Crews Search for Survivors in Oklahoma After Tornado
By JOHN ELIGON, MANNY FERNANDEZ and MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ
Rescue workers sought survivors as they sifted through debris and around power lines to reach those who were feared trapped.
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Science Times: May 21, 2013
Yannick Grandmont for The New York Times
Brenda Milner's work in the 1950s showed how memory is rooted in specific regions of the brain.
Brenda Milner’s work with an amnesia patient in the 1950s showed how memory is rooted in specific regions of the brain. With modern technology, she says, “we can see so much more.”
No Easy Choices on Breast Reconstruction
By RONI CARYN RABIN
While a recent article by Angelina Jolie about her mastectomy and reconstruction raised awareness, it may have left the impression that the surgeries are quick and easy procedures, some doctors fear.
The Book Stops Here
By RICHARD A. FRIEDMAN, M.D.
The American Psychiatric Association’s official manual of mental disorders, newly revised, may not be ideal, but it offers clinicians a common language.
‘Semi-Invisible’ Sources of Strength
By JANE GROSS
In a new anthology of essays, 21 nurses describe the often quiet work of keeping patients alive.
In 1949, He Imagined an Age of Robots
By JOHN MARKOFF
“The Machine Age,” an essay written for The New York Times by Norbert Wiener, a visionary mathematician, languished for six decades in the M.I.T. archives, and now excerpts are being published.
New Research Tools Kick Up Dust in Archives
By JOHN MARKOFF
Advances in technology have transformed the methods of historians and other archival researchers, a change that carries both benefits and consequences.
Solving a Riddle of Primes
By KENNETH CHANG
Mathematicians have long believed that there are an infinite number of twin primes. A new paper gets closer to an answer.
4 Germs Cause Most of Infants’ Severe Diarrhea
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
A study pinpoints just four microbes as the most common causes of severe and fatal diarrhea among the world’s infants.
More Science News
Matthew Staver for The New York Times
Near Garden City, Kan., the High Plains Aquifer is giving out.
Wells Dry, Fertile Plains Turn to Dust
By MICHAEL WINES
Parts of the vast High Plains Aquifer, once a prodigious source of water, are now so low that crops can’t be watered and bridges span arid stream beds.
3 N.Y.U. Scientists Accepted Bribes From China, U.S. Says
By BENJAMIN WEISER
The N.Y.U. researchers, who specialized in magnetic resonance imaging, colluded with Chinese institutions to reveal confidential information, prosecutors said.
Racing the Clock in the Rockaways
By LISA W. FODERARO
Hurricane Sandy left the parks department with the onerous task of having the beach ready for a Memorial Day weekend opening.
Rebuilding the Coastline, but at What Cost?
By JENNY ANDERSON
Beach nourishment projects will restore shorelines but require expensive upkeep and affect ecosystems; federal taxpayers will foot the bill.
Prototype
Rolling Up Their Sleeves, as a Team
By CLAIRE MARTIN
Two groups of M.I.T. entrepreneurs were working on similar ideas for high-tech clothing. But instead of becoming rivals, they combined their efforts into a single, growing company.
Joseph Farman, 82, Is Dead; Discovered Ozone Hole
By PAUL VITELLO
Mr. Farman’s single-minded and at times officially derided study of atmospheric changes in the Antarctic led to one of the most important environmental discoveries of the 20th century.
A Black Mound of Canadian Oil Waste Is Rising Over Detroit
By IAN AUSTEN
Refining Canada’s petroleum-soaked oil sands produces petroleum coke, and the question of what to do with it has found at least one answer in Detroit, where a large coke pile covers an entire city block.
Matter
From Fearsome Predator to Man’s Best Friend
By CARL ZIMMER
Scientists are zeroing in on some of the genes that were crucial to the rewiring of canine brains in the transition from wolves to domesticated dogs.
Senate Panel Advances Nominee for E.P.A.
By JOHN M. BRODER
The committee voted 10-to-8 along partisan lines to send the nomination of Gina McCarthy to the Senate floor.
Performing From Space, Canada’s Low-Orbit Star
By IAN AUSTEN
Chris Hadfield’s exploits in space may have cemented his reputation as the world’s best-known singing astronaut, not to mention Canada’s newest celebrity.
New Fracking Rules Proposed for U.S. Land
By JOHN M. BRODER
The proposal, which would allow some drilling fluids to be kept secret, did not please environmental advocates or the oil and gas industry.
Today in Science
News from the Web,
annotated by our staff
Deadliest Tornado Years in U.S. History | Worst Tornadoes | livescience.com
Here, LiveScience charts tornado deaths over the years. - Jennifer Kingson
How to Understand the Scale of Today’s Oklahoma Tornado | blogs.smithsonianmag.com
Smithsonian has a great map of tornado activity and a time-lapse video of yesterday's storm. - Jennifer Kingson
The Oklahoma Mega-Twister Is More Weather Than Climate Change | science.time.com
What other news sites are saying about the tornado: this from TIME.com. - Jennifer Kingson
Podcast: Science Times
A review of a new book, written by nurses on nursing; the sometime dangers of having small children; pimples aren’t just for middle school anymore.
Science Columns
The Week
Kepler Telescope’s Troubles, a Maya Pyramid in Ruins and More
By JENNIFER A. KINGSON
Recent developments in health and science news. This week: A Maya pyramid in Belize ruined by a construction crew, and evidence of scientific consensus on climate change.
Q&A;
Through Thick and Thin
By C. CLAIBORNE RAY
In a healthy person with no nail disease, by far the most common cause of thick nails is trauma.
Observatory
Oyster Shells Are an Antacid to the Oceans
By DOUGLAS QUENQUA
Decomposing oyster shells, made of calcium carbonate, act like an antacid pill and help generate alkalinity in the increasingly acidic oceans, a study finds.
A Link to Ears of Early Humans
By DOUGLAS QUENQUA
Researchers are reporting that early ancestors of humans had inner ear bones very similar to those of modern men and women.
After the Fact
Flywheel
By HENRY FOUNTAIN
Reaction wheels are crucial in helping orient spacecraft like the Kepler telescope, which recently lost use of a second wheel, highlighting the challenges designers face.
Look, but Don’t Touch
The photographer Mark Laita’s new book, “Serpentine,” seeks to capture the snake in its many colors and “the sensual forms its movement creates.” It is science best appreciated from a distance.
A Century of Cicadas
Periodical cicadas live underground for 17 or 13 years before emerging to sing, mate and die. This year’s cicadas are Brood II, one of 15 surviving regional broods.
Glass Mirrors Life in the Seas
A rescued collection of intricate glass models first crafted in the late 1800s provide a time capsule to test the health of today’s oceans.
Editors' Picks
Profiles in Science
A series of articles and videos about leaders in science including Hopi E. Hoekstra, Linda Fried, Elizabeth Spelke, Richard Dawkins, Nora Volkow, Eric Lander, Michael Gazzaniga and Steven Pinker.
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