November 22, 1997
News of the Week:
Dental Sealant Safety Reconsidered
A test-tube study suggests little reason for concern over hormone-mimicking materials leaching from dental sealants.
Chris Martin
Dan Nathanson
Nicolas Olea
Sources:
American Dental Association
211 East Chicago Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611-2678
Goldman School of Dental Medicine
Boston University
1001 East Newton Street
Boston, MA 02118-2392
Laboratory of Medical Investigation
Department of Radiology
School of Medicine
University of Granada
18071 Granada
Spain
Material may help batteries hold a recharge
The use of amorphous manganese oxyiodide as a cathode may solve a variety of problems that plague rechargeable batteries.
Arumugam Manthiram
Michael Thackeray
Sources:
Center for Materials Science and Engineering
University of Texas at Austin
ETC 9.104
Austin, TX 78712
Chemical Technology Division
Argonne National Laboratory
9700 South Cass Avenue
Argonne, IL 60439
Muscle-bound cattle reveal meaty mutation
Mutations in the gene encoding a protein called myostatin produce cattle and mice with abnormally large muscles.
Michel Georges
Se-Jin Lee
Alexandra C. McPherron
Timothy P.L. Smith
Unusual fish threat afloat in the Atlantic
The Atlantic waters of Georges Bank are thick with floating, gelatinous organisms that normally live anchored to rocks but may be competing with or even preying on fish larvae.
Peter Auster
Laurence Madin
Barbara K. Sullivan
Namibian fossils reveal ancient oddities
An organism shaped like a miniature revolving door raises questions about life a half-billion years ago.
Guy M. Narbonne
Benjamin M. Waggoner
Birds may find way with cognitive map
A bird known as Clark's nutcracker can learn to navigate according to the geometric relationship between pairs of landmarks to find seed-storage sites, suggesting that it uses mental representations of its surroundings.
Juli E. Jones
Alan C. Kamil
Protein shells out guidance to crystals
A specially synthesized protein that controls the growth of calcite could help researchers understand how mollusks make their shells.
David Kaplan
Richard A. Laursen
An agreement between Congress and the White House allows the Census Bureau to test the use of statistical sampling to supplement a traditional enumeration while an expedited judicial review tackles the constitutionality of that approach.
David W. Murray
Martha Farnsworth Riche
Charles L. Schultze
Sources:
Department of Genetics
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
University of Liege (B43)
20 Bd de Colonster
4000 Liege
Belgium
Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
725 North Wolfe Street
Baltimore, MD 21205
Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
725 North Wolfe Street
Baltimore, MD 21205
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Meat Animal Research Center
Clay Center, NE 68933-0166
Sources:
NURC
University of Connecticut, Avery Point
Groton, CT 06340
Biology Department
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole, MA 02543
University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography
Narragansett, RI 02882
Sources:
Department of Geological Sciences
Queen's University
Kingston, ON K7L 3N6
Canada
Department of Biology
University of Central Arkansas
Conway, AR 72035
Sources:
School of Biological Sciences and Department of Psychology
Nebraska Behavioral Biology Group
University of Nebraska
Lincoln, NE 68588-0118
School of Biological Sciences and Department of Psychology
Nebraska Behavioral Biology Group
University of Nebraska
Lincoln, NE 68588-0118
Sources:
Biotechnology Center
Department of Chemical Engineering
Tufts University
4 Colby Street
Medford, MA 02153
E-mail: dkaplan1@tufts.edu
Website: http://www.tufts.edu/as/che/dk.htm
Department of Chemistry
Boston University
590 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215
E-mail: laursen@bu.edu
Website: http://chem.bu.edu/graduate/research/profiles/laursen.html
Sources:
Statistical Assessment Service
2100 L Street, N.W., Suite 300
Washington, DC 20037-1525
U.S. Bureau of the Census
Washington, DC 20233-0900
Website: http://www.census.gov/
Brookings Institution
1775 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20036
Research Notes:
Astronomy
Farewell to Pathfinder
After failing to hear from Mars Pathfinder for more than a month, NASA decided on Nov. 4 to discontinue daily attempts to contact the craft.
Brian Muirhead
New fire on Io
Jupiter's moon Io sports a new dark spot, 400 kilometers in diameter, surrounding the volcano Pillan Patera.
Robert W. Carlson
Alfred S. McEwen
Sources:
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, CA 91109
Sources:
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, CA 91109
University of Arizona
Lunar and Planetary Laboratory
Space Sciences Building
P.O. Box 910092
Tucson, AZ 85721-0092
Articles:
From microscopes to skyscrapers, smart structures help control vibration Engineers are using computers and new classes of exotic materials to create objects that can sense their environment, process the information, then react appropriately.
Eric H. Anderson
Brian Degon
Linda M. Hanagan
Andy Luhn
Jim Redmond
B.F. Spencer Jr.
Mark S. Whorton
Sources:
CSA Engineering
2850 West Bayshore Road
Palo Alto, CA 94303-3843
Active Control eXperts
215 First Street
Cambridge, MA 02142-1227
Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering
University of Miami
P.O. Box 248294
Coral Gables, FL 33124
K2 Corporation
19215 Vashon Highway, S.W.
Vashon, WA 98070
Structural Dynamics and Vibration Control Department
Sandia National Laboratories
Albuquerque, NM 87185-0439
Department of Civil Engineering and Geological Sciences
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556-0767
ED 12
Marshall Space Flight Center
Huntsville, AL 35812
The Dark Side of Immunizations?
A controversial hypothesis suggests that vaccines may abet diabetes, asthma Epidemiological studies hint at a possible link between vaccinations and immune system disruption.
J. Barthelow Classen
Patricia M. Graves
Joan T. Harmon
Ronald E. LaPorte
Howard L. Weiner
The Power of Limited Thinking
Small-scale minds may pay nonrandom dividends The natural limitations of working memory may facilitate our ability to discern patterns that help us navigate social and physical worlds.
Jeffrey Elman
Daniel Kahneman
Yaakov Kareev
Lola L. Lopes
Nora Newcombe
Donald A. Redelmeier
Sources:
Classen Immunotherapies
6517 Montrose Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21212
Department of Epidemiology
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center
Denver, CO 80210
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Building 45, Room 5AN18
45 Center Drive
Bethesda, MD 20892-6600
Graduate School of Public Health
University of Pittsburgh
Room A529
Pittsburgh, PA 15261
Center for Neurologic Disorders
Brigham and Women's Hospital
77 Avenue Louis Pasteur
HIM730
Boston, MA 02115
Sources:
Departments of Cognitive Science and Psychology
University of California, San Diego
San Diego, CA 92093
Department of Psychology
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ 08544
The Goldie Rotman Center for Cognitive Science and Education
School of Education
The Hebrew University
Jerusalem 92905
Israel
College of Business
University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242
Temple University
565 Weiss Hall
Philadelphia, PA 19122
Department of Medicine
University of Toronto
Toronto, ON M5S 1A1
Canada
Table of Contents - 11/22/97