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Deciphering DeafnessJanuary 17, 1998 | Volume 153 | Number 3 Cover: An artist's depiction of stereocilia, the sound-detecting bristles that cap the sensory cells of the ear. (Courtesy: National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders) |
Features:
Science Safari
News of the Week:
Secondary
Smoke Carries High Price
Nonsmokers exposed to secondary smoke suffer 20 percent more damage to their arteries than those not exposed.
Female
flies pick mates with sexy eyes
Among some species of stalk-eyed flies, the male with the longer eye stems gets the female.
Tick, tock, enzyme rewinds cellular clock
Forcing cells to make an enzyme called telomerase apparently makes them practically immortal.
Unsaturated fats play yin-yang cancer role
Whereas diets rich in monounsaturated fats appear to offer protection against breast cancer, polyunsaturates may increase a woman's chance of developing the disease.
Planet posts temperature record for 1997
Globally averaged temperatures continued to rise last year, capping a string of record warm years.
Engineered blood vessel is only human
A replacement blood vessel made completely of cultured human cells has the strength of a natural artery.
Black hole acts as cosmic 'Old Faithful'
Fluctuations in X-ray emissions from the vicinity of a suspected black hole appear linked to jets of hot matter hurled from the object every 30 minutes.
Self-destruction may run lethal gamut
Risk factors for suicide, such as emotional instability and conduct problems in adolescence, also play a role in accidental deaths.
Research Notes
Behavior
To dream, perchance to scan
A brain-scan investigation of sleeping men offers clues as to how various aspects of the neural system make dreaming possible.
Earth Science
El Nino shifts Earth's momentum
The El Nino warming has speeded up atmospheric winds and slowed down Earth's rotation.
Did humans scorch Australia's outback?
Fires set by people tens of thousands of years ago may have altered the Australian climate.
Science & Society
Year of the troubled oceans
As the United Nations launches a 12-month focus on oceans, 1,600 biologists call for immediate action to address growing harm to life in the seas.
Millennium bug bites?
A Web site tries to sort fact from fancy among rumors of impending disasters because computers may not recognize that a year given as 00 refers to 2000, not 1900.
Articles:
Instant Transport
Achieving quantum teleportation in the laboratory
Researchers successfully transfer a photon's polarization state to another, remote photon.
Genes
of Silence
Scientists track down a
slew of mutated genes that cause deafness
Genetic studies provide insight into how the human ear works.
The Z Machine
Powering up a miniature accelerator to target nuclear fusion
The world's most powerful generator of X rays provides a unique environment for studying interactions of radiation and matter.
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