More Stories from the April 20, 2002 issue
- Earth
Motion of ice across Lake Vostok revealed
New measurements of the movement of the Antarctic ice sheet across a lake that harbors microbial life beneath 4 kilometers of ice could help scientists determine where to drill to get the freshest samples of frozen water without contaminating the lake.
- Health & Medicine
Folate cuts family risk of colon cancer
According to a 16-year study of nearly 90,000 women, the vitamin folate has a protective effect against colon cancer among women whose families have been affected by the disease.
- Animals
Maneless lions live one guy per pride
The male lions of Tsavo National Park don't grow manes but they're no wimps—they're the only male lions found so far that rule big prides of females alone, without help from some buddies.
- Health & Medicine
Antibiotics don’t seem to protect heart
Two large studies find little evidence that antibiotics can protect some people with cardiovascular disease against subsequent heart attacks.
- Health & Medicine
St. John’s wort hinders cancer drug
The herbal remedy St. John's wort can interfere with the effectiveness of the anticancer drug irinotecan.
- Health & Medicine
Compound attacks pancreatic cancer
A protein fragment dubbed NK4 can stall the development of pancreatic cancer in mice.
- Health & Medicine
Gene mutation tied to lung cancer
Scientists have identified a gene, dubbed LKB1/STK11, that is often mutated in people with a particularly deadly form of lung cancer.
- Health & Medicine
Drug for dry mouth may prevent lung cancer
A drug prescribed for a condition called dry mouth stymies formation of precancerous lung lesions in cigarette smokers.
- Earth
Feminized Frogs: Herbicide disrupts sexual growth
At concentrations currently found in water, the widely used weed killer atrazine hormonally strips male frogs of their masculinity and may be partly responsible for global amphibian declines.
- Paleontology
Older Ancestors: Primate origins age in new analysis
A controversial new statistical model concludes that the common ancestor of primates lived 81.5 million years ago, about 16 million years earlier than many paleontologists have estimated.
- Astronomy
Cosmic Remodeling: Superwinds star in early universe
New measurements reveal that some of the earliest galaxies in the universe produced winds so powerful and persistent that they blew material from one galaxy to another, temporarily separating dark matter from visible matter and profoundly influencing the evolution of future generations of galaxies.
- Health & Medicine
Cardiac Culprit: Autopsies implicate C-reactive protein in fatal heart attacks
Of people who died suddenly, those who succumbed to a heart attack had an abundance of the inflammation indicator C-reactive protein in the blood, even though few had had outward signs of heart problems.
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European Union for Ants: Supercolony reigns from Italy to Portugal
European researchers have documented the largest ant supercolony yet, a network of cooperating nests that stretches from Italy to the Atlantic.
- Materials Science
Membrane Mastery: Nanosize silica speeds up sieve
A novel modification to polymer membranes gives researchers a means to tune certain filters so they separate molecules more quickly and more selectively.
- Animals
Big-Eyed Birds Sing Early Songs: Dawn chorus explained
Researchers report a strong relationship between eye size and the light intensity at which birds start to sing in the morning.
- Astronomy
Strange Stars? Odd features hint at novel matter
Two stellar corpses thought to be made of neutrons may actually contain weird forms of matter never observed before.
- Ecosystems
Deprived of Darkness
From anecdotal reports of little-studied phenomena, researchers suspect that artificial night lighting disrupts the physiology and behavior of nocturnal animals.
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