All Stories by Science News
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18935
The statements made concerning the effect of vitamin E on the immune system in cattle don’t concur with the bulk of the data available. Many studies have indicated either marginal or no response. Only when the animal has been held on a deficient ration is the response dramatic. The idea that vitamin E could be […]
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A Mite Bizarre
Just in case anybody thought real life paled before the twisted creatures of sci-fi movies, check the Mite Photo Gallery by biologist David Walter of the University of Queensland in Australia. Portraits of more than 40 species offer plenty of weird shapes. The peacock mite, for example, bristles with little leaf-shaped flaps, and a “pan-tropical […]
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From the July 4, 1931 issue
MAGNIFYING EYE WOULD SEE STRANGE THINGS If we could only convert our eyes into magnifying glasses at will, we would see a lot of astonishing things that escape us now because they are too small. The little walking gargoyle shown on the cover of Science News Letter, for example. It is a juvenile stage of […]
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18934
“Faces of perception” states, “Early visual input to the right brain, which arrives via the left eye, proves vital. . . .” Then, the story presents findings based on people born with left-eye cataracts that were later removed. Unfortunately, the signals from the eyes are mixed almost immediately behind the eyes in the optic chiasma. […]
- Chemistry
Universe of Molecules
For chemistry students, Molecular Universe offers a host of images, explanations, and other resources concerning molecules and chemical systems. Developed by Richard Catlow of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, the site features lessons and material on protein folding, the molecular basis of taste, and many other topics. Go to: http://www.molecularuniverse.com/
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18954
I was surprised that the article “Dances with robots,” while mentioning Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers (1959, Putnam), should speak of “master-slave telerobotic devices.” As any fan of the dean of science fiction knows, these devices are most properly called Waldos. Mark Sicking Spring Shadow, Conn. I am reading Science News on this anniversary of our […]
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From the June 27, 1931, issue
LARGER MERCURY VAPOR ELECTRIC GENERATING UNIT BEING BUILT A new and larger turbine electric generator that will use mercury vapor instead of steam and will consume less fuel than corresponding modern steam plants is being constructed in the General Electric Company plant at Schenectady, N.Y. This 20,000-kilowatt turbine will have twice the output of the […]
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18953
“Physics bedrock cracks, sun shines in” says that solar neutrinos oscillate between different flavors on the trip to Earth and that those taking a longer path have more time to oscillate into kinds of neutrinos that the sun doesn’t produce. Do the scientists note a variation in neutrino types based on the eccentricity of Earth’s […]
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Thinking of Zero
For anyone deeply interested in logic and the history and philosophy of zero, Hossein Arsham of the University of Baltimore offers an thought-provoking Web-based discussion of such topics as the meaning of division by zero, the role of zero in limits and divergent series, and the concept of zero as a void. Go to: http://ubmail.ubalt.edu/~harsham/zero/ZERO.HTM
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From the June 20, 1931, issue
HUGE ELETROMAGNET INSTALLED AT LEIDEN A huge electromagnet weighing 14 tons, about two-thirds as much as a street car, just erected at Leiden, Holland, by the Siemens Halske Company of Berlin, will enable scientists to wrench atoms apart as never before. This marks the realization of a dream of the late Dr. H. Kammerlingh Onnes, […]
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18952
Your news piece was timely. But if we see that big quake, most likely Washington State will be in worse shape. Recent comments by seismologists, volcanologists, and oceanographers concerning a large quake on that major fault line and/or a big volcanic eruption would be something out of Biblical times. Take a look at the Washington […]
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18951
That is a neat little recycle program described in “New test traces underground forest carbon.” As fast as the CO2 comes out of the ground, the tree grabs the carbon by photosynthesis and leaves two oxygen atoms in the atmosphere. A portion of the carbon is stored until the wood rots or burns. Some carbon […]
