Uncategorized
- Earth
Life thrived below solid ice shelf
A survey of a segment of Antarctic seafloor that until recently had laid beneath a thick, floating ice shelf for thousands of years has revealed an ecosystem apparently based on chemical nourishment, not sunshine.
- Earth
Hurricanes get boost from ocean spray
A new model that describes airflow across the ocean's surface suggests that tiny droplets whipped from the tops of waves increase wind speeds well above what they'd be if the ocean spray wasn't there.
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19580
This article reports on research indicating that winds above the ocean surface can increase due to an apparent damping of turbulence by particles of ocean spray. I would like to point out that a similar phenomenon has been identified in rivers. In situations where the transport of fine sediment particles (sands, clays) coming from the […]
- Health & Medicine
King George III should have sued
The madness of England's King George III may have been partly due to arsenic poisoning.
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Bacteria feed on stinky breath
Scientists have isolated mouth bacteria that consume the chemicals that cause bad breath.
- 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.
- 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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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
