Science News back issues from June 1992:
Magellan captures landslides on Venus. (spacecraft pictures show evidence of past landslides)
Jun 06, 1992; ... Scientists didn't catch these rolling stones in action, but they do have pictures of the show after it went down. This week, NASA released the first radar images clearly showing evidence of landslides on Venus. The Magellan spacecraft snapped the pictures while orbiting the ...
Shaping ceramics with electrochemistry.
Jun 06, 1992; ... Taking a cue from how carmakers paint autos, British scientists have developed a simple way to shape ceramic materials electrochemically. Car painting involves lowering the alkalinity of the car surface so that polymers settle and coat the car, where they are cured to form a permanent ...
Radio galaxy survey focuses on hotspots.
Jun 06, 1992; ... Astronomers exploring radio galaxies are like tourists visiting New York City: They seek out the hotspots. And just as the high-energy venues of New York are transient and scattered throughout the city, the hotspots associated with radio galaxies form a crazy quilt that changes over time, ...
Hubble camera finds huge star clusters. (found in Arp 220 galaxy) (Brief Article)
Jun 06, 1992 ... They could be the Arnold Schwarzeneggers of star clusters. When the Hubble Space Telescope peered into the center of an oddly shaped galaxy called Arp 220, it imaged six densely packed clusters of stars -- the largest star-packed regions ever observed by a telescope. Ten times ...
The inferno revisited. (observing Mount Erebus) (Cover Story)
Jun 06, 1992; ...An eight-legged Dante will explore inside an active volcano "There was a very large eruption and the two of us down there were just blasted to the ground. Big rocks were everywhere, whistling through the air," recalls volcanologist Philip R. Kyle with the wry detachment of ...
Holographic proofs: keeping computers and mathematicians honest.
Jun 06, 1992; ... After years of scrupulous reasoning and painstaking analysis, Peter Fermax of Enormous State University truly believed he had proved the infamous Snark Conjecture. Now he faced the formidable task of persuading his fellow mathematicians that his 1,210-page manuscript contained not a ...
Out of the shadows: a new map of Pluto. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology study)
Jun 06, 1992 ... Taking advantage of several eclipses of Pluto by its moon Charon during the past several years, astronomers have constructed a new map of the surface brightness of the distant, frozen planet. The map depicts an unusually bright patch at Pluto's south pole and indicates that the planet may ...
First gene-spliced wheat. (Brief Article)
Jun 06, 1992 ... In a feat that could boost wheat production worldwide, plant biologists have for the first time permanently transferred a foreign gene into wheat. The gene makes wheat resistant to the herbicide phosphinothricin -- sold under the trade name Basta -- which normally kills any ...
Glow little stressed plant, glow. (genes that change plant growth) (Brief Article)
Jun 06, 1992 ... Two years ago, researchers at Stanford University found that plants can react to touch by "turning on" a specific set of genes. These genes direct the production of proteins that bind to calcium and that may play a role in changing a plant's growth pattern (SN: 2/24/90, p.117). ...
New treatment shuts off oncogene. (using anti-sense molecules to treat leukemia) (Brief Article)
Jun 06, 1992 ... A gene known as p53 plays a role in the development of many cancers, including a severe type of leukemia -- cancer of blood and bone marrow cells. This gene is turned off in most immature bone marrow cells. However, scientists believe that cancer arises when something turns p53 on at an ...
Not all semen infected alike. (HIV research) (Brief Article)
Jun 06, 1992 ... Scientists know that the AIDS-causing virus (HIV) spreads most commonly through sexual contact. But many researchers have found this route mysteriously inconsistent: Some HIV-infected men spread the virus after having sex only once, while others fail repeatedly to pass the infection on ...
In the name of the game. (high school research projects, International Science and Engineering Fair, Nashville, Tennessee)
Jun 06, 1992; ... Several of the more than 750 high school research projects exhibited at this year's fair, May 10 to 16, were inspired by games young investigators play. * Even if they're unfamiliar with the name, most golfers know the "gear effect" -- the tendency for the head of a golf club ...
New anticancer strategy targets gene. (HER-2/neu gene)
Jun 06, 1992; ... Scientists report encouraging results in the first attempt to stop tumor growth in humans by blocking the activity of a cancer-promoting gene. The new research holds out hope that clinicians may one day use this technique to halt the progression of breast and ovarian cancers. ...
Gene therapy: brain cancer yes, AIDS no. (National Institutes of Health panel approves treatment for brain cancer patients)
Jun 06, 1992; ... Brain cancer patients will soon join the small but growing number of people with dire diseases who may receive experimental treatment with gene therapy, according to a decision made this week by a panel of experts advising the National Institutes of Health. But the panel declined to ...
Chinese skulls face evolutionary mosaic.
Jun 06, 1992; ... Since the 1970s, farmers tilling the soil along a ridge overlooking China's Han River have occasionally turned up fossil bones of long-extinct animals. That sparked the interest of Chinese paleontologist Li Tianyuan of the Hubei Institute of Archaeology in Wuhan, who led excavations at ...
Glass fibers to channel neutrons to a focus.
Jun 06, 1992; ... Like flat stones skipping across placid water, neutrons striking a material at very low angles glance off its surface. Taking advantage of this behavior, researchers have now demonstrated that bundles of glass fibers containing microscopically narrow channels can guide, shape and focus ...
Powerless chemistry of depression. (Brief Article)
Jun 13, 1992 ... Laboratory animals exposed to uncontrollable and unpredictable stress, such as foot shocks or loud noises, rapidly learn that they cannot control their environment. When experimenters subsequently offer them various tactics to avoid these intrusions, such as pressing a lever, the animals ...
Destined for a dangerous ride? (racial minorities and seat belt usage) (Brief Article)
Jun 13, 1992 ... Belief in an inevitable destiny outside one's control may account for the greater propensity of blacks and Hispanics to leave their seat belts unbuckled, according to a preliminary report in the June AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH. A survey of 1,063 individuals in Harrisburg, ...
Same disease, different transmission. (Lyme disease is transmitted in different ways according to region) (Brief Article)
Jun 13, 1992; ... On the U.S. West Coast, the bacterium responsible for Lyme disease is transmitted through a more complex network of infected animal hosts and tick vectors than on the East Coast, according to a new study. This finding has important implications for controlling the spread of this disease, ...
Success on the vaccine front. (protein vaccine for prevention of Lyme disease) (Brief Article)
Jun 13, 1992; ... Vaccination with either of two specific proteins isolated from Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, can protect mice from the infection, researchers from Yale University have found. The vaccines can also prevent ticks from spreading the disease, they report. ...
Clue to cigarettes' role in emphysema. (reaction of lungs to tobacco smoke) (Brief Article)
Jun 13, 1992 ... Though the link between cigarette smoking and emphysema seems firmly established, researchers are still puzzling over the precise chemical role of tobacco smoke in the destruction of lung tissue. Chemists at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge have teased out a new clue: a ...
Radical concerns over drinking water. (chlorinated water may alter body's reaction to cholesterol and fats) (Brief Article)
Jun 13, 1992 ... Animal studies have suggested that chlorine ingestion alters the body's handling of cholesterol and fats. For example, an Environmental Protection Agency study showed that drinking highly chlorinated water "subtly but noticeably shifted" a mouse's transport of cholesterol from ...
Radical protection for athletes. (dietary supplements' effects) (Brief Article)
Jun 13, 1992 ... Competitive atheletes continually push to better their records, but such strenuous pursuits exact a price. The high consumption of oxygen bathes the body in biologically damaging, oxygen-derived free radicals. However, at least five new studies indicate that certain dietary supplements ...
Record-breaking transistor, robot. (new transistor is narrower than a human hair) (Brief Article)
Jun 13, 1992 ... In 40 years, computers have shrunk from the size of a room to that of a phone book. This miniaturization has been made possible by ever tinier components and ever more precise manufacturing technologies. Last month, scientists pushed the limits even further by introducing the world's ...
Microscope's misleading tips. (imperfections can lead to errors) (Brief Article)
Jun 13, 1992 ... Although atomic-force microscopes reveal atomic-scale details not seen with many other imaging techniques, Swiss physicists warn that those details may not always be real. These microscopes map the landscape of a surface by monitoring fluctuations in the forces between atoms in ...
Bright, bendable light-emitting diodes. (Brief Article)
Jun 13, 1992 ... The flex in this light-emitting diode (LED) marks the latest advance in harnessing electroluminescent polymers for billboards, electronic displays and uses not yet imagined. Earlier this year, British scientists chemically modified polymers so that the materials glowed in a ...
At last, neutrino results from GALLEX. (how the sun uses its nuclear fuel to generate energy)
Jun 13, 1992; ... Although neutrinos are among the most difficult of fundamental particles to detect, they provide a unique window on how the sun uses its nuclear fuel to generate energy. Every step in the fusion of hydrogen and other nuclei at the sun's core produces neutrinos, and vast numbers of these ...
Antipsychotic drug doses climb over time. (dosages tend to progress to larger amounts)
Jun 13, 1992; ... Psychiatrists who prescribe antipsychotic medication for severely mentally ill individuals living in board-and-care facilities, halfway houses and other private housing arrangements tend to administer progressively larger doses of the drugs over time, according to a report in the June ...
Explanation for premature and delayed labor. (oxytocin hormone reactions)
Jun 13, 1992; ... Untimely spurts of the hormone oxytocin may be to blame for premature labor, according to a study of pregnant rats. Similarly, delayed release of the hormone may postpone labor beyond the healthiest time to deliver, the study suggests. These findings could lead to the ...
Oxygen damage: role in preeclampsia? (Brief Article)
Jun 13, 1992; ... Roughly 7 percent of pregnant women develop preeclampsia, a potentially fatal disorder of unknown origin that appears during the last trimester. It can involve a number of symptoms, including sudden weight gain, swelling of the face and fingers, headaches, abdominal pain and high blood ...
Teasing out dietary cholesterol's impact. (cholesterol's effect on the blood) (Brief Article)
Jun 13, 1992; ... To defend their predilection for meat and dairy products, many people cite nutrition studies indicating that cholesterol consumption has little, if any, effect on cholesterol levels in the blood. Cardiologists counter by citing other studies linking dietary cholesterol to significant ...
Galactic black hole: X marks the spot? (research of spiral galaxy M51)
Jun 13, 1992; ... It looks more like a pirate's treasure map than a picture taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Researchers this week released a Hubble photo depicting a dark X that may mark the exact location of a black hole believed to be hiding at the heart of a spiral galaxy called M51. ...
Sticky situations; picking apart the molecules that glue cells together. (Cover Story)
Jun 13, 1992; ... Some of their names sound like the fuel systems of fancy sports cars: VCAM, ICAM and NCAM. But these cell-surface molecules--which poke through the outer membranes of cells--have nothing to do with Porsches, Ferraris or Lamborghinis. Instead, they constitute the adhesive that literally ...
Sunny findings: solar gas flow. (Brief Article)
Jun 20, 1992; ... Astronomers have found evidence that gases flow steadily across the visible surface of the sun, rising up from the interior at the solar equator and moving toward the north and south poles. David H. Hathaway of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., says the surface ...
And perhaps a longer solar cycle. (sunspot cycle research) (Brief Article)
Jun 20, 1992; ... The sunspot cycle maybe part of a longer activity period, says Richard Altrock, a U.S. Air Force scientist stationed at the National Solar Observatory facility at Sacramento Peak, N.M. He adds that successive solar cycles may overlap. Altrock bases his conclusions on 19 years ...
Probing the disk of Beta Pictoris. (solar system research) (Brief Article)
Jun 20, 1992; ... Located some 53 light-years from Earth, Beta Pictoris is the best-known example of a star surrounded by a disk of gas and dust -- a possible solar system in the making. Researchers believe that such a disk once encircled our sun, giving rise to the planets and their moons some 4.6 billion ...
Peptide dampens moth's sex appeal. (pheromonostatic factor) (Brief Article)
Jun 20, 1992 ... When corn earworms mate, the males leave their partners with more than just sperm -- they also transfer a substance that makes the females less eager to find other mates. This substances, called soluble pheromonostatic factor, is a basic peptide containing 57 amino acids, says Wanda M ....
Tiny semiconductor can't take the heat. (particles of metals, inert gases, molecular crystals) (Brief Article)
Jun 20, 1992 ... Scientist used to think every material exhibited a characteristic melting point. During the past 20 years, however, researchers have realized that when they make extremely tiny particles of metals, inert gases or molecular crystals, the melting point drops, sometimes by a lot. Now Avery ...
Database to aid chemical identification. (Mass spectrometry usage) (Brief Article)
Jun 20, 1992 ... Analytical chemists trying to discover the chemical makeup of mysterious substances cna now match their data with 8,200 new "fingerprints" of chemical compounds. Those fingerprints are mass spectra, graphs whose peaks show the relative distribution of molecules of different weights in a ...
NIST cranks up an incredible crane. (National Institute of Standards and Technology)
Jun 20, 1992 ... Though seemingly spindly and precariously balanced, a new crane called SPIDER may prove itself mightier than its more traditional - and bulkier - counterparts. Scalable to a size that can straddle buildings, the crane can lift and position heavy loads precisely, according to its inventor, ...
Yohkoh: a new X-ray view of the sun. (solar research)
Jun 20, 1992; ... High above the spinning sun, the solar atmosphere seethes with X-ray energy unleashed when dense magnetic field lines, twisted like taut rubber bands, suddenly snap or change their structure. Vast areas of the atmosphere erupt without warning; gases heated to millions of degrees Celsius ...
Forging links between mathematics and art. (sphere eversion technique)
Jun 20, 1992; ... To many people, art and mathematics appear to have very little in common. The seemingly rigid rules and algorithms of mathematics apparently lie far removed from the spontaneity and passion associated with art. However, a small but growing number of artists find inspiration in ...
Two steps forward in AIDS vaccine search. (finding new animal species and developing new vaccine for research)
Jun 20, 1992; ... Researchers seeking a vaccine to stem the spread of AIDS have taken two significant strides toward that goal. They have found a primate species besides humans and the endangered chimpanzee that they can use to test the safety and efficacy of possible AIDS vaccines. And they have ...
New physics for liquids in tight spots. (molecular mechanism of friction) (Brief Article)
Jun 20, 1992; ... Liquids confined in very narrow spaces don't always behave as expected. But the way they do act suggests that some basic physical principles may be involved, theorists now conclude on the basis of computer simulations. Increasingly, researchers depend on simulations to predict ...
Boron molecules that look like fullerenes. (Brief Article)
Jun 20, 1992; ... It didn't take Harvard chemist William N. Lipscomb long to pick up on the link between boron molecules and the hollow, 60-carbon molecule called the buckyball. In 1976, he had predicted that a molecule with 32 boron exhibit an icosahedral atoms would exhibit an icosahedral structure not ...
Sidestepping Galileo's jammed antenna. (Galileo spacecraft's smaller antennas to be boosted) (Brief Article)
Jun 20, 1992; ... After several failed attempts to free Galileo's stuck main antenna, scientists last week revealed their plant for continuing the spacecraft's mission to Jupiter without it. The main antenna, which resembles a large umbrella, failed to open in April 1991 after two of its ribs ...
Anxiety before surgery may prove healthful.
Jun 20, 1992; ... A new study suggests that physicians and nurses should offer this seemingly paradoxial advice to patients awaiting surgery: Don't relax, be worried. Relaxation training helps people feel less tense before and after surgery for non-life-threatening conditions, but it also seems ...
Tracking the cause of asthma's wheeze. (Brief Article)
Jun 20, 1992; ... Until recently, scientists believed that asthma resulted when muscles surrounding the lung's airways went into spasm, restricting the flow of air. But a computer study augments recent evidence that inflammation and thickening of the airway tubes is the chief cause of an asthmatic's wheezy ...
Rio summit launches two 'Earth' treaties. (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development) (Brief Article)
Jun 20, 1992; ... Negotiating teams representing 178 nations this week wrapped up 12 days of complex deliberations at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). This Earth summit brought heads of state from 116 nations to Rio de Janeiro for discussion of--and hopefully commitment ...
Erectus unhinged. (debates over human ancestors) (Cover Story)
Jun 20, 1992; ... For more than 40 years, anthropologists have generally agreed that Homo erectus served as an evolutionary link between our earliest direct ancestor, Homo habilis, and modern Homo sapiens. This view holds that a hardy breed of H. erectus spread from Africa to Asia and Europe and lived from ...
Quasar hunt bags unusual quarry. (ultrabright quasars which lie billions of light-years from the earth)
Jun 20, 1992; ... When Richard McMahon and Michael Irwin began searching photographic plates for faraway quasars, they had no idea they would discover the most distant cosmic mirage ever detected. The British astronomers and their colleagues, Cyril Hazard of the University of Pittsburgh, started ...
A 'normal' galaxy that goes the distance. (cluster over 11 billion light-years away) (Brief Article)
Jun 27, 1992 ... In the 1960s, astronomers identified a group of objects that rank among the most distant in the observable universe -- quasars that glow brilliantly in visible light and at radio wavelengths. Two decades later, researchers detected very distant galaxies that broadcast radio waves at high ...
Scientists gasp at snapshot of Gaspra. (pictures suggest collision with other space objects) (Brief Article)
Jun 27, 1992 ... The Galileo spacecraft recently sent back the best pictures yet of the asteroid Gaspra, snapped during the spacecraft's brief encounter with the asteroid last October. The new images have three times the resolution of previous images, providing scientists with more provocative clues about ...
Taste protein relays bitter signal. (gustducin) (Brief Article)
Jun 27, 1992 ... Molecular neurobiologists have discovered a new protein, gustducin, that seems to reside only in the taste buds and may act as a messenger for bitter-taste signals. This protein contains 354 amino acids, and it is the first found to be specific to taste cells, report Susan K ....
The perils of a tropical crow. (Alala, Hawaiian crow) (Brief Article)
Jun 27, 1992 ... What's so special about the Hawaiian crow called Alala? Only 11 adults and one nestling exits in the wild--a number that puts the bird in extreme jeopardy of extinction, according to a new report. The Hawaiian crow (Corvus hawaiiensis) may die out in the next decade or two if ...
Exposing salmonella's gutsy moves. (bacteria use complicated devices to invade cells)
Jun 27, 1992; ... Over thousands of years, bacteria have evolved many ingenious ways to invade the human body. Of all these microorganisms, strains of rod-shaped Salmonella have probably intrigued and befuddled scientists the most. Best known for causing food poisoning and typhoid fever, ...
Breast cancer therapy's leukemia risks. (Brief Article)
Jun 27, 1992; ... Tamoxifen is not the only postsurgical therapy for breast cancer to pose some risk of fostering new cancers (SN: 4/2592, p. 259). However, few studies have attempted to quantify the long-term risks attributable to such adjuvant therapies. Now a trio of researchers with the National ...
Skin cancer's return: how big a threat?
Jun 27, 1992; ... People who have already suffered one bout with certain skin cancers are risk of getting the disease again. A new study quantifies that menace and provides dermatologists with a more detailed picture of squamous and basal cell cancers, two very common and highly curable types of skin ...
The malaria parasite: change and conquer. (attack strategies of parasites)
Jun 27, 1992; ... A parasitic relationship resembles a biological arms race. Over evolutionary time, an infected host puts up a new defense to stave off a parasite, only to have that parasite evade the defense and sharpen its skills for circumventing the host's next defensive strategy. And so on, and so ...
Auto accidents accelerate trauma disorder.
Jun 27, 1992; ... Crime, disaster and bereavement produce plenty of heartbreak, but a new study suggests that the single most significant trauma for city dwellers lurks on highways and streets. The culprit: automobile crashes. Serious car accidents may yield roughly 28 severely distressed ...
Mountains give rise to perplexing plumes. (Bennett Island in East Siberian Sea) (Brief Article)
Jun 27, 1992; ... Taking advantage of the new world order, U.S. scientists have finally gathered hard evidence to explain the Bennett Island plumes, a mystery that remained unsolvable during the Cold War. But the long-sought explanation has proved less exciting than experts had hoped. The ...
New glass 'lens' for intensifying X-rays. (glass fiber bundles) (Brief Article)
Jun 27, 1992; ... When accelerated electrons in a laboratory X-ray source smash into a metal target, the resulting interaction sprays X-rays in all direction. To get a narrowly confined, precisely characterized beam, researchers typically use an arrangement of narrow slits to block the passage of all but a ...
Etching technique lights up porous silicon three ways.
Jun 27, 1992; ... With its three dimensions, a hologram packs much more information onto a flat surface than a typical photo. Holographic data storage could thus lead to denser computer memories. Chemists have now taken a step in that direction by using light-emitting silicon as the holographic surface. ...
Pacific cocktail. (kava plant benefits)
Jun 27, 1992; ... A young virgin on a South Pacific island chews the dried roots of a prized native plant. She pits a mouthful of macerated root mixed with saliva onto a leaf. The older men take the mashed-up root and pour cold water over it, a proces that yields an intoxicating greenish-brown beverage ...