December 20,
1997
| Sources | References |
News of the Week:
Nations Draft Kyoto Climate Treaty
Negotiators meeting in Japan drafted a treaty that would set binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions for industrial nations.
Sources:
Haus Carstanjen
Climate Change Secretariat
United Nations Convention on Climate Change
P.O. Box 260124
D-53153 Bonn
Germany
E-mail: secretariat@unfcc.de
Web site: http://www.cop3.de
Gail McDonald
Global Climate Coalition
1275 K Street, N.W., Suite 890
Washington, DC 20004
Michael Williams
United National Environment Program
Information Unit for Conventions
E-mail: mwilliams@unep.ch
Web site: http://www.unfccc.de
Electric diode tunes in to plastic
A basic electronic component made partially of plastic can be modified to exhibit a wide range of current-carrying capacities.
Sources:
Mark C. Lonergan
University of Oregon
Department of Chemistry
Materials Science Institute
Eugene, OR 97403-1253
Small comet theory faces
barrage from foes
New findings erode the credibility of the hypothesis that Earth is bombarded by thousands of house-size snowballs each day.
Sources:
Louis A. Frank
University of Iowa
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Iowa City, IA 52242
George K. Parks
University of Washington
Geophysics Program
Seattle, WA 98195
Even fraternal twins may
share cancer risk
Having a twin with breast or testicular cancer signals an increase in a person's risk of these diseases.
Sources:
Anthony J. Swerdlow
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Epidemiological Monitoring Unit
London WC1E 7HT
England
Deepening insight into solar outbursts
Computer simulations and data from a spacecraft illuminate the magnetic interactions that generate high-speed ejections from the sun's atmosphere.
Sources:
Spiro K. Antiochos
Naval Research Laboratory
Mail Stop Code 7675
Washington, DC 20375
Let's repeat: Mutation gums up brain cells
Investigators have created mutant mice with an illness similar to Huntington's disease.
Sources:
Peter J. Detloff
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
Department of Comparative Medicine
Birmingham, AL 35294
Fine-tuned plant response to insect attack
Chewed-up plants send out chemical signals that attract insects of the right type to combat specific pests.
Sources:
Consuelo M. De Moraes
University of Georgia
Department of Entomology
Coastal Plain Experiment Station
P.O. Box 748
Tifton, GA 31793
James H. Tumlinson
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Agriculture Research Service
P.O. Box 14565
Gainesville, FL 32608
Teens show sex-linked
pull to cigarettes
Teenage girls who have a strong need for social contact and peer acceptance are most likely to begin smoking cigarettes.
Sources:
Joel D. Killen
Stanford University School of Medicine
Department of Medicine
1000 Welch Road
Palo Alto, CA 94304
Todd Q. Miller
University of Texas Medical Branch
Department of Preventative Medicine and Community Health
Route K-53
Galveston, TX 77555-1153
Research Notes:
Earth Science
Pollution surge from new Chinese cars
Adding 400 million cars to China's roads would increase pollution across much of the Pacific.
Sources:
Scott Elliott
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos, NM 87545
California volcano starts to stir
Earthquakes rattle a volcanic site in eastern California near Mammoth Lakes.
Sources:
David P. Hill
U.S. Geological Survey
345 Middlefield Park
Mail Stop Code 977
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Environment
Hanford tanks: Leaks reach groundwater
Radioactive liquids leaking from storage tanks have joined deliberately released wastes in contaminating groundwater at the Hanford Reservation.
Sources:
K. Michael Thompson
Richland Operations Office
Department of Energy
P.O. Box 550
Mail Stop A-7-75
Richland, WA 99352
Fishy PCBs shorten menstrual cycle
Scientists find signs of a pollutant's subtle hormonelike influence on human reproductive cycles.
Sources:
Pauline Mendola
NHEERL (M.D. 58A)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Research Triangle Park, NC 27711
Articles:
The Art of Scientific Photography
Bringing an artist's eye to the realm of imaging
Enhancing the role of visualization in scientific research provides a powerful approach to learning, teaching, and communicating science.
Sources:
Moungi G. Bawendi
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Department of Chemistry
77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 6-223
Cambridge, MA 02139
Robert N. Beck
Center for Imaging Science
University of Chicago
FMI I-103 (Mail Code-1037)
5841 South Maryland Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637
Felice Frankel
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Edgerton Center 4-405
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/edgerton/felice/felice.htmlBarbara M. Stafford
University of Chicago
Cochrane Woods Art Center
5540 South Greenwood
Chicago, IL 60637
J. Kim Vandiver
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Edgerton Center and Department of Ocean Engineering
77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 5-222
Cambridge, MA 02139
George M. Whitesides
Harvard University
Department of Chemistry
12 Oxford Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
The Internet offers scientific facts and fun
Join the Science News guided tour of the World Wide Web.
A tale noir of science writing and artificial evil
A fictional mystery story explores what happens when a science writer tangles with a power-hungry computer.
Table of Contents - 12/20/97
