Uncategorized
- Astronomy
Keeping Hubble from being hobbled
NASA late last month shut down one of the aging Hubble Space Telescope's three gyros in an effort to extend its life.
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19594
There was a line or two in this article about carnations with an aroma of Earl Grey tea or fruit loops. Well, here in the Sonoran Desert, we have wildflowers that smell like sweaty gym socks, grape Kool-Aid, or even rotting meat. When I was helping edit a desert-wildflower book years ago, I found the […]
- Plants
Save the Flowers
Now that breeders have created thousands of new ornamental-flower varieties, scientists are turning their attention to restoring the fragrances that fell victim to the process.
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19593
I am dismayed and offended that you overlooked or avoided the circumstances of the under-12-year-old victims in this article. As much as half of Thailand’s sex tourism exploits preteen and preschool children. Valerie NielsenTemecula, Calif. Your article inaccurately states, “Thai Buddhists hold that each person’s soul inhabits many physical bodies over time….” Buddha has categorically […]
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Childhood’s End
In northern Thailand, parents send one or more of their daughters off to become prostitutes so that the girls will make enough money to improve the local status of their families, a finding with implications for programs aimed at stopping child prostitution.
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***Notice to Subscribers in Areas Affected by Hurricane Katrina***
The U.S. Postal Service has asked magazine publishers to suspend subscription mailings to areas that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Science News subscribers in those areas won't be charged for issues that are withheld, and their subscriptions will be extended. Mailings will resume upon notification by the USPS that delivery is reinstated.
- Math
A Mathemusical Potpourri
Turning numbers and mathematical ideas into musical tones comes in many flavors.
- Humans
From the September 14, 1935, issue
Symmetry in electric transmission lines and the chemical composition of a male sex hormone.
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Microbes on the Air
The MicrobeWorld Web site, produced by the American Society for Microbiology, offers access to daily 90-second news capsules that highlight the vital role that microbes play in our lives. These snippets, created for broadcast on radio stations, are now available as downloadable podcasts. The Web site provides instructions for subscribing to the podcasts for automatic […]
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19592
The pendular running gait described in this article as one of the most efficient bipedal gaits looks remarkably like the way eyewitnesses claim Bigfoot creatures move. In a Bigfoot hoax, one might use a gait that is unhuman but energy efficient, as the costume would be rather heavy. On the other hand, since such a […]
- Tech
Stepping Lightly: New view of how human gaits conserve energy
Using a simple mathematical model, scientists may have pinpointed the key aspects of human locomotion that make ordinary walking and running the most energy-efficient ways for people to get around on foot.
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Forever Young: Digging for the roots of stem cells
Three proteins have been shown to function as master regulators that shut off differentiation and enable stem cells to retain their capacity to develop into any type of cell.
