Uncategorized
- Health & Medicine
Lyme microbe forms convenient bond with tick protein
The bacterium that causes Lyme disease commandeers a gene in the deer tick, inducing overproduction of a salivary protein that the bacterium uses to escape immune detection once it's inside a mammal.
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Human immune signal sets off bacterial attack
A chemical secreted by immune cells when people are stressed or sick causes a common gut bacterium to go on the offensive against its host.
- Earth
Great river cycles carbon quickly
Some of the organic material carried to the sea by the Amazon is thousands of years old, but much of the carbon in carbon dioxide emanating from the river was stored in plants for less than a decade.
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19579
Your article was very interesting, but it didn’t mention the possibility of a genetic bottleneck after Homo sapiens was already dispersed into Asia and then eliminated from everywhere but Africa by the Toba volcano in Sumatra 74,000 years ago. It has been said that during the colder times after the explosion, the cold-adapted Homo neanderthalensis […]
- Anthropology
The Human Wave
Anatomically modern people evolved in small groups of ancient Homo sapiens that never traveled too far but continually interbred with nearby groups, including other Homo species, creating a genetic wave that moved from Africa across Asia, a new model suggests.
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19578
Does the name of Honda’s robot, Asimo, have a meaning in Japanese, or is it just a tip of the hat to Isaac Asimov? Dennis LynchGlenshaw, Pa. Asimo’s name stands for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility.—N. Moreira
- Tech
Easy Striders
New robots based on the mechanics of human walking use less energy and move more naturally than traditional bipedal robots do, suggesting new ways to approach two-legged robots and prosthetic design.
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- Humans
From the July 27, 1935, issue
The geometry of honeycombs, high-energy, man-made gamma rays, and an electrical speed trap.
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Virtual Insects
Created by entomologist Alexei Sharov of Virginia Tech, this Web site provides dramatic, close-up, three-dimensional views of various insects, as presented in animated images or using the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML). Virtual insects on display include the ant, stag beetle, water strider, and termite. Requires a QuickTime plug-in (movies) or a VRML plug-in (virtual […]
- Earth
What’s Gotten into Everybody? Survey of bodily contaminants finds encouraging declines and new exposures
The U.S. population's exposure to lead, secondhand smoke, and certain other harmful chemicals has trended downward, but some newly measured contaminants are present in a sizable fraction of the nation's residents, according to an updated report.
- Health & Medicine
Echinacea Disappoints: There’s still no cure for the common cold
The folk remedy echinacea shows no benefit against the common cold.
