Scientific American

Fluoride Loosens Bacterial Enamel Grip

Wed, 22 May 2013 20:24:08 EST

Fluoride helps fight cavities. That’s why it’s in our drinking water and toothpaste. But how this mineral works its dental magic is still somewhat mysterious. Now, researchers offer an incisive solution. They find that fluoride treatment can loosen bacteria’s grip on tooth enamel. The study is in the journal Langmuir . [Peter Loskill et al., Reduced Adhesion of Oral Bacteria on Hydroxyapatite by Fluoride Treatment ]

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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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Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out--and Accidentally Discover LSD [Excerpt]

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:00:00 EST

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Fracking Can Be Done Safely, but Will It Be?

Fri, 17 May 2013 06:00:00 EST

Out of sight (and smell), natural gas slowly bubbled up into Norma Fiorentino’s private water well near the town of Dimock in northeastern Pennsylvania--in the heart of the new fracking boom in the U.S. Then, on New Year's Day 2009, when a mechanical pump flicked on and provided the spark, Fiorentino's backyard exploded. She and many others blame the blast on fracking --the colloquial name for the natural gas drilling process that combines horizontal drilling and the fracturing of shale deep underground with high-pressure water to create a path for gas to flow back up the well. [More]

400 PPM: Can Artificial Trees Help Pull CO2 from the Air?

Thu, 16 May 2013 11:01:00 EST

Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have touched 400 parts per million for the first time in at least 800,000 years. The jagged saw-toothed line of the Keelings' father-and-son measurements climbed above that milestone briefly this month before the budding growth of the Northern Hemisphere's spring began sucking CO2 back out of the sky. But human greenhouse gas pollution looks set to continue to rise--and photosynthetic plants on land or at sea can only do so much. As greenhouse gas levels increase further, could machines help wash the skies of the excess CO2? [More]

Soapy Science: How Microwaves Affect Matter

Thu, 16 May 2013 10:00:00 EST

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Isolated Reservoir Holds Ancient Water

Wed, 15 May 2013 23:59:08 EST

Bottled water companies often brag about the purity of their drinks. Just imagine if they found a water source that's been cut off from the outside world for well over a billion years.

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Print, Aim and Shoot: What Does a Plastic Handgun Mean for the Future of 3-D Printing?

Fri, 10 May 2013 06:30:00 EST

A University of Texas at Austin law student has demonstrated to the world that any ambitious tinkerer can make a handgun almost entirely out of 3-D printed parts . Cody Wilson’s revelation is not likely to lead to an arsenal of plastic zip guns anytime soon, but it does raise a number of hairy questions about a technology that, until now, has been highly touted as central to the future of manufacturing in the U.S. [More]

Springtime Science: Exploring the Pigments in Flowers

Thu, 09 May 2013 10:00:00 EST

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Hanford Nuclear Waste Cleanup Plant May Be Too Dangerous

Thu, 09 May 2013 07:00:00 EST

The most toxic and voluminous nuclear waste in the U.S.--208 million liters --sits in decaying underground tanks at the Hanford Site (a nuclear reservation) in southeastern Washington State. It accumulated there from the middle of World War II, when the Manhattan Project invented the first nuclear weapon, to 1987, when the last reactor shut down. The federal government’s current attempt at a permanent solution for safely storing that waste for centuries--the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant here--has hit a major snag in the form of potential chain reactions, hydrogen explosions and leaks from metal corrosion. And the revelation last February that six more of the storage tanks are currently leaking has further ramped up the pressure for resolution.

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Hot Air in Washington, D.C., Might Keep Helium Supply Afloat

Tue, 07 May 2013 17:00:00 EST

US lawmakers have taken a significant step towards averting a global crisis in helium supply, thanks to a bill passed by the House of Representatives on 26 April. If it passes the Senate and becomes law, the bill would delay the imminent closure of the world’s only strategic helium reserve. It would also increase the price of the gas from the reserve, so helium-dependent researchers and industry could still face ballooning costs. However, the prospect of higher prices is encouraging the development of new helium sources in Qatar and Russia, which may ultimately lead to a more stable helium market.

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Cheap Nanotech Filter Clears Hazardous Microbes and Chemicals from Drinking Water

Tue, 07 May 2013 13:30:00 EST

About 780 million people--a tenth of the world’s population--do not have access to clean drinking water. Water laced with contaminants such as bacteria, viruses, lead and arsenic claims millions of lives each year. But an inexpensive device that effectively clears such contaminants from water may help solve this problem.

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Chemicals of High Concern Found in Thousands of Children's Products

Mon, 06 May 2013 11:00:00 EST

Cobalt in plastic building blocks and baby bibs. Ethylene glycol in dolls. Methyl ethyl ketone in clothing. Antimony in high chairs and booster seats. Parabens in baby wipes. D4 in baby creams.

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The Secret to Ultrasmooth Ice Cream: Liquid Nitrogen [Video]

Fri, 03 May 2013 13:28:00 EST

Last year Americans spent roughly $20 billion on ice cream. With the return of fair-weathered spring, grocery stores are once again stocking up on the popular, refreshing treat.

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Solubility Science: How to Grow the Best Crystals

Thu, 02 May 2013 10:00:00 EST

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Chemicals from Personal Care Products Pervasive in Chicago Air

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 11:00:00 EST

On the brink of federal regulatory review, chemicals in deodorants, lotions and conditioners are showing up in Chicago’s air at levels that scientists call alarming.

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DNA at 60: Still Much to Learn

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 08:00:00 EST

This week's diamond jubilee of the discovery of DNA's molecular structure rightly celebrates how Francis Crick, James Watson and their collaborators launched the 'genomic age' by revealing how hereditary information is encoded in the double helix. Yet the conventional narrative -- in which their 1953 Nature paper led inexorably to the Human Genome Project and the dawn of personalized medicine -- is as misleading as the popular narrative of gene function itself, in which the DNA sequence is translated into proteins and ultimately into an organism's observable characteristics, or phenotype.

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Soils Cannot Lock Away Black Carbon

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 12:45:00 EST

LONDON – Climate scientists may have to rethink some of their old assumptions about carbon. US and European researchers have just established that black carbon, soot and biochar – the burnt remains from countless forest fires – doesn't stay in the soil indefinitely.

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Why Didn't Regulators Prevent the Texas Fertilizer Explosion?

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:30:00 EST

A week after a blast at a Texas fertilizer plant killed at least 15 people and hurt more than 200, authorities still don't know exactly why the West Chemical and Fertilizer Company plant exploded.

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Fertilizer Plants Spring Up to Take Advantage of U.S. s Cheap Natural Gas

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 08:15:00 EST

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