Uncategorized
- Health & Medicine
Sometimes lying down is harder work
Squatting or standing might ease baby delivery by allowing the birth canal more room to expand.
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Science News of the Year 2001
A review of important scientific achievements reported in Science News during the year 2001.
- Math
Guessing Cards
Card-guessing tricks give a magician the opportunity to show off his or her mind-reading prowess. In many cases, the illusion of mind reading arises not from sleight of hand but as a consequence of some mathematical principle. One of the most startling of such prediction tricks is known as the Kruskal count, named for Rutgers […]
- Health & Medicine
Ultrasound boosts drug delivery to tumors
A beam of ultrasound can make the blood vessels that infiltrate cancerous growths leakier than normal.
- Astronomy
Journey through the Universe
A new permanent exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum traces the development of tools used to study the heavens and how they have changed our understanding of the universe.
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19046
This article illustrates the importance of astronomical instruments by suggesting that Copernicus was not “proved right” until the development by Tycho Brahe of sophisticated observational tools late in the 16th century. I think this is a misleading example. Tycho’s records did allow his one-time assistant Johannes Kepler to move closer to “proving” Copernicus right, early […]
- Health & Medicine
Weak appetite in elderly ties to hormone
A hormone known to suppress appetite is more abundant in seniors than in young adults and has a greater effect in squelching hunger in elderly people.
- Animals
Unknown squids—with elbows—tease science
Glimpses from around the world suggest that the ocean depths hold novel, long-armed squids that belong in no known family.
- Earth
Forest-soil fungi emit gases that harm ozone layer
Laboratory tests reveal for the first time that certain types of common fungi can produce ozone-destroying methyl halide gases.
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Astronauts’ sleep may get lost in space
Two new studies indicate that astronauts experience changes in the body's circadian pacemaker that are associated with sleep problems.
- Health & Medicine
Mice reveal the off switch for inflammation
Working with genetically engineered mice, scientists have identified a crucial natural mechanism that rodents use to shut down inflammation before it does harm.
- Astronomy
Did Space Rocks Deliver Sugar?
Planetary scientists have for the first time detected sugar compounds in meteorites, bolstering the view that space rocks seeded the early Earth with ingredients essential for the development of life.
