Inserting a person's own bone marrow stem cells into an ailing heart via a catheter can improve heart and lung function in such patients. (p. 323)

Scientists sifting sediments laid down just after Earth's most devastating mass extinction 250 million years ago may have found minuscule fragments of the extraterrestrial object that caused the catastrophe. (p. 323)

Using DNA as a scaffold, researchers have devised a simple way of creating carbon nanotube transistors—a feat that paves the way for more complex circuits made from these nanomaterials. (p. 324)

Scientists have for the first time transformed molecules into an exotic state of matter called a Bose-Einstein condensate. (p. 324)

White people who hold biased attitudes toward blacks experience a decline in the ability to monitor and control information after brief interracial encounters, a new study suggests. (p. 325)

The Saturn-bound Cassini spacecraft has taken the sharpest global portrait of Jupiter ever obtained, showing the planet's turbulent atmosphere in true color. (p. 325)

Japanese researchers have named a new category of living baleen whales to explain puzzling specimens dating back to the 1970s. (p. 326)

Recently discovered tiny satellites, all orbiting the outer planets in strange paths, may shed new light on a critical last phase in the formation of the planets. (p. 328)

An investigation of school-age children who received cataract surgery after being blind from birth examines the extent to which these kids are able to perceive the visual world and the ways in which their brains respond to newfound sight. (p. 331)

Researchers have developed and field-tested a new technique that identifies specific soil microbes that can break down environmental pollutants. (p. 333)

People who get ulcers from frequent use of anti-inflammatory painkillers can lessen their risk by simultaneously taking acid-blocking drugs. (p. 333)

The discoverers of a roughly 40-million-year-old anklebone in Myanmar say that it supports the controversial theory that anthropoids, a primate group that includes monkeys, apes, and humans, originated in Asia. (p. 333)

At least two types of mammals can acquire and transmit the virus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and Chinese animal traders have high rates of past exposure to the virus. (p. 333)

People on a Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil and fresh fruits have lower blood concentrations of several inflammatory proteins linked to atherosclerosis. (p. 334)

The weight-loss supplement Metabolife 356 causes subtle changes in heartbeat in test subjects. (p. 334)

Low blood concentrations of a protein called adiponectin may signal risk of heart disease. (p. 334)

Ready access to a heart defibrillator can boost the survival chances of someone who suffers a cardiac arrest. (p. 334)

Letters from the Nov. 22, 2003, issue of Science News. (p. 335)