A compound that disrupts a bacterium's internal signal pathways provides a novel type of antibiotic action.

References:  

Barrett, J.F. . . .J.A. Hoch. 1998. Antibacterial agents that inhibit two-component signal transduction systems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 95(April 28):5317.

A new analysis of fossil and modern skulls, focusing on the size of a bony passage for a nerve that controls the tongue, suggests that human ancestors used spoken language as long as 400,000 years ago.

References:  

Kay, R.F., M. Cartmill, and M. Balow. The hypoglossal canal and the origin of human vocal behavior. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 95(April 28):5417.

Further Readings: 

Bower, B. 1997. Brawn of humanity. Science News 151(May 24):322.

______. 1997. Ancient roads to Europe. Science News 151(Jan. 4):12.

______. 1993. Neandertal neck bone sparks cross talk. Science News 143(April 24):262.

Major current patterns in the deep ocean can shift more quickly than climate researchers have long presumed.

References:  

Adkins, J.F., et al. 1998. Deep-sea coral evidence for rapid change in ventilation of the deep North Atlantic 15,400 years ago. Science 280(May 1):725.

Further Readings: 

Mangini, A., et al. 1998. Coral provides way to age deep water. Nature 392(March 26):347.

Smith, J.E., M.J. Risk, et al. 1997. Rapid climate change in the North Atlantic during the Younger Dryas recorded by deep-sea corals. Nature 386(April 24):818.

A decrease in canine distemper among vaccinated city raccoons did not trigger growth of their population.

References:  

Shubert, C., et al. Effect of canine distemper on an urban raccoon population: An experiment. Ecological Applications 8(May):379.

Further Readings: 

Mech, L.D., and S.M. Goyal. 1995. Effects of canine parvovirus in gray wolves in Minnesota. Journal of Wildlife Management 59:565.

______. 1993. Canine parvovirus effect on wolf population change and pup survival. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 29:330.

Some people seem to be genetically predisposed to take advantage of the anti-clotting properties of aspirin, which reduce the risk of having a heart attack.

References:  

Cooke, G.E., P.F. Bray. . . .P.J. Goldschmidt. 1998. PI^A2 polymorphism and efficacy of aspirin. Lancet 351(April 25):1253.

Ridker, P.M., et al. 1997. P1^A1/A2 polymorphism of platelet glycoprotein IIIa and risks of mycardial infarction, stroke, and venous thrombosis. Lancet 349:385.

Weiss, E.J., P.F. Bray, et al. 1996. A polymorphism of a platelet glycoprotein receptor as an inherited risk factor for coronary thrombosis. New England Journal of Medicine 334(April 25):1090.

Further Readings: 

Fackelmann, K. 1996. Flaws of the heart. Science News 150(Aug. 3):76.

Jack, D.B. 1997. One hundred years of aspirin. Lancet 350(Aug. 9):437.

Nurden, A.T. 1997. Platelet glycoprotein IIIA polymorphism and coronary thrombosis. Lancet 350(Oct. 25):1189.

Dolly, the world’s first cloned mammal, has given birth to a lamb named Bonnie.

References:  

Cripps, R., and C. Gale. 1998. Dolly’s first lamb makes an appearance. Information available at http://www2.ri.bbsrc.ac.uk/library/press/pn98-02/html.

Further Readings: 

Travis, J. 1998. My mother, the clone? Science News 153(April 25):263.

A combination of text and link analysis underlies a novel method for automatically generating lists of authoritative Web resources.

References:  

Chakrabarti, S., et al. Preprint. Automatic resource compilation by analyzing hyperlink structure and associated text. (Available at http://simon.cs.cornell.edu/home/kleinber/www98/438.html.)

Further Readings: 

Peterson, I. 1998. Web searches fall short. Science News 153(May 2):286.

Additional information about the Seventh International World Wide Web Conference can be found at http://www7.conf.au/.

An orbiting observatory has found a dozen giant tornadoes in the solar atmosphere and evidence that the sun’s core may be cooler than expected.

References: 

Pike, D.C., and H.E. Mason. In press. Rotating transition region features observed with the SOHO Coronal Diagnostic Spectrometer. Solar Physics.

Intense infrared light provides some of the first images of the chemical components of intact, living cells.

References:  

Nadège, J., P. Dumas, et al. Highly resolved chemical imaging of living cells by using synchrotron infrared microspectrometry. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 95(April 28):4837.

Further Readings: 

Peterson, I. 1996. Bright X rays to illuminate a new frontier. Science News 149(May 4):276.

Research Notes

Biology

Formosan termites are insensitive to the naphthalene that they build into their tunnel walls.

References:  

Chen, J., et al. 1998. Termites fumigate their nests with naphthalene. Nature 392(April 9):558.

Bee researchers speculate that a relatively small number of genes gives killer bees their stinging ferocity.

References:  

Hunt, G., et al. 1998. Quantitative trait loci for honey bee stinging behavior and body size. Genetics 148(March):1203.

Biomedicine

Recipients of corporate gifts acknowledge that donors typically expected something substantial in return.

References:  

Campbell, E.G., K.S. Louis, and D. Blumenthal. 1998. Looking a gift horse in the mouth. Journal of the American Medical Association 279(April 1):995.

Drugs that starve fast-dividing, malignant cells can stop a tumor's spread.

References:  

Dupont, É. 1998. Liquid shark cartilage extract shows encouraging results to cancer experts. Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. March. New Orleans.

Sim, K.L.B. 1998. Angiostatin^TM: A potent antiangiogenic molecule that inhibits tumor growth in mice. Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. March. New Orleans.

 

Computers

As an alternative to encryption, confidential information can be broken into segments that are tagged and inserted into a larger document.

References:  

Rivest, R.L. Preprint. Chaffing and winnowing: Confidentiality without encryption. Available at http://theory.lcs.mit.edu/~rivest/chaffing.txt.

Further Readings: 

Peterson, I. 1996. Boosting cryptography's role in security. Science News 149(June 8):357.

______. 1993. Encrypting controversy. Science News 143(June 19):394.

No single seach engine indexes more than about one-third of the more than 320 million pages on the World Wide Web.

References:  

Lawrence, S., and C.L. Giles. 1998. Searching the World Wide Web. Science 280(April 3):98.

Further Readings: 

Search engines are accessible at the following sites: AltaVista  (http://www.altavista.digital.com), Excite (http://www.excite.com), HotBot (http://www.hotbot.com), Infoseek (http://www.infoseek.com), Lycos (www.lycos.com), Northern Light (www.nlsearch.com).

Biomedicine

Certain dietary antioxidants, such as beta carotene and selenium, appear to protect lung health.

References:  

Cassano, P.A. 1998. Antioxidant nutrients and pulmonary function in third national health & nutrition examination survey (NHANES III). Meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. FASEB Journal Abstract 256. April. San Francisco.

Further Readings: 

Raloff, J. 1997. Looking for lycopene? Tomatoes are okay, but . . . Science News Online (July 19).

______. 1997. Alzheimer’s: E-longating survival and function. Science News Online (April 26).

______. 1996. Get granddad to take his vitamin E. Science News Online (Aug. 10).

______. 1996. Veggies may offer strong defense against breast cancer. Science News Online (July 20).

______. 1996. Antioxidants: Confirming a hearty-role. Science News 150(July 6):6.

Animal studies suggest that a hot environment may crank up defective internal thermostats in the elderly to fight infections.

References:  

Florez-Duquet, M., E.D. Peloso, and E. Satinoff. 1998. Florida or bust? Older lab rats seek heat to fight infection. Meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. FASEB Journal Abstract 4244. April. San Francisco.

Physics

Even when observed on a small scale, a deuteron's structure is adequately described as a loose pairing of a proton and a neutron rather than as an assemblage of six quarks.

References:  

Ahmidouch, A. 1998. Results from the t₂₀ experiment at Jefferson Laboratory. Bulletin of the American Physical Society 43(April):1122.

The unstable nucleus californium-252 can spontaneously split into two pieces without emitting neutrons.

References:  

Gilat, J., et al. 1998. Discovery of rare processes in the spontaneous fission of ²⁵²Cf. Bulletin of the American Physical Society 43(April):1224.

Antiproton probes show that more neutrons than protons sit at the fringes of certain atomic nuclei.

References:  

Hartmann, F.J. 1998. A survey of recent experiments with exotic atoms. Bulletin of the American Physical Society 43(April):1160.

Long ago and far away

Resurrecting an old search method and relying on the two largest visible light and near-infrared telescopes, astronomers are detecting a slew of the most distant galaxies.

References:  

Hu, E.M., and L.L. Cowie. In press. The density of Ly emitters at very high redshift. Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Further Readings: 

Cowen, R. 1988. Red glimmer reveals most distant galaxy. Science News 153(March 21):182.

______. 1998. Light from the early universe. Science News 153(Feb. 7):92.

______. 1997. After Hubble: The next generation. Science News 151(April 26):262.

______. 1994. Searching on the cosmos. Science News 146(Sept. 17):188.

Researchers weigh in on body size

Although obesity appears to contribute proportionately less to the death rate as people age from 30 to 74 years old, the number of deaths attributed to excess weight goes up after age 30.

References: 

Stevens, J. . . .M.J. Thun. 1998. The effect of age on the association between body-mass index and mortality. New England Journal of Medicine 338(Jan. 1):1.

Further Readings: 

Fackelmann, K. 1997. Diet drug debacle. Science News 152(Oct. 18):252.

______. 1996. Fake fat gets FDA’s okay. Science News 149(Feb. 3):68.

Manson, J.E. . . .C.H. Hennekens, et al. 1995. Body weight and mortality among women. New England Journal of Medicine 333(Sept. 14):677.

Additional information can be found at the Shape Up America! Web site: http://www.shapeup.org.