Uncategorized
- Planetary Science
Dusty rejuvenation
The Mars rover Spirit recently had its dirty solar arrays cleaned off, possibly by a dust devil, allowing the craft to generate nearly as much energy as it did when it first landed on the Red Planet in January 2004.
- Humans
Letters from the April 9, 2005, issue of Science News
Big ideas Your article “Life on the Scales” (SN: 2/12/05, p. 106) reminded me that taking a bird’s song and transposing it down four octaves makes it sound like a whale’s song. The opposite is also true. To hear this, go to http://www.mind.net/music/birdwhaleDemo.mp3. Todd BartonAshland, Ore. The article would imply that the only anomaly to […]
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19538
Your article gives a simplistic and generally inaccurate account of the relationship between Fst [also called Wright’s F statistic] and race/subspecies/species. Fst reflects the relative amount of total genetic variation between populations. While there is bound to be a correlation between Fst and species status, Fst is not normally used to define species. An Fst […]
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Code of Many Colors
Researchers have yet to find markers for race in the genome, but understanding the biology underlying perceptions of race could have dramatic social and personal consequences.
- Math
Manuscripts as Fossils
A new mathematical model estimates how many medieval manuscripts have survived to the present.
- Math
Sea Shell Spirals
The golden ratio doesn't figure into the spiral structure of the chambered nautilus shell.
- Humans
From the March 30, 1935, issue
Dust storms over Washington, D.C., 300 successive generations of fruit flies, and the world's oldest cemetery.
- Humans
Science Cartoons
The science-themed cartoons of Sidney Harris have entertained readers of magazines ranging from American Scientist to The New Yorker for many years. You can find a selection of his delightful cartoons, organized by topic, in this Web gallery. Go to: http://www.sciencecartoonsplus.com/gallery.htm
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19537
I usually tend to downplay worries about research in genetics, but I was quite concerned after reading “Expanding the genetic code” (SN: 4/2/05, p. 222). The researchers surely have plans to keep whatever they create contained. But adding a fifth base to the DNA of bacteria with a genetic mutation rate 10,000 times that of […]
- Ecosystems
Quick Fix: How invasive seaweed repairs its wounds
Scientists have discerned the chemistry underlying the rapid wound-healing process in an invasive green alga that is wreaking havoc in the Mediterranean Sea.
- Astronomy
Star Packed: Super cluster is first to be detected in Milky Way
Astronomers have detected the most massive and densest cluster of young stars ever detected in the Milky Way, a finding that could shed light on how stars formed in the early universe.
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Little Brains That Could: Bees show big-time working memory
Even though a honeybee's brain could fit on the head of a match, the creature's working memory is nearly as effective as that of a pigeon or a monkey.
