Uncategorized
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19695
Information, and especially pictures, of these strange mammals is always of interest. I wanted to check on the statement about “several dozen species in sub-Saharan Africa.” Alas, I was unable to do so. Science News hadn’t bothered to include either generic or specific names for any species discussed. How unfortunate to have this very important […]
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Nurture Takes the Spotlight
What a person eats, what chemicals he or she is exposed to, and other features of a person's environment chemically modify chromosomes, thereby changing how genes are ultimately expressed.
- Math
Folding Perfect Thirds
Origami provides a hands-on way to explore mathematical concepts. For more math, visit the MathTrek blog.
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- Tech
How Products are Made
What does it take to manufacture an accordion or a zipper? Organized alphabetically by product name, this intriguing Web site provides details on how a wide variety of everyday and basic products are made. Go to: http://www.madehow.com/
- Materials Science
Greenhouse Glass: Squeezing and heating carbon dioxide yields exotic, see-through solid
Researchers have forged solid glass from carbon dioxide.
- Health & Medicine
Wasting Away: Prozac loses promise as anorexia nervosa fighter
Although often prescribed for people with anorexia nervosa, the popular antidepressant medication Prozac offers no better protection against the potentially fatal eating disorder than placebo pills do.
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19694
I learned that there are three types of birds: eagles, ducks, and tweety birds. To claim that all modern birds evolved from aquatic ancestors based on a 110-million-year-old fossil seems presumptuous. John St. ClaireCardiff-by-the-Sea, Calif.
- Paleontology
Ancient webbed masters
Newly unearthed fossils of a 110-million-year-old bolster the notion that all modern birds evolved from aquatic ancestors.
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Fat Friends: Gut-microbe partners bring in more calories
The collaborative efforts of two common gut microbes could increase the calories that a person extracts from food and store as fat, a study in mice suggests.
- Earth
Mineral Deposit: Asbestos linked to lupus, arthritis
Already known to cause lung cancer, asbestos has now been associated with three autoimmune diseases.
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19693
With the known link of asbestos to lung cancer, the new finding mentioned in this article that many other diseases can be caused by asbestos only serves as fodder for litigation, clogging of our legal system, and, unfortunately, more enrichment of trial lawyers instead of asbestos victims. Nelson MaransSilver Spring, Md.
