More Stories from the January 29, 2011 issue
- Chemistry
Twisted rules of chemistry explained
A theorist uses quantum mechanics to explain why Möbius molecules have different numbers of electrons than standard rings.
- Space
Space rock surprise
Meteorite analysis suggests it may be possible to make amino acids in the absence of water, boosting the chances of finding life elsewhere in the universe.
- Humans
Periodic table gets some flex
IUPAC committee replaces fuzzy atomic weights with more accurate ranges
- Health & Medicine
Childhood epilepsy that lasts into adulthood triples mortality
The added risk occurs in patients whose seizures persist, a 40-year study in Finland shows.
- Life
Robins reject red glowing grub
Parasitic worms induce a color change in their caterpillar victims that's literally repulsive to predators.
- Health & Medicine
How the brain shops
Using implanted electrodes, researchers find individual neurons associated with attaching value to objects.
- Health & Medicine
Second chicken pox shot boosts coverage
Giving a follow-up vaccination increases coverage to more than 98 percent of kids who receive it, a study finds.
- Paleontology
Oceans may have poisoned early animals
High sulfur and low oxygen produced a deadly brew nearly 500 million years ago that apparently stalled a burst of evolutionary change.
- Chemistry
Building big molecules bottom-up
Using templates, chemists make ring structures on the scale of biological machinery.
- Paleontology
An ammonite’s last supper
A detailed X-ray image of a fossil reveals an ancient marine creature’s diet.
- Health & Medicine
Possible relief for irritable bowel
Those taking an antibiotic whose effects are localized to the intestines fared better than patients getting a placebo pill, two trials find.
- Life
Spider sex play has its pluses
In the tricky world of arachnid mating, messing around with not-quite-mature females yields later benefits.
- Space
Superhot solar mystery may be solved
Jets of hot gas heat the sun’s nebulous outer atmosphere to millions of degrees, well above the temperature on the surface, a new study suggests.
- Psychology
Lonely teardrops
Women’s tears appear to contain an odorless substance that, when sniffed, lowers men’s sexual arousal.
- Science & Society
Methane from BP spill goes missing
Latest sampling suggests either that microbes have already devoured the most abundant hydrocarbon produced by the leak — or that researchers have simply lost track of it.
- Life
Aspens bust, diseased mice boom
As trees decline, populations of rodents that carry the deadly sin nombre virus are on the rise.
- Humans
Ancient farmers swiftly spread westward
A sudden influx of Neolithic farmers in southern Europe led to agricultural practices still in play today.
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Science Past from the issue of January 28, 1961
SEE ATOMIC WASTE USE IN SALT WATER CONVERSION — Radioactive waste products from atomic plants may soon be a source of energy for converting salt water to fresh water. This use could help solve the problem of disposing of highly radioactive material, and also help combat the growing water shortage in the United States…. The […]
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Mysteries of the Komodo Dragon: The Biggest, Deadliest Lizard Gives Up Its Secrets by Marty Crump
For kids 9 to 11 who like all the gory details, this children’s book doesn’t shy away from showing dragons at their fiercest. MYSTERIES OF THE KOMODO DRAGON: THE BIGGEST, DEADLIEST LIZARD GIVES UP ITS SECRETS BY MARTY CRUMP Boyds Mills Press, 2010, 40 p., $18.95.
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Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other by Sherry Turkle
A psychologist explores the ramifications of constant online connectivity for real-world human connections. MYSTERIES OF THE KOMODO DRAGON: THE BIGGEST, DEADLIEST LIZARD GIVES UP ITS SECRETS BY MARTY CRUMP Basic Books, 2011, 360 p., $28.95.
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Discoveries of the Census of Marine Life: Making Ocean Life Count by Paul V.R. Snelgrove
Stunning photographs illustrate this compendium of new scientific knowledge gleaned from the largest-ever cataloging of ocean life. DISCOVERIES OF THE CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE: MAKING OCEAN LIFE COUNT BY PAUL V.R. SNELGROVE Cambridge Univ. Press, 2011, 270 p., $45.
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Chasing the Sun: The Epic Story of the Star That Gives Us Life by Richard Cohen
Traveling to nearly 20 countries, the author traces efforts to understand Earth’s nearest star, from ancient Egyptian sun myths to a modern-day Antarctic observatory. CHASING THE SUN: THE EPIC STORY OF THE STAR THAT GIVES US LIFE BY RICHARD COHEN Random House, 2010, 574 p., $35.
- Neuroscience
The Tell-Tale Brain
A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human by V.S. Ramachandran.
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Book Review: Massive: The Missing Particle That Sparked the Greatest Hunt in Science by Ian Sample
Review by Marissa Cevallos.
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Neuroscience exposes pernicious effects of poverty
At the 2010 Society for Neuroscience meeting in San Diego, a group of scientists held a session on how poverty changes the brain. Neuroscientist Helen Neville of the University of Oregon in Eugene joined the discussion and described some of her group’s studies on the brains of 3- to 5-year-old children who grow up poor. […]
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Meet the Growbots
Social robots take baby steps toward humanlike smarts.
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Making Nuanced Memories
New nerve cells help the brain tell similar experiences apart.
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Worming Your Way to Better Health
To battle autoimmune disease and allergy, scientists tune in to the tricks of parasites.
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Letters
Prescient Editor in Chief? I got behind on magazine reading over the summer; now that colder weather is here I’m catching up, randomly. I read the Nov. 6 issue one day, with the Life article on microbes that walk on their pili (“Sure, but can they chew gum too?” SN: 11/6/10, p. 8); the next […]
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Science Future for January 29, 2011
February 11 – 13 Explore geology at the 60th Annual Agate and Mineral Show at Portland, Oregon’s science museum. See www.omsi.edu February 13 Boston’s Museum of Science officially reopens its planetarium with a show about exoplanets. Go to www.mos.org February 14 Savor a “miracle fruit” berry that deceives taste buds, in a butterfly rain forest […]
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Hidden Harmonies: The Lives and Times of the Pythagorean Theorem by Robert and Ellen Kaplan
Inspired by their Harvard-based math program, two educators delve into the history and uses of the Pythagorean theorem. HIDDEN HARMONIES: THE LIVES AND TIMES OF THE PYTHAGOREAN THEOREM BY ROBERT AND ELLEN KAPLAN Bloomsbury Press, 2011, 304 p., $25.
