More Stories from the April 14, 2007 issue
- Planetary Science
Cavernous findings from Mars
Images taken by a Mars-orbiting spacecraft show what appear to be caves on the Red Planet.
- Health & Medicine
Augmenting the good cholesterol
A reconstituted version of good cholesterol may lessen the amount of plaque that accumulates in arteries and render existing plaque less dangerous.
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Rats take fast route to remembering
Rats use background knowledge about what they have already learned to remember relevant new material surprisingly quickly.
- Health & Medicine
Even outdoors, generators pose risks
Portable electricity generators are frequently the culprit in domestic carbon monoxide poisonings—even when the devices sit outside the home.
- Chemistry
Enzymes release caged chemicals
A new controlled-release technology relies on enzymes to unshackle a chemical only when and where it's needed.
- Health & Medicine
New agent to spy clogged arteries
To improve the detection of harmful arterial plaques, researchers have modeled a nanoparticle on a natural material: good cholesterol.
- Materials Science
Color-tunable sunglasses
Engineers have developed sunglasses that can change from dark, filtering hues to clear—and back—at the flip of a switch.
- Chemistry
Gene dispensers
A new gene therapy technique releases genetic material from successive nanoscale layers of DNA as sheets of polyester that hold them in place slowly degrade.
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Primate’s Progress: Macaque genome is usefully different
A group of 35 labs has unveiled a draft of the genome of the rhesus macaque, the most widely used laboratory primate and a cousin to people.
- Health & Medicine
Bug versus Bug: Insect virus makes a viable flu vaccine
A new influenza vaccine churned out by caterpillar cells infected with a genetically engineered virus effectively prevents the flu.
- Paleontology
Ancient Extract: T. rex fossil yields recognizable protein
New analyses of a Tyrannosaurus rex leg bone reveal substantial remnants of proteins that strengthen the link between modern birds and dinosaurs.
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Female Stem Cells Flourish: Sex difference could affect therapies
Certain adult stem cells from female mice regenerate better than those from males, indicating that not all stem cells are created equal.
- Physics
Quantum Capture: Photosynthesis tries many paths at once
The wavelike behavior of energy in chlorophyll might explain how plants are so efficient at using solar energy.
- Health & Medicine
Agents of Metastasis: Four proteins conspire in breast cancer spread
Four proteins work together to assist cancer growth and metastasis, and drugs against them inhibit both processes, tests in mice suggest.
- Anthropology
Disinherited Ancestor: Lucy’s kind may occupy evolutionary side branch
A controversial analysis of a recently discovered jaw from a 3-million-year-old Australopithecus afarensis puts Lucy's species on an evolutionary side branch that eventually died out.
- Materials Science
Taken for a Spin
Considering silk from the spider's perspective may offer the best chance of replicating these creatures' tough threads.
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Faster, Cheaper, Better
Methods now under development could make DNA sequencing quicker and less expensive, paving the way for the day when treatments can be tailored to each person's genetic profile.
- Humans
Letters from the April 14, 2007, issue of Science News
Heated comments I am disappointed in your article on the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) summary (“From Bad to Worse: Earth’s warming to accelerate,” SN: 2/10/07, p. 83). It was a political summary, not the 1,500 page report that’s due in May 2007. How often have you seen a scientific summary published 3 […]
