April 1st, 2006

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In This Issue

You Are Who You Are by Default: It may be off when you’re on, but the brain network behind daydreams and a sense of self is no slacker
The Star That Ate a Mars: Astronomers study white dwarf pollution for clues to extrasolar planet ingredients
Bad Breath: Studies are homing in on which particles polluting the air are most sickening — and why
This week's table of contents

April 1st, 2006

Smarty Brains: High-IQ kids navigate notable neural shifts

Children with extremely high IQ scores display a distinctive pattern of brain development, characterized by dramatic thickening and then by marked thinning of brain tissue. (p. 195)
XXL from Too Few Zs? Skimping on sleep might cause obesity, diabetes

Widespread sleep deprivation could partly explain the current epidemics of both obesity and diabetes. (p. 195)
Pigging Out Healthfully: Engineered pork has more omega-3s

Scientists have created pigs that sport much higher concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids in their tissues than normal pigs do. (p. 196)
Cool Wire: Nanostructure boosts superconductor

The extraordinary performance of a prototype superconductive wire is encouraging superconductivity specialists, even though the prototype is unlikely to be mass-produced. (p. 196)
Awake and Learning: Memory storage begins before bedtime

Although a good night's sleep aids memory storage, learning isn't a task that just happens overnight. (p. 197)
Coral Clues: Rise and fall of reefs record quakes' effects

Shallow coral reefs around islands west of Sumatra chronicled the uplift and subsidence that resulted from the massive quakes that struck that region in 2004 and 2005. (p. 197)
Propelling Evidence: Cassini finds clues to source of Saturn's rings

Four propeller-shaped gaps in one of Saturn's main rings are the latest evidence that a shattered moon produced the planet's dazzling hoops. (p. 198)
Thugs and Bugs

With some laboratory detective work, scientists are discovering how various pathogens interact with their targets. (p. 200)
Uncharted Territory

Ultraslow-spreading undersea ridges are giving oceanographers fresh insights into how Earth's crust forms. (p. 202)
Hairy crab lounges deep in the Pacific

A newly discovered deep-sea creature has the body of a crab, but with long, fluffy, blonde hair covering its legs. (p. 205)
On a dare, teen advances medical science

A 16-year-old daredevil inadvertently demonstrated the incubation period of a common roundworm after she swallowed an earthworm that harbored larvae of the parasite. (p. 205)
Device rids homes of sounds of rap

Woodpeckers cause millions of dollars of damage to homes and buildings each year, but a battery-operated, sound-activated, spider-shaped device installed beneath a home's eaves can help prevent this avian scourge. (p. 205)
Wary male spiders woo lifelessly

When trying to court a cannibalistic female spider, males of a certain species play dead. (p. 205)
Shafts of snow sculpted by sun

Physicists have created miniature, laboratory versions of towering snow spikes found high in the Andes Mountains. (p. 206)
Tiny wires trigger electric reversal

Ultrathin zinc nanowires exhibit a puzzling conductivity reversal that flies in the face of known wire behavior. (p. 206)
Corralling Brownian motion

A new microscope system uses electrically controlled fluid motions to counteract Brownian motion, preventing those random jitters from driving proteins, viruses, and other tiny objects out of the field of view. (p. 206)
Letters from the April 1, 2006, issue of Science News

(p. 207)