Uncategorized
- Materials Science
Mother-of-Pearl on Ice: New ceramics might serve in bones and machines
Ceramics made by freezing water in an unusual way mimic not only the complicated microstructure of mother-of-pearl but also its extraordinary strength and toughness.
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19636
This article details logging and poaching practices that have decimated the orangutan population on Borneo. These practices are not only sad, they’re criminal. It’s time for scientists to become as politically active as the religious right and start fighting for actions known to be needed. In this case, it’s protecting orangutans from extinction. Scientists must […]
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Red Alert for Red Apes: DNA shows big losses for Borneo orangutans
A new genetic study charts a steep population decline among orangutans in northeastern Borneo, raising new concerns about possible extinction of the animals within the next few decades.
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19635
I was surprised to read nothing about the timing of the songs when the birds are separated by distance. The ABCD duet would become A—BC—D (where the dashes represent the time delay due to distance) to the male and AB—CD to the female. The duet could be a distance-measurement tool for pairs wanting to keep […]
- 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.
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19634
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.
- 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 […]
- Health & Medicine
Old idea fights ovarian cancer
Delivering chemotherapy directly into the abdomen improves survival in women with advanced ovarian cancer.
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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.
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Enzyme measures RNA using natural ruler
An enzyme that chops RNA into identically sized pieces uses itself to measure those lengths.
