Science News back issues from February 2008:
Seafloor chemistry: life's building blocks made inorganically.(This Week)
Feb 02, 2008; ... Hydrocarbons in the fluids spewing from a set of hydrothermal vents on the seafloor of the central Atlantic were produced by inorganic chemical reactions within the ocean crust, scientists suggest. The finding holds possibly profound implications for the origins of life. The ...
Dusty clues: study suggests no dearth of Earths.(This Week)
Feb 02, 2008; ... Supposedly, there's no place like home. But a new study suggests that earthlike planets orbit or are forming around many, if not most, nearby sunlike stars, providing places where life might have gained a foothold. That conclusion comes from an infrared survey of some 300 stars ...
Spice it up: naked mole-rats feel no pain from peppers, acid.(This Week)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2008; ... If you're ever attacked by an African naked mole-rat, don't bother with pepper spray. The bald little rodents can't feel the burn of capsaicin, the active ingredient in chilies, or the sting of acid, a new study reports. The animals' insensitivity could be an adaptation to their ...
Live long and perspire: exercise may slow aging at chromosomal level.(This Week)
Feb 02, 2008; ... The long-observed association between exercise and a slightly longer life span may have its origins in DNA maintenance, a new study finds. Researchers report that the ends of chromosomes hold up better in active people than in sedentary individuals, possibly extending cell life and ...
... And the envelope, please: forty outstanding young scientists move to final round of competition.(This Week)
Feb 02, 2008; ... Twenty-six young men and 14 young women cleared the second hurdle on the track to a championship that recognizes exceptional ability in science, engineering, and math--the annual Intel Science Talent Search. Winnowed from 1,602 entrants, the 40 finalists will travel to ...
Warning sign: genetic fragments tag cancer severity.(This Week)
Feb 02, 2008; ... A tiny piece of RNA can spell big trouble for some colon cancer patients. Colon cancer patients who have high levels of a microRNA called miR-21 in their tumors don't respond well to standard chemotherapy and have poor prognoses, a new study shows. MicroRNAs are ...
The naming of the elephant-shrew.(This Week)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2008; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] For the first time in more than a century, researchers have found a giant elephant-shrew entirely new to science. The largest such species yet found, Rhynchocyon udzungwensis is somewhat bigger than a gray squirrel. Recent molecular analyses show that the ...
Biological moon shot: realizing the dream of a Web page for every living thing.
Feb 02, 2008; ... Richard Pyle hasn't gotten a congratulatory crate of free diapers. But he's one of the fathers, in a sense, of the first fish species named in 2008. Quintuplet species even. The journal Zootaxa posted descriptions of five damselfish on Jan. 1 that Pyle and his colleagues at the Bishop ...
Embracing the dark side: looking back on a decade of cosmic acceleration.
Feb 02, 2008; ... On Jan. 12, 1998, just before leaving for his honeymoon, astronomer Adam Riess e-mailed his colleagues that the universe appeared to be completely dark and utterly repulsive. Fortunately, he was talking about a matter of gravity. Riess was part of a team of astronomers viewing ...
Smells like DNA.(BIOTECHNOLOGY)(deoxyribonucleic acid)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2008; ... By reshuffling the chemical letters of the genetic code, scientists have made short strands of DNA that can distinguish several different smells, such as explosives and food preservatives. The new artificial-nose technology could eventually sniff out bombs or a bad batch of ...
Fabulon: looking less fabulous.(ENVIRONMENT)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2008; ... Researchers have tentatively linked polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in people--and their dwellings--with Fabulon, a product used throughout the late 1950s and 1960s as a durable top coat for hardwood floors. During a survey of 120 homes on Cape Cod, Mass., researchers found ...
Receptor may be cancer accomplice.(MICROBIOLOGY)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2008; ... A receptor protein that shows up on cancerous colon cells might serve as a new target for scientists seeking to derail this malignancy. A study in mice shows that shutting down the receptor slows cancer growth. The receptor protein is called neuropilin-2 (NRP2). Earlier work ...
New route to insulin-making cells.(MEDICINE)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2008; ... The pancreas has a second way to make cells that produce the hormone insulin, new research on mice confirms. The discovery could eventually lead to new therapies for diabetics. Scientists have known that insulin-producing cells, called beta cells, create copies of themselves by ...
Eye for an eagle.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
Feb 02, 2008; ... The photo illustrating "Hatch a Thief" (SN: 12/15/07, p. 372) does not show a golden eagle. The bill of a golden eagle is black on the outer half and pale blue at the base, and the feathers on the back of its head are bright tawny. It could be a white-tailed eagle, a very close relative of ...
Fast and faster.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
Feb 02, 2008; ... I was disappointed to see optical quantum computers described as "exponentially faster than ordinary computers" ("15 x 3 = 5: Photons do their first quantum math," SN: 12/8/07, p. 356). Despite frequent misuse in the lay press, "exponentially" does not mean "a whole bunch." It refers to a ...
Correction.(LETTERS)(Correction notice)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Correction "Clearly Concerning" (SN: 9/29/07, p. 202) stated that daughters of a rat that had been exposed to bisphenol A (BPA) during pregnancy were more ...
Growing up to Prozac: drug makes new neurons mature faster.(This Week)
Feb 09, 2008; ... Peter Pan won't be pleased to hear the latest theory about how Prozac works. A new study shows that the antidepressant stimulates growth of neurons in the hippocampus and speeds the young brain cells toward maturity. The maturation process could be the mechanism by which the drug relieves ...
Finding fault: trace of old subduction zone found in Italy.(This Week)
Feb 09, 2008; ... A 200-kilometer-long, 500-meter-thick layer of rocks now lying high in the mountains of Italy is recognized as the remains of an erosive subduction zone that was active under the sea millions of years ago, scientists say. The first-of-its-kind discovery provides new clues about ancient ...
Whales drink sounds: hearing may use an ancient path.(This Week)
Feb 09, 2008; ... Whales may receive sounds through the throat in addition to taking them in through the jaw, a new study finds. Understanding where sound enters the head of the Cuvier's beaked whale could point to the original acoustic pathway for all whales and provide insight into how sonar affects the ...
Tots who tote: babies show neural signs of budding number sense.(This Week)
Feb 09, 2008; ... A 3-month-old baby can't help you with your taxes, but nonetheless possesses a brain-based grasp of numbers, a new study indicates. Previous studies suggested that, by 4 1/2 months, infants detect changes in the number of items in a set. Some researchers regard this feat as ...
Pot downer: marijuana users risk gum disease.(This Week)(Clinical report)
Feb 09, 2008; ... It's a bummer, man. Young adults who regularly smoke marijuana face an increased risk of severe gum disease, scientists report. The study is the first to link pot smoking to a health danger that's more commonly associated with tobacco. The findings arise from a ...
Spread of nonnative fish mirrors human commerce.(This Week)(Brief article)
Feb 09, 2008; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The percentage of foreign fish in rivers is strongly linked to nearby economic activity, according to a new study of 1,055 river basins worldwide. Nonnative plants and animals can outcompete local species and damage ecosystems, sometimes to the point of ...
Wish list: FY '09 budget proposal ups physical sciences.(This Week)
Feb 09, 2008 ... On Feb. 4, President Bush announced his proposed research and development (R&D) spending blueprint for 2009. It echoed his embattled plan from last year. Federal support for R&D, totaling $146.9 billion, would pump up funds for physical sciences but not for biomedical research ....
Faulty fountains of youth: adult stem cells may contribute to aging.(Cover story)
Feb 09, 2008; ... Skin sags. Hair grays. Organs don't work quite like they used to. A gradual wearing out and running down of the body's tissues seems an inherent part of growing older. Rejuvenation of skin, muscles, and other body parts naturally declines with the passing years. Scientifically ...
Dawn of the city: excavations prompt a revolution in thinking about the earliest cities.
Feb 09, 2008; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A massive earthen mound rises majestically and rather mysteriously above agricultural fields in northeastern Syria. From a distance, the more than 130-foot-tall protrusion looks like a jagged set of desolate hills. But up close, broken pottery from a time ...
Diabetes drug and conflicts of interest.(SCIENCE & SOCIETY)(Brief article)
Feb 09, 2008; ... So much for confidential peer review. Last May, a controversial paper in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) reported that a popular diabetes drug--rosiglitazone, sold as Avandia--substantially hikes a user's risk of heart attack (SN: 6/23/07, p. 397). But according to an ...
Chomping on uranium.(CHEMISTRY)(Brief article)
Feb 09, 2008; ... To a chemist's eye, uranium has always looked dull. Not anymore. Natural uranium mostly occurs as an oxide. In water, the oxide readily dissolves in the form of a uranyl ion--a positively charged molecule made of one uranium and two oxygen atoms. In this respect, uranium ...
Early dioxin exposure hinders sperm later.(ENVIRONMENT)(Brief article)
Feb 09, 2008; ... An explosion at a chemical factory near Seveso, Italy, in 1976 exposed factory workers and local residents to the pollutant dioxin, presenting an opportunity to track how exposure at different ages affects sperm quality. Now, results from a new study point to a window of ...
The Black Death chose its victims selectively.(ARCHAEOLOGY)(Brief article)
Feb 09, 2008; ... The Black Death, a bacterial epidemic that wiped out more than 1 in 3 Europeans from 1347 to 1351, was not an equal-opportunity destroyer. A new report finds that the disease disproportionately took the lives of physically frail people, rather than indiscriminately killing off individuals ...
Zeus' altar drew early visitors.(ARCHAEOLOGY)(Brief article)
Feb 09, 2008; ... Long after his heyday as the head god of ancient Greece, Zeus has thrown a curveball rather than a lightning bolt at scientists. New excavations of the Sanctuary of Zeus at Greece's Mount Lykaion indicate that religious activity occurred there as early as 5,000 years ago, at least a ...
Elizabeth Blackburn and the Story of Telomeres: Deciphering the Ends of DNA.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
Feb 09, 2008 ... ELIZABETH BLACKBURN AND THE STORY OF TELOMERES: Deciphering the Ends of DNA CATHERINE BRADY In 1976, molecular biologist Elizabeth Blackburn discovered telomeros when she noticed a series of repeated cytosine bases at the tips of chromosomes in a single-celled microbe The tips ...
The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
Feb 09, 2008 ... THE LUCIFER EFFECT: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil PHILIP ZIMBARDO Psychologist Zimbardo directed the Stanford Prison Experiment, in which college students were randomly assigned to act as either guards or inmates. The study was aborted after just 6 days. "inmates" ...
The Physics of Nascar: How to Make Steel + Gas + Rubber = Speed.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
Feb 09, 2008 ... THE PHYSICS OF NASCAR: How to Make Steel + Gas + Rubber: Speed DIANDRA LESLIE-PELECKY Dedicated to the men and women who work in garages and race shops, this book focuses on the physics that experienced motor heads intrinsically understand regardless of the words they use to ...
Native Ferns, Moss, and Grasses.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
Feb 09, 2008 ... NATIVE FERNS, MOSS, AND GRASSES WILLIAM CULLINA In contrast to their 50-foot-tall predecessors that towered beside the dinosaurs, modern day club-mosses creep along the forest floor from the tropics to the tundra. Gardeners may wish to add these ancient plants, which come in ...
Your Developing Baby: Conception to Birth.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
Feb 09, 2008 ... YOUR DEVELOPING BABY: Conception to Birth PETER M. DOUBILET, CAROL B. BENSON, AND ROANNE WEISMAN Having answered questions for anxious parents-to-be for decades, radiologists Doubilet and Benson decided to write a book about babies in the womb. The growth of the fetus' organs, ...
Small, or just invisible?(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
Feb 09, 2008; ... "Heavy Find: Weighty neutron stars may nile out exotic core" (SN: 1/12/08, p. 20) says that the companion star of the pulsar PSR B1516+02B must be "tiny" because it cannot be seen. Isn't it possible that the companion is made of dark matter? Is there a "wobble" test or other way to discern ...
Defining 'pristine'.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
Feb 09, 2008; ... "Prairie Revival: Researchers put restoration to the test" (SN: 12/15/07, p. 376) talks of restoring prairies to an earlier state, but if the concepts summarized in Charles C. Mann's book 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus are even within shouting distance of reality, ...
Flying deaf? Earliest bats probably didn't echolocate.(This Week)
Feb 16, 2008; ... Fossils of a cardinal-sized creature recently unearthed in western Wyoming suggest that primitive bats developed the ability to fly before they could track their prey with biological sonar. More than one-fifth of living mammal species are bats, and most of those use echolocation ...
Animal origins: genome reveals early complexity.(This Week)(choanoflagellates)
Feb 16, 2008; ... A microscopic spermlike organism contained many of the same tools for cell-to-cell communication found in animals today, two new reports find. Analysis of DNA from a choanoflagellate, the closest known living nonanimal relative of animals, allows scientists to infer the genetic ...
Going the distance: galaxies may hail from early universe.(This Week)
Feb 16, 2008; ... Using a cosmic magnifying glass to peer into the deepest reaches of space, two teams of astronomers have discovered tiny galaxies that may be among the most distant known. Images suggest that one of the galaxies is so remote that the light now reaching Earth left this starlit body when the ...
Drug running: bust nets suspects in counterfeit antimalaria trade.(This Week)
Feb 16, 2008; ... Over the past decade, researchers have documented the sale of fake antimalaria tablets in Southeast Asia. A new report traces the source of some of these drugs to southern China, and police there have located an illicit drug "factory" and arrested multiple suspects accused of trafficking ...
Swell, a pain lesson: gut microbes needed for immune development.(This Week)
Feb 16, 2008; ... Bacteria in your belly can be a pain in the neck, knee, or tuchus. Beneficial microbes that live in the colon are responsible for developing immune system responses that lead to inflammation and pain, a new study in mice shows. People and animals host hundreds of different ...
Where stars are born.(This Week)(Brief article)
Feb 16, 2008; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Some 300 young stars shine through the dust in this infrared portrait of the main cloud of a nearby star-forming region called Rho Ophiuchi. (When viewed in visible light, the stars remain hidden in the dust.) In this false-color rendition, red indicates ...
New World stopover: people may have entered the Americas in stages.(This Week)
Feb 16, 2008; ... Think of it as the ultimate travel delay. Asian migrants first reached the northwestern edge of the Americas as early as 40,000 years ago but then had to wait at least 20,000 years before heading south into the continent's heart, a new genetic analysis finds. Until now, many ...
Don't like it hot.(This Week)(king penguin population; climate change effects)(Brief article)
Feb 16, 2008; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] As climate change raises seawater temperatures, king penguin populations could shrink, say researchers. Since 1999, implanted ID tags like those for dogs have let researchers monitor bird family life on the Crozet Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, Warmer ...
Weighty evidence: the link between obesity, metabolic hormones, and tumors brings the promise of new targets for cancer therapies.
Feb 16, 2008; ... Living large can mean dying large, as familiar reminders about obesity's link to cardiovascular disease and diabetes repeatedly emphasize. But those warnings often overshadow another threat from obesity: cancer. Excess weight accounts for 14 percent of cancer deaths in men, and 20 percent ...
Extreme measures: Atom interferometry's precision could make it the Swiss Army knife of physics.
Feb 16, 2008; ... In spring 2010, the military plans to embark on a road trip across the country to test a new way of navigating. Instead of taking a path marked by a dog-eared road atlas, a compass, or even global positioning satellites, the vehicle will follow one mapped by super-cold cesium atoms. ...
More evidence that flies sleep like people.(NEUROSCIENCE)(fruit flies)(Brief article)
Feb 16, 2008; ... A common brain chemical is enough to keep a fruit fly up at night. Scientists know that the chemical, a neurotransmitter called GABA, is important for the human sleep cycle. But a new study is the first to show the chemical also controls whether a Drosophila melanogaster nods off or tosses ...
Bird fads weaken sexual selection.(ZOOLOGY)(lark buntings)(Brief article)
Feb 16, 2008; ... Every year, there's a new fashion pick for the hot male. With lark buntings, that is. A study of style among birds adds new dimensions to the understanding of how female taste drives the evolution of male charms. This process of sexual selection can lead to outrageous male ...
Nanocrystal.(NANOTECHNOLOGY)(Brief article)
Feb 16, 2008; ... Using DNA as a sort of Velcro, two separate teams of scientists have created what may be the first nanomaterials that assemble themselves into ordered 3-D structures. The techniques may enable the creation of crystals with novel properties. Using the propensity of DNA's chemical ...
Heed your elders, survive a tsunami.(SCIENCE & SOCIETY)(community-based education and awareness programs )(Brief article)
Feb 16, 2008; ... An oral tradition passed down among islanders in the South Pacific--"run to high ground after an earthquake'--saved many lives during a tsunami last year and illustrates the benefits that community-based education and awareness programs can provide, scientists say. On April 2, ...
Caffeine intake tied to miscarriage.(BIOMEDICINE)(Report)(Brief article)
Feb 16, 2008; ... Pregnant women who consume two or more cups of coffee per day face a higher miscarriage risk than women who avoid caffeine, a study finds. In the late 1990s, researchers at the Kaiser Foundation Research Institute in Oakland, Calif., interviewed 1,063 women less than 15 weeks ...
Handbook to Life in the Aztec World.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
Feb 16, 2008 ... HANDBOOK TO LIFE IN THE AZTEC WORLD MANUEL AGUILAR-MORENO King Cuauhtemoc, the last Aztec emperor, was defeated by the Spanish Army in 1521. After the conquest, monastic orders arrived in Mexico and the remaining native peoples were baptized into the Christian faith. Despite the ...
The Thief at the End of the World: Rubber, Power, and the Seeds of Empire.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
Feb 16, 2008 ... THE THIEF AT THE END OF THE WORLD: Rubber, Power, and the Seeds of Empire JOE JACKSON When Henry wickham heard about a kind of tree that produced strong and durable rubber, he ventured into Amazonian jungles in search of it. Rubber was craved during the Victorian era, and ...
Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
Feb 16, 2008 ... PLAN B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization LESTER R, BROWN As president of Earth Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., Brown has been analyzing the interaction between environmental and economic trends for decades. In this book, the third in a series, he proposes three actions ...
The Little Book of Pandemics.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
Feb 16, 2008 ... THE LITTLE BOOK OF PANDEMICS PETER MOORE Hypochondriacs and germophobes may want to look for a less terrifying bedtime read--perhaps something by Stephen King. Moore's breezy catalog of pestilence features the world's most notorious killers, such as Ebola, anthrax, and smallpox ....
Red Prometheus: Engineering and Dictatorship in East Germany, 1745-1770.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
Feb 16, 2008 ... RED PROMETHEUS: Engineering and Dictatorship in East Germany, 1745-1770 DOLORES L, AUGUSTINE The effect of government on science might be most transparent when research is conducted under a dictatorship. Technological progress was an ideal in East Germany during the Cold War ....
Inert placebo?(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
Feb 16, 2008; ... Regarding "Getting the Red Out" (SN: 1/19/08, p. 85): While drug companies wish to market their products, my attention is drawn to the fact that I in 8 of the control group of psoriasis patients was cured by placebo effect. Who will investigate the process therein? Is there a market for ...
Time of death.(LETTERS)(mammoths)(Letter to the editor)(Brief article)
Feb 16, 2008; ... "Struck from above" (SN: 1/5/08, p. 14) suggested yet a second possibility leading to the decline or extinction of the mammoths in the region of the apparent iron micrometeorite-shower impact, which drove the metallic particles into the sides of the fossil tusks examined. That same shower ...
Survival of the bravest.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
Feb 16, 2008; ... There is little mystery why some female fishing spiders are so aggressive that they eat their suitors before mating can take place ("Not So Spineless," SN: 1/5/08, p. 10). It would take a very bold male to court a ...
Benign--not: unexpected deaths in probiotics study.(This Week)
Feb 23, 2008; ... Prescribing "good" bugs for the gut--it may sometimes be bad medicine. That's what Dutch doctors have concluded after reviewing the findings of a novel treatment in people with acute pancreatitis. The researchers knew that some of their 296 patients would succumb to ...
Going down: climate change, water use threaten Lake Mead.(This Week)
Feb 23, 2008; ... If climate changes as expected and future water use goes unchecked, there's a 50 percent chance that Lake Mead--one of the southwestern United States' key reservoirs--will become functionally dry in the next couple of decades, a new study suggests. Besides providing water for ...
Stellar switch: sun not alone in making magnetic flip-flops.(This Week)(observation of tau Bootis)
Feb 23, 2008; ... It's a topsy-turvy world out there and astronomers have new evidence to prove it. Researchers have for the first time documented that a star other than the sun flips its magnetic poles. The magnetic reversal observed on the nearby star tau Bootis may shed light on the origin of the sun's ...
Eye protection: antibiotic knocks back blinding disease.(This Week)(trachoma)(Clinical report)
Feb 23, 2008; ... Medicating an entire village twice a year can hamper a scourge that has blinded millions of people in developing countries, a study in Ethiopia shows. The bacterial eye disease trachoma was wiped out in the United States and much of the industrialized world around the mid-20th ...
On top of words: spatial language spurs kids' reasoning skills.(This Week)
Feb 23, 2008; ... Think before you speak may be apt advice, but new research suggests that speaking first fosters the ability to think later. Studies of spatial reasoning in deaf children support the idea that words help people encode certain concepts, and also suggest that using spatial words with children ...