Readers discuss a subglacial cavern, how language shapes the brain and more
Howdy darkness, my outdated buddy
A subglacial river has carved out a cavern a whole lot of meters beneath the Kamb Ice Stream, a West Antarctic glacier. Contained in the darkish, water-filled “cathedral,” scientists discovered indicators of life, Douglas Fox reported in “Journey beneath the ice” (SN: 4/22/23, p. 18).
Reader Bob Masta requested how a lot daylight filters down by way of the ice above the cavern.
“Primarily no mild will get by way of that thickness of ice. These are actually darkish environments,” Fox says. “The ice is principally opaque, filled with bubbles and inclusions. So it scatters mild till, after a sure depth, there’s nothing left.” This darkness is in step with observations of different subglacial environments, Fox says, corresponding to these beneath the Thwaites ice shelf and the Whillans Ice Stream.
Let’s discuss language
MRI scans of practically 100 native audio system of both Arabic or German revealed variations in how the language circuits of the mind are related, Elise Cutts reported in “Native language shapes the mind” (SN: 4/22/23, p. 8).
A number of readers puzzled what the discovering would possibly imply for individuals who grew up talking a couple of language.
They might have a bonus in studying new languages, says cognitive neuroscientist Angela Friederici of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Mind Sciences in Leipzig, Germany. With mind connections influenced by a couple of language, the brains of multilingual folks would doubtless have “extra constructions to deal with the completely different languages, thereby even offering a superb foundation to be taught extra languages,” she says.
Tangible tiles
After half a century, mathematicians lastly found an ‘einstein’ (beneath, left), a form that kinds a tiled sample that by no means repeats, Emily Conover reported in “Elusive ‘einstein’ tile lastly discovered” (SN: 4/22/23, p. 7). Tom Matuseski, a highschool math instructor at Augsburg Fairview Academy in Minneapolis, was impressed to create a 3-D printed model of the tile (beneath, proper). “I had a lesson plan … for college kids to design a tessellation 3-D print once I learn the article,” Matuseski wrote. “I needed to try to make it.” And so he did, designing printable tiles utilizing the 3-D modeling program Tinkercad.
Hear intently
Tomato and tobacco crops emit high-frequency sounds once they’re thirsty. The discovering may someday assist farmers detect crops that want watering, Meghan Rosen reported in “Parched crops make ultrasonic clicks” (SN: 4/22/23, p. 13).
Reader Roger Pyle shared recollections of rising up in rural Pennsylvania and listening to “sounds of corn rising” after a rain. “We used to have a truck patch of about an acre the place we raised candy corn, beans, strawberries, and so forth.,” Pyle wrote. “My bed room window confronted the sphere the place we grew the crops. The window was open more often than not in the summertime as we had no air-con. After a dry interval, when it rained in a single day (and generally after a day thunderstorm), it might get very nonetheless, and I may hear … sounds coming from the cornfield. Whether or not it was the sound of the rain soaking into the soil or water dripping off leaves of the corn, I don’t know for positive.” Though at a frequency too excessive for people to listen to, “the press noises of thirsty crops acknowledging a welcome drink” maybe have been among the many sounds of the sphere, Pyle mused.
Unsung characters
Barred from ocean expeditions as a result of she was a girl, geologist and cartographer Marie Tharp devoted her vitality to creating maps of the seafloor. Her groundbreaking work provided visible assist for the concept of continental drift, Betsy Mason reported in “Marie Tharp introduced us the ocean flooring” (SN: 4/22/23, p. 24).
Reader Charlotte Howell was thrilled to examine Tharp. “I labored very briefly at Lamont-Doherty [Earth Observatory] in a assist position again in 1978 and knew a number of of the scientists persevering with to gather and interpret information on the seafloor spreading on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Although I’m not a scientist, my father had a Ph.D. in chemistry and spent most of his profession as a researcher…. He launched me to the fascinating worlds of chemistry, geology, scientific thought and course of,” Howell wrote.
“Over time, I’ve learn a number of biographies of ladies scientists,” together with of Marie Curie, who pioneered analysis on radioactivity, and Rosalind Franklin, who contributed to the invention of DNA’s double helix construction, Howell wrote. “I look ahead to any articles on ladies scientists you embody in upcoming problems with Science Information.”
