More Stories from the April 6, 2013 issue
- Health & Medicine
Surgery shows promise in treating persistent heartburn
Ring-shaped device around esophagus prevents acid reflux so that patients can stop taking drugs.
- Space
New home for runaway black hole
Galactic merger and ejection may have sent a cosmic wanderer through deep space.
- Earth
Moderate climate warming could melt permafrost
Ancient cave formations in Siberia reveal effects of warmer past on frozen ground.
- Earth
Nutrients matter in tropical forests
Soil nutrients and rainfall predict tree species range in Panama’s tropical forests.
- Health & Medicine
Mouse brain cells live long and prosper
Mouse neurons live twice as long as usual when transplanted into rat brain, suggesting that brain deterioration may not necessarily accompany long life.
- Life
Impact craters may have been a toasty home for early life
The heat generated during a cosmic crash could have nurtured ancient organisms.
- Space
Radiation ring around Earth mysteriously appears, then dissipates
Space probes detect temporary transition from two radiation belts to three, possibly in response to solar activity.
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- Health & Medicine
Baby may be cured of HIV
Only viral traces remain after prompt treatment of newborn, suggesting no working virus is left in the girl’s body.
- Life
Camel ancestors lived in the Arctic
Fossils on Ellesmere Island suggest famous desert dweller got its start in cold regions.
- Physics
Vortex gets tied in knots
Physicists use 3-D printing and tiny bubbles to capture twisted-up water.
- Space
No vacancy around stars
The Milky Way’s planets pack tightly around their stars, according to simulations using data from the Kepler space telescope.
- Life
Mice get brain boost from transplanted human tissue
An experimental transplant of what have long been considered just support cells shows they may play a role in memory and learning.
- Life
Alga borrows genes to beat the heat, acid and toxic metals
Such genetic theft from bacteria and archaea is unusual among eukaryotes.
- Planetary Science
Distant planets’ atmospheres revealed
Telescopes get first direct glimpse of gases on exoplanets.
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A genetic exhibitionist
The Science Life.
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Upcoming events
Science Future for April 6, 2013.
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SN Online
ATOM & COSMOS Curiosity finds minerals consistent with habitability. See “Life-friendly environment confirmed on Mars.” JPL-Caltech/NASA BODY & BRAIN Scientists meld rat minds in “Rats do tasks while connected brain-to-brain.” CULTURE BEAKER See Rachel Ehrenberg’s column on website comments, “Trolls bad news for scientific discourse.” ON THE SCENE BLOG Kids build plasma guns and more […]
- Humans
Students honored for research
The 40 finalists in this year’s Intel Science Talent Search received a total of $630,000 in awards for their research. The top 10 received $20,000 or more.
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Antarctica: An Intimate Portrait of a Mysterious Continent by Gabrielle Walker
A science writer takes readers on a journey to the bottom of the Earth through firsthand accounts of her travels with scientists. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013, 388 p., $27
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Friendfluence: The Surprising Ways Friends Make Us Who We Are by Carlin Flora
Citing studies on evolution and psychology, this exploration of the nature of friendship shows the importance of making and keeping friends. Doubleday, 2013, 288 p., $25.95
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Radiation: What It Is, What You Need to Know by Robert Peter Gale and Eric Lax
A medical doctor and a writer team up to dispel misconceptions about radioactivity and explain the risks of everyday exposures. Knopf, 2013, 270 p., $26.95
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Alien Life Imagined: Communicating the Science and Culture of Astrobiology by Mark Brake
See how humans’ fascination with the possibility of extraterrestrial life has evolved over the centuries. Columbia Univ., 2013, 279 p., $35
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BOOK REVIEW: Louis Agassiz: Creator of American Science by Christoph Irmscher
Review by Erin Wayman.
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BOOK REVIEW: The Kingdom of Rarities by Eric Dinerstein
Review by Janet Raloff.
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- Physics
As Erebus Lives and Breathes
The Antarctica volcano’s long-lived lava lake coughs up clues to the physiology of volcanoes .
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Letters to the editor
Get a grip The article “Pruney fingers get better grip” (SN: 2/9/13, p. 11) indicated that skin wrinkling in response to extended exposure to water was the result of constricting blood vessels. I was waiting to read about the possibility that this was the body’s response to prevent heat loss. Water has a high heat […]
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Patents of the week
Science Past from the issue of April 6, 1963.
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The Enlightenment Vision: Science, Reason, and the Promise of a Better Future by Stuart Jordan
A physicist reviews the Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries — considered the “rise of reason” — and the progression of scientific knowledge since. Prometheus, 2013, 295 p., $26
