Vol. 162 No. #7
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More Stories from the August 17, 2002 issue

  1. Archaeology

    Ancient birth brick emerges in Egypt

    Investigations at a 3,700-year-old Egyptian town have yielded a painted brick that was used in childbirth rituals.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    Worm genes take on bacterial foes

    Creatures as simple as worms have an effective immune defense.

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  3. Biological clock study challenged

    A report disputes the controversial notion that bright light applied to skin can reset a person's biological clock.

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  4. Malaria parasite reveals old age

    The DNA of a malaria-causing parasite suggests it is at least 100,000 years old.

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  5. Earth

    El Niño: It’s back!

    An increase in ocean temperatures in the central Pacific heralds the onset of El Niño, whose effects should show up in the United States this fall.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    Toxin Trumped: New malaria vaccine protects mice

    An experimental vaccine neutralizes a toxic molecule made by malaria-causing parasites.

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  7. Ecosystems

    Tougher Weeds? Borrowed gene helps wild sunflower

    Feeding concerns about developing superweeds, a test of sunflowers shows for the first time that a biologically engineered gene moving from a crop can give an advantage to wild relatives under naturalistic conditions.

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  8. Materials Science

    Spinning Fine Threads: Silkworms coerced to make better silk

    The caterpillars that spin commercial silk can make tougher or more elastic threads, depending on how fast they're forced to spin.

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  9. Not a Turn-On: Alleged X chromosome activator may be a dud

    A gene that helps regulate X chromosome activity in mice doesn't work in people.

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  10. Earth

    Killer Cocktails: Drug mixes threaten aquatic ecosystems

    Trace amounts of pharmaceutical drugs in waterways may work together to deform and kill native microscopic organisms.

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  11. Astronomy

    X-Ray Chaos: Violence shows itself in a nearby galaxy

    New X-ray observations provide additional evidence that Centaurus A, the nearest radio-wave-emitting galaxy to Earth that has a supermassive black hole, is a maelstrom of violence.

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  12. Earth

    Nature’s Own: Ocean yields gases that had seemed humanmade

    Chemical analyses of seawater provide the first direct evidence that the ocean may be a significant source of certain atmospheric gases that scientists had previously assumed to be produced primarily by industrial activity.

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  13. Health & Medicine

    Budding Tastes: Higher blood pressure in newborns links to salt preference

    Babies who tolerate a salty flavor have higher blood pressure on average than their less tolerant counterparts do.

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  14. Math

    Logic in the Blocks

    Sliding-block puzzles can be surprisingly difficult to solve and can even serve as theoretical models of computation.

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  15. Chemistry

    Tums of the Sea

    Ocean scientists question whether the seas can handle rising carbon dioxide concentrations.

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  16. Chemistry

    Questions of Origin

    Two new studies renew controversy about the authenticity of a map that may be the first depiction of North America.

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