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Plumbing the Maya UndergroundJanuary 24, 1998 | Volume 153 | Number 4 Cover: The ancient Maya built a huge balcony in front of a cave at Guatemala's Naj Tunich site. Religious ceremonies and shaman's rituals may have taken place on the balcony and in the cave's depths. Page 56 (Photo: James E. Brady) |
Features:
Science Safari
Alcoholism
Shows Its Youthful Side
People who began drinking alcohol before age 15 exhibit much greater rates of serious alcohol problems than those who started imbibing at a later age.
Built-in drugs could target tissues
Proteins containing non-natural, pharmaceutically active amino acids could serve as vehicles for delivering the drugs.
Tinnitus location found in
the brain
Using positron emission tomography, researchers have pinpointed where the brain registers a ringing in the ears.
Mercury mystery solved when sparks fly
Light flashes of mercury in glass tubes, a phenomenon known as "barometer light," is caused by the buildup of static electricity.
Reports raise questions about Martian rock
Two new studies chip away at--but do not entirely undermine--the case that a meteorite from Mars contains fossils of ancient life on the Red Planet.
Novel X rays highlight clogging arteries
A new nuclear medicine technology appears capable of detecting atherosclerosis painlessly--before symptoms occur.
Neutrinos to survey Earth's
radioactivity
Detecting antineutrinos generated by terrestrial radioactive decay could provide a direct measurement of Earth's radioactive heat production.
Protein gives the heads-up to frog embryos
By manipulating a newly discovered protein involved in the development of a head during embryo growth, investigators have produced tadpoles with enlarged heads, two heads, or no head at all.
Astronomy
Homing in on Milky Way's black hole
New measurements add to the evidence that the center of the galaxy contains a black hole as massive as 2.6 million suns.
Planet stages a comeback
One year after a researcher had cast doubt on the finding that a nearby, sunlike star has its own planet, three new studies uphold the initial discovery.
Biomedicine
Leptin: The new gut buster?
The obesity hormone leptin triggered rats to lose fat, especially from their abdomens.
Mother's milk contains leptin
A hormone thought to control obesity in humans has been discovered in breast milk.
Cloning debate erupts anew
A scientist has proposed cloning a human being, prompting the president to urge a ban on such efforts.
Biology
Prozac works on clams and mussels
Giving Prozac to fingernail clams and zebra mussels jump-started reproductive behavior.
Young armadillos just wanna be friends
Although adult armadillos tend to be hostile to each other, young armadillos calmly accept both related and unrelated juveniles.
Supermales even more superior outdoors
Plants that test out in a greenhouse as supermales may turn out to father even more seeds when set out in the wild.
A relative of nicotine eases pain
A compound related to nicotine may match morphine's pain-killing prowess and have fewer side effects.
The instruments of cell suicide
Two newly discovered proteins help a cell carve up its DNA when it kills itself.
Articles:
Archaeologists go underground for enlightenment on ancient Maya
Major Maya settlements were linked with caves, which served as landmarks of political power and spiritual meaning.
Highway, Heal Thyself
Cracking the code of self-healing asphalt could extend the life of roads
The chemical composition of asphalt might be modified to promote crack healing.
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