Largely ignored so far, dietary boron may play important roles in preventing diseases such as arthritis and prostate cancer. (p. 228)

Scientists have for the first time linked high levels of retroviral activity in the central nervous system to some cases of schizophrenia, a severe mental disorder. (p. 228)

Analysis of the excavation in Herculaneum of the victims of the A.D. 79 eruption of Italy's Mount Vesuvius indicates that when the initial ash flow swept through the city, it arrived so quickly that some residents didn't even have time to flinch. (p. 229)

Infections from human papillomavirus (HPV) may increase the risk of certain cancers of the head and neck, especially of the tonsils. (p. 229)

Researchers have coaxed finicky liver cells to grow on porous silicon chips, a feat that could lead to new medical treatments. (p. 230)

The first study of home life for Madagascar's poison frogs in the wild finds a striking resemblance to a group that's not closely related, the poison-dart frogs in the Americas. (p. 230)

President Bush's first budget request would boost funding for biomedical and military research but trim federal outlays for other areas of science and technology. (p. 231)

Large-scale changes in climate and habitats may have sparked the evolution of many new animal species in Africa beginning 7 million to 5 million years ago, including a string of new species in the human evolutionary family. (p. 232)

The skeletal diversity that many scientists use to divide up fossil species in our evolutionary past masks a genetic unity that actually encompassed relatively few species, contend researchers in an opposing camp. (p. 232)

Two spacecraft jointly eyeing Jupiter's moon Io, the most volcanically active body in the solar system, have spotted a towering new plume. (p. 232)

A recent Department of Defense analysis of images of the Red Planet may have located a lost spacecraft on Mars, but NASA says the images could just be electronic noise. (p. 232)

The world's first commercial wave-power plant began pumping current into a Scottish island's electric grid last winter, just ahead of a host of competing schemes for converting ocean-wave motion into electricity. (p. 234)

A dentist has found three compounds in saliva that could be used to gauge bone loss. (p. 237)

Scientists are making progress toward inserting genes to cure impotence temporarily. (p. 237)

Researchers have used wheat to make a biodegradable hamburger carton. (p. 237)

Researchers have identified more than 400 urban sites that may be highly contaminated with lead but had remained unknown to authorities for decades. (p. 237)

A recently discovered protein may explain at least part of the molecular mechanisms behind links among obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and even some cancers. (p. 238)