Science News back issues from July 1994:
Cell 'caves' harbor clues to diseases.
Jul 02, 1994; ... Just as the probing of a new cave's mineral deposits can yield discoveries richer than the finding of the cave itself, the identification of the chemicals inside cellular chambers called caveolae is proving a mother lode for researchers. Last year, cell biologists for the first ...
UV damage: some surprises under the sun. (ultraviolet radiation hurts complex organisms more than single-celled organisms) (Brief Article)
Jul 02, 1994; ... Ozone depletion and the concomitant strengthening of ultraviolet radiation can harm natural ecosystems in unanticipated ways, according to Canadian ecologists who tested how river organisms react to various types of light. When researchers from the National Hydrology Research ...
Parents' smoking damages their kids' lungs.
Jul 02, 1994; ... A woman's smoking during pregnancy can detrimentally affect her child's lung function into adulthood, conclude three groups of investigators from the Harvard School of Public Health. And those effects, it seems, are irreversible. Many of the investigators are involved in the ...
Assaults may amplify female alcoholism.
Jul 02, 1994; ... Psychological stress caused by rape and other violent attacks influences importantly the emergence of alcoholism in women, according to a new study. "A vicious cycle apparently starts with being a physical-assault victim," asserts psychologist Dean G. Kilpatrick, director of ...
Faster-than-light time tunnels for photons.
Jul 02, 1994; ... To see a ball on one side of a wall suddenly vanish and almost instantly reappear on the other side smacks more of magic than physics. But in the quantum-mechanical realm of atoms, electrons, and photons, such "tunneling" behavior has a small but significant probability of ...
Male rats find alcohol a fertility downer.
Jul 02, 1994; ... In the not-so-distant past, a man's sperm was thought to be virtually impervious to a variety of reproductive hazards. Researchers now believe that paternal exposure to some pesticides and other chemicals can slash a couple's chances of pregnancy. A new study in rats raises the ...
New drug helps close macular holes. (TGF-beta2)
Jul 02, 1994; ... A drug that improves on the current approach to treating macular holes, a disorder that can result in severe loss of vision, shows increasing promise in patient trials. The drug consists of TGF-[beta.sup.2], a growth factor protein that plays a key role in healing wounds ....
Some cigarette makers manipulate nicotine. (tobacco companies try to promote addiction; investigation of Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corp.) (Brief Article)
Jul 02, 1994; ... In testimony before Congress 3 months ago, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David A. Kessler laid out circumstantial evidence that tobacco manufacturers manipulate the amount of nicotine in U.S. cigarettes -- presumably, he said, to foster addiction to their products (SN: 5/14/94, ...
Something's fishy; marine epidemics may signal environmental threats to the immune system. (Cover Story)
Jul 02, 1994; ... In the North and Baltic Seas over several months in early 1988, some 25,000 harbor seals -- about 60 to 70 percent of those residing there--abruptly perished. Subsequent investigation would trace this, the largest seal die-off in history, to a novel germ. Dutch virologist Albert ...
The conscious mind: Karen Ann Quinlan case yields surprising scientific data. (includes related article on right to die)
Jul 02, 1994; ... Seventeenth-century French philosopher and mathematician Descartes believed that the body, with its mechanical inner workings, is distinct from the mind, which holds the essence of a human being. Modern neruoscientists still struggle with the definition of the human mind. Is it ...
Gene clues to manic depression emerge. (gene on chromosome 18) (Brief Article)
Jul 02, 1994 ... A gene that helps create a predisposition to manic depression, at least in a substantial minority of cases, apparently lies along a short stretch of chromosome 18, scientists report in the June 21 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. "We find reasonable evidence for ...
Memory of elderly takes cultural turns. (memory may be affected by cultural beliefs) (Brief Article)
Jul 02, 1994 ... Cultural expectations about aging may affect memory in the elderly to a greater degree than researchers often assume, according to a study in the June JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY. Becca Levy and Ellen Langer, both psychologists at Harvard University, recruited ...
Debate over 'cold' surgery heats up. (advantages and disadvantages of cryosurgery for prostate cancer) (Brief Article)
Jul 02, 1994 ... Prostate cancer will be detected in 200,000 men this year. Radical prostatectomy, or removal of the prostate gland, remains the most widely chosen treatment, though some studies show that this aggressive approach may only be beneficial for young men with fast-growing tumors (SN: 6/5/93, ...
SIDS and infant sleep position. (letting babies sleep on backs or sides may help prevent sudden infant death syndrome) (Brief Article)
Jul 02, 1994 ... In the 1960s, pediatricians told mothers to put children to sleep on their stomachs. But 30 years ago, researchers had yet to study or even recognize the deadly phenomenon now known as sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS. Now, a coalition of federal and private organizations ...
The India-Asia collision: what gives? (possible flaw in theory of plate tectonics; collision causes damage thousands of kilometers from edges of plates) (Brief Article)
Jul 02, 1994 ... The Tibetan plateau rises above the rest of the planet's surface like a giant welt. And for scientists, this part of Asia is truly a bit of a sore spot. The plateau and mountains to the north reveal an apparent flaw in the elegant theory of plate tectonics, which holds that Earth's thin ...
Another emasculating pesticide found. (research on rats indicates that fungicide vinclozolin can cause demasculinization and feminization) (Brief Article)
Jul 02, 1994 ... Exposure in the womb to any of several chemicals can derail the normal sexual and behavioral development of male animals. Most of the agents scientists have identified as possessing this capacity--such as dioxin (SN: 5/30/92, p.359)--appear to exert their gender-bending properties by ...
Smoking may offer one health benefit. (may help prevent ideopathic Parkinson's disease) (Brief Article)
Jul 02, 1994 ... Cigarette smoking appears to confer some protection against ideopathic Parkinson's disease, a debilitating disorder characterized by tremors and arising from no known cause. This finding, published in the June 15 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY, is based on diet and lifestyle data for 58 ...
Monkeys defy crowding-aggression link. (rhesus monkeys react to crowding with coping behaviors)
Jul 09, 1994; ... For more than 30 years, an influential theory has held that crowding brings out beastly behavior in people and many other animals. But the largest primate study of crowding to date finds that rhesus monkeys maintain a remarkably stable level of aggression across a spectrum of population ...
Fine-tuning gene action in engineered mice. (new technique developed for creating mice with specific genes missing at particular developmental stages) (Brief Article)
Jul 09, 1994; ... For several years, scientists have been able to "knock out" specific genes and create strains of mice that mimic certain disease conditions (SN: 9/4/93, p.148). To do this, geneticists inactivate a gene in very early embryo cells, then add those cells back to developing mouse embryos. The ...
Setting odds on extremity defects after CVS. (chorionic villus sampling performed on pregnant women increases risk of limb deformities in their babies)
Jul 09, 1994; ... Many pregnant women, especially those over age 35, rely on chorionic villus sampling (CVS) early in pregnancy to tell them if they are carrying a fetus with a genetic abnormality such as Down's syndrome. Doctors perform this procedure during the first trimester, a period when some women ...
Detecting helium in the early universe. (Brief Article)
Jul 09, 1994; ... Astronomers have long recognized that the space between stars is filled with a thin mixture of gas and dust. But evidence of whether a tenuous gas also pervades the vast expanses between galaxies has remained elusive. Now, researchers have obtained what may be the first glimpse ...
Heavy lead found in some French red wine. (leaded gasoline contaminates some Chateauneuf-du-Pape wine) (Brief Article)
Jul 09, 1994; ... Wine drinkers know that the sulfites used as preservatives in wine can cause headaches in some people--even death in some asthmatics (SN: 6/27/87, p.409). But new research shows that an even greater danger may exist in some French red wines: heavy-lead pollution. Researchers ...
Greenery filters PAH-lution from skies. (plants absorb fraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) (Brief Article)
Jul 09, 1994; ... Five years ago, a NASA scientist reported that English ivy, potted mums, and other houseplants can remove significant quantities of several noxious pollutants from indoor air (SN: 9/30/89, p.212). Now, two academic researchers observe that grasses, shrubbery, and trees may provide much the ...
CO2 increase boosts methane emissions. (increasing carbon dioxide emissions causes plants to emit more methane) (Brief Article)
Jul 09, 1994; ... Plants around the world can slow the buildup of carbon dioxide pollution by absorbing tons of this greenhouse gas. But this apparent blessing comes at a price. The fertilizing effects of carbon dioxide on plants can cause some regions to increase emissions of methane, an even more potent ...
Future for artificial photosynthesis shines. (converting photosynthesis into solar energy) (Brief Article)
Jul 09, 1994; ... Is artificial photosynthesis possible? Might scientists someday mimic nature's sunlight-capturing molecular machinery in order to use solar energy for human purposes? Based on recent work revealing the structure of key membrane proteins that enable plants and bacteria to harness ...
Gene patterns decorate butterflies' wings. (activation of specific genes in specific cells for short time aids definition of body parts in insects) (Brief Article)
Jul 09, 1994; ... Nature photographer Kjell B. Sandved made his reputation exploring the diversity of the world's approximately 200,000 moths and butterflies. Over the years he has found the alphabet, numbers, and many other human symbols inscribed in their wings (SN: 6/16/90, p.376). But it took ...
Growing up poor; poverty packs several punches for child development.
Jul 09, 1994; ... You might call them the "baby bust" generation. In 1991, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that 21.8 percent of the nation's children -- approximately 14.3 million youngsters -- lived in families with annual incomes below federal poverty thresholds. To qualify officially as poor that year, a ...
The 200,000-megaton meeting; a shattered comet nears its cataclysmic end at Jupiter. (Cover Story)
Jul 09, 1994; ... At about 5 p.m. eastern daylight time on July 16, a chunk of icy material will slam into the back of Jupiter. Over the next 6 days, at least 20 more chunks, each packing a punch that may exceed 200,000 megatons of TNT, will take the same nosedive. With virtually every telescope on Earth ...
Eying the impacts from Earth and space. (comet fragments colliding with Jupiter) (Cover Story)
Jul 09, 1994; ... Telescopes in the Southern Hemisphere have the best chance of capturing any reflected flashes from Shoemaker-Levy 9. That's because Jupiter is visible for 4 to 5 hours a night there and about 2 to 3 hours in the north. Paul Chodas and his JPL colleagues Donald Yeomans and Zdenek ...
Breast cancer researcher faces panel. (National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project manager Bernard Fisher)
Jul 09, 1994 ... Pioneering breast cancer researcher Bernard Fisher made a long-awaited appearance before the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations on June 15. At the hearing, subcommittee Chairman John D. Dingell (D-Mich.) sharply questioned Fisher's management of the National Surgical ...
Cigarettes tied to fatal breast cancer. (women who smoke show greater risk than women who do not smoke of developing fatal breast cancer) (Brief Article)
Jul 09, 1994 ... High lifetime exposure to estrogen -- the primary female sex hormone -- is a strong predisposing factor for breast cancer. Some researchers have reasoned that because of its anti-estrogenic effects, smoking may offer women some protection against breast malignancies. But findings from a ...
Addicted to nicotine? Consider snuff. (consuming smokeless tobacco less dangerous than cigarette smoking) (Brief Article)
Jul 09, 1994 ... An estimated 46 million people in the United States smoke cigarettes -- many despite frequent attempts to stop. "Although it is more desirable for individuals to overcome a nicotine addiction entirely, those failing smoking cessation therapy can benefit by changing their addiction to ...
Feds investigating Y-1's production. (FDA and Congress investigating whether Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. violated federal law to grow nicotine-rich Y-1 tobacco in Brazil) (Brief Article)
Jul 09, 1994 ... Much of the development of Y-1 (SN: 7/2/94, p.7) -- a commercial tobacco with the highest known content of nicotine -- took place in the U.S. labs and fields of a biotechnology firm working for the Brown and Williamson (B&W) Tobacco Corp. But when the Louisville, Ky.-based B&W wanted to ...
Tumor suppressor's structure revealed. (studies reveal structure of protein p53) (Brief Article)
Jul 16, 1994; ... In cells, a protein called p53 can keep growth in check by binding and activating genes that put the brakes on cell division. Defects in the gene for p53 cause about half of all cancers. Using two techniques, two groups have now imaged two key sections of the p53 protein, ...
Heart vessel clogs linked to p53. (cytomegalovirus seems to disable p53 tumor suppressor gene, allowing smooth muscles cells in blood to multiply) (Brief Article)
Jul 16, 1994; ... For years, researchers have gathered evidence implicating herpesviruses not only in fever blisters, flu symptoms, and genital sores, but also in coronary artery disease (SN: 4/3/93, p.216). In addition, scientists searching for causes of cancer have tied defects in the tumor suppressor ...
Simulated fish swim through virtual seas. (aquarium simulation mimics natural behavior in fish) (Brief Article)
Jul 16, 1994; ... They glide gracefully through water, group into schools, and scatter when pursued by predators. They eat, mate, and teach themselves to swim smoothly. And yet they don't exist physically. Such artificial fish exist only in a computer netherworld. The fish, displayed on a color ...
Accord ends feud over AIDS blood test. (US government and Pasteur Institute of Paris agreement on profits made on AIDS blood test) (Brief Article)
Jul 16, 1994; ... In an attempt to quench the fiery debate over the distribution of profits from the AIDS blood test, the U.S. government this week reached a historic agreement with the Pasteur Institute of Paris. The new accord will give the French a better deal on royalties garnered from the worldwide ...
Teen students in U.S.: stressed for success. (US students show more academic stress than Asian students)
Jul 16, 1994; ... A current school of thought holds that teenagers living in Asian countries pay a psychological price for their mathematical superiority to adolescents in the United States. Some U.S. parents and teachers suspect that high-achieving Asian students feel more nervous, depressed, and ...
Sudden death decimated ancient oceans. (mass extinction of marine species 250 million years ago) (Brief Article)
Jul 16, 1994; ... Life on Earth had a close call 250 million years ago, when 96 percent of marine species went belly up. Paleontologists have long thought that the mass extinction occurred gradually--over millions of years--a pattern implicating slow environmental change as the culprit. But a new study ...
Gauging planetary escapes and asteroid ages. (orbital changes predicted to 15 billion years)
Jul 16, 1994; ... When the fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 started plunging into Jupiter, the times and locations of the impacts came as no surprise to astronomers. Accurate measurements of the fragments' positions at various times over the last year had enabled them to calculate the orbits of these ...
New risks for meat eaters. (breast cancer risk linked to red meat consumption) (Brief Article)
Jul 16, 1994; ... In the last decade, researchers have debated the role dietary fat plays in the incidence of breast cancer. Earlier case studies correlating fat consumption with breast cancer (SN: 2/18/89, p.102) failed to be confirmed by later studies, such as the Nurses' Health Study, which looked at ...
Diskinformation on lower-back pain? (64% of 98 pain-free study participants show disk abnormalities) (Brief Article)
Jul 16, 1994; ... In the United States, back pain constitutes the leading cause of work-related disability and the second leading cause of visits to the doctor. Indeed, some 80 percent of the U.S. population eventually experiences lower-back (lumbar) pain, with an estimated 30 million hobbled by the ...
The mod couple: wedding silicon and germanium for speed and light. (new material) (Cover Story)
Jul 16, 1994; ... The silicon superchip. Its intricate web of microscopic circuits handles electrons and photons with equal ease. Its optical components amplify light, detect and channel microwave signals or laser radiation, and convert light to electricity or electricity to light. Its electronic ...
Best males have big wings, small bodies. (mating success of male Heliconius butterflies linked to relative size of wings to body) (Brief Article)
Jul 16, 1994 ... Impatient for procreation, some male Heliconius butterflies attempt to claim a mate before she has even emerged from her cocoon. The male settles on a female's cocoon, often jamming its rear end into the casing to stabilize its perch. Rivals will then circle the cocoon, sometimes landing ...
Gene controls cell shape, floral brilliance. (snapdragon mixta gene helps control cell wall thickness and texture rather than pigmentation) (Brief Article)
Jul 16, 1994 ... Snapdragons come in many hues, providing colorful accents for summer gardens. It stands to reason that a pale pink variety simply fills its petals with less pigment than its darker counterparts and that certain genes guide the amount of pigment produced. But that isn't the case ...
Perfect timing: fungi use plant cues (some fruits increase production of ethylene as they ripen, causing fungi spores to germinate) (Brief Article)
Jul 16, 1994 ... Scientists have long wondered how a green, unblemished tomato can arrive at market a black, moldy mess. Now they know that the tomato surface may harbor invisible fungal spores that sense the production of a gas called ethylene as the fruit ripens. The ethylene causes the spores to ...
Tick threats: new diseases brought to you by your neighborhood ticks.
Jul 16, 1994; ... Did you ever get the sensation, after pulling a tick off your skin, that another one was crawling unseen on your body? Scientists studying tickborne diseases feel rather like that these days. Just when they identify a new, potentially lethal organism that those bloodsuckers spread, a new ...
Groundwater cleanup - the bad news. (pumping and cleaning contaminated ground water may not return it to drinking quality) (Brief Article)
Jul 16, 1994 ... Toxic chemicals pollute groundwater--which provides more than 50 percent of U.S. drinking water--at some 300,000 to 400,000 sites. The public has generally responded to this threat by demanding that the tainted water be restored to drinking-water quality, observes Michael C. Kavanaugh of ...
When offshore wells shut down. (General Accounting Office report charges oil well plugging and rig removal needs better government oversight) (Brief Article)
Jul 16, 1994 ... As of last December, 3,800 oil and gas platforms dotted U.S. coastal waters. By law, when such wells cease to produce economical quantities of fuel, their owners must plug them and clear the site in a manner that will prevent unreasonable harm to marine life. But a new report by the ...
Flipping a quantum mechanical coin. (emission of light from excited atom appears to be random) (Brief Article)
Jul 16, 1994 ... Physicists generally regard the emission of light by an excited atom as a random process. They assume it's impossible to predict precisely when one of the atom's electrons will drop from a higher to a lower energy level, emitting a photon in the process. But this randomness doesn't follow ...
Real cool: evading atomic recoil. (velocity-selective coherent population trapping technique used to cool helium in two dimensions down to 250 nanokelvins) (Brief Article)
Jul 16, 1994 ... It's awfully hard to keep atoms still. A variety of techniques involving laser beams can bring atoms virtually to a halt, but when these atoms absorb and spontaneously emit photons, they recoil in random directions. This effect makes it very difficult to cool atoms to a temperature below ...
Photonic crystals in metal. (researchers study metallic photonic crystal composed of three-dimensional wire mesh and an extra forbidden band) (Brief Article)
Jul 16, 1994 ... Photonic crystals have structures with just the right kind of geometry to prevent the absorption or emission of electromagnetic radiation at wavelengths that fall within a specific range, or band gap. So far, researchers have studied the characteristics of photonic crystals made from ...
Stress may take two paths in depression. (endogenous and reactive depression)
Jul 23, 1994; ... Psychiatrists have long distinguished between endogenous depressions, thought to reflect mainly biological influences, and reactive, or nonendogenous, depressions, pegged as the aftermath of particularly distressing life experiences. Yet researchers sometimes find that equally stressful ...
Exploiting El Nino to avert African famines. (temperatures in Pacific ocean linked to maize growth in Zimbabwe) (Brief Article)
Jul 23, 1994; ... Like all farmers, maize growers in Zimbabwe must read the sky before planting. But instead of looking directly above their heads, southern African farmers should focus on weather in the Pacific Ocean, clear on the other side of the globe, according to the results of a new study ...
U.S. adults: a weighty lot. (percentage of overweight adults increased from about 25% between 1960 and 1980 to 33% by 1990) (Brief Article)
Jul 23, 1994; ... In the past decade, surrounded by an abundance of low-fat foods, high-tech gyms, and high-fashion sportswear, Americans got fatter. A lot fatter, researchers report. According to a series of studies, the proportion of overweight U.S. adults age 20 to 74 remained at about 25 ...
Why steel can go snap, crackle, and pop. (impurities affect atomic integrity) (Brief Article)
Jul 23, 1994; ... Buttressing tall buildings, reinforcing ships' hulls, keeping keen a razor's edge, steel permeates modern life. Yet steel has a defect: Under some conditions, it can become brittle and shatter -- especially when subjected to extreme cold or strength-enhancing processes. ...
Scratching a polymer to guide light waves. (scanning force microscope used to scratch grooves in nylon-coated glass plates, enabling them to channel light) (Brief Article)
Jul 23, 1994; ... As a key component of digital wrist-watches, calculators, and portable computers, liquid-crystal displays have become a familiar sight. Consisting of a thin film of milky fluid sandwiched between a pair of polymer-coated glass plates, such devices respond to electrical signals. These ...
Antioxidant vitamins fail to prevent polyps. (precursor of colorectal cancer) (Brief Article)
Jul 23, 1994; ... Antioxidant vitamins have received a lot of attention for their putative role as anticancer agents. Last spring, however, the antioxidant story became complicated when researchers reported that such vitamins did not protect men who smoked from getting lung cancer. This week, another ...
Silicone gel stimulates tumors in mice. (plasmacytomas) (Brief Article)
Jul 23, 1994; ... Silicone gel breast implants -- widely available until the Food and Drug Administration issued a marketing moratorium on them 2 years ago -- spark passionate rhetoric. Those who view them as dangerous fault FDA for not requiring rigorous testing earlier, while those who regard the implants ...
By Jupiter! Comet crashes dazzle and delight. (fragments of comet Shoemaker-Levy collides with Jupiter)
Jul 23, 1994; ... This week, humans watched as two worlds collided. More than 20 kilometer-size shards of a comet, most likely born in the frigid abyss beyond Pluto, crashed into the solar system's largest planet. Jupiter took a bruisin' as the fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 plowed one by ...
Guiding light: beaming up an artificial star as an astronomical beacon. (use of laser-guided adaptive optics in astronomy) (Cover Story)
Jul 23, 1994; ... A shaft of brilliant yellow light streaks into the light sky. Fired from a powerful laser and focused by a mirror, it pierces the atmosphere. At low altitudes, the beam appears as a faint, shimmering thread. Air molecules scatter a fraction of the beam's photons, sending the ...
From proteins to protolife: was life's emergence random or guided by determined chemical steps.
Jul 23, 1994; ... The notion that life has evolved from lower, unicellular forms to higher, complex organisms is no longer considered a bizarre theory but rather, at least among the scientifically minded, a plausible premise. Taken a step further, advances in biochemistry and genetics now show ...
Smoking worsens menstrual pain. (smoking increases risk of dysmenorrhea) (Brief Article)
Jul 23, 1994 ... Die-hard smokers claim a cigarette relaxes them, alleviates tension, and makes them feel better. But new research from the University of Milan suggests that this temporary relief may cause dysmenorrhea, or in laywoman's terms, killer cramps. The study, published in the July ...
Cancer protection: regular or decaf? (both green and black teas provide cancer protection) (Brief Article)
Jul 23, 1994 ... In previous studies, green tea proved an effective cancer inhibitor in mice (SN: 8/31/91, p.133). Now, a group of researchers reports on the anticancer potential of green tea, black tea, and their decaffeinated versions. In female hairless mice, the caffeinated blends offer more protection ...
Into every life some UV must fall. (Experimental Ultraviolet Index predicts levels of ultraviolet light exposure) (Brief Article)
Jul 23, 1994 ... Sunlight's ultraviolet (UV) radiation can do damage. Over time, too much UV can cause premature aging (wrinkles and liver spots), skin cancer, and cataracts and perhaps impair the immune system. For years, health workers have urged people to avoid overexposure by staying out of the sun as ...