2004 – Page 15

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Milky Way Center Bathed in Unexplainably Hot X-Rays

June 25, 2004

The Chandra X-Ray Observatory found more heat at the center of the Milky Way than astronomers can explain. Astronomers observed a tiny angle around the Milky Way’s center for 170 hours. After subtracting out known sources, a diffuse gas cloud remains that is radiating X-rays at 100 million degrees. Star counts capable of heating the […]

Amazing Facts

Spiderman No Match for Real Spider

June 24, 2004

National Geographic News took the occasion of the upcoming Spiderman sequel to investigate the superpowers of real spiders. If you were spidy, you could: Jump 50 times your body length. That would be like a man jumping 300 feet (the world record is 29 feet, 4.5 inches). Walk upside down on smooth surfaces, with 170 […]

Cosmology

ID Book Survives Nature Relatively Unscathed

June 24, 2004

Considering the intemperate disdain intelligent design books usually receive from the major journals – when they are even noticed (see, for example, Nature’s review of a book by William Dembski in the 07/11/2002 headline) – a new ID book fared surprisingly well this week. In Nature1 June 24, Douglas A. Vakoch (SETI Institute) reviewed the […]

Marine Biology

Cleaners Advertise in the Fish Market

June 22, 2004

The plot of this science project seems made for Disney animation, a fishy version of Aesop’s parable of Androcles and the lion. There are fish that will clean parasites out of the mouths and gills of their predators without getting eaten (see 01/13/2003 headline). How these “cleaner fish” and their clients developed this risky relationship, […]

Origin of Life

Mystery of the Left-Handed Proteins: Solved?

June 21, 2004

Some molecules come in left- and right-handed forms that are mirror images of each other. All biological proteins are composed of only left-handed amino acids. How this could have come about in a primordial soup has long been a puzzle to origin-of-life researchers, since both L (levo, left-handed) and D (dextro, right-handed) forms react indiscriminately. […]

Solar System

Comet Surface Wild and Crazy

June 18, 2004

“Completely unexpected,” was the reaction of Donald Brownlee, principal investigator of the Stardust mission, to the photos revealed by the spacecraft that flew into the tail of Comet Wild-2 last January (see 01/02/2004 headline), reports a University of Washington press release. The comet mission is the cover story in the June 18 issue of Science, […]

Marine Biology

Stickleback Fish Achieve Stardom in Evolutionary Labs

June 18, 2004

According to Elizabeth Pennisi in Science June 18,1 the three-spine stickleback is being studied in 100 labs as a model of evolution. Over the last century, the little fish has been the subject of some 2000 papers, seven textbooks, and a Nobel prize-winning thesis. Evolutionists have been attracted to this fish because it appears to […]

Botany

Fungi Supply Plant Communities With Underground Nutrient Pipeline

June 17, 2004

Dig up a cubic yard of soil, and you may have disturbed 12,000 miles of an extensive network of passageways that supply plant roots with carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus.

Human Body

Can Natural Processes Create a Mind?

June 16, 2004

No problemo, says H. Clark Barrett (UCLA), getting a mind from mindless matter. In a review of a book by developmental psychologist Gary Marcus published in Science June 11,1 Barrett was reassured by Marcus’ book that evolutionary theory working within natural law is up to the task: “The strengths of The Birth of the Mind […]

Uncategorized

Mars Rovers Enter New Phase of Exploration

June 16, 2004

Spirit and Opportunity both still have both spirit and opportunity. Mission scientists said yesterday that the rovers have reached new locations that provide new targets for scientific research; it’s like starting the missions all over again, they commented. Spirit has reached the Columbia Hills, where it hopes to climb and explore rock outcrops. […]

Dumb Ideas

NASA-Ames Gives Darwin Credit for Antenna Design Project

June 16, 2004

A press release from NASA-Ames Research Center claims, “NASA ‘Evolutionary’ Software Automatically Designs Antenna.” Using artificial intelligence software, their approach converged on the best design. The article explains: “The AI software examined millions of potential antenna designs before settling on a final one,” said project lead Jason Lohn, a scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center, […]

Dinosaurs

Dinos in the News

June 15, 2004

Three dinosaur finds were reported in the last month: Sauropod: A new kind of sauropod was found in the Morrison Formation (Jurassic) in Montana, reported National Geographic News. This kind of dinosaur was unexpected, and suggests an unknown fauna existed in a state known more for its Cretaceous meat-eaters. The skull of this sauropod had […]

Amazing Facts

How Molecular Trucks Build Your Sensors

June 14, 2004

In the film Unlocking the Mystery of Life, biochemist Michael Behe, describing the intricacies of cells as we know them today, claimed that there are “little molecular trucks that carry supplies from one end of the cell to the other.” If that seems an overstatement, you should look at the illustration in Cell June 11 […]

Solar System

Phoebe Shows Her Dark, Icy Face

June 14, 2004

Planetary scientists are reveling in the sharp new pictures of Phoebe taken last Friday by the Cassini Spacecraft. Phoebe is the outermost moon of Saturn, an oddball since it revolves around Saturn in the “wrong” direction at high inclination. Nine images have been released to the public so far (click here for the gallery). The […]

Health

MRI Overtaking X-Rays

June 11, 2004

The British Medical Journal 12 June cover story1 says that recent advances in magnetic resonance imaging may soon make MRI supersede X-ray as the preferred technology for whole body imaging. MRI avoids the damage caused by X-rays and provides more contrast and detail, especially in the detection of cancer. MRI is also replacing traditional autopsy […]

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