting rates.
- Health & Medicine
Forewarning of preeclampsia
Scientists have found an early warning sign of preeclampsia, a pregnancy complication marked by high blood pressure. Pregnant women with too much of a protein called soluble endoglin in their blood have a heightened risk of preeclampsia, the researchers say. Endoglin normally sits on the surface of blood vessels, where it plays a role in […]
- Chemistry
Better protection
A new molecular catalyst shortens a widely used reaction into a one-step process, with a bonus: It makes the reaction’s products into one of two possible mirror-image forms. When chemists synthesize compounds, they often add a protective group of atoms to a specific site on a molecule to prevent that site from reacting in subsequent […]
- Earth
Magma heats up as it crystallizes
Molten rock moving through a volcano's plumbing prior to an eruption can sometimes heat up substantially as it approaches Earth's surface.
- Animals
Battle of the Hermaphrodites
A biologist argues that combining the sexes can actually make gender wars worse.
- Health & Medicine
Pick Your Antipoison
New research may soon make treating venomous bites and stings less expensive, less risky, and more effective.
- Humans
Letters from the September 16, 2006, issue of Science News
Hot topic It seems more likely that a decline of total precipitation and humidity would be the direct cause of both temperature and fire incidence (“The Long Burn: Warming drove recent upswing in wildfires,” SN: 7/8/06, p. 19). It is fashionable to blame every weather problem on greenhouse gases and global warming, but in this […]
- Math
Does Defense Win Championships?
In pro football, a good defense doesn't generally trump a good offense.
- Humans
From the September 5, 1936, issue
A field divided, hope for mine workers exposed to silica dust, and taking the brain's temperature.
- Physics
Neutrino Detector
Neutrinos are remarkably elusive subatomic particles, and it takes specially designed and constructed detectors to ensnare them. One such detector is the Soudan Underground Laboratory, built 2,400 feet underground in an old mine in Minnesota. The lab’s Web site offers descriptions of the facilities and updates on ongoing experiments. It also has a section for […]
- Planetary Science
Rare Uranian eclipse
The Hubble Space Telescope has for the first time recorded an eclipse on Uranus.
