More Stories from the July 13, 2013 issue
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- Tech
Camera captures voices without a microphone
Throat movements get decoded to reveal sounds of speech.
- Animals
Now-extinct wolf may be ancestor of modern-day dogs
No strong signs of canine ancestry among living grey wolves.
- Tech
Highlights from the International Congress on Acoustics
Selections from the meeting held June 2-7 in Montreal include personal listening zones in cars and music of the body.
- Tech
Faster memory could accelerate computing
Experimental microchip improves reliability and speed of writing and reading data.
- Science & Society
Chimps in captivity may soon join endangered species list
Proposal would extend protections to both wild and captive primate populations.
- Health & Medicine
Headers linked to memory deficit in soccer players
Abnormalities in three brain regions found among those who head the ball most frequently.
- Life
Nail-generating tissue also regrows fingertips
Stem cells spur return of amputated digits in mice
- Life
In the real world, cheetahs rarely go all out
Famous for speed, the big cats actually rely on acceleration and maneuverability to capture prey.
- Chemistry
An eel’s glow could illuminate liver disease
Fluorescent protein binds to bilirubin, a compound the body must eliminate.
- Life
Primitive fish could nod but not shake its head
Ancient fossils reveal surprises about early vertebrate necks, abdominal muscles.
- Life
Leprosy bacterium changed little in last millennium
Genome alterations probably not responsible for decline in disease prevalence.
- Physics
Simple invisibility cloaks hide toys, pets, people
Using everyday materials, two research teams conceal ordinary objects by guiding light around them.
- Animals
Oysters may struggle to build shells as carbon dioxide rises
Ocean acidification could hamper larvae's growth.
- Tech
Eye chip sends signals to blind rats’ brains
When struck with light, retinal prostheses stimulate animals' visual cortices.
- Physics
Echoes create an interior map app
To record size and shape of a room, researchers use a speaker, five microphones and some math.
- Anthropology
Snails trace Stone Age trek from Iberia to Ireland
A genetic quirk linking snails in two distant areas suggests people brought escargot on their migration to the Emerald Isle.
- Humans
Aerial radar sizes up ancient urban sprawl
Angkor, the capital of Cambodia's Khmer empire, included carefully planned suburbs that spread across the landscape.
- Health & Medicine
Human brain mapped in 3-D with high resolution
“BigBrain” model, the most detailed atlas yet, could improve brain scanning tools and neurosurgeons’ navigation.
- Earth
Satellite captures Earth’s greenery
Orbiting camera detects reflected light to determine the extent of the planet's vegetation.
- Science & Society
Math targets cities’ essence
New formula relates city size to infrastructure, productivity.
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- Animals
Cicadas’ odd life cycle poses evolutionary conundrums
Scientists are getting an idea about the odd family tree of periodical cicadas, how the insects synchronize their life cycles and why they breed side-by-side with others unsuitable for mating.
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- Health & Medicine
Nobelist’s Cancer Theory
Excerpt from the July 13, 1963, issue of Science News Letter
- Science & Society
Brilliant Blunders
From Darwin to Einstein - Colossal Mistakes by Great Scientists That Changed Our Understanding of Life and the Universe by Mario Livio.
