More Stories from the February 16, 2008 issue
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More evidence that flies sleep like people
A brain chemical puts fruit flies to sleep.
- Animals
Bird fads weaken sexual selection
There's a new look for a hot male among lark buntings every year.
- Tech
Nanocrystal
Researchers have used DNA as Velcro to create the first materials that spontaneously assemble into regular 3-D patterns.
- Humans
Heed your elders, survive a tsunami
An oral tradition passed down among islanders in the South Pacific saved many lives during a tsunami last year and illustrates the benefits that community-based education and awareness programs can provide.
- Health & Medicine
Caffeine intake tied to miscarriage
Intake of caffeine equal to two cups of coffee per day seems to double a woman's risk of miscarriage.
- Paleontology
Flying Deaf? Earliest bats probably didn’t echolocate
Fossils of a cardinal-sized creature recently unearthed in western Wyoming suggest that primitive bats developed the ability to fly before they could track their prey with biological sonar.
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Animal Origins: Genome reveals early complexity
Analysis of DNA from a choanoflagellate, the closest known living nonanimal relative of animals, allows scientists to infer the genetic starter kit possessed by the first animal.
- Astronomy
Going the Distance: Galaxies may hail from early universe
Using a cosmic magnifying glass to peer into the deepest reaches of space, two teams of astronomers have discovered tiny galaxies that may be among the most distant known.
- Health & Medicine
Drug Running: Bust nets suspects in counterfeit antimalaria trade
Investigators have traced the source of counterfeit antimalarial pills in Southeast Asia to southern China, where suspects have been arrested and an illicit factory shut down.
- Astronomy
Where stars are born
Some 300 young stars, hidden in visible light, shine through the dust in a new infrared portrait of the main cloud of a nearby star-forming region called Rho Ophiuchi.
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Swell, a Pain Lesson: Gut microbes needed for immune development
Intestinal bacteria train the immune system to cause pain and swelling, but that's a good thing.
- Earth
Don’t like it hot
King penguins don't live on continental Antarctica but even they are vulnerable to warming water.
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New World Stopover: People may have entered the Americas in stages
People first reached the edge of the Americas about 40,000 years ago but had to stay put for at least 20,000 years before melting ice sheets allowed them to move south and settle the rest of the continent.
- Health & Medicine
Weighty Evidence
Connections between the family of insulin hormones and cancer have been suspected for more than 2 decades, and today, drug companies are testing anticancer drugs based on the actions of an insulin cousin.
- Physics
Extreme Measures
Physicists use atom interferometry to measure gravity and other forces with unrivaled precision, and the technique could potentially guide airplanes and uncover buried caches of oil and diamonds.
- Humans
Letters from the February 16, 2008, issue of Science News
Inert placebo? Regarding “Getting the Red Out” (SN: 1/19/08, p. 35): While drug companies wish to market their products, my attention is drawn to the fact that 1 in 8 of the control group of psoriasis patients was cured by placebo effect. Who will investigate the process therein? Is there a market for it? Carson […]
