Little Labs August 15, 1998 | Volume 154 | Number 7 Cover: The rooms and corridors of this laboratory could fit in the palm of your hand.   Scientists designed the glass microchip -- shown in this computer-generated image -- to do chemistry.  It uses electrodes to direct fluid (red arrow) through its channels and reaction chambers.  Such microchips could speed diagnostic tests and drug development. (Orchid Biocomputer)

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News of the Week:

A correction to satellite temperature measurements shows that Earth’s atmosphere has not been cooling in recent decades; the revision reduces the discrepancy between atmospheric readings and increasing ground temperatures.

 

Paper wasps that take over other females' nests may be playing out a novel sit-and-wait reproductive strategy instead of building or tending their own nests.

 

 

A 14-country study by the World Health Organization indicates that a pill without estrogen but with a larger dose of progestin prevents conception better than a combined estrogen-progestin pill and causes fewer side effects.

 

The most potent cosmic rays hit the Earth with so much energy that it is unlikely they have come from far away in the universe.

 

Researchers boosted pumping efficiency in damaged rabbit hearts by introducing leg muscle cells.

 

The drug bupropion, which enhances the activity of the chemical messenger dopamine, shows promise in aiding cigarette smokers to give up their habit.

 

Mathematicians have proved Kepler's assertion that the pattern of neatly stacked oranges in a grocery — face-centered cubic packing of identical spheres — fills space more efficiently than any other arrangement.

 

A new laser tool allows researchers to rapidly isolate and lift away individual cells for analysis.

Sense organs on its bill that monitor water movement help a type of sandpiper called a red knot find mollusks hidden deep in the sand.

 

Nesting terns appear to be disturbed more by personal watercraft than by motorboats.

 

Aspirin shuts down a plant's response to injury by the same chemical reaction, but blocking a different enzyme, as in its action in animals.

Biomedicine

Protein limits bladder cancer spread

The natural protein called p21 plays a key role in limiting the recurrence of tumors in bladder cancer patients.

 

FDA clears thalidomide for leprosy use

Putting the squeeze in superconductors

A superconductor known as 214 undergoes a remarkable leap in maximum superconducting temperature when grown as a strained crystal.

 

Uncontainable boron floats into view

The Incredible Shrinking Laboratory

Microchips may revolutionize chemistry as they did computers

Chemistry labs etched on silicon, glass, and plastic surfaces promise to speed chemical synthesis, diagnostic tests, and gene sequencing.

Are olfactory receptors digits in a developmental code?

The molecules that detect odors may also guide embryonic development.

 

Another Face of Entropy

Particles self-organize to make room for randomness

Scientists find entropy to be a powerful agent and possibly a practical tool for creating order in microscopic suspensions and biological cells.