Vol. 165 No. #5
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More Stories from the January 31, 2004 issue

  1. Health & Medicine

    Drug fails in autism study

    In the most extensive test so far of its capability to treat autism, the controversial drug secretin has failed to help children with the neurological disorder.

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  2. Archaeology

    Lion skeleton found in Egyptian tomb

    Archaeologists found the skeleton of a once-mummified lion at an Egyptian site dating to more than 2,000 years ago, confirming suspicions that lions were revered as sacred animals.

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  3. Health & Medicine

    Vitamin D and multiple sclerosis

    Women who consume little vitamin D develop multiple sclerosis at a rate about 50 percent higher than those who get lots of the nutrient.

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  4. Astronomy

    Scoping out a stellar nursery

    Penetrating a veil of dust, a space-based infrared observatory has recorded the most complete portrait ever taken of a star-forming region in a nearby galaxy.

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  5. Growth factors make an egg grow up

    Scientists have identified growth factors that enable a female mammal's eggs to mature.

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  6. Physics

    New signs of shadow particles

    The influence of as-yet-undiscovered heavy particles outside of today's prevailing theory of particle physics may have accelerated the rate at which subatomic muons wobbled in a recent experiment.

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  7. Juggling takes stage as brain modifier

    Marked volume increases occur in visual areas of the brain as people learn to juggle and then are partly reversed when the budding jugglers stop practicing their newfound skill, a brain-scan investigation finds.

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  8. Physics

    Skipping stones 101

    Using their own stone-skipping machine, physicists have found what may be the best angle for a rock to hit the water in order to achieve the most skips.

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  9. Materials Science

    Flexible E-Paper: Plastic circuits drive paperlike displays

    In a major step toward electronic paper, researchers have made electronic-ink displays on flexible plastic sheets.

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  10. Humans

    Letters

    Letters from the Jan. 31, 2004, issue of Science News.

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  11. Planetary Science

    Red Planet Roundup: Opportunity knocks; Spirit revives

    The NASA rover Opportunity bounced onto an equatorial Martian plain early on Jan. 25 and found an intriguing outcropping of rocks on the other side of the planet from where its ailing but recovering twin, Spirit, had recently stalled.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    Good to the Bone: Strontium compound prevents some fractures

    An experimental drug containing strontium makes bones denser and decreases the risk of fractures, a study of elderly women finds.

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  13. Health & Medicine

    Wine Surprise: Heart-protective effect is independent of antioxidants

    Two studies in mice suggest that, if wine protects against heart disease, it's probably not because of the antioxidants that the drink contains.

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  14. Materials Science

    Pumping Carbon: Researchers watch nanofibers grow

    The first atomic-scale movies of carbon nanofiber growth show particles of a metal catalyst pulsating wildly while carbon and metal atoms scuttle across the particle’s surface.

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  15. Animals

    Vanishing Vultures: Bird deaths linked to vet-drug residues

    The recent puzzling crash in vulture populations in Pakistan comes not from some new disease but from exposure to veterinary drug residues in livestock carcasses.

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  16. Humans

    The Chosen: A New Crop of Scientific Minds; Student science competition announces finalists

    Forty high school students from 14 states and the District of Columbia have been selected to compete for the top prizes in the 2004 Intel Science Talent Search.

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  17. Health & Medicine

    Telltale Charts

    Overturning a basic tenet of conventional wisdom in cardiology, new research suggests that more than half the people who develop heart disease first show one of the warning signs of smoking, having diabetes, or having high blood pressure or cholesterol.

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  18. Earth

    Danger on Deck?

    The Environmental Protection Agency no longer allows residential installation of pressure-treated lumber and recommends the application of sealant to prevent leaching of carcinogens out of existing lumber structures.

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