Science News / August 5th, 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

August 5th, 2006

Titan's Lakes: Evidence of liquid on Saturn's largest moon

New radar images strongly suggest that Saturn's giant moon Titan contains lakes of liquid hydrocarbons, marking the first time that researchers have found compelling evidence for bodies of liquid on the surface of any object beyond Earth. (p. 83)
What's New in the Water? Survey tallies emerging disinfection by-products

By analyzing drinking-water samples from U.S. treatment plants, a multi-institute research team has identified some unexpected by-products of disinfection processes. (p. 83)
Northern Refuge: White spruce survived last ice age in Alaska

Genetic analyses of white spruce trees at sites across North America suggest that some stands of that species endured the harsh climate of Alaska throughout the last ice age. (p. 84)
Microbial Mug Shots: Telltale patterns finger bad bacteria

A sophisticated pattern-recognition technique that borrows from automated face recognition may permit identification of harmful bacteria faster and more cheaply than conventional methods do. (p. 84)
Stung Lung: Volatile chemical may cut respiratory capacity

Para-dichlorobenzene, a chemical in some air fresheners and pest-control products, may slightly impair lung function in millions of people. (p. 85)
Racial IQ Gap Narrows: Blacks gain 4 to 7 points on whites

African Americans reduced the racial gap on IQ-test scores by about one-third between 1972 and 2002. (p. 85)
Autism's Cell Off: Neural losses appear in boys, men with disorder

The brains of boys and men with autism, a developmental disorder that impairs communication and social interaction, contain low numbers of neurons in a structure involved in emotion and memory. (p. 86)
Hot and hungry bees hit hot spots

New lab experiments suggest that bumblebees like warm flowers and can learn color cues to pick them out. (p. 86)
Books for Late Summer

The writers of Science News present wide-ranging recommendations of books for readers to pack for their late-summer vacations. (p. 88)
Preserving Paradise

President Bush has created the world's largest marine reserve, a no-fishing, no-disturbance zone, surrounding the northwestern Hawaiian Islands. (p. 92)
Ancient rains made Sahara livable

New evidence indicates that seasonal rainfall more than 7,000 years ago turned Africa's eastern Sahara desert into a savannalike area that attracted an influx of foraging groups. (p. 93)
Follow the lead

A new water-soluble, lead-sensing chemical is the first to detect the toxic metal in live cells. (p. 93)
Named medical trials garner extra attention

Naming a medical trial with an acronym increases the frequency with which other researchers subsequently cite the study. (p. 93)
Close look confirms two eyes on Venus

A spacecraft that recently arrived at Venus has confirmed that the atmosphere above the planet's south pole harbors an unusual storm feature; a giant, double vortex. (p. 93)
Drug rescues cells that age too fast

A new drug shows promise toward correcting the accelerated cellular aging typical of Werner syndrome. (p. 94)
Social jet lag: Need a smoke?

People who persistently fight their biological clocks by rising early or going to bed late are more likely to become smokers. (p. 94)
Tapping out a TAI-CHI tune

A new system permits people to make a keyboard and more out of a tabletop or any other hard surface. (p. 94)
Virtual reality for earthquake fears

Using virtual reality technology to train children on how to cope with an earthquake helped reduce panic and evacuation performance during a later, real quake. (p. 94)
Letters from the August 5, 2006, 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: