By fusing an embryonic stem cell with an adult skin cell, researchers have created cells that retain valuable embryonic characteristics but carry the adult cell's genes. (p. 131)

Ultrathin films of ice observed at room temperature and ordinary atmospheric pressure should be more widespread than previously thought, according to new experiments indicating that weaker-than-expected electric fields induce such freezing. (p. 131)

Astronomers have evidence that just minutes after their tumultuous birth, baby black holes emit powerful burps of X rays that may be fueled by material left over from their first meal. (p. 132)

Analyses of remains from an ancient Chinese site situated along a river indicate that salt making occurred there as long as 4,000 years ago. (p. 132)

Erythropoietin, a hormone that orchestrates growth processes, may contribute to eye damage in people with diabetic retinopathy. (p. 133)

Tsunamis circled the globe after a magnitude 9.3 earthquake struck the Indian Ocean last Dec. 26, but the waves didn't spread evenly. (p. 133)

Scientists have developed a simple technique to switch an oil-like solvent into a waterlike one. (p. 133)

Cornell's Laboratory of Ornithology has released recordings from the woods of eastern Arkansas that researchers say could be the distinctive drumming and calls of the ivory-billed woodpecker. (p. 134)

Seismic instruments have provided a wealth of information about the earthquake that rocked Sumatra on Dec. 26, 2004. (p. 136)

Scientists are piecing together the details of how mutations in a protein called EGFR can lead to cancer, and they are designing a new class of drugs to stop the protein's destructive behavior. (p. 139)

Thousands of strokes in the right half of the brain may go unrecognized because their symptoms are less distinctive than those of left-side strokes. (p. 141)

Close-up observations of Saturn's tiny moon Enceladus reveal that its south pole is hotter than its equator and that the icy satellite continues to undergo eruptions. (p. 141)

Decreasing concentrations of atmospheric ozone over Antarctica have triggered changes in the spores of a plant that grows in the region, a trend that could give scientists insight into ancient extinctions. (p. 141)

Scientists are developing ground-penetrating radar equipment that could serve as geologists' helpers on future Mars-roving vehicles. (p. 141)

A biologist reports that ring-tailed coatis in Argentina have a kind of dominance structure never before documented in animals, with adolescents as a group outranking their moms and older half-sibs. (p. 142)

Prairie voles, used for studying the biological basis of monogamy, do form social bonds but they also have more out-of-pair sexual encounters than most biologists had expected. (p. 142)

Several of the Northeast's least ferocious forest creatures taunt rattlesnakes. (p. 142)

A researcher has for the first time decoded a vibrational signal used by paper wasps. (p. 142)

(p. 143)