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Night Lights and Cancer
October 17, 1998 | Volume 154 | Number 16
Cover: Though bright nighttime illumination can
extend our daily activities, it can also tamper with the body's production of a key brain
hormone. Studies now hint that perturbing this hormone's production long term may
render the body vulnerable to cancer. (Photo: © Frank Grant/ International Stock) |
 Click on this icon listed by each article to get full references and
sources. |
News of the Week:
Infections May Underlie Cerebral
Palsy
An abundance of immune
proteins in the blood of newborns who would later suffer cerebral palsy suggests that
fetal infections may cause the disease.
Botanical 'Velcro' entraps hummingbirds
The burrs of a tall weed
called burdock prove a death trap for migrating hummingbirds.
Who’s been eating all those sea otters?
Killer whales may account
for the rapid disappearance of sea otters in the Aleutian islands.
Marginal groups
thrive on the Internet
People viewed as cultural
outsiders can form stable, emotionally supportive online communities.
Antarctic ozone hole reaches record size
The ozone hole above
Antarctica has grown larger than the North American continent.
Medical Nobel prize says yes to NO
The 1998 Nobel Prize in
Medicine honors research by Robert F. Furchgott, Louis J. Ignarro, and Ferid Murad showing
that the gas nitric oxide is a signaling molecule in the cardiovascular system and many
other tissues.
Physics Nobel spotlights quantum effect
Daniel C. Tsui, Horst L.
Störmer, and Robert B. Laughlin won the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery
and explanation of the fractional quantum Hall effect.
Chemistry computations earn Nobel prize
The 1998 Nobel Prize in
Chemistry was awarded to Walter Kohn and John A. Pople for their development of
computational methods that describe the properties and behavior of molecules.
Biology
Diabetes drug stirs cancer confusion
Though troglitazone may
thwart human colon cancer in some cases, the widely prescribed drug may also trigger the
cancer in genetically susceptible people.
Rats have too much on their minds
Electrically stimulating
the brain's memory-forming regions makes rats fare poorly on a spatial-learning task.
Environmental
EPA unveils hormone-pollutant strategy
A 573-page blueprint
advises the Environmental Protection Agency on how it should decide which of the roughly
87,000 commercial chemicals to test for hormonal activity.
Passive smoking: Confirming the risks
Chronic exposure to the
cigarette smoke of a spouse or coworker can increase a nonsmoker’s lung cancer risk
by roughly 20 percent.
Mathematics
Fractal models for data traffic
Mathematical models used
successfully to manage telephone systems don't apply to data-transmitting networks, where
the duration and rate of information transfer vary more widely.
Picking off more pieces of pi
A math student has
determined the five-trillionth binary digit of the number pi.
Paleontology
Wyoming wonder: Tiniest mammal ever?
Paleontologists have
uncovered the jawbone of a 53-million-year-old mammal that weighed no more than a dollar
bill.
Questions raised about oldest animal
Scientists dispute
whether tracks that look like fossilized worm traces push back the origin of animals.
Does Light Have a Dark Side?
Nighttime illumination might elevate cancer risk
A host of new studies hints how exposure to light at night might foster the
development of certain cancers.
Dogs and Cats in
Their Dotage
Do aged pets get their own type of Alzheimer’s, and will a new
drug help them?
Veterinarians debate whether drugs might help old dogs and cats that get
disoriented and forgetful.
Letters: A
Selection from Letters to the Editor
