More Stories from the January 28, 2012 issue
- Humans
Fewer fires in Africa these days
How flames spread, not how frequently people start them, controls burning on the continent.
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- Life
Drugs activate dormant gene
A compound that blocks DNA unwinding can spur production of a critical brain protein in mice, leading to hope for a therapy for Angelman syndrome.
- Humans
Network analysis predicts drug side effects
A computer technique can foresee adverse events before medications are widely prescribed.
- Life
Pigeons rival primates in number task
Trained on one-two-three, the birds can apply the rule of numerical order to such lofty figures as five and nine.
- Paleontology
Early animals dethroned
Cell division patterns in controversial Chinese fossils place them outside the animal kingdom.
- Life
Staggered lessons may work better
Training at irregular intervals improves learning in sea snails.
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- Chemistry
Molecule ties itself in a complex knot
Chemists synthesize a five-crossing structure centered on chloride.
- Life
Sun-oil mix deadly for young herring
Fish embryos proved surprisingly vulnerable to a 2007 spill in San Francisco Bay.
- Physics
Neutrino parents call into question faster-than-light results
The particles’ precursor doesn’t have enough energy to produce the speeds reported.
- Life
Three monkeys a genetic mishmash
Feat suggests embryonic stem cells are less flexible in primates than mice.
- Life
Crabs hither, shrimp thither
Biologists document surprising differences among deep-sea animals at hydrothermal vent fields.
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Science Past for January 27, 1962
“SPACE WHISKERS” GROWN FOR NEW SPACE MATERIALS — Microscopically small “space whiskers” are being grown by scientists at Rocketdyne, a division of North American Aviation, Inc., Canoga Park, Calif., in search of methods of producing extremely strong new space materials. The fine filament-like crystals are being grown from many materials — lead, tin, copper, graphite, […]
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Science Future for January 28, 2012
February 9 Learn about the science of wine and even stomp some grapes with your bare feet at the Durham, N.C., Museum of Life + Science. See bit.ly/syIeOC February 13 Enjoy an after-hours tour highlighting displays of love in exhibits at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Learn more at bit.ly/zRko4O
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SN Online
SCIENCE & SOCIETYPlants, algae and fungi can now be named online and in English. Read “Botanists et al freed from Latin, paper.” Thomas Libby, Evan Chang-Siu, Pauline Jennings, Courtesy of PolyPEDAL Lab & CiBER/UC Berkeley LIFE Videos and robots show how reptiles use their tails to balance in midair. See “Measuring the leap of a […]
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You Are Not So Smart: Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory Is Mostly Fiction, and 46 Other Ways You’re Deluding Yourself by David McRaney
Forty-six of the brain’s everyday fallacies and cognitive biases are highlighted in an expansion of the author’s blog about the neuroscience of self-delusion. Gotham Books, 2011, 300 p., $22.50
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Mushroom by Nicholas P. Money
Mushroom lore and history mingle with science and medicine in a biologist’s exploration of the fungal kingdom. Oxford, 2011, 201 p., $24.95
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Part Wild: One Woman’s Journey with a Creature Caught Between the Worlds of Wolves and Dogs by Ceiridwen Terrill
The cultural history and genetic story of dog domestication is told through the adventures of a wolf-husky hybrid adopted by a science writer. Simon & Schuster, 2011, 274 p., $25
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50 Popular Beliefs That People Think Are True by Guy P. Harrison
A journalist turns a skeptical eye on beliefs ranging from astrology to Atlantis, showing that scientific discovery can be just as fascinating as myth. Prometheus, 2011, 458 p., $18
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BOOK REVIEW: Who’s in Charge? Free Will and the Science of the Brain by Michael S. Gazzaniga
Review by Laura Sanders.
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BOOK REVIEW: My Beautiful Genome: Exposing Our Genetic Future, One Quirk at a Time by Lone Frank
Review by Tina Hesman Saey.
- Climate
Soil’s Hidden Secrets
Shocking discoveries from the underground may shake up climate science.
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The Digital Camera Revolution
Instead of imitating film counterparts, new technologies work with light in creative ways.
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Head Agony
Jumpy cells may underlie migraine’s sensory storm.
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Letters
The eyes have it Just finished the latest issue of your spectacular magazine. I’ve been a reader for many years, but this is the first time I’ve felt compelled to write in. In the article about the tadpole (“Tiny voltage grows eyes in strange places,” SN: 12/31/11, p. 5), the final sentence is a quote […]
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Pharmacologist drinks heavy water in experiment
Self-experimenter drank heavy water, then lived a long life.
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Auroras by Dan Bortolotti
Striking images illuminate this exploration of one of nature’s greatest light shows. Firefly, 2011, 143 p., $29.95
