All Stories by Science News
- Physics
Powers of Ten
Florida State University’s “Molecular Expressions” Web site offers a fascinating sequence of images, each one 10 times bigger or smaller in scale than the one preceding or following it. The journey ranges from a view of the universe 10 million light years away from the Milky Way to an impressionistic glimpse of a diminutive sea […]
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19209
Your article says that “lactose, a sugar in milk, commonly elicits allergic reactions.” Lactose and many other carbohydrates don’t elicit an allergic response. Jonathan StapleyWest Lafayette, Ind. Lactose intolerance is the inability to digest significant amounts of lactose because there’s a shortage of an enzyme that breaks down milk sugar. This condition shouldn’t have been […]
- Humans
From the July 5, 1930, issue
POWER PLANT SENTINELS When hundreds of thousands of horsepower traveling with the speed of lightning are instantly halted, you may be sure there will be a grand disturbance. And there is, but all the fuss is confined in steel tanks 25 feet tall and 10 feet wide, filled with oil. Two such tanks are shown […]
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Classic Body
As part of an effort to put great works of fiction and nonfiction on the Web, Bartleby.com now presents the classic medical textbook Henry Gray’s Anatomy of the Human Body in all its searchable glory. The electronic version of the 1918 edition features 1,247vibrant engravings, many in color, as well as a subject index with […]
- Humans
From the January 28, 1933, issue
COMET PRINTS The dark, oblong areas pictured on the front cover are all that remain of a pre–Ice Age collision of cosmical magnitude, the smattering of a part of what is now the southeastern United States with fragments of a comet. This is the belief of Profs. F.A. Melton and William Schriever of the University […]
- Tech
Super Truck
Even James Bond might take notice. The SmarTruck, developed for the U.S. Army by the National Automotive Center and the Integrated Concepts and Research Corporation, serves as a vehicle for testing cutting-edge technologies. The current model incorporates a sophisticated information system, an adjustable air suspension system for varied terrain, and a slanted body style that […]
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19172
I was encouraged to read this article. I’ve often wondered when researchers outside addiction research would realize type II diabetes is the result of addiction to foods that chronically elevate insulin levels, thus acting as antidepressants. Once physicians recognize carbohydrate abuse as drug abuse, we’ll be better situated to provide appropriate interventions. Betty Streett Clarksdale, […]
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19171
After reading this article, I couldn’t believe that the manuscript didn’t identify the chemical substance involved. Eck Prud’hommeFort Worth, Texas The amino acid mentioned in the story is p -aminophenylalanine .–J. Gorman
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19208
I wonder whether researchers offer any recommendations based on a difference in effect between ingesting vitamin A and beta-carotene. Do people who consume large amounts of yellow vegetables, for example, put themselves at risk? Mary A. TurzilloBerea, Ohio Yellow fruits and vegetables contain large amounts of the vitamin A precursor beta-carotene. However, says Margo Denke […]
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19170
Researchers’ conclusions in this article that there is a “need to revisit controversial claims about the health benefits and risks of bed sharing for babies” seem to me to miss the point. The health benefits and risks of any sleeping environment should be of concern. Focusing solely on bed sharing implies that crib use is […]
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19161
You are usually pretty good at explaining things to those of us outside the hard sciences, but the speed of gravity? Speed of light OK, but what is the speed of gravity? Robert L. SchragNorth Carolina State UniversityRaleigh, N.C. An object with mass creates a gravitational field around itself. Imagine that the object moves; then, […]
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19160
I found the “stats” about blood donors and patients in this article misleading, with the implication that 8 million volunteer donors are more than enough for 4.5 million patients. A comparison of how many people donate blood during their lives and how many people need blood donations during theirs might have been more informative. We […]
