Scientific American

Net Loss: How We Continually Forget What the Oceans Really Used to Be Like [Excerpt]

Fri, 24 May 2013 12:00:00 EST

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Is Global Warming Cooler than Expected?

Fri, 24 May 2013 11:00:00 EST

LONDON – Several leading authorities on climate change have given a guarded welcome to research suggesting the Earth may warm more slowly than scientists had expected.

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Girls Who Are Sexually Abused More Likely to Start Using Substances before Age 10

Fri, 24 May 2013 10:10:00 EST

Many studies have confirmed the link between childhood sexual abuse and substance-related problems in adulthood. But a new investigation finds that being raped or molested at a young age also makes young girls far more likely to start drinking or doing drugs during their preteen years.

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3-D Printed Windpipe Gives Infant Breath of Life

Fri, 24 May 2013 05:00:00 EST

Kaiba Gionfriddo was six weeks old when he suddenly stopped breathing and turned blue at a restaurant. Kaiba’s parents quickly rushed him to the hospital where they learned that his left bronchial tube had collapsed because of a previously undetected birth defect. During the next few weeks the life-threatening attacks recurred, increasing in number until they became everyday events. Physicians and researchers, however, used some of the most sophisticated bioengineering techniques available to 3-D print a synthetic tube to hold the baby's airway open. Kaiba had the surgery in January 2012 and hasn’t suffered an airway collapse since.

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Studies Cast Doubt on Cancer Drug as Alzheimer's Treatment

Thu, 23 May 2013 18:25:00 EST

From Nature magazine

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An Itch Is Not a Low-Level Form of Pain

Thu, 23 May 2013 18:05:00 EST

From Nature magazine

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Will Great Wines Prove a Moveable Feast under Global Warming?

Thu, 23 May 2013 11:00:00 EST

MONTPELLIER, France -- South Africa, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand export their wines all over the world, a feat that was unthinkable here a few decades ago. Fatalists claim it won't be long until there will be more produced in China than in Europe. To some observers, these prognostications illustrate the wide-ranging adaptive capacity of the wine grape, Vitis vinifera.

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Infant Tooth Reveals Neandertal Breastfeeding Habits

Wed, 22 May 2013 17:30:00 EST

The changing ratios of calcium and barium in the teeth of modern humans and macaques chronicle the transition from mother’s milk to solid food -- and may provide clues about the weaning habits of Neandertals, a new study suggests.

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The Wheels Come Off Kepler Planet-Finding Mission

Wed, 22 May 2013 08:00:00 EST

NASA’s Kepler spacecraft is not only the most prolific exoplanet detector ever; it is -- or was -- a marvel of engineering. Its 1.4-meter mirror funnels starlight to a 95-megapixel camera, capable of discerning dips in brightness as small as 10 parts per million -- clues to the mini-eclipses caused by an exoplanet crossing the star’s face. Yet on 14 May, the US$600-million craft was derailed by the failure of one of its only moving parts -- a roughly $200,000 device akin to a child’s gyroscope.

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Shooting the Wheeze: Whooping Cough Vaccine Falls Short of Previous Shot s Protection

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:30:00 EST

Protection against the disease pertussis, or whooping cough , doesn’t appear to be as strong with the currently administered vaccine when compared with the older version administered up until the 1990s, according to a new study in Pediatrics . During a pertussis outbreak in 2010–11 in California teens who had received four doses of the current vaccine were at almost six times more likely to get pertussis as those who had received four doses of the older preparation.

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Search for Survivors Races On as Dozens Feared Dead in Tornado-Hit Oklahoma

Tue, 21 May 2013 08:15:00 EST

Pre-dawn emergency workers searched feverishly for survivors in the rubble of homes, primary schools and an hospital in an Oklahoma City suburb ravaged by a massive Monday afternoon tornado feared to have killed up to 91 people and injured well over 200 residents.

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Why Penguins Cannot Fly

Tue, 21 May 2013 06:30:00 EST

From Nature magazine

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Drought Gobbles Up Texas Turkey Hunt

Mon, 20 May 2013 13:50:00 EST

Turkey hunting in Texas dried up along with the state's water due to the epic drought of 2011. And while the drought has relented, turkey season hasn't been the same.

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Heat Deaths in New York City Predicted to Rise

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:30:00 EST

Residents of Manhattan will not just sweat harder from rising temperatures in the future, says a new study; many may die.

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Stress Makes Gorilla Glass Stronger

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:22:00 EST

This story was originally published by Inside Science News Service .

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Childhood ADHD Linked to Obesity in Adulthood

Mon, 20 May 2013 05:00:00 EST

Identification and treatment issues surrounding attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are challenging enough. Now research is shedding light on long-term outcomes for people with ADHD. A May 20 study in Pediatrics reports that men who had ADHD in childhood are twice as likely to be obese in middle age, even if they no longer exhibit symptoms of the disorder.

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Very Fine Art: 6 Stunningly Beautiful Nanoscale Sculptures [Slide Show]

Sun, 19 May 2013 10:00:00 EST

Artists and material scientists alike bend, melt and mold materials into useful and aesthetically pleasing forms. But nothing human hands have made can match the intricacy of convoluted corals or the delicate and unique geometry of a snowflake. In a study published yesterday in Science researchers exploited nature’s sculpting methods to create visually stunning 3-D structures that may change the way nano- and micro-materials are made.

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Antarctic Neutrino Observatory Detects Unexplained High-Energy Particles

Sat, 18 May 2013 07:00:00 EST

Hot on the heels of detecting the two highest-energy neutrinos ever observed, scientists working with a mammoth particle detector buried in ice near the South Pole unveiled preliminary data showing that they also registered the signal of 26 additional high-energy neutrinos. The newfound neutrinos are somewhat less energetic than the two record-setters but nonetheless appear to carry more energy than would be expected if created by cosmic rays hitting the atmosphere--a prodigious source of neutrinos raining down on Earth. The particles thus may point to unknown energetic astrophysical processes deeper in the cosmos .

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Audubon's Birds Live On Long after His Death [Slide Show]

Fri, 17 May 2013 13:45:00 EST

A portrait of John James Audubon shows the artist and naturalist in a dark wolf-skin cloak, cradling a gun and sporting curly dark hair that was likely smoothed back with bear grease. The picture was painted during Audubon's 1826 trip to England and Scotland, when he was playing up his role as the American woodsman to raise money for his opus, The Birds of America . Once completed, the collection included 435 prints of birds flying , eating, perching and fighting. Audubon is still lauded for his contributions to the fields of ornithology and art.

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Google and NASA Snap Up Quantum Computer D-Wave Two

Fri, 17 May 2013 10:50:00 EST

From Nature magazine

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