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Cousin of El Niño Haunts Indian
Ocean
Scientists have identified the climatic kin of El Niño in the Indian
Ocean, where a water temperature shift caused widespread weather problems
in 1997.
By a nose, worms reveal new Prozac
targets
Identifying genes that allow a worm’s nose to respond to Prozac may help
explain how the drug alleviates depression in people.
Chinese dig sound from ancient flute
A 9,000-year-old village in China yielded six bone flutes, including a
playable one that scientists have acoustically analyzed.
Smart robot orbs to aid space crews
Robotics specialists are developing softball-sized, floating orbs to
patrol for leaks and other problems inside the International Space Station
and to provide astronauts with services such as teleconferencing.
Car-emission standards improve rural air
The concentration of carbon monoxide is dropping in rural regions of the
eastern United States, in keeping with trends observed at urban monitoring
stations.
Massive black holes let there be
light
The darkest objects in the universe—supermassive black holes—may
produce a substantial fraction of the radiation in the cosmos.
U.S. biosurvey reveals worrisome trends
The U.S. Geological Survey’s first comprehensive report on the status
and trends of the nation’s biological resources discusses major forces
affecting U.S. flora and fauna and highlights a variety of regional
concerns.
High blood pressure is linked to bone loss
A study of elderly women finds that those with high blood pressure suffer
greater bone loss.
Grappling with Galaxy Formation
Connecting the dots between galaxies near and far
New studies of distant galaxies using infrared detectors as well as
sharper images in visible light may help researchers determine how
galaxies assemble and whether the universe will end in a Big Crunch or
expand forever.
Slumber’s Unexplored Landscape
People in traditional societies sleep in eye-opening ways
Sleep practices vary widely outside modern Western societies, raising
critical issues for sleep research.
Biomedicine
Trachoma stopped by mass antibiotics
Mass dosing of village populations in three African countries shows that
antibiotics can greatly reduce the incidence of trachoma, a blinding eye
disease.
Ear-infection surgery has limited gain
Removing a child’s tonsils and adenoids as a treatment for recurrent ear
infections has limited value beyond that imparted by normal antibiotics.
Computers
Managing sweet sounds
A computer-based network of electronic lecterns allows musicians and
conductors to perform, annotate, and store updated orchestral music
scores.
Clicking onto the Web’s patterns
The World Wide Web has a remarkably predictable structure, despite its
apparently haphazard, unregulated growth.
Environment
Plastic mulch’s dirty secrets
Soil erosion and pesticide runoff are dramatically higher in fields
covered with sheets of plastic than in fields covered with a mulch of
plant stubble.
Lousy news: Pesticide resistance
Popular delousing shampoos that contain permethrin appear to be losing
their efficacy in the United States as lice become resistant to the
pesticide.
