Uncategorized
- Math
Springfield Theory
Over many years, the popular animated TV series The Simpsons has included numerous references to mathematics on the show.
- Math
Fibonacci’s Missing Flowers
The number of petals that a flower has isn't always a Fibonacci number. For more math, visit the MathTrek blog.
- Humans
The Influenza Epidemic of 1918
This eye-opening Web site from the National Archives and Records Administration features photos and documents related to the influenza epidemic of 1918, which killed more people than died in World War I. Go to: http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/influenza-epidemic/
- Humans
From the May 30, 1936, issue
A shaking mountain, a warm blood factory, and signaling with invisible heat rays.
- Physics
String Trio: Novel instrument strums like guitar, rings like bell
A new type of musical instrument, equipped with Y-shaped strings, may be the first of a family of string instruments with unusual overtones typically heard in bells or gongs.
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19687
Are the dates quoted in this article correct? I didn’t think Homo existed as a genus 840,000 years ago. David AdamsBoothwyn, Pa. Fossil finds indicate that the Homo genus originated roughly 2.4 million years ago .—B. Bower
- Archaeology
Stones of Contention: Tiny Homo species tied to ancient tool tradition
Controversial new discoveries suggest that our half-size evolutionary cousins who lived on the Indonesian island of Flores as recently as 12,000 years ago carried on a stone-toolmaking tradition passed down from the island's original colonizers more than 700,000 years ago.
- Earth
Oil Booms: Whales don’t avoid noise of seismic exploration
Field tests in the Gulf of Mexico suggest that sperm whales there don't swim away from boats conducting seismic surveys of the seafloor, but the noise generated by such activity may be subtly affecting the whales' feeding behavior. With video.
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Wrong Impression: Bipolar kids misinterpret facial cues as hostile
Children with bipolar disorder are more likely than other kids to read hostility in bland facial expressions.
- Earth
Lazarus, the amphibian
The painted frog, unseen for more than a decade and feared to be extinct, has resurfaced in a remote desert highland of Colombia.
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Herpes Runs Interference: Researchers discover how virus sticks around
Herpes simplex virus 1, which causes cold sores, uses a short, double-stranded RNA to outwit a cell's defensive measures.
- Earth
Pumped-up Poison Ivy: Carbon dioxide boosts plant’s size, toxicity
Rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could make poison ivy grow much faster and become more toxic.
