More Stories from the February 9, 2013 issue
- Health & Medicine
Inactivated virus shows promise against HIV
Some patients getting an experimental vaccine therapy developed immunity.
- Chemistry
Hottest temperature ever measured is a negative one
Ultracold gas sets record on the kelvin scale.
- Humans
Language learning may begin before birth
Newborns show signs of having tracked moms’ speech while still in the womb.
- Health & Medicine
Long space missions may be hazardous to your sleep
Crew on simulated Mars trip moved less and slept more during 520-day project.
- Life
Corals beat heat by being prepared
Warming waters have little effect on reef-building organisms that activate adaptive genes before the temperature starts to rise.
- Life
City lights create sexual early birds
Male blackbirds exposed to nocturnal illumination are ready to mate sooner in spring.
- Earth
Quakes may bring nearby rocks closer to rupture
Lab studies could explain how a seemingly stable geologic fault can fail.
- Health & Medicine
Updated Pap smear detects ovarian, uterine cancers
Adding a genetic analysis to the procedure reveals mutations specific to the two malignancies.
- Humans
Wrist bones said to distinguish hobbits
New fossils enter the debate over tiny humanlike species that lived in Indonesia.
- Humans
Pruney digits help people get a grip
Finger and toe wrinkling may have evolved as an adaptation to wet conditions.
- Physics
New clock revolves around an atom’s mass
A controversial new study claims that time can be measured by precisely determining a single particle's heft.
- Health & Medicine
Newborns’ brains bear signs of adult illnesses
Disease genes associated with reduced volume in certain regions at birth.
- Earth
Glaciers carve path for future buildup
Previously sculpted landscapes accumulate ice more quickly than steep valleys.
- Humans
Cold spells were dark times in Eastern Europe
Cooler periods coincided with conflicts and disease outbreaks, a tree-ring study spanning the last millennium finds.
- Animals
Claims of fairness in apes have critics crying foul
A report that chimps divvy up rewards much as people do draws criticism.
- Earth
Chemical tied to intergenerational obesity
Mice ingesting the compound tributyltin pass effects to grandchildren.
- Space
Life has prospects on moons of giant extrasolar planets
Astronomers show how bodies orbiting distant Jupiters could be habitable.
- Humans
Ancient human DNA suggests minimal interbreeding
Genetic analysis indicates Stone Age people mated infrequently with Neandertals and other close relatives.
- Health & Medicine
Brain region associated with selfishness
In three women, damage to basolateral amygdala prompted unusual generosity.
- Humans
STS finalists bound for Washington
Forty vie for top awards in 2013 Intel Science Talent Search.
- Health & Medicine
Drug restores lost hearing
Loud noises can damage sensitive inner ear cells called hair cells, which in mammals don’t grow back.
- Animals
Integrative and Comparative Biology
The hormonal roller coaster that is male pipefish pregancy and collision safety features for flying insects.
- Life
Reprieve for reprogrammed stem cells
A study published in 2011 in Nature found that stem cells produced by reprogramming mouse skin cells get attacked when transplanted back into mice.
- Life
Genes indicate Stone Age link between India and Australia
Genetic evidence suggests some people migrated from India to Australia roughly 4,300 years ago.
- Life
Genes tied to body mass set point
Genes may help determine why some mice (and perhaps people) become obese when eating a sugar- and fat-laden diet.
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Science Future for February 9, 2013
February 16 – 17 Kids can see science demonstrations, learn about cool science careers and talk to scientists at the annual Family Science Days at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Boston. Learn more at bit.ly/SFfamday2013 March 7 The Creatures of Light exhibit on bioluminescence comes to Chicago’s Field Museum. Find […]
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SN Online
MATH TREK Economists say auction-based purchasing could create market chaos. See Julie Rehmeyer’s column “Devil is in the details of a new Medicare plan to buy medical supplies.” P. Mercier et al/Nature Biotechnology 2012 SCIENCE NEWS FOR KIDS Research in guinea pigs finds a way to power small electronic devices using a voltage difference in […]
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Henri Poincaré: A Scientific Biography by Jeremy Gray
This comprehensive biography of the mathematician details his life and contributions to math, physics and philosophy. Princeton Univ., 2012, 593 p., $35
- Science & Society
Guesstimation 2.0
Solving Today's Problems on the Back of a Napkin 2.0 by Lawrence Weinstein.
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Walking Sideways: The Remarkable World of Crabs by Judith S. Weis
A biologist pens a tribute to crabs, exploring everything from their life cycles and behavior to the many ways humans eat them. Cornell Univ., 2012, 224 p., $29.95
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Cycling Science: How Rider and Machine Work Together by Max Glaskin
The physics of two-wheeled locomotion gets deep coverage in this illustrated overview for the bike-obsessed. Univ. of Chicago, 2012, 192 p., $30
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A Man of Misconceptions: The Life of an Eccentric in an Age of Change by John Glassie
The eccentric life of the insatiably curious, but often wrong, 17th century scholar Athanasius Kircher is explored in this tale of his influence on science. Riverhead Books, 2012, 335 p., $26.95
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Letters
Weighing factors in obesity In “Obesity research gets weightier” (SN: 12/29/12, p. 28) Nathan Seppa says that green space and a nearby grocery store reduce the incidence of obesity. I think I understand how the green space affects it (clean air, physical activity, et cetera), but I don’t understand how the grocery store does. Is […]
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Science Past from the issue of February 9, 1963
DIG DITCHES WITH ATOMS — Digging earth by atomic explosions is proving successful, but if President Kennedy’s suspension of underground atomic testing on Jan. 26 is maintained, the method may not be used practically. Future excavation experiments are described for the first time by the Atomic Energy Commission in its annual report to Congress. The […]
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BOOK REVIEW: Heat: Adventures in the World’s Fiery Places by Bill Streever
Review by Allison Bohac.
