People with diabetes face a high risk of heart attack and stroke. One apparent culprit is the chronic, low-grade inflammation that they develop. Megadoses of vitamin E can dramatically reduce that inflammation, a new study finds.Ishwarlal Jialal and Sridevi Devaraj of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas studied 47 men and women with adult-onset, or type II, diabetes and 25 healthy volunteers. The scientists sampled people’s blood before and after each received 1,200 international units of vitamin E daily for 3 months.Before treatment, the 23 people with major diabetes...

Explore the wonders of solution caves, lava tubes, sea caves, and other underground realms at this beautifully illustrated Web site, developed by caver and photographer Dave Bunnell. The site features photographs of caves throughout the world and maps of idealized "virtual" caves, which explain and illustrate examples of nature's handiwork.Go to: http://www.goodearthgraphics.com/virtcave.html

THE PRECIOUS JEWELS IN HIS HEAD ARE TWAINDid you ever stop to take a really good look at a toad’s eyes?Just as many a plain-faced person is redeemed from ugliness by having fine eyes, so also does the toad find salvation from his ungraceful form, his abysmal mouth, his warty skin. His eyes are of beryl and chrysoprase.In his almost-too-often-quoted line about the toad bearing a precious jewel in his head, Shakespeare was only repeating the current belief of his time, which was older than Aristotle. Though then it was believed that this jewel was concealed inside the toad’s broad cranium, it se...

Quantum physicist Eric J. Heller of Harvard University writes computer algorithms to convert scientific data into brilliantly colorful images. A selection of the resulting graphic images is now featured in an art exhibition titled Approaching Chaos. These Web links to Harvard Magazine and to Heller's own Web page highlight several of these intriguing artworks.Go to: http://www.harvard-magazine.com/archive/01jf/jf01_feat_quantumart.html and http://monsoon.harvard.edu/images-ejheller/

As they head for the stomach from the mouth, the carbohydrates in vegetables, breads, fruits, and candy all begin breaking down into simple sugars. According to some studies, carbs with a low glycemic index (GI)—meaning that they are digested slowly—reduce a person’s risk of heart disease and obesity through an as yet unidentified mechanism linked to their effects on insulin (SN: 4/8/00, p. 236). Such low-GI fare may also offer protection against colon cancer, new research finds.Insulin shepherds sugar into cells. The more sugar that’s deposited into the bloodstream at one time, the more insul...

PASCHAL FLOWERS BLOOM ON PRAIRIES OF THE WESTEaster-Tide is remembered in America by two names, one of a place, the other of a flower. When the youth-seeking Ponce de Leon sighted the coast of the New World it was on Easter morning, and accordingly he named the place he had found “Pascua Florida,” or Flowery Easter. We have dropped the noun and kept the adjective, as Florida.When the French voyageurs pushed out into the western prairie country they found many strange and beautiful flowers, but none lovelier than the blue chalices that opened up in the countless clumps and clusters among the ne...

PRINCE LION-CUB SPEAKS A WORD FOR HIMSELFMilk-teeth are all he has as yet, and most of his active hours are spent in kittenish play; but let something happen to displease him, and for a moment the lion cub gives a hint of the royal terror that will clothe him when he reaches maturity. The protesting youngster pictured on the cover of this issue of the SCIENCE NEWS LETTER was photographed by Hedda Walther for Paul Eipper’s book, "Animal Children.” Copyright 1930, by the Viking Press, Inc., New York. Reproduced by permission.EINSTEIN FINDS PAST EVENTS NOT KNOWABLE WITH CERTAINTYProf. Albert Eins...

Check out an amazing, new information-dispensing device at the Web site of technology critic Langdon Winner of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Winner's Automatic Professor Machine delivers online doctoral degrees without the student ever having to set foot on a college campus. A spoof of the distance-learning craze, the site features a news report, radio interview transcript, recorded lecture, view of Glow-Ball University, and more.Go to: http://www.rpi.edu/~winner/apm1.html

MUSHROOMS’ SUDDEN GROWTH FOLLOWS LONG PREPARATIONQuick as a mushroom’s growth, is the phrase we like to apply to sudden and unexpected developments. An oil town, a stock-market fortune, the reputation of the writer of a “hit,” are all referred to the mushroom standard of comparison.Yet the mushroom is no creature of magic, not-here yesterday and here today. The sudden manifestation that startles and fascinates us is only the fruition of months, perhaps years, of unseen preparation under ground, like the age-old waiting pool, the slow ripening of economic forces, the years of obscure labor behi...