Atmospheric warming in coming decades could delay the recovery of Earth’s ozone layer.

References:  

Shindell, D.T., D. Rind, and P. Lonergan. 1998. Increased polar stratospheric ozone losses and delayed eventual recovery owing to increasing greenhouse-gas concentrations. Nature 392(April 9):589.

Further Readings: 

Monastersky, R. 1997. Antarctic ozone hole expands in altitude. Science News 152(Oct. 25):262.

 While tamoxifen can halve the risk of breast malignancies in cancerfree women, it also poses some serious risks—at least in women over 50. 

Further Readings: 

1996. Tamoxifen therapy should last 5 years. Science News 150(Nov. 23):335.

Raloff, J. 1996. U.N. body rules tamoxifen a carcinogen. Science News 149(March 2):132.

______. 1994. Studies spark new tamoxifen controversy. Science News 145(Feb. 26):133.

______. 1994. FDA, others offer new tamoxifen warnings. Science News 145(April 16):247.

______. 1994. Tamoxifen turmoil. Science News 146(Oct. 22):268.

______. 1993. Tamoxifen’s maker publishes cancer data. Science News 144(Sept. 18):181.

______. 1992. Tamoxifen quandary. Science News 141(April 25):266.

______. 1992. Tamoxifen trial begins amid new concerns. Science News 141(May 9):309.

Seachrist, L. 1995. Tamoxifen use limited. Science News 148(Dec. 9):391.

Researchers have identified the bacterium causing an unusually virulent coral disease.

References:  

Richardson, L.L., et al. Florida’s mystery coral-killer identified. Nature 392(April 9):557.

Further Readings: 

Additional information can be found at: http://ourworld.compuserv.com/homepages/mccarty_and_peters/dis-list.htm.

Pennisi, E. 1994. Killer CLOD strikes Indo-Pacific reefs. Science News 146(Aug. 27):135.

Travis, J. 1996. Bleaching power. Science News 149(June 15):379.

A common operation to reduce blockage in the carotid artery carries greater risks of stroke than previously thought.

References:  

Goldstein, L.B., et al. 1998. Multicenter review of preoperative risk factors for endarterectomy for asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis. Stroke 29(April):1.

Mathur, A., et al. 1998. Predictors of stroke complicating carotid artery stenting. Circulation 97(April 7):1239.

Young, B., et al. 1996. An analysis of perioperative surgical mortality and morbidity in the asymptomatic carotid atherosclerosis study. Stroke 27:2216.

Further Readings: 

1995. Endarterectomy for asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis. Journal of the American Medical Association 273(May 10):1421.

Ernst, C.B. 1996. Surgery of the carotid and vertebral arteries for the prevention of stroke. New England Journal of Medicine 335(Sept. 19):904.

Mayberg, M.R. 1995. Endarterectomy for asymptomatic carotid artery Stenosis. Resolving the controversy. Journal of the American Medical Association 273(May 10):1459.

Steinberg, G. 1994. Surgery for stroke. New England Journal of Medicine 330(May 19):1465.

Spherical clusters of polymer molecules in a mixture of water and supercritical carbon dioxide can act as reaction vessels for enzymes.

References:  

Bright, F.V. 1998. The behavior of micellar systems formed in supercritical carbon dioxide and their use as nanobioreactors. Meeting of the American Chemical Society. Dallas. March/April.

Further Readings: 

Wu, C. 1997. A green clean. Science News 152(Aug. 16):108.

A century-old economic model may help ecologists understand how two species can develop a mutually beneficial relationship.

References:  

Scwartz, M.W., and J.D. Hoeksema. 1998. Specialization and resource trade: Biological markets as a model of mutualisms. Ecology 79(April):1029.

Further Readings: 

1988. Tree planting: The ‘greenhouse’ effects. Science News 133(April 30):285.

By preventing the growth of butterfly wings and beetle horns, investigators can increase the size of other developing body parts.

References: 

Nijhout, H.F., and D.J. Emlen. 1998. Competition among body parts in the development and evolution of insect morphology. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 95(March 31):3685.

Quantum effects do not necessarily rule out the possibility of traveling back in time.

References:  

Gott, J.R., III, and L.-X. Li. Preprint. Can the universe create itself? (Available at http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/astro-ph/9712344.)

______. 1998. Self-consistent vacuum for Misner space and the chronology protection conjecture. Physical Review Letters 80(April 6):2980.

Further Readings: 

Peterson, I. 1992. Timely questions. Science News 141(March 28):202.

______. 1988. Wormholes and time machines. Science News 134(Nov. 5):302.

Simon, J.Z. 1994. The physics of time travel. Physics World (December):27.

Wheeler, J.C. 1996. Of wormholes, time machines, and paradoxes. Astronomy (February):52.

Additional information about the physics of time travel can be found at http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/time_travel.html and http://daniel.drew.edu/~dups/munoz.html.

Research Notes

Archaeology

Cutting-edge pursuits in Stone Age 

Human ancestors made sophisticated stone tools, displayed advanced hunting skills, and created symbolic artwork at least 200,000 years ago in the Middle East.

References:  

D’Errico, F., et al. 1998. A Middle Palaeolithic origin of music? Using cave-bear bone accumulations to assess the Divje Babe I bone ‘flute’. Antiquity 72:65.

Holdaway, S. 1998. Stone artefact assemblage variability and scales of temporal resolution at Bone Cave, Tasmania, Australia. Meeting of the Paleoanthropology Society and the Society for American Archaeology. Seattle. March.

Nowell, A. 1998. Taphonomy of a purported Mousterian bone flute from Divje Babe I, Slovenia. Meeting of the Paleoanthropology Society and the Society for American Archaeology. Seattle. March.

Further Readings: 

Bower, B. 1997. Ancient roads to Europe. Science News 151(Jan. 4):12.

______. 1995. Africa’s ancient cultural roots. Science News 148(Dec. 2):378.

A chemical analysis pushes back direct evidence for tobacco smoking by Native Americans to between 1715 B.C. and A.D. 105.

Biomedicine

Gene therapy for breast, ovarian cancer 

Hyperactivity of a gene implicated in breast and ovarian cancer was dampened by injections of another gene.

References:  

Phase I E1A gene therapy in patients with advanced breast and ovarian cancers. Meeting of the American Cancer Research. New Orleans. March.

Raspberries are suggested to ward off a cancer of the digestive tract.

References:  

Kresty, L.A. 1998. Black raspberries inhibit esophageal cancer in animal study. Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. New Orleans. March.

Low doses of arsenic may prove helpful in treating people suffering from leukemia.

References:  

Warrell, R.P. 1998. Late-breaking research reports on promising new treatment for leukemia using low-dose arsenic, possible chemopreventive for colon cancer, and novel blood test for predicting melanoma recurrence. Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. New Orleans. March.

Chemistry

Friends, elephants: Lend me your ears 

Elephants appear to use secretions from glands behind their ears to communicate with each other.

References:  

Guinn, A.C., and T.E. Goodwin. 1998. Identification of elephant-derived sesquiterpenes by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Meeting of the American Chemical Society. Dallas. March/April.

Further Readings: 

1996. One scent woos elephants and insects. Science News 149(March 9):159.

A violin’s sweet sound may depend on the wood's finish.

References:  

Nagyvary, J. 1998. Decoding the Stradivarius: The materials, the sound and the mystique. Meeting of the American Chemical Society. Dallas. March/April.

Further Readings: 

Lipkin, R. 1994. To build a better violin. Science News 146(Sept. 3):152.

Certain fire extinguishers can smother flames with a foamy layer of soap.

References:  

Davis, J.N., and P.K. Karjala. 1998. Suppression of industrial shortening fires. Meeting of the American Chemical Society. Dallas. March/April.

Butterflies may be more capable of learning than pollination biologists have thought.

References:  

Goulson, D., J. Stout, and S. Hawson. 1997. Can flower constancy in nectaring butterflies be explained by Darwin’s interference hypothesis? Oecologia 112:225.

Weiss, M.R. Innate colour preferences and flexible colour learning in the pipevine swallowtail. Animal Behaviour 53(May):1043.

______. 1991. Floral colour changes as cues for pollinators. Nature 354(Nov. 21):227.

Further Readings: 

Goulson, D., J. Ollerton, and C. Sluman. 1997. Foraging strategies in the small skipper butterfly, Thymelicus flavus: When to switch? Animal Behavior 53(October):1009.

Laverty, T.M. 1994. Costs to foraging bumble bees of switching plant species. Canadian Journal of Zoology 72:43.

______. 1994. Bumble bee learning and flower morphology. Animal Behaviour 47(March):531.

Papaj, D.R., and A.C. Lewis. 1993. Insect learning: Ecological and evolutionary perspectives. New York: Chapman and Hall.

Physicists find surprises when they probe the behavior of electrons inside tiny semiconductor structures called quantum dots.

References:  

Kouwenhoven, L.P., et al. 1997. Excitation spectra of circular, few-electron quantum dots. Science 278(Dec. 5):1788.

McEuen, P.L. 1997. Artificial atoms: New boxes for electrons. Science 278(Dec. 5):1729.

Schedelbeck, G., et al. 1997. Coupled quantum dots fabricated by cleaved edge overgrowth: From artificial atoms to molecules. Science 278(Dec. 5):1792.

Stewart, D.R., et al. 1997. Correlations between ground and excited state spectra of a quantum dot. Science 278(Dec. 5):1784.

Zhitenev, N.B., et al. 1997. Periodic and aperiodic bunching in the addition spectra of quantum dots. Physical Review Letters 79(Set. 22):2308.

Further Readings: 

Ashoori, R.C. 1996. Electrons in artificial atoms. Nature 379(Feb. 1):413.

Peterson, I. 1996. Strange attractions in quantum dots. Science News 149(Feb. 3):70.

______. 1993. Packing electrons into an artificial atom. Science News 143(Feb. 20):118.

______. 1992. Quantum dot to capacitor. Science News 141(April 4):222.