More Stories from the July 30, 2011 issue
- Health & Medicine
Brain has two slots for working memory
The left and right hemispheres have equal and independent capacity, monkey study finds.
- Health & Medicine
Food choices matter in weight control
Potatoes and sugary soft drinks add pounds, a long-term analysis shows; fruit, yogurt and nuts help shed them.
- Space
NASA spacecraft puts moon in new focus
Images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter show fine details of the lunar surface.
- Psychology
Math disability tied to bad number sense
Children who don’t grasp arithmetic at all, unlike below-average students, have little feel for estimating quantities.
- Tech
Batteries not included
Researchers have developed a sensor that, when flexed, generates enough charge to send wireless signals.
- Earth
Floodwaters may trigger fault motion
In sediments under California’s Salton Sea, geologists find evidence for a natural disaster one-two punch.
- Health & Medicine
Snakebite treatment buys time
An ointment that slows the transport of venom from the bite site to the vital organs could keep victims alive long enough to reach medical care.
- Life
New gene therapy fixes mistakes
For the first time scientists have repaired a damaged gene in a living mouse.
- Humans
Bone may display oldest art in Americas
A mammoth engraved on a fossil may date from at least 13,000 year ago.
- Life
Tasmanian devil genomes offer some hope, few answers
While clues to combating the infectious cancer that's threatening the species remain elusive, the completion of two genetic blueprints reveals a low but stable genetic diversity.
- Animals
Lionfish no match for big groupers
Despite its invasive success, the lionfish can't withstand grouper appetites.
- Earth
BPA makes male mice less macho
Studies show that exposures in the womb or during adolescence can erase masculine habits or reverse sexes' behavior.
- Life
Alzheimer’s plaques due to purging flaw
A gene controls the clearance of a protein that accumulates in the brains of people with the condition.
- Space
Most distant quasar raises questions
Superbright object appeared surprisingly soon after the Big Bang, challenging some theories about how black holes arose.
- Chemistry
Molecules/Matter & Energy
Electrifying ink, superelastic alloys, knotty molecules and more in this week's news.
- Earth
Earth/Environment
Airplanes knock rain from the sky, plus a quick-melting glacier and BPA's diabetes link in this week's news.
- Earth
Sulfur stalls surface temperature rise
A new study shows how pollutants helped balance out the effects of greenhouse gases from 1998 to 2008.
- Life
DNA hints at polar bears’ Irish ancestry
Mitochondrial genetic analysis suggests a bit o’ hybridizing long ago with brown bears on the Emerald Isle.
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Science Future for July 30, 2011
August 8Hear an anthropologist speak in Houston on the evolving relationship between humans and water. Go to www.hmns.org August 12–13The weeklong Perseid meteor shower peaks. Watch after midnight. For more info go to http://bit.ly/Ln3pCr August 20In Ann Arbor, Mich., bring preschoolers on a morning hike to explore the outdoors. For more info, see www.lesliesnc.org
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Science Past from the issue of July 29, 1961
RADIATION SURVIVORS — A world-wide radiation disaster might eventually give rise to two populations, research on bacteria indicates.… Starting with a culture of ordinary (wild-type) bacteria, the scientist added copper ions that produced a “disaster.” Most of the bacteria died…. But as time passed, a small number of survivors, called variants, began reproducing at a rapid […]
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Men to Mars Possible in 60’s, Experts Say
Experts had forecast that astronauts would walk on Mars by 1970, but such a feat is still 20-plus years out.
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The Power of Music: Pioneering Discoveries in the New Science of Song by Elena Mannes
A music lover interviews scientists and musicians in this fun exploration of the science of music. Walker & Company, 2011, 263 p., $26
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Saving Sea Turtles: Extraordinary Stories from the Battle against Extinction by James R. Spotila
A turtle biologist makes a plea to save sea turtles, remarkable creatures that start life buried in up to two feet of sand. Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 2011, 216 p., $24.95
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Sex, Murder, and the Meaning of Life: A Psychologist Investigates How Evolution, Cognition, and Complexity are Revolutionizing our View of Human Nature by Douglas T. Kenrick
Anecdotes enliven a psychologist’s take on the role of evolution in murderous fantasies, racial prejudice and other unsavory aspects of human nature. Basic Books, 2011, 238 p., $26.99
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The Stem Cell Hope: How Stem Cell Medicine Can Change Our Lives by Alice Park
A narrative account explores the history of stem cells through the stories of scientists and patients. Hudson Street Press, 2011, 318 p., $25.95
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BOOK REVIEW: The Science of Evil: On Empathy and the Origins of Cruelty by Simon Baron-Cohen
Review by Erika Engelhaupt.
- Humans
Crime’s digital past
Computer science makes history, gleaning new findings from centuries' worth of transcripts from a Victorian-era courthouse.
- Health & Medicine
Residents of the brain
It's a zoo in there: Scientists turn up startling diversity among neurons.
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Letters
Irrational with money Bruce Bower’s excellent article on “Simple heresy” (SN: 6/4/11, p. 26) showcases the blindness of mainstream economics. Namely, economics is often more like the weather than a game of dice: chaotic — with catastrophes, cycles and all manner of weird behavior. Yet economists continue to use statistical models that work “until they don’t.” So […]
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SN Online
BODY & BRAINInfants may learn speech sounds as they snooze. Read “Sleeping babies learn in an eyeblink.” LIFEResearchers find a natural screwlike joint — in a beetle’s hip. See “Weevils evolved nut-and-screw joint.” MATTER & ENERGY An acoustic cloak made of metamaterials reflects sound off a bump as though it were a flat wall. Read “You haven’t […]
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The Quest for the Cure: The Science and Stories Behind the Next Generation of Medicines by Brent R. Stockwell
In this well-researched look into the complexities of making medicines, a chemical biologist gives a history of drug making and details innovative methods of drug discovery. Columbia Univ. Press, 2011, 265 p., $27.95
