Uncategorized
- Animals
Just Duet
Two or more birds in some species can sing with such coordination that a human listener would swear that it's just one singer. With audio files.
By Susan Milius -
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This article made no mention of the Clarno fossil beds and others nearby in north-central Oregon. Everything from pollen to midsize extinct mammals has been perfectly preserved and looks exactly like freshly exposed matter, not fossil rock. The living matter was entrapped by an enormous mudslide. Herman GelbachNormandy Park, Wash.
By Science News - Paleontology
First Steps
Using materials as diverse as lobster eggs, dead birds, and the headless carcass of a rhinoceros, scientists are conducting experiments that scrutinize the first steps of the fossilization process.
By Sid Perkins - Humans
Letters from the January 28, 2006, issue of Science News
Oil-for-food exchange Several decades ago, I heard of the anecdotal correlation between the rise of hydrogenated oils in our foods and the rise of colon cancer. The Swedish study that correlated high dairy-fat intake with lower risk of colon cancer (“Dairy fats cut colon cancer risk,” SN: 11/19/05, p. 333) might be reexamined to see […]
By Science News - Health & Medicine
Old idea fights ovarian cancer
Delivering chemotherapy directly into the abdomen improves survival in women with advanced ovarian cancer.
By Nathan Seppa -
Polar-opposite bacteria swim south in the north
Some aquatic bacteria that orient themselves using Earth's magnetic field swim in the opposite direction from what researchers typically expect.
- Humans
New law to limit politicized science
A new law prohibits three federal agencies from knowingly disseminating bad data and bans application of any political litmus test to experts under consideration as advisers.
By Janet Raloff -
Enzyme measures RNA using natural ruler
An enzyme that chops RNA into identically sized pieces uses itself to measure those lengths.
- Chemistry
Reactions on the spot
Researchers report that they have engineered a miniature pipette that can dispense solutions at volumes of a billionth of a billionth of a liter.
- Materials Science
Engineering membranes from cellular parts
Chemists have for the first time spun the molecules that make up cellular membranes into fibrous networks.
- Anthropology
India cultivated homegrown farmers
A new analysis of Y chromosome structure supports the view that around 10,000 years ago, people living in what's now India took up farming rather than giving way to foreigners who brought agriculture into South Asia.
By Bruce Bower - Math
College Friendships and Social Networks
E-mail messages provide insights into the evolution of social networks.