Science Columns
Q & A
The 5-Second Rule
By C. CLAIBORNE RAY
Is it really safe to eat food dropped on the floor if you pick it up in time?
OBSERVATORY
Where Call Reception Fades for Pilot Whales
By SINDYA N. BHANOO
The ability of pilot whales to make calls is severely diminished when they dive deeper than about 260 feet, researchers report.
OBSERVATORY
Newborn Mice’s Hearts Can Heal Themselves
By SINDYA N. BHANOO
The findings offer hope that doctors will one day be able to cure heart disease in humans.
OBSERVATORY
Child’s Remains Reveal Ice Age Burial Practices
By SINDYA N. BHANOO
The discovery of cremated remains in a fire pit in an ancient dwelling gives insight into the burial practices of ice-age people.
Brain’s ‘Visual’ Reading Center Is Activated by Braille, Too
The area thought to be responsible for processing visual text also fires when blind readers use Braille, brain scans indicate.
February 22, 2011
Hibernating Bears Maintain Body Temperature
The body temperature of black bears observed in Alaska dropped only slightly during hibernation, researchers found, though their metabolic activity was reduced to about 25 percent.
February 22, 2011
Skull-Cups Found in a British Cave Conjure an Ancient Rite
The well-shaped braincases of two adults and a child who lived 14,700 years ago are the oldest directly dated skull-cups known, based on radiocarbon analysis.
February 22, 2011
Lucy Walked Tall, a Foot Bone Suggests
A fossilized foot bone shows that, like modern humans, the world’s most famous fossil hominid and her kin had arched feet.
February 15, 2011
Sexiness of Male Fruit Flies Takes Them Only So Far
A study found that while sexual attractiveness in male fruit flies can increase over generations, it eventually levels off.
February 15, 2011
Marsupial Tree Frog Evolved to Regain Teeth That Ancestors Lost
Frogs lost teeth in the lower jaw at least 200 million years ago, but lower teeth reappeared in a marsupial tree frog species about 20 million years ago.
February 15, 2011OBSERVATORY; Plant Checks the Clock To Fight Off Disease
Plants, like many other organisms, have circadian clocks that help them anticipate environmental and biological events that occur at precise times of the day. Processes like photosynthesis, fragrance emission and time of bloom are regulated by this timekeeping mechanism. Now, researchers report in the journal Nature that genes in certain plants fend off infections with the help of the clock as well.
February 8, 2011
Plant’s Circadian Clock Helps in Disease Resistance, Study Says
Researchers found that genes connected with Arabidopsis’s ability to resist infection were expressed from the evening onward, peaking at dawn, when a pathogen was most active.
February 8, 2011
NASA’s Mars Orbiter Reveals Shifting Sand Dunes
The dark basalt sand dunes were long thought to be stagnant formations, but NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has revealed that they are among the most active landscapes on the planet.
February 8, 2011
Polynesians Migrated From Asian Mainland, DNA Indicates
A study of mitochondrial DNA indicated that Polynesians were on the move much earlier than previously thought, and from mainland Southeast Asia, not Taiwan.
February 8, 2011Pneumonia Bacteria Spread and Evolve to Dodge Vaccines
Over 30 years, a strain of Streptococcus pneumoniae spread across the world and turned over about three quarters of its genome, researchers say.
February 1, 2011
Gene Imprinting Experiment in Mice Increases Social Aggression
Mice with an inactivated paternal version of the Grb10 gene engaged in more social grooming, nibbled off more fur and whiskers of other mice, and were less likely to back down in a confrontation.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario