Uncategorized
- Physics
Double or Nothing
The hunt for a rare, hypothetical nuclear transformation known as neutrinoless double-beta decay may answer one of the most urgent questions in physics today: How much do elementary particles called neutrinos weigh?
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Aphids with Attitude
A few aphid species that live socially in groups raise their own armies of teenage female clones.
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From the July 2, 1932, issue
OUR FRIEND THE BAT With the coming of warm summer weather, and the arrival in number of insects to eat, bats are becoming more noticeable as they make their noiseless nightly patrols. Because of their nocturnal, and therefore mysterious, habits and because of their preference for homes in caves and dark holes, our ancestors came […]
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Ketchup’s Shear Mystery
Shifting suddenly from a thick paste to a runny liquid when shaken or jarred, ketchup is one of many complex fluids that share a property called “shear thinning.” A NASA Web page highlights an upcoming space experiment aimed at elucidating the basic physics of these fluids. Go to: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/07jun_elastic_fluids.htm
- Math
Dangerous Problems
Some mathematical problems are easy to describe but turn out to be notoriously difficult to solve. Nonetheless, despite their reputed difficulty and repeated warnings from those who had failed to solve them in the past, these infamous problems continue to lure mathematicians into hours, days, and even years of futile labor. Billiard-ball trajectory after 15 […]
- Math
Dangerous Problems
Some mathematical problems are easy to describe but turn out to be notoriously difficult to solve. Nonetheless, despite their reputed difficulty and repeated warnings from those who had failed to solve them in the past, these infamous problems continue to lure mathematicians into hours, days, and even years of futile labor. Billiard-ball trajectory after 15 […]
- Math
Dangerous Problems
Some mathematical problems are easy to describe but turn out to be notoriously difficult to solve. Nonetheless, despite their reputed difficulty and repeated warnings from those who had failed to solve them in the past, these infamous problems continue to lure mathematicians into hours, days, and even years of futile labor. Billiard-ball trajectory after 15 […]
- Math
Dangerous Problems
Some mathematical problems are easy to describe but turn out to be notoriously difficult to solve. Nonetheless, despite their reputed difficulty and repeated warnings from those who had failed to solve them in the past, these infamous problems continue to lure mathematicians into hours, days, and even years of futile labor. In a presentation this […]
- Math
The Math Game
The television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire regularly attracts a huge audience. Can a mathematical game show hold its own against such competition–especially without lifelines, dramatic lighting effects, precarious chairs for contestants, and Regis Philbin as host? Probably not, but it can still be great fun. More than 200 mathematicians and students […]
- Earth
Pharm Pollution
Antibiotics in sewage sludge and manure have the potential to poison plants or end up in food.
- Chemistry
Ions on the Move: Theory of hydroxide’s motion overturned
New computer calculations reveal that a long-held belief about the hydroxide ion's movement in water is wrong.
- Health & Medicine
Diabetes problems aren’t just old news
Children who developed a type of diabetes that normally occurs only in adults suffer kidney failure, miscarriages, and death in their 20s.
