Uncategorized
- Math
Strolling Down Möbius Lane
The Möbius band is a fascinating object. You can make a simple model of it by joining the ends of a long, narrow strip of paper after giving one end a 180-degree twist. The result is a one-sided, one-edged surface in the form a single closed continuous curve with a twist. A Möbius band. A […]
- Humans
From the October 28, 1933, issue
WEATHERMEN UNWITTINGLY POSE HALLOWEEN PICTURE Not ancient warlocks making weather but modern scientists just making a record of it, unintentionally posed a good Halloween picture on the top of Mount Washington, with the aid of a cat that doesn’t like the wind. The photograph has nothing of the mellowness of autumn about it–quite naturally, since […]
- Materials Science
Water Repellency Goes Nano: Carpet of carbon nanotubes cleans itself
Forests of carbon nanotubes coated with Teflon yield a superhydrophobic material—the ultimate self-cleaning surface.
- Earth
Blame the Sea? Ocean may be melting ice shelf from below
Significant portions of a large Antarctic ice shelf just south of one that suddenly broke apart in February 2002 are rapidly thinning and may suffer a similar, catastrophic demise in less than a century.
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19356
A simpler explanation for ancient humans’ use of red ocher might be cosmetics, much as in modern mortuary practice. A dusting of red ocher would offset the blue pallor that results when blood flow ceases. No deep, dark symbolism was necessarily involved. Virgil H. SouleFrederick, Md. Any mortuary practice involves symbolism. Simply burying a person’s […]
- Anthropology
Stone Age Code Red: Scarlet symbols emerge in Israeli cave
Lumps of red ocher excavated near human graves in an Israeli cave indicate that symbolic thinking occurred at least 90,000 years ago, much earlier than archaeologists have traditionally assumed.
- Astronomy
Out of Hiding: Lost asteroid reappears, bringing surprises
A long-lost asteroid that came close to Earth in 1937 has been spotted again, and its projected path steers clear of Earth.
- Animals
First Impressions: Early view biases spider’s mate choice
In a new wrinkle on how females develop their tastes in males, a test has found that young female wolf spiders that see a male's courtship display grow up with a preference for that look in mates.
- Health & Medicine
Antiviral Advance: Drug disables enzyme from hepatitis C virus
A new drug prevents the replication of the hepatitis C virus.
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19355
In 1993, Israeli physicist Moti Milgrom showed an adjustment to the way gravity is calculated that would make dark matter go away in Newton’s system for calculating gravity. If Milgrom’s math were used in the survey for dark matter in your article, would it also make dark matter go away? O. Frank TurnerWestminster Colo. Most […]
- Astronomy
Cosmic Survey: Galaxy map reveals dark business as usual
The most precise map of how galaxies cluster, pulled together by the tug of gravity, has confirmed that most of the cosmos is in the dark, consisting of 5 percent ordinary matter, 25 percent dark matter, and 70 percent dark energy.
- Earth
Flaming Out? Days may be numbered for two fire retardants
The maker of two controversial flame-retardant chemicals has voluntarily initiated negotiations with the federal government to end their production.
