Science News / December 11th, 2004

• Subscribe •

In This Issue

Sequencing the dead to save the living: Reviving ancient genomes of long-extinct creatures offers a window into past extinctions—and may help prevent future die outs
No gene is an island: Even as biologists catalog the discrete parts of life forms, an emerging picture reveals that life’s functions arise from interconnectedness
The decider: Informing the debate over the reality of ‘free will’ requires learning something about the lateral habenula
This week's table of contents

December 11th, 2004

China's Fermented Past: Pottery yields signs of oldest known wine

Analyses of ancient pottery have yielded evidence the people living in northern China 9,000 years ago concocted a fermented, winelike drink from rice, honey, and fruit. (p. 371)
Cloning Milestone: Monkey embryos urged to stem cell stage

Researchers have coaxed cloned rhesus macaque embryos to grow to the blastocyst stage, the furthest point yet reached in cloning a nonhuman primate. (p. 371)
Disks of Dust: Planet-stuff surrounds other sunlike stars

Two orbiting observatories for the first time are homing in on planetary debris circling sunlike stars. (p. 372)
Smog Clogs Arteries: Pollution does lasting harm to blood vessels

Air pollution does long-term damage to people's arteries, leading to increased risk of heart attack and stroke, a Los Angeles study confirms. (p. 372)
Swift Lift: Birds may get a rise out of swirling air

The wings of airborne birds may generate whirlpools of air to produce lift for flying, just as insects do. (p. 373)
Color Collective: Polymer self-assembles into light-emitting film

Stacks of sheets of light-emitting organic molecules that assemble into nanoscale structures could be more efficient and luminescent than existing display materials based on organic substances. (p. 373)
Stemming Incontinence: Injected muscle cells restore urinary control

Stem cells removed from healthy muscle, grown in a lab, and inserted back into women with urinary incontinence can rebuild a muscle needed to control urine flow. (p. 374)
Remnants of the Past

Sophisticated analyses suggest that some prehistoric peoples were highly skilled weavers. (p. 376)
Explosive Tales

Four hundred years after the explosion of the Kepler supernova, the last such stellar eruption in our galaxy, astronomers have examined the supernova's remnant with state-of-the-art telescopes that view it in infrared, optical, and X-ray light. (p. 378)
Up and down make different workouts

An unusual study conducted on an Alpine mountainside suggests that climbing a steep slope improves the body's ability to process certain fats, while descending such a slope enhances metabolism of a key sugar. (p. 380)
Sleeve worn on heart fights failure

A new mesh wrap can be placed around an expanded and weakened heart to restore the organ to an efficient, elliptical form. (p. 380)
Gamma view of a big blast

Astronomers have for the first time used extremely high-energy gamma rays to image a celestial body. (p. 382)
TB vaccine gets a needed boost

An experimental vaccine against tuberculosis imparts significant immunity, but only in people who have previously received the existing bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccine for TB. (p. 382)
Recipe for Roman cosmetic revealed

British chemists have found that a white material inside a small tin canister excavated from a 2000-year-old Roman temple is an ancient cosmetic face cream. (p. 382)
Mice smell a mate's immune system

By sniffing molecules present in urine, mice gain insight into each other's immune systems. (p. 382)
Letters from the December 11, 2004, issue of Science News

(p. 383)

Blogs:

Science & the Public Is Your Fish Oil Polluted?
By Janet Raloff Nov 20th 2008

Columns:

Comment Debates over definition of planet continue and inspire
By Alan Stern Nov 21st 2008

Math Trek How to (really) trust a mathematical proof
By Julie Rehmeyer
Mathematicians develop computer proof-checking systems in order to realize century-old dreams of fully precise, accurate mathematics. Nov 14th 2008

Bulletin Board: