Science News / April 8th, 2006

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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

April 8th, 2006

See Blind Mice: Algae gene makes sightless eyes sense light

Scientists have prompted mouse-eye cells that aren't normally light sensitive to respond to light. (p. 211)
Ring around the Pulsar: Planets may form in a harsh environment

Astronomers have found a disk that has the potential to make planets in the harsh environment surrounding the ultradense remains of an exploded star. (p. 211)
Wired Viruses: New electrodes could make better batteries

With the aid of a bacteria-infecting virus, researchers have engineered cobalt oxide-and-gold nanowires that can be used as electrodes for lithium-ion batteries. (p. 212)
Polyp Stopper: Controversial drug may prevent colon growths

An anti-inflammatory drug currently prescribed for arthritis and pain can prevent formation of precancerous growths in the colon and rectum. (p. 213)
Mystery Drilling: Ancient teeth endured dental procedures

Researchers have discovered the oldest known examples of dental work, 11 teeth with drilled holes dating to between 9,000 and 7,500 years ago. (p. 213)
A Shot against Pandemic Flu: Vaccines would play pivotal role in response

Mass vaccination should be the linchpin of the U.S. response to an influenza pandemic, according to new computer simulations. (p. 213)
Building a Bladder: Patients for the first time benefit from lab-grown organs

The humble bladder is now the world's first bioengineered internal organ to work in people. (p. 214)
Spin City

Researchers are using a technique called electrospinning to create fibrous mats that have potential applications in drug delivery, wound care, and tissue engineering. (p. 216)
Revealing Covert Actions

The recent merger of high-speed video technology and centuries-old techniques for seeing ordinarily invisible fluctuations of the air is enabling engineers to visualize and study the previously unseen, large-scale behavior of shock waves in explosions and aerodynamics research. (p. 218)
Parasite can't survive without its tail

The protozoan that causes African sleeping sickness can't survive in the mammalian bloodstream without its long, whiplike tail. (p. 221)
Sharpshooter threatens Tahiti by inedibility

A North American insect is menacing Tahitian ecosystems by getting itself killed and proving surprisingly toxic to its predators. (p. 221)
Chimps scratch out grooming requests

Pairs of adult males in a community of wild African chimps often communicate with gestures. (p. 221)
Two-fifths of Amazonian forest is at risk

The Amazon basin's forest may lose 2.1 million square kilometers by 2050 if current development trends go unabated. (p. 221)
Experimental drug targets Alzheimer's

A novel drug reverses some Alzheimer's-type symptoms in mice. (p. 222)
Twin history

The Milky Way and its nearest large galactic neighbor, Andromeda, are more alike than earlier evidence had indicated. (p. 222)
Another red spot, by Jove

Jupiter has developed a second red spot, which is now visible in the predawn sky with a telescope 10 inches or larger. (p. 222)
Volcanic mineral caused rare cancer in Turkey

In two Turkish villages, nearly half of all deaths since 1980 have resulted from a form of cancer caused by inhaling erionite, a brittle and fibrous volcanic mineral that looks similar to wool. (p. 222)
Letters from the April 8, 2006, issue of Science News

(p. 223)

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: