Uncategorized
- Astronomy
Weighing In on a Star: A stellar size limit
A new study suggests that no star in our galaxy can weigh more than 150 times the mass of the sun.
- Planetary Science
Slowpoke: Atmosphere put brakes on meteorite that formed famed crater
The extraterrestrial object that gouged out Arizona's Meteor Crater about 50,000 years ago struck at a speed much slower than most scientists had previously proposed.
-
Monkey See, Monkey Think: Grape thefts instigate debate on primate’s mind
Rhesus monkeys treat a competitor's averted eyes as a license to steal his or her food.
-
19525
Evidence of animals sensing where people are looking and what they’re seeing is interesting yet hardly new. For years, I have observed that wild rabbits will remain motionless as long as I stare in their direction. But as soon as I avert my eyes or turn my head, the rabbit is gone. Clearly, they correctly […]
- Health & Medicine
Blindness Hazard: Gene variant tied to macular degeneration
People who make a particular form of an immune system protein have a heightened risk of developing old-age blindness.
- Health & Medicine
Injections cut need for HIV drugs
An experimental vaccine, when given to people infected with HIV, appears to reduce their dependence on antiviral drugs.
- Humans
Death can outdo ABCs of prevention
Abstinence and monogamy may deserve little, if any, credit for the recent drop in the proportion of Ugandans who are infected with HIV.
- Humans
Letters from the March 12, 2005, issue of Science News
Cheaters like us? The model for the emergence of a population of “cheaters” out of a population of “cooperators” described in “When Laziness Pays: Math explains how cooperation and cheating evolve” (SN: 1/15/05, p. 35) gives a fresh viewpoint on existing ecosystems—and much more. Might the evolution of asymmetric modern sex from symmetric DNA exchange […]
- Health & Medicine
Inner-brain electrode may curb depression
Deep-brain electrical stimulation has shown promise in treating severe depression.
- Astronomy
Radiation from a baby star
X-ray telescopes have captured the earliest and clearest view of the core of a gas cloud about to transform into a star.
-
Master gene found for insect smell
A single gene may oversee the sense of smell in a variety of insect species.
- Anthropology
Inside view of our wee, ancient cousins
A tiny, humanlike species that inhabited an Indonesian island more than 20,000 years ago possessed a brain that shared some organizational features with Homo erectus, a large-brained human ancestor that thought in complex ways.
