More Stories from the April 22, 2006 issue
- Ecosystems
Antarctic birds are breeding later
Rising global temperatures are causing Arctic birds to breed earlier in the spring, but for Antarctic birds, the reverse is true.
- Planetary Science
Ice among the rocks
A newly discovered trio of icy comets, hidden among the thousands of rocks in the main asteroid belt, may be part of a previously unknown class and a primary source of water for the dry, early Earth.
- Health & Medicine
Protein interacts with hormone that quells hunger
A protein that's more abundant in the blood of obese people inactivates leptin, a hormone that controls hunger.
- Animals
Worm can crawl out of predators
A parasitic worm can wriggle out through a predator's gills or mouth if the predator eats the worm's insect host. With video.
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RNA test might reveal early cancer, offer drug target
Short strands of genetic material called microRNAs could allow scientists to determine which colorectal cancers are likely to recur and might offer targets for new anti-cancer drugs.
- Health & Medicine
Hot-pepper ingredient slows cancer in mice
Capsaicin, the component of red pepper that makes it hot, kills cancer cells in a test tube and inhibits their growth in mice.
- Tech
A better test for lung cancer?
A genetic test of cells lining the windpipe can detect lung cancer in smokers.
- Astronomy
Crash: Ripples of space-time debut in black hole simulations
Two teams have for the first time successfully simulated the merger of two black holes and the event's production of gravitational waves.
- Tech
Switch-a-Vision: Electric spectacles could aid aging eyes
A new type of eyeglasses that change their focus in response to electric signals may one day replace bifocals and other types of reading glasses.
- Health & Medicine
Decent Interval; Well-spaced babies may have advantage
Babies conceived between 18 months and 5 years after their mothers' previous birth are healthier than are babies conceived before or after these two points in time.
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Me and My Metabolism: Personalized medicine takes new direction
Researchers may be better able to predict drug toxicity in individual patients by examining their metabolisms than by focusing on their genes.
- Health & Medicine
Dementia off the Menu: Mediterranean diet tied to low Alzheimer’s risk
People 65 years of age and older who eat a Mediterranean-style diet that's rich in plant matter and fish and low in saturated fat are less likely than their peers to develop Alzheimer's disease.
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Picking Pathways: Small molecule boosts morphine effect
Some small molecules affect specific pathways in one of the body's most common cell-regulating systems.
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Babies Prune Their Focus: Perception narrows toward infancy’s end
Between the ages of 6 months and 8 months, infants lose the ability to match the vocalizations and facial movements of monkeys shown in video clips, signaling a temporary perceptual narrowing as babies focus on the human social realm.
- Humans
To Leap or Not to Leap
Scientists are debating whether to continue the practice of occasionally inserting leap seconds in order to keep official, atomic-based time in sync with time based on Earth's rotation.
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The Bias Finders
A simple test of unconscious preferences has achieved great popularity among psychologists and, at the same time, sparked heated debate over how it works and whether it shows widespread implicit biases against black people.
- Humans
Letters from the April 22, 2006, issue of Science News
Second cousins With reference to “Chimps creep closer yet” (SN: 2/11/06, p. 94), some scientists say that bonobos are genetically closer to humans than to chimps. How did they compare in the referenced study? Dick MedvickCleveland Heights, Ohio Bonobos are indeed as genetically close to humans as are chimps, but there wasn’t enough genomic data […]
