Uncategorized
- Astronomy
Cosmic Ray Font: Supernova remnants rev up ions
High-resolution X-ray images of the Tycho supernova remnant offer new evidence that supernova shock waves generate most cosmic rays that bombard Earth.
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19598
This article is unfortunately murky. It’s confusing to state that accelerating charged particles to high speeds “therefore” produces cosmic rays. And what “charged particles”? Is the “energized” gas in fact “ionized”? “Energized” is too general a word. Finally, why are high-speed particles more easily compressed than slower-moving material? Fredric BlumMerion, Pa. “Energized” means that the […]
- Health & Medicine
Give It Up: Cutting back helps, but even a cigarette or two a day carries risks
Reducing tobacco use curbs the risk of lung cancer, but smoking even a few cigarettes a day puts a person at three to five times the risk faced by a nonsmoker.
- Health & Medicine
Better Beta: Cells grown in lab may treat diabetes
Scientists have developed a technique to mass-produce a type of pancreas cell needed for transplants into people with type 1 diabetes.
- Chemistry
Into the Void: Porous crystals could do more chemistry
Chemists have devised a new approach that creates crystalline material with some of the largest pores yet.
- Animals
Looks Matter: If swallows aren’t spiffy, mates’ fidelity is iffy
If a male barn swallow's plumage is more attractive than that of other males, his mate is less likely to have furtive flings with other wooers.
- Health & Medicine
Falling Influence: Influenza fighters have limited effects
The most readily available drugs against influenza have abruptly declined in effectiveness in the past decade.
- Planetary Science
Sun grazers: A thousand comets and counting
An amateur astronomer analyzing images from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory has found the 999th and 1,000th comets detected by the craft.
- Tech
Light sensor may improve battlefield tools
A new microscale ultraviolet-light sensor could help shrink the size of some military field systems used for detecting biowarfare agents and clandestine communications to the dimensions of a cell phone.
- Earth
Save the frogs
Researchers have drafted a proposed $400 million research-and-rescue plan for the world's amphibians, at least half of which are in decline or even facing serious risk of extinction.
- Humans
Anti-TB spending abroad could save money overall
Investing $44 million in tuberculosis-control programs in Mexico, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic might save the United States nearly triple that amount over the next 20 years.
- Health & Medicine
Acne medicines can be a pain in the throat
Treatment with antibiotics for acne might predispose an individual to getting severe upper respiratory infections.
