Science News / February 5th, 2005

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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

February 5th, 2005

Disease Detector: Chemical test may spot Alzheimer's

A new test that detects very low levels of protein clumps associated with Alzheimer's may provide an early warning for the disease. (p. 83)
Puny Parent? Planets may form around tiny orbs

Barely more massive than a planet itself, a tiny failed star 500 light-years from Earth is nonetheless cloaked in a disk of gas and dust from which planets may coalesce. (p. 83)
When Ebola Looms: Human outbreaks follow animal infections

A network of organizations in an African region prone to Ebola epidemics has identified the virus in wild-animal remains prior to two recent human outbreaks, suggesting that animal carcasses may provide timely clues that could prevent the disease from spreading to people. (p. 84)
A Bug's Life: E. coli can't escape old age

Bacteria that divide symmetrically, once thought to be functionally immortal, may age and die just like other organisms do. (p. 84)
There's the Rub: Football abrasions can lead to nasty infections

U.S. football players who get scrapes and cuts from playing on artificial turf sometimes develop bacterial infections that are resistant to some antibiotics. (p. 85)
Petrified wood: Quick and easy

Materials scientists have turned wood into stone in a matter of days, mimicking a natural process that takes millions of years. (p. 85)
Bad Breath: Insects zip air holes to cut oxygen risks

The need to avoid overdosing on oxygen may drive certain insects to shut down their breathing holes periodically. (p. 86)
Outsmarting the Electronic Gatekeeper: Code breakers beat security scheme of car locks, gas pumps

Because designers flouted a well-known rule for making cryptographic systems impenetrable, automakers and other businesses have embraced a wireless security technology that's vulnerable to attack. (p. 86)
Cultivating Revolutions

New studies suggest that farmers spread from the Middle East throughout Europe beginning around 10,000 years ago in a multitude of small migrations that rapidly changed the continent's social and cultural landscape. (p. 88)
Dangerous Practices

Pharmaceutical companies' overaggressive marketing of risky drugs, compounded by conflicts of interest among physicians and government agencies, is hurting public safety, some researchers assert. (p. 90)
A drink a day might keep fuzzy thinking away

One alcoholic drink per day can stave off mental decline in elderly women. (p. 93)
Hubble views bar in galaxy

The Hubble Space Telescope has captured a strikingly detailed image of the starlit arms, glowing gas, and dark dust clouds of a barred spiral galaxy called NGC 1300, which lies 69 million light-years from Earth. (p. 93)
A new test for Alzheimer's risk?

Failure in visual short-term memory of objects, called iconic memory, could be a warning sign of Alzheimer's disease. (p. 93)
Hospitals motivated to skimp on infection control

A new mathematical model suggests that the presence of nearby hospitals may give a hospital an economic incentive to relax its infection-control efforts. (p. 93)
Ozone saps toads' immune systems

In amphibians, ozone damages immune function in the lungs, suggesting a possible new contributor to worldwide amphibian declines. (p. 94)
Ice age hit Missouri 2.4 million years ago

Analyses of a soil sample from central Missouri suggest the date of onset of North America's most recent spate of ice ages. (p. 94)
Detecting life on Mars

A new device could look for life on Mars by analyzing the geometric traits of amino acids in soil. (p. 94)
Drugs lengthen worm's life span

A class of antiseizure drugs significantly extends the life span of roundworms, a finding that could lead to better understanding of factors that influence aging in people. (p. 94)
Letters from the February 5, 2005, issue of Science News

(p. 95)

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: