A gamma-ray burst from a galaxy 12 billion light-years from Earth packed 100 times more energy than a supernova explosion.

Sources: 

S. George Djorgovski
California Institute of Technology
Palomar Observatory 105-24
Pasadena, CA 91125

Dale A. Frail
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
P.O. Box 1003 Lopezville Road
Socorro, NM 87801

Bohdan Paczynski
Princeton University
Princeton University Observatory
Princeton, NJ 08544-1001

 

Scientists have for the first time identified a specific gene that appears to be one of many contributing to high intelligence, at least as assessed on a standard IQ test.

Sources:  

Robert Plomin
Institute of Psychiatry
Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre
DeCrespiguy Park
Denmark Hill
London SE5 8AF
United Kingdom

Robert J. Sternberg
Yale University
Department of Psychology
P.O. Box 208205
New Haven, CT 06520-8205

Extraterrestrial dust may sometimes flood Earth's atmosphere with enough debris to trigger a prolonged climatic crisis and extinctions.

Sources:  

Stanley F. Dermott
University of Florida
Department of Astronomy
211 Space Sciences Building
Gainesville, FL 32611-2055

Kenneth A. Farley
California Institute of Technology
Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences
Mailstop 170-25
Pasadena, CA 91125

Stephen J. Kortenkamp
Carnegie Institution of Washington
Department of Terrestrial Magnetism
5241 Broad Branch Road, N.W.
Washington, DC 20015

 

A microscopic tube of carbon atoms lying across a pair of metal electrodes can operate as a simple transistor at room temperature.

Sources: 

Cees Dekker
Department of Applied Physics
Delft University of Technology
Lorentzweg 1
2628 CJ Delft
The Netherlands
Web site: http://vortex.tn.tudelft.nl/~dekker/nanotubes.html

Robert M. Metzger
Laboratory for Molecular Electronics
Chemistry Department
University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0336

 

Scientists have identified the compound in grapefruit juice that may increase the potency of many drugs.

Sources:  

David G. Bailey
London Health Sciences Centre
Department of Medicine
Victoria Campus
375 South Street
London, Ontario N6J 4G5
Canada

Kan He
University of Michigan
Department of Pharmacology
1150 West Medical Center Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0632

 

Tiger salamanders that eat members of their own species provide the first laboratory demonstration that an increased risk of disease limits the evolution of cannibalism.

Sources:  

David W. Pfenning
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Department of Biology
Coker Hall, CB 3280
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3280

 

Research Notes

Biology

The lethal component of the anthrax toxin may disrupt a cell’s internal signaling.

Sources:  

Nicholas S. Duesbery
National Cancer Institute
Advanced BioScience Laboratories
P.O. Box B
Frederick, MD 21702

 

In a move to oppose the patenting of genetically engineered life-forms, two people have filed for a patent on the creation of creatures composed of both animal and human cells.

Sources: 

Patrick J. Coyne
Collier, Shannon, Rill & Scott, PLLC
3050 K Street, N.W.
Suite 400
Washington, DC 20007

Stuart A. Newman
New York Medical College
Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy
Basic Science Building
Valhalla, NY 10595

 

Biomedicine

Rapid weight-lifting exercises appear to improve an older person's ability to rise from a chair or break a fall.

Sources:  

Joseph Signorile
University of Miami
Department of Exercise and Sports Sciences
University Drive
Coral Gables, FL 33124

 

Muscle training to counteract the wasting that often accompanies AIDS didn’t exacerbate the disease.

Sources:  

Ronenn Roubenoff
Tufts University
United Stated Department of Agriculture
Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging
711 Washington Street
Boston, MA 02111

 

Earth Science

Satellite images suggest that an Antarctic ice sheet may be collapsing.

Sources:  

Ted Scambos
University of Colorado
National Snow and Ice Data Center
CIRES, Campus Box 449
1540 30th Street
Boulder, CO 80309-0449

 

Temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere have climbed higher in the last decade than at any other time in the past 6 centuries.

Sources:  

Keith R. Briffa
University of East Anglia
Climatic Research Unit
Norwich NR4 7TJ
United Kingdom

Nutrition

Differences between blacks and whites in sodium retention, which may influence blood pressure and bone density, may begin before adulthood.

Sources:  

Connie M. Weaver
Purdue University
Department of Foods and Nutrition
1264 Stone Hall
West Lafayette, IN 47907

A new analysis of animal studies confirms that diets rich in wheat bran protect against colon cancer.

Sources:  

David M. Klurfeld
Wayne State University
Department of Nutrition and Food Science
3009 Science Hall
Detroit, MI 48202-3424

 Heat-loving enzymes stay cool under stress

Researchers have synthesized proteins to survive boiling-hot temperatures.

Sources:  

Frances H. Arnold
California Institute of Technology
Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering 210-41
Pasadena, CA 91125
E-mail: frances@cheme.caltech.edu.
Website: http://www.che.caltech.edu/groups/fha.

Ramy S. Farid
Rutgers University
Department of Chemistry
Newark, NJ 07102

Bertus Van Den Burg
University of Groningen
Kerklaan 30
9751 NN Haren
Netherlands