References:

Schwartz, P.J., et al. 1998. Prolongation of the QT interval and the sudden infant death syndrome. New England Journal of Medicine 338(June 11):1709.

Schwartz, P.J. 1976. Cardiac sympathetic innervation and the sudden infant death syndrome: A possible pathogenetic link. American Journal of Medicine 60:167.

Further Readings:

Barr, C.S., et al. 1994. QT dispersion and sudden unexpected death in chronic heart failure. Lancet 343(Feb. 5):327.

Fackelmann, K.A. 1995. Seizing two genes for fast heartbeat. Science News 147(March 11):149.

Liberthson, R.R. 1996. Sudden death from cardiac causes in children and young adults. New England Journal of Medicine 334(April 18):1039.

Roden, D.M. 1994. Risks and benefits of antiarrhythmic therapy. New England Journal of Medicine 331(Sept. 22):785.

Seppa, N. 1997. Secrets underlie lethal heart condition. Science News 152(July 26):55.

Towbin, J.A., and R.A. Friedman. 1998. Prolongation of the QT interval and the sudden infant death syndrome. New England Journal of Medicine 338(June 11):1760.

 In a well-studied Ecuadorean forest, ornithologists have discovered a previously undetected bird.

References:

Ridgely, R.S. 1998. A scientist discovers one of the largest birds found in the last fifty years. The Academy of Natural Sciences Press Release. June.

Further Readings:

Koeppel, D. 1998. Eureka! An Antpitta! Audubon 100(May/June):96.

 The voracious European green crab, recently introduced to West Coast waters, is rapidly spreading northward, threatening coastal shellfish.

References:

Information about the European green crab is available at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Web site at http://www.wa.gov/wdfw/fish/shelfish/greencrb.htm and at the Washington Sea Grant Program Web site at http://www.wsg.washington.edu/outreach/mas/aquaculture/crab.html.

Further Readings:

1993. Exotic species prove costly immigrants. Science News 144(Oct. 16):252.

Alexander, A. 1997. Growers feeling blue over green crab. Seattle Times (April 30). (Available at http://www.seattletimes.com/extra/browse/html97/altcrab_043097.html).

Bassett, Z. 1998. The European green crab . . . A new invader. San Francisco Estuary Institute  (http://www.sei.org/crabnews.html ).

Lafferty, K.D., and A.M. Kuris. 1996. Biological control of marine pests. Ecology 77:1989.

Mlot, C. 1997. Invasive Argentine ant is no picnic. Science News 152(Aug. 23):116.

Raloff, J. 1992. From tough ruffe to quagga. Science News 142(July 25):56.

 Using an ink-jet printer to lay down daubs of different metal mixtures allows researchers to more rapidly find improved materials for fuel cells.

References:

Reddington, E. . . .E.S. Smotkin, and T.E. Mallouk. 1998. Combinatorial electrochemistry: A highly parallel, optical screening method for discovery of better electrocatalysts. Science 280(June 12):1735.

Further Readings:

Lipkin, R. 1993. Firing up fuel cells. Science News 144(Nov. 13):314.

Perkins, S. 1997. Electric cars . . . fueled by gasoline? Science News 152(Nov. 1):279.

Wu, C. 1997. New method speeds material discovery. Science News 152(Nov. 1):278.

______. 1997. Ink jets not just for the printed page. Science News 151(April 5):205.

 Capping 40 years of research into one of physics' most elusive particles, a research team has presented strong evidence that neutrinos possess mass.

References:

An announcement of the discovery of neutrino mass can be found at: http://www.phys.hawaii.edu/~jgl/neutrino_news.html.

Further Readings:

Peterson, I. 1996. Fresh evidence of neutrino mass. Science News 149(May 18):319.

Additional information about the Super-Kamiokande detector is available at: http://www-sk.icrr.u-tokyo.ac.jp/doc/sk/.

 A computerized imaging analysis of an ancient hominid skull substantially lowered its estimated volume, raising questions about the cranial capacity of other early hominids.

References:

Conroy, G.C., et al. 1998. Endocranial capacity in an early hominid cranium from Sterkfontein, South Africa. Science 280(June 12):1730.

Falk, D. 1998. Hominid brain evolution: Looks can be deceiving. Science 280(June 12):1714.

 Scientists unveil the complete DNA sequence of the tuberculosis bacterium's more than 4,000 genes.

References:

Cole, S.T., et al. 1998. Deciphering the biology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from the complete genome sequence. Nature 393(June 11):537.

Young, D.B. 1998. Blueprint for the white plague. Nature 393(June 11):516.

 A 30-foot-long image of the heavens represents only a small fraction of the first detailed picture produced by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.

References:

Turner, M.S., et al. 1998. Meeting of the American Astronomical Society. June. San Diego.

Research Notes

French scientists say they have the first evidence that youngsters of a species with no parental contact can still recognize their mothers.

References:

Léna, J.P., and M. de Fraipont. 1998. Kin recognition in the common lizard. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 42(May):341.

Change one gene, plants get healthier

 Souping up the gene NPR1 may give plants extra resistance against a broad range of disease organisms.

 References:

Cao, H., X. Li, and X. Dong. 1998. Generation of broad-spectrum disease resistance by overexpression of an essential regulatory gene in systemic acquired resistance. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 95(May 26):6531.

 Tests of golden egg bugs show no evidence supporting the idea that females prefer males carrying a lot of eggs.

 References:

Kaitala, A. 1998. Is egg carrying attractive? Mate choice in the golden egg bug (Coreidae, Heteroptera). Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 265(May 7):779.

 Certain strains of bioluminescent bacteria dim in response to toxic pollutants.

References:

Jiang, S. . . .W. Jones. 1998. Development of a luminescent bacterial biosensor for pollution monitoring in the deep-sea environment. Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. May. Atlanta.

 Bacteria that eat phenols may be used to detect pollutants.

 References:

Wise, A., and C. Kuske. 1998. Engineering novel biosensors to detect priority pollutant phenols. Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. May. Atlanta.

 Geology

 Japanese scientists find few surprises in samples of bacteria and fungi from the deepest spot in the ocean.

References:

Takami, Hideto. 1998. Meeting of the American Geophysical Union. May. Boston.

Further Readings:

Takami, H., et al. 1997. Microbial flora in the deepest sea mud of the Mariana Trench. FEMS Microbiology Letters 152:279.

Physicists are developing laboratory models that mimic the production of Earth’s magnetic field.

References:

Bloxham, J. 1998. Taylor states, Ekman states and numerical dynamo models. Meeting of the American Geophysical Union. May. Boston.

Forest, C.B., et al. 1998. The physics basis for the Madison Dynamo Experiment. Meeting of the American Geophysical Union. May. Boston.

 Further Readings:

Monastersky, R. 1996. Core concerns. Science News 150(Oct. 19):250.

Biomedicine

 A specific genetic variation may make some women more susceptible to cervical cancer caused by the human papillomavirus.

 References:

Storey, A. . . .G. Matlashewski, et al. 1998. Role of a p53 polymorphism in the development of human papillomavirus-associated cancer. Nature 393(May 21):229.

 Further Readings:

Dyson, N., et al. 1989. The human papillomavirus E7 oncoprotein able to bind to the retinoblastoma gene product. Science 243(Feb. 17):934.

Vogelstein, R., and Kinzler, K.W. 1992. p53 function and dysfunction. Cell 70:523.

 Women's fashionable shoes may contribute to a potentially disabling knee arthritis.

References:

Kerrigan, D.C., M.K. Todd, and P.O. Riley. 1998. Knee osteoarthritis and high-heeled shoes. Lancet 351(May 9):1399.

Behavior

 A brain structure called the amygdala plays a significant role in learning and remembering fearful images.

References:

Adolphs, R., D. Tranel, and A.R. Damasio. 1998. The human amygdala in social judgment. Nature 393(June 4):470.

Büchel, C. . . .R.J. Dolan, et al. 1998. Brain systems mediating aversive conditioning: An event-related fMRI study. Neuron 20(May):947.

Hyman, S.E. 1998. A new image for fear and emotion. Nature 393(June 4):417.

LaBar, K.S., et al. 1998. Human amygdala activation during conditioned fear acquisition and extinction: A mixed-trial fMRI study. Neuron 20(May):937.

Morris, J.S., A. Öhman, and R.J. Dolan. 1998. Conscious and unconscious emotional learning in the human amygdala. Nature 393(June 4):467.

Further Readings:

Bower, B. 1997. Brain structure sounds off to fear, anger. Science News 151(Jan. 18):38.

Calculating a foamy quantum space-time

Loop quantum gravity provides an intriguing theoretical picture of the microstructure of physical space.

References: 

Ashtekar, A., and K. Krasnov. Preprint. Quantum geometry and black holes. (Available at http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/gr-qc/9804039.)

Rovelli, C. 1998. Loop quantum gravity. Bulletin of the American Physical Society 43(April):1064. (Also available at http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/gr-qc/9710008.)

______. Preprint. Strings, loops and others: A critical survey of the present approaches to quantum gravity. (Available at http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/gr-qc/9803024.)

Smolin, L. 1997. The Life of the Cosmos. New York: Oxford University Press.

Further Readings: 

Peterson, I. 1995. Quantum gravity predicts piecemeal space. Science News 147(May 20):311.

______. 1993. Strings and mirrors. Science News 143(Feb. 27):136.

John Baez's regular commentaries on recent developments in quantum gravity and other aspects of mathematical physics can be found at http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/this.week.html.

Matters of Gravity, the newsletter of the American Physical Society's gravitation topical group, is available at http://vishnu.nirvana.phys.psu.edu/mog/mog11/mog11.html.

Researchers spur the immune system to rout malignancies

 References:

Lotze, Michael T. 1998. Eighty-ninth annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. March. New Orleans.

Nestle, F.O. . . .D. Schadendorf. 1998. Vaccination of melanoma patients with peptide- or tumor lysate-pulsed dendritic cells. Nature Medicine 4(March):328.

Further Readings:

Information about prostate cancer research can be found at http://www.prostatecancer.org.