More Stories from the December 10, 2005 issue
- Earth
Elevated pesticide threatens amphibians
The survival of certain mountain-dwelling amphibians may be threatened by toxic pesticides that are blown uphill from distant agricultural lands in California's Central Valley.
- Ecosystems
Feminized cod on the high seas
Male cod in the open ocean are producing an egg-yolk protein ordinarily made only by females, signaling their potential exposure to estrogen-mimicking pollutants.
- Earth
Is Teddy a pollution magnet?
Stuffed toys can accumulate high concentrations of potentially toxic air pollutants.
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Urban fish show perturbed spawning cycle
Sediment-dwelling fish off Seattle's waterfront exhibit spawning abnormalities that may compromise their ability to reproduce successfully.
- Tech
Sweets spur biodiesel reaction
A Japanese research team has made an environmentally friendly biodiesel catalyst from charred sugars.
- Health & Medicine
New malaria vaccine is off to promising start
An experimental malaria vaccine has been shown to induce a strong immune response in people.
- Planetary Science
Martian dust storm
In late October, a day after Mars and Earth were at their closest approach until 2018, the Hubble Space Telescope captured an image of a large dust storm on the Red Planet.
- Health & Medicine
3-D Vision: New technique could improve breast cancer screening, diagnosis
An experimental alternative to standard mammography could, by the end of this decade, become an essential tool for spotting breast cancer.
- Health & Medicine
Beyond Hearing: Cochlear implants work best when given early
Children born deaf who receive cochlear implants as toddlers show brain activity that's more normal than that of children getting the implants later in childhood.
- Physics
Instant Nano Blocks: One-step process makes trillions of DNA pyramids
Researchers have unveiled a three-dimensional building component that can be created from DNA in a simple procedure.
- Planetary Science
Red Planet Express: Mars spacecraft traces a watery tale
A Mars-orbiting spacecraft has provided new details about when and where liquid water existed on the planet.
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Mirror Cells’ Fading Spark: Empathy-related neurons may turn off in autism
Brain cells implicated in the ability to imitate and empathize with others largely fail to function in children with autism, a new brain-imaging investigation suggests.
- Ecosystems
When Worms Fly: Insect larvae can survive bird guts
Insects can travel as larval stowaways in the guts of migrating birds.
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Best Friend’s Genome: Dog’s DNA sheds light on human genetics, too
Scientists have published the genome of a boxer, a detailed comparison of the dog's genome with the genomes of mice and people, and a study of genetic variation among dog breeds.
- Humans
Gerald F. Tape (1915–2005)
Gerald Tape, who served on the Science Service Board of Trustees for more than 30 years, died Nov. 20.
- Anthropology
The Pirahã Challenge
A linguist has sparked controversy with his proposal that a tribe of about 200 people living in Brazil's Amazon rain forest speaks a language devoid of counting and color terms, clauses, and other elements of grammar often considered to be universal.
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The Sum of the Parts
Some researchers are breaking genomes into a collection of parts and precisely reassembling them to do a scientist's bidding.
- Humans
Letters from the December 10, 2005, issue of Science News
Big Bang bashing The recent discovery of “mature” galaxies at distances corresponding to the remote cosmic past (“Crisis in the Cosmos? Galaxy formation theory is in peril,” SN: 10/8/05, p. 235) threatens more than galaxy-formation theory. It threatens to shatter the increasingly fragile Big Bang paradigm by showing that the composition of the cosmos is […]
