More Stories from the June 17, 2006 issue
- Astronomy
Spewing superdust
Astronomers have identified a type of supernova as the main source of space dust.
- Earth
Gasp! Ozone limits don’t protect babies
In healthy infants, even ozone concentrations well below those allowed by federal law trigger asthmalike symptoms.
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Sharp rise noted in meds for youths
Antipsychotic-drug treatment of children and teenagers seen by office-based physicians increased dramatically between 1993 and 2002.
- Anthropology
Variety spices up Neandertals’ DNA
A surprising amount of genetic diversity characterized Neandertals.
- Astronomy
Not a planet?
New observations add to the evidence that an image of a planetary-mass object discovered beyond the solar system is not that of a bona fide planet.
- Health & Medicine
Inactivity, not altitude, is probably behind blood clots
Low cabin pressure aboard aircraft is not to blame for the rare but dangerous blood clots that some passengers get during long flights.
- Earth
Subglacial lakes may not be isolated ecosystems
Large volumes of water may occasionally flow between the lakes that lie deep beneath Antarctica's kilometers-thick ice sheet.
- Earth
Cleaning up pollution, whey down deep
Lab and field tests hint that dairy whey, a lactose-rich by-product of the dairy industry, could be used to clean up underground water supplies tainted by the solvent trichloroethylene.
- Health & Medicine
Next Line of Defense: New drugs take on resistant leukemia
Two experimental drugs stop many cases of chronic myeloid leukemia that are resistant to the drug imatinib (Gleevec).
- Animals
Mixed Butterflies: Tropical species joins ranks of rare hybrids
A South American butterfly is one of the few animal species that seems to have arisen via the supposedly rare path of crossing two older species.
- Chemistry
Carbon Goes Glam: Treated carbon dots fluoresce
Chemists have fashioned tiny dots of carbon that glow in response to light.
- Earth
Mineral Deposit: Asbestos linked to lupus, arthritis
Already known to cause lung cancer, asbestos has now been associated with three autoimmune diseases.
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Fat Friends: Gut-microbe partners bring in more calories
The collaborative efforts of two common gut microbes could increase the calories that a person extracts from food and store as fat, a study in mice suggests.
- Paleontology
Ancient webbed masters
Newly unearthed fossils of a 110-million-year-old bolster the notion that all modern birds evolved from aquatic ancestors.
- Health & Medicine
Wasting Away: Prozac loses promise as anorexia nervosa fighter
Although often prescribed for people with anorexia nervosa, the popular antidepressant medication Prozac offers no better protection against the potentially fatal eating disorder than placebo pills do.
- Materials Science
Greenhouse Glass: Squeezing and heating carbon dioxide yields exotic, see-through solid
Researchers have forged solid glass from carbon dioxide.
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Growing Up Online
New studies probe some of the many ways, both good and bad, that children and teenagers use the Internet and adapt to online communication.
- Paleontology
Amphibious Ancestors
Newly discovered fossils from Greenland, as well as a reexamination of those of previously known creatures, are providing researchers with additional insights into ancient vertebrates' move from water to land.
- Humans
Letters from the June 17, 2006, issue of Science News
Cuts on the bias After taking some of the bias tests, I am very skeptical (“The Bias Finders: A test of unconscious attitudes polarizes psychologists,” SN: 4/22/06, p. 250). Since the major tool is speed of reaction, and since my eyes are not too good now, the results were very curious and probably totally unreliable: […]
