All Stories by Science News
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19166
I read your article about bilirubin protecting cells from free radicals and possibly cancer and heart disease. People with Gilbert’s syndrome, which affects 5 percent of the population, have higher-than-normal amounts of bilirubin in their blood. Has any study been conducted to ascertain whether people with Gilbert’s syndrome have a lower incidence of cancer and […]
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19165
“Waves,” or crenulations, occur not only on water icicles, but also in caves on dripstone and flowstone speleothems composed of calcite, epsomite, goethite, and even mud. All of these formations display “wavelengths” of around 1 centimeter. The origin of these crenulations is due not to heat, but to greater evaporation and carbon dioxide loss from […]
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19193
I note with some incredulity that happiness (joy, elation) in some form is missing from the list of “basic” universal emotions, and even from the extended list of 9 or 10. Is happiness not considered a basic emotion? Did ancient Hindus not experience joy and hence not express it in dance? Or is happiness considered […]
- Humans
From the December 10, 1932, issue
CALVES RETAIN PART OF WILD THINGS’ CHARM Cows are prosaic. Like all the rest of us who have grown into maturity and (alas!) responsibility, they have their workaday jobs in a workaday world, seeing to it that we get butter and, eventually, beefsteaks. But calves still have something reminiscent of the long-lost wild freedom of […]
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Grossology
This Web site from the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh accompanies a traveling exhibit, based on the book Grossology by Sylvia Branzei, that addresses many of the “slimy, oozy, crusty, stinky” questions that kids love to ask about the human body. Visitors can view scenes from the exhibit, listen to gross body sounds, try out […]
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19213
This article says that in cavitation, “bubbles form when falling pressure permits dissolved gases to pop out of solution.” A cavitation-vapor bubble is formed when the pressure drops below the vapor-liquid saturation pressure for the liquid. Dissolved gas bubbles will just give you a fizzy cola. A.J. McPhateBaton Rouge, La.
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19212
It’s no surprise to find that the Borneo tree frog tunes into his tree hole. From the resonance of electron shells to the orbits of planets, stars, and galaxies, harmonic relationships define all of creation. Many frogs have external tympanic membranes that resonate to their tiny chirpings. This mechanism helps put entire ponds full of […]
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19211
This article recommended shock absorbers and cushioned seats. Did this study survey what type of bikes the volunteers rode? Doug LandonSimi Valley, Calif. Study coauthor Ferdinand Frauscher notes that although most of the long-time bikers now use bikes with shock absorbers and padded seats, they almost all originally rode bikes with little or no padding […]
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19210
Contrary to your article, animal cells do not possess “cell walls,” as suggested by “proteases are usually much smaller and don’t inhabit cell walls.” Plants have cell walls; animal cells are bound by a single lipid bilayer membrane. David Winialski Tallahassee, Fla.
- Humans
From the December 3, 1932, issue
“QUICKER’N A WINK” Quick as a wink is a great deal too slow. This proverbial epitome of speed is beaten a dozen times over by the newest trick in scientific high-speed photography, which can take 13 “frames” of motion pictures of a human eye during the fortieth of a second it spends in getting shut. […]
- Humans
From the June 7, 1930, issue
COMET MAY CAUSE METEORIC DISPLAY If you watch the sky during the nights of early June, you may be treated to an unusual display of meteors, or “shooting stars.” For comet 1930d, as the astronomers call the new visitor to the heavens discovered by the Germans Schwassmann and Wachmann, is expected to cause a meteoric […]
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Mystic Stuff
Scientists describe and ponder their own brushes with spiritual, mystical, and psychic happenings in the online journal called The Archives of Scientists’ Transcendent Experiences (TASTE). Psychologist Charles T. Tart of the University of California, Davis, produces the journal and hopes to build a database of accounts by bona fide, show-me-the-data researchers for future investigations into […]
