Uncategorized
- Materials Science
Micropower Heats Up: Propane fuel cell packs a lot of punch
Portable electronic devices such as laptops and MP3 players could soon run on miniature fuel cells that consume propane.
- Earth
Icy Heat: Satellites look at heat flow through Antarctica’s crust
Using satellite observations of Earth's magnetic field, scientists can estimate the amount of heat flowing upward through Earth's surface under kilometers-thick ice.
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Your article refers to the Earth’s magnetic field only at very long wavelengths. In over 70 years’ exposure to science, I have never heard of our magnetic field having wavelengths. Please elaborate. Kenneth E. StoneCherryvale, Kan. Looking at Earth’s magnetic field at long wavelengths is analogous to looking at a picture in low resolution, says […]
- Health & Medicine
Back to Genetics: DNA variant may code for lumbar pain
An inheritable gene variation may increase susceptibility to lumbar-disk disease.
- Astronomy
Peering into a disrupted stellar nursery
A new infrared portrait of the Carina nebula star-forming region shows a clutch of baby stars tucked inside pillars of thick dust.
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Disorderly Conduct: U.S. survey finds high rates of mental illness
Nearly half of all adults in the United States develop at least one mental disorder at some time in their lives, although most cases aren't serious enough to require treatment.
- Animals
Sponge Moms: Dolphins learn tool use from their mothers
Dolphins that carry sponges on their beaks while looking for food may have learned the trick from their mothers instead of just inheriting a sponge-use gene.
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Cancer Link: MicroRNA grabs the spotlight
A type of genetic molecule known as microRNA can regulate gene activation and, in some cases, accelerate cancer growth.
- Humans
Letters from the June 11, 2005, issue of Science News
Dim prospects To a layman like me, it seems almost impossible that light reflected from a body that lies “much farther from the star than Pluto does from the sun” could be seen from Earth at a distance of 450 light years, when Pluto, only 6 light hours away, reflects so little light to Earth […]
- Earth
Seismic noise can yield maps of Earth’s crust
The small, random, and nearly constant seismic waves that travel in all directions through Earth's crust can be used to make ultrasoundlike images of geologic features within the crust.
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It was interesting to read of processing mundane noise to produce an ultrasound image of the geology of Los Angeles. A big question in the state is the deep structure of San Francisco Bay. Clearly, the bay and the valleys extending to its northwest and southeast form a rift valley. But it’s difficult to observe […]
- Health & Medicine
Tracking down an emerging disease
By examining geographic patterns of outbreaks of a disfiguring skin disease in tropical nations, scientists are finding tentative clues about how the ailment spreads.
