You may already know that DNA is a long molecule found in almost every cell in your body that contains your genetic blueprints. Encoded in the particular sequence of your DNA is a description of what kind of organism you are, how you work, and how to...
So while children who study music for two years demonstrate better verbal memory than children who have not studied music, children who continue to study music continue to improve their verbal memory. The good news for those of us who trained on musi...
Oh come on, you say. Would a collision really have been that bad? After all, the earth has a diameter of eight thousand miles. Being hit by a half-mile wide asteroid would be like being tapped by a B-B. In one sense, that is true. The earth itself wo...
One day you walk down to the local deli for lunch and are on the way back to work when you find a piano has fallen on the sidewalk, right where you pass every day. Gosh, you think, ten minutes later and I would have been standing right there. Close o...
How confident can the surveyor be about an estimated margin of error? To measure this, surveys also have what is called a confidence level, which is the likelihood that the estimate between seventy and eighty percent in this case is really accurate....
For example, a trend in U.S. health care in recent years has been to promote early and frequent screening for diseases. While screening is generally helpful, it also exposes people to radiation. And too much radiation can cause health problems. In ma...
In the United States we have many of the worlds best trained doctors and the most advanced medical equipment. So how come were falling behind other countries when it comes to increases in life expectancy? Good queation. First, our listen is referring...
Wind passing under and over the wings creates lift, which sends the fish gliding through the air. The fish slaps at the water with its tail to keep the glide going. And were not talking just a few seconds of flight. Flying fish can travel hundreds of...
When turbine blades spin, they create turbulence similar to how a motorboat churns up the water in its wake. Consequently, cooler air from higher in the atmosphere is pushed down. Meanwhile, warmer air lower to the ground is drawn up, where it mixes...
Giant wind turbines are a sight to behold. Theyre big and majestic and, to some eyes at least, even beautiful. But not everyone likes wind turbines. Some people complain that they make too much noise. Others argue that they spoil the view. And yet an...
Like kangaroos, possums are marsupials, and the females carry and nurse their young in pouches on their abdomens. The opossum, Didelphis virginiana, is the only marsupial native to North America. Playing Possum These solitary, nomadic omnivores are a...
Have you ever seen a cartoon of a sleeping opossum hanging upside down by its tail? Well, you may be surprised to learn that possums dont actually sleep that way. Just A Myth Although often depicted in cartoons as hanging from their tails, the muscle...
Do you know what a food allergy is? A study several years ago showed that twenty-five percent of adults believe they have food allergies. According to doctors, the number of adults who actually have food allergies is more like one or two percent. Int...
Glass Pits And Dirt Deposits Places that might harbor such tiny pockets of air include microscopic scratches and pits in the surface of a glass, and crevices along the edges of dirt deposits. Pour champagne or beer into a glass and youll see that bub...
If champagne sits around long enough for most of its dissolved carbon dioxide gas to form bubbles and escape into the air, we say that the champagne has gone flat. When we drink flat champagne we dont feel the pleasant fizz of new bubbles forming. To...
