More Stories from the April 21, 2001 issue
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Cigarette smoke worsens heart attacks
Breathing in smoke from another person's cigarette causes blood changes that reduce the likelihood that an individual will survive a heart attack.
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Pulling antioxidants starves cancers
Realizing that many cancers depend on antioxidants for their survival, researchers have successfully designed a dietary strategy that suppresses breast cancer growth and spread, at least in animals.
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Keeping antioxidants may spare gut
Inflammatory bowel disease may initially be triggered by chemical reactions that deplete affected tissues of a key antioxidant.
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Anticancer mineral works best in food
Selenium's anticancer benefits may depend on ingestion of the mineral in food, not as a purified dietary supplement.
- Paleontology
Fake fossil not one but two new species
A supposed missing link between dinosaurs and birds that was first unveiled in 1999, and revealed to be a forgery soon thereafter, was actually cobbled together from parts of animals from two new species.
- Paleontology
Rocks yield clues to flower origins
A distinctive organic chemical related to substances produced by modern flowering plants has been found in ancient fossil-bearing sediments, possibly helping to identify the ancestral plants that gave rise to flowers.
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Knotty DNA offers cancer-drug target
Agents that bind to knots in the normally linear DNA sequence seem to prevent the expression of cancer-causing genes.
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Radioactive antibodies on the mind
Injecting radioactive antibodies directly into the cavity left after a brain tumor is surgically removed lengthened patients' lives by as much as 40 weeks in a recent study.
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Friend or Foe? Old Elephants Know
Older female elephants are far better at telling friends from strangers than are younger matriarchs.
- Health & Medicine
Natural antidepressant has its limits
St. John's wort, a popular ingredient in herbal remedies, may not help people with moderate or severe forms of depression.
- Earth
Big dam in China may warm Japan
Construction of the Three Gorges Dam across the Yangtze River in China may lead to warmer temperatures in Japan, because any diversion of water for Chinese agriculture could initiate convection in the Japan Sea that brings warmer water to the surface.
- Health & Medicine
Blood markers of clogging arteries emerge
The concentration in blood of one chemically transformed cholesterol-carrying molecule may signal to doctors when a patient's heart disease has dangerously worsened.
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The early nerve gets the brain space
Sensory nerves of the star-nosed mole may race to occupy brain space early in development.
- Anthropology
Human ancestors made ancient entry to Java
Layers of hardened volcanic ash on the Indonesian island of Java have yielded evidence that Homo erectus reached eastern Asia by 1.5 million years ago and remained there until about 1 million years ago.
- Tech
Novel fuel cell gets hot, but not by a lot
A new type of fuel cell that works above the boiling point of water—but not too much above it—may lead to improved nonpolluting power sources suitable for cars and portable electronic gadgets.
- Health & Medicine
Vitaminlike compound eases rare disorder
A vitaminlike substance called coenzyme Q10 helps people with familial cerebellar ataxia, a hereditary disorder that damages the spine and the part of the brain responsible for coordination.
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Isn’t It a Bloomin’ Crime?
Darwin called them felons, those creatures that take nectar without pollinating anything, but some modern scientists are reopening the case.
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