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18995
In this article, Bruce Tremper states how predictable avalanches are (more so than a stock market crash), yet the whole last page describes the opposite. Am I missing something? Jeff CottonLake City, Calif. Tremper didn’t quite say that avalanches are predictable. He said they don’t occur without warning signs. –S. Perkins
By Science News - Earth
Avalanche!
Laboratory studies of how snow crystals change shape under fluctuating environmental conditions and computer analyses that match the patterns of past avalanches with detailed meteorological data are helping scientists uncover the secrets of avalanches.
By Sid Perkins - Health & Medicine
Protein Repair: New compounds may help cells fight off cancer
Researchers have identified a compound that enables even defective p53 proteins to initiate anticancer chain reactions.
By Nathan Seppa -
Copy Crab: DNA confirms that crab forms have several origins
New genetic evidence suggests that crabs aren't all close relatives and their characteristic shape evolved independently on numerous occasions.
- Materials Science
Thin Jet Flies Two for One: Double streams yield sheathed nanoballs, fibers
Researchers have used powerful electric fields to stretch liquids into ultrathin jets in which a stream of one liquid encloses the stream of another.
By Peter Weiss - Animals
Honey-Scented Elephants: Young males’ faces drip sweet signals
An Asian bull elephant just reaching maturity secretes a liquid from glands on its face that smells like honey.
By Susan Milius - Health & Medicine
Broken Weapon: Mutation disarms HIV-fighting gene
A gene that once produced a small protein able to prevent HIV from infecting cells now lies unusable in the human genome.
By John Travis - Astronomy
Ambitious Mission: Hubble slated to get one heckuva tune-up
If all goes according to plan, astronauts aboard the space shuttle Columbia will embark on the fourth and most technically challenging mission to replace damaged parts and install new detectors on the Hubble Space Telescope.
By Ron Cowen -
19052
The Dutch researchers featured in this article seem to have discovered something that has been known for a long time. They conclude that the people who make the best recovery from loss are those who “cite mainly positive feelings” about the deceased. Jews, who are among the human race’s experts in recovering from losses, have […]
By Science News -
Good Grief: Bereaved adjust well without airing emotion
Among bereaved spouses tracked for up to 2 years after their partners' death, those who often talked with others and briefly wrote in diaries about their emotions fared no better than their tight-lipped, unexpressive counterparts.
By Bruce Bower -
18994
There is another mechanism besides muscle that gives energy to running and hopping animals. It enables such animals as kangaroos to run faster than their muscles alone can take them. What happens is the tendons act as springs that stretch and then snap back. There is no reason to think that a large and heavy […]
By Science News - Paleontology
No Olympian: Analysis hints T. rex ran slowly, if at all
Tyrannosaurus rex, a bipedal meat eater considered by many to be the most fearsome dinosaur of its day, may not have been the swift Jeep-chaser portrayed by Hollywood.
By Sid Perkins