Genetic markers on three proteins suggest a common African ancestor for elephants, aardvarks, elephant shrews, golden moles, and other animals. (p. 4)

Excess weight or height can have a blinding impact, fostering the development of cataracts. (p. 4)

A newly discovered Megalomyrmex ant specializes in raiding the nest gardens of fungus-cultivating ant species. (p. 5)

New, fruit- and vegetable-based edible packaging could reduce the amount of synthetic wrapping needed to protect food. (p. 5)

New studies challenge the notion that supermassive black holes finished growing soon after their host galaxies formed and suggest new ways to find these black holes and measure their mass. (p. 6)

Air can buoy a layer of oil and, perhaps, even water leaking through a ceiling, if the air is relatively warm compared with the liquid. (p. 7)

Some river pollution spawns body-altering steroids. (p. 8)

No longer just a diagnostic tool, ultrasound tackles surgery. (p. 12)

A research review concludes that the suicide rate among people diagnosed with depression has been overstated. (p. 14)

A brain area that controls eye movements may also participate in a broader neural system of self-regulation. (p. 14)

The achievement of light amplification in a layer of tiny nuggets of silicon called quantum dots raises the possibility that long-desired silicon lasers are on the way. (p. 14)

Wires that carry electricity without resistance at relatively high temperatures--and are inexpensive--moved a large step closer to reality as a 100-fold speed-up in depositing a key material wiped out a major obstacle to making those wires. (p. 14)

Preliminary data from the National Climatic Data Center indicate the year 2000 will be one of the six hottest and one of the ten wettest years on record. (p. 15)

Computer models show that air pollution over India could be preventing up to 15 percent of the sunlight from reaching the ground in the springtime, possibly causing temperature drops of up to 2 degrees Celsius. (p. 15)

Pollutants trapped in Arctic snow can be reactivated by sunlight when the sun returns to high latitudes in the spring, leading to ozone depletion in the snowpack and at low altitudes. (p. 15)

Both the North and South Poles have experienced regular and simultaneous periods of significant melting during the past 3 million years, according to sediments from the ocean floor at high latitudes. (p. 15)

Sediment cores taken last year from the bottom of a lake on Mexico's Yucatán peninsula indicate that a series of extended droughts coincided with major cultural upheavals among the Mayan inhabitants of the area. (p. 15)