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August 9, 1997
Navy Recruits Report Abusive Legacy
References:In a large and unprecedented survey, male and female Navy recruits report disturbingly high rates of childhood physical and sexual abuse.
White, J.W., et al. 1997. Annual meeting of the American Psychological Association. Chicago, Ill.
Invasive Argentine ant is no picnic
References:An invading species of ant causes dramatic changes in the diet of the horned lizard and other parts of the food chain.
Further Readings:Suarez, A. 1997. Annual meeting of the Ecology Society of America. Albuquerque, N.M.
Ezzell, C. 1992. Strangers in paradise. Science News 142(Nov. 7):314.
Holldobler, B., and E.O. Wilson. 1990. The Ants. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Holway, D.A. 1995. Distribution of the Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) in northern California. Conservation Biology 9(December):1634.
U.S. Congress Office of Technological Assessment. 1993. Harmful non-indigenous species in the United States. OTA-F-565. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. The report can also be obtained at http://www.wws.princeton.edu/~ota/.
Reservoir of water hides high above Earth
References:Earth's upper atmosphere holds a surprising amount of water.
Further Readings:Further information can be found at the Middle Atmosphere High Resolution Spectrograph Investigation's website, http://uap-www.nrl.navy.mil/mahrsi/mahrsi.html, and at the Halogen Occultation Experiment's website, http://haloedata.larc.nasa.gov/home.html.
Monastersky, R. 1997. Is Earth pelted by snowballs? Science News 151(May 31):332.
Ancient human saunters into limelight
References:Fossilized footprints on the shore of a South African lagoon were left about 117,000 years ago by an anatomically modern human.
Further Readings:Roberts, D.L., and L.R. Berger. 1997. Last interglacial (c. 117 kyr) human footprints from South Africa. South African Journal of Science September.
Bower, B. 1997. Neandertals make big splash in gene pool. Science News 152(July 19):37.
Bower, B. 1997. Early humans make their marks as hunters. Science News 151(April 12):222.
Extra calcium no help for lactating women
References:Consuming additional calcium does little to reverse bone density loss in women who are breast-feeding their babies.
Further Readings:Kalkwarf, H.J., et al. 1997. The effect of calcium supplementation on bone density during lactation and after weaning. New England Journal of Medicine 337(Aug. 21):523.
Prentice, A. 1997. Calcium supplementation during breast-feeding. New England Journal of Medicine 337(Aug. 21):558.
Report of the Institute of Medicine. 1997. Dietary reference intakes for calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, vitamin D, and fluoride. National Academy Press.
Fackelmann, K. 1993. Prolonged nursing and the risk of bone loss. Science News 143(June 26):407.
Rissoli, R., and J.P. Bonjour. 1996. Pregnancy-associated osteoporosis. Lancet 347(May 11):1274.
Rowe, P.M. 1994. New U.S. recommendations on calcium intake. Lancet 343(June 18):1559.
Brain doubles up on marijuanalike agents
References:Investigators have discovered a second naturally occurring brain chemical that resembles the active ingredient of marijuana.
Further Readings:Stella, N., P. Schweitzer, and D. Piomelli. 1997. A second endogenous cannabinoid that modulates long-term potentiation. Nature 388(Aug. 21):773.
Beltramo, M. . . . D. Piomelli. 1997. Functional role of high-affinity anandamide transport, as revealed by selective inhibition. Science 277(Aug. 22):1094.
Fackelmann, K.A. 1993. Marijuana and the brain. Science News 143(Feb. 6):88.
Polymer, buckyballs combat nerve damage
References:Two materials, usually studied for their industrial applications, may offer treatments for nerve damage caused by injury, stroke, or disease.
Further Readings:Dugan, L.L., et al. 1997. Carboxyfullerenes as neuroprotective agents. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 94(Aug. 19):9434.
Schmidt, C.E., V.R. Shastri, et al. 1997. Stimulation of neurite outgrowth using an electrically conducting polymer. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 94(Aug. 19):8948.
1995. Teflon templates stimulate nerve growth. Science News 148(July 22):58.
Ezzell, C. 1992. Paving the way for spinal cord repair. Science News 141(April 25):270.
Pennisi, E. 1994. Molecules that guide or nourish nerves. Science News 145(March 12):165.
Sternberg, S. 1996. Steps toward healing damaged spines. Science News 150(July 27):52.
Travis, J. 1996. Battling evolution to regrow nerves. Science News 150(Sept. 21):180.
Weiss, R. 1990. Antibodies enhance spinal nerve regrowth. Science News 137(Jan. 20):38.
Cool cars: Running clean on liquid nitrogen
References:Two prototypes demonstrate the possibility of using liquid nitrogen to power a zero-pollution vehicle.
Further Readings:Knowlen, C., A. Hertzberg, and A.T. Mattick. Preprint. Cryogenic automotive propulsion. Available at http://www.aa.washington.edu/AERP/CRYOCAR/technica.htm.
Plummer, M.C., et al. In press. Cryogenic heat engine experiment. Advances in Cryogenic Engineering.
Additional information about the University of North Texas CooLN2Car project is available at http://www.mtsc.unt.edu/CooLN2Car.html and the Washington University CryoCar project at http://www.aa.washington.edu/AERP/CRYOCAR/.
Ordonez, C.A. 1996. Cryogenic heat engine. American Journal of Physics 64(April):479.
Wu, C. 1995. Hybrid cars. Science News 148(Oct. 7):232.
Research Notes:
Behavior
Working moms: Stressed to excess
References:Single and married working mothers in midlevel jobs endure a particularly large amount of mental strain that boosts levels of a stress hormone and may put them at risk of developing heart disease.
Further Readings:Luecken, L.J., et al. 1997. Stress in employed women: Impact of marital status and children at home on neurohormone output and home strain. Psychosomatic Medicine 59(July-Aug.):352.
Bower, B. 1997. Working women's job strains. Science News 152(July 5):11.
Therapy bonds and the bottle
References:A national study of alcoholism treatments indicates that the relationship between a client and therapist influences the success of techniques aimed at lessening alcohol use.
Further Readings:Connors, G.J., et al. 1997. The therapeutic alliance and its relationship to alcoholism treatment participation and outcome. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 65(August):588.
Bower, B. 1997. Alcoholics synonymous. Science News 151(Jan. 25):62.
Earth Science
Why some ocean volcanoes grow tall
References:A survey of undersea volcanoes suggests that the biggest mountains form on the oldest ocean floor.
Wessel, P. 1997. Sizes and ages of seamounts using remote sensing: Implications for intraplate volcanism. Science 277(Aug. 8):802.
Robot completes desert voyage
References:A four-wheel, remotely controlled rover travels 215 kilometers across the Chilean desert.
Further Readings:Further information on the Nomad robot is available at http://img.arc.nasa.gov/Nomad/nomad.html and http://www.ri.cmu.edu/atacama-trek/.
Monastersky, R. 1997. On a roll: Robot attempts desert voyage. Science News 151(June 21):382.
Damming Gibraltar to avert an ice age
References:A physicist makes the controversial argument that an ice age may strike unless humans construct a dam across the Strait of Gibraltar.
Johnson, R.G. 1997. Climate control requires a dam at the Strait of Gibraltar. EOS, Transactions, American Geophysical Union 78(July 8):277.
Biology
Dolly, Polly, Gene -- send in the clones
References:In two firsts, researchers have cloned a bull from fetal cells and a lamb that incorporates a human gene.
Further Readings:For more information on the latest advances in cloning technology, visit http://www.ri.bbsrc.ac.uk.
Travis, J. 1997. A fantastical experiment. Science News 151(April 5):214.
Putting a happy smile on your face
References:Interactions between two chemical signals determine where in the mouth teeth will form.
Neubuser, A., et al. 1997. Antagonistic interactions between FGF and BMP signaling pathways: A mechanism for positioning the sites of tooth formation. Cell 90(July 25):247.
The mutant gene that wasn't
References:A gene accused of causing breast cancer has been cleared of the crime.
Further Readings:Lee, M.P., and A.P. Feinberg. 1997. Aberrant splicing but not mutations of TSG101 in human breast cancer. Cancer Research 57(Aug. 1):3131.
Steiner, P. . . . R.A. Weinberg. 1997. Absence of rearrangements in the tumour susceptibility gene TSG101 in human breast cancer. Nature Genetics 16(August):332.
Travis, J. 1997. Double knockout lands a breast cancer gene. Science News 151(Jan. 18):37.
Lowering the defenses of bacteria
References:Investigators have found a way to interfere with the mechanisms that bacteria use to resist antibiotics.
Guerrier-Takada, C., R. Salavati, and S. Altman. 1997. Phenotypic conversion of drug-resistant bacteria to drug sensitivity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 94(Aug. 5):8468.
Enzyme reduction explains lazy flies
References:A subtle difference in enzyme production governs feeding behavior in insects.
Osborne, K.A. . . . M.B. Sokolowski. 1997. Natural behavior polymorphism due to a cGMP-dependent protein kinase of Drosophila. Science 277(Aug. 8):834.
Articles:
A Fowl Fight
References:Fossil finds recharge debate about birds and dinosaurs
A long-standing argument about the evolution of birds heats up with new discoveries of ancient dinosaurs and birds.
Further Readings:Huxley, T.H. 1870. Further evidence of the affinity between the dinosaurian reptile and birds. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society February:12.
Novas, F.E., and P.F. Puerta. 1997. New evidence concerning avian origins from the late Cretaceous of Patagonia. Nature 387(May 22):390.
Monastersky, R. 1997. Paleontologists deplume feathery dinosaur. Science News 151(May 3): 271.
References:Peer pressure in the bacterial world
Bacteria can coordinate their behavior, initiating activities that benefit the entire group.
Further Readings:Fuqua, C., S.C. Winans, and E.P. Greenberg. 1996. Census and consensus in bacterial ecosystems: The LuxR-LuxI family of quorum-sensing transcriptional regulators. Annual Reviews of Microbiology 50:727.
Givskov, M., et al. 1996. Eukaryotic interference with homoserine lactone-mediated prokaryotic signalling. Journal of Bacteriology 178(November):6618.
Gray, K.M. 1997. Intercellular communication and group behavior in bacteria. Trends in Microbiology 5(May):184.
Greenberg, E.P. 1997. Quorum sensing in gram-negative bacteria. ASM News 63(July):371.
Losick, R., and D. Kaiser. 1997. Why and how bacteria communicate. Scientific American February:68.
McKenney, D., K.E. Brown, and D.G. Allison. 1995. Influence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa exoproducts on virulence factor production in Burkholderia cepacia: Evidence of interspecies communication. Journal of Bacteriology 177(December):6989.
More, M.I., et al. 1996. Enzymatic synthesis of a quorum-sensing autoinducer through the use of defined substrates. Science 272(June 14):1655.
Pierson III, L. S., D.W. Wood, and S.T. Chancey. 1996. Phenazine antibiotic biosynthesis in the biological control bacterium Pseudomonas aureofaciens 30-84 is regulated at multiple levels. In Biology of Plant-Microbe Interactions, G. Stacey, B. Mullin, and P.M. Gresshoff, eds. St. Paul, Minn.: International Society for Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions.
Pierson III, L.S., and E.A. Pierson. 1996. Phenazine antibiotic production in Pseudomonas aureofaciens: Role in rhizosphere ecology and pathogen suppression. FEMS Microbiology Letters 136:101.
Schaefer, A.L., et al. 1996. Quorum sensing in Vibrio fischeri: Probing autoinducer-LuxR interactions with autoinducer analogs. Journal of Bacteriology 178(May):2897.
Swift, S., G.S.A.B. Stewart, and P. Williams. 1996. The inner workings of a quorum sensing signal generator. Trends in Microbiology 4(December):463.
Swift, S., et al. 1996. Quorum sensing: A population-density component in the determination of bacterial phenotype. Trends in Biochemical Sciences 21(June):214.
Travis, J. 1996. An illuminating partnership for squid. Science News 150(Sept. 14):167.
Table of Contents - 8/23/97