Uncategorized
- Earth
Natural or Synthetic? Test reveals origin of chemicals in blubber
Natural compounds that are chemically akin to certain industrial chemicals wend their way up marine food chains and accumulate in whale blubber.
- Paleontology
Groovy Bones: Mammalian ear structure evolved more than once
Fossils of an ancient egg-laying mammal indicate that the characteristic configuration of the bones in all living mammals' ears arose independently at least twice during the group's evolution.
- Health & Medicine
Heartfelt Fear: Findings link stress and cardiac symptoms
Emotional stress can lead to symptoms that mimic a heart attack, even in people without coronary artery blockages, possibly by causing an unusual secretion of hormones.
- Physics
Dial-a-Splash: Thin air quells liquid splatter
How much liquids splatter when drops hit surfaces depends on the surrounding air pressure.
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19515
On reading about the interesting research on droplets in this article, I noticed that the two droplets shown in the photos at the moment of first contact have different shapes. In air at normal pressure, the droplet has the characteristic hamburger-bun shape. In contrast, the droplet at reduced pressure is spherical, or nearly so. Can […]
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Asian Kids’ IQ Lift: Reading system may boost Chinese scores
A new study of Chinese and Greek kids suggests that a Chinese IQ advantage over Westerners stems from superior spatial abilities, possibly because the Chinese learn to read pictorial symbols that emphasize spatial perception.
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19514
The work relating differences in intelligence scores to the “honing of spatial sensibilities” in Chinese readers sounds worthy of continued study. J. Philippe Rushton’s studies, on the other hand, sound fallacious. His claim that Chinese children adopted by U.S. parents also tend to score higher ignores the fact that such families tend overwhelmingly to be […]
- Earth
Long-winded benefits
Certain wind-energy systems that store excess energy for a time using compressed air can be as reliable as and far cleaner than conventional electric-generating plants.
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19513
Many years ago, I heard about one clever wind-energy–storage system. A fellow in Pennsylvania purchased a surplus railroad tank car and buried it on his farm. A nearby windmill-powered compressor pumped air into the tank, which could store an enormous amount of compressed air. The fellow used it to power air tools in his carpenter […]
- Astronomy
Swift detection of a gamma-ray burst
A telescope has for the first time detected X rays directly from an ongoing gamma-ray burst, the most powerful type of explosion in the universe.
- Materials Science
Tiles stack for shell strength in abalone
In abalone shells, microscopic tiles of calcium carbonate stack on top of each other in a highly ordered arrangement to create a superstrong material.
- Physics
Putting a new spin on silicon
Embedding ions of manganese in silicon imparts a magnetic field to the otherwise nonmagnetic semiconductor.
