More Stories from the May 21, 2011 issue
- Space
Dry ice, wetter Mars
A previously unknown reservoir of frozen carbon dioxide could periodically vaporize, thickening the atmosphere and allowing liquid water to flow on the Red Planet’s surface.
- Life
Gut bacteria come in three flavors
Everybody has one of a trio of types — and which one seems to be less important than how the bugs behave.
- Chemistry
Pesticides tied to lower IQ in children
Chemicals once sprayed in homes — and still used on farms — were found to have significant effects in three studies.
- Health & Medicine
Flies on meth burn through sugar
Cellular effects may explain why addicts often have a sweet tooth.
- Earth
Ozone loss made tropics rainier
Hole over Antarctica changes weather patterns all the way to the equator, simulations suggest.
- Psychology
Why some gorillas go unseen
Attention differences help to explain why some people don't notice surprising sights.
- Life
Teamwork keeps fire ants high and dry
Scientists get a look at the physics that floats a bug's boat.
- Life
The eyespots have it after all
New experiments may reconcile conflicting views regarding what makes a peacock’s plumage attractive to females.
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- Life
Great (Dane) minds don’t think alike
Female dogs react to an unexpected twist that males show no awareness of, suggesting that canine sexes are wired differently.
- Life
Half-asleep rats look wide awake
In a discovery with ominous implications for sleep deprivation, researchers find that some brain regions can doze off while an animal remains active.
- Health & Medicine
Armadillos may spread leprosy
A new strain of the disease has shown up in patients and in the animals in parts of the Deep South, suggesting a cause of rare U.S. cases.
- Humans
Most Neandertals were right-handers
Right handedness, and perhaps spoken language, originated at least a half million years ago, a new study suggests.
- Earth
With warming, Arctic is losing ground
Scientists anticipate big ecosystem changes as erosion spills nutrients into the sea
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- Earth
Grand Canyon born by continental lift
A "drip" deep within the Earth may have raised the Colorado plateau to create the spectacular landscape of the U.S. Southwest.
- Space
Gravity Probe B finally pays off
A half century in the making, an orbiting experiment finally confirms Einstein's general relativity.
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Science Future for May 21, 2011
June 1The 2011 hurricane season begins. For storm updates go to www.nhc.noaa.gov June 1–5The World Science Festival returns to New York City with its annual fun and flair. See worldsciencefestival.com July 5–10Watch a 360-degree under-water film and visit exhibits at the Royal Society’s Summer Science Exhibition in London. Learn more at royalsociety.org
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From the Archive
Read the full article (PDF) February 13, 1937 | Vol. 31 | No. 827 Robot Mathematician Solves Nine Simultaneous Equations A ONE-TON machine that in a single action can solve nine simultaneous equations with nine unknowns so complicated in form they might well require days of laborious computation by trained mathematicians has been developed at […]
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SN Online
DELETED SCENES BLOG A leaked LHC study sparks hubbub, but physicists stay skeptical of a particle find. See “Rumors of a Higgs discovery are just that.” EARTH Eyjafjallajökull spit super-sharp ash. Read “Volcanic ash gets its close-up.” LIFE Brain evolution preceded a diversity boom in one electricity-emitting fish. Read “Zap! More fish.” GENES & CELLS […]
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Driven to Extinction: The Impact of Climate Change on Biodiversity by Richard Pearson
A scientist examines how species have reacted to past climate shifts and how organisms may respond in the future. Sterling, 2011, 263 p., $22.95.
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Quantify!: A Crash Course in Smart Thinking by Göran Grimvall
A fun survey of the use of numbers to make sound judgments, from gravity’s effects on sports records to statistical analysis of the weather. Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 2011, 218 p., $25.
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The Cloud Collector’s Handbook by Gavin Pretor-Pinney
For weather buffs or anyone who has hunted cloud animals, this clearly written guide to the skies makes a game of spotting the many kinds of clouds. Chronicle Books, 2011, 143 p., $14.95.
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The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood by James Gleick
The story of information itself takes readers on a ride through history, from the first alphabet to the bits and bytes of the modern Information Age. Pantheon, 2011, 526 p., $29.95.
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One Hundred Names for Love: A Stroke, a Marriage, and the Language of Healing by Diane Ackerman
Review by Laura Sanders.
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Let Them Eat Shrimp: The Tragic Disappearance of the Rainforests of the Sea by Kennedy Warne
For anyone wondering just what the heck “rainforests of the sea” might be, they’re the world’s largely unsung, highly imperiled, biologically fabulous coastal forests of mangroves. And it’s a telling point that the word mangroves does not appear on the cover of a book devoted to their marvels and troubles. LET THEM EAT SHRIMP: THE […]
- Health & Medicine
Going Under
While every anesthetic drug has its own effect, scientists know little about how the various versions work on the brain to transport patients from normal waking awareness to dreamless nothingness.
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Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Paleontologists probe the majestic reptiles’ origin and rise.
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Into orbit
MESSENGER pays a yearlong visit to Mercury.
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Letters
Ain’t got the beat Obviously, Bruce Bower hasn’t tried to teach tourists how to dance. “A man oblivious to music’s tempo” (SN: 3/26/11, p. 9), though not common, is not rare. In the last 35-plus years I’ve shown more than 10,000 visitors to New Orleans how to do the Cajun two-step or waltz, and perhaps […]
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Science Past from the issue of May 20, 1961
U.S. SPACEMAN A-OKAY — The United States broke the space barrier May 5 when Alan B. Shepard, Jr., 37-year-old astronaut, rode the Mercury capsule 302 miles down-range from Cape Canaveral, Fla. At 9:34 a.m. EST the Redstone rocket carrying the Mercury capsule lifted off the launching pad and took the astronaut for a 15-minute trip […]
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The Great Sperm Whale: A Natural History of the Ocean’s Most Magnificent and Mysterious Creature by Richard Ellis
A rich exploration of the evolution and biology of this giant sea creature. Univ. Press of Kansas, 2011, 368 p., $34.95.
