More Stories from the June 29, 2002 issue
- Paleontology
Rain Forest Primeval? Colorado fossils show unexpected diversity
The size, shape, and riotous variety of fossil leaves unearthed at a site in central Colorado suggest that the region may have been covered with one of the world's first tropical rain forests just 1.4 million years after the demise of the dinosaurs.
- Health & Medicine
Rewiring Job: Drug spurs nerve growth in stroke-damaged brains
The natural compound inosine spurs nerve reconnection in rats that have suffered the loss of blood to parts of the brain, suggesting inosine might help people recover from a stroke.
- Health & Medicine
Kill or Be Killed: Tumor protein offs patrolling immune cells
Many human cancers may evade surveillance by exploiting a protein normally found on certain immune cells.
- Animals
Wasp Painting: Do insects know each other’s faces?
A researcher who dabbed tiny stripes on the faces and abdomens of paper wasps says that she's found the first evidence that the insects can recognize individuals by their markings.
- Health & Medicine
Cell-Phone Buzz: Contradictory studies heat up radiation question
A new long-term animal study of cell-phone radiation suggests that emissions don't cause cancer, but studies by a second team hint that cell phones may cause damage in other ways.
- Tech
Putting squish into artificial organs
Artificial organs and tissues may someday feel more like the real thing if a new, rubbery polymer supplants mostly stiff materials available today for tissue engineering.
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Autism leaves kids lost in face
Brain-wave evidence indicates that 3- to 4-year-old children diagnosed with autism can't tell their mothers' faces from those of female strangers.
- Health & Medicine
Autopsies suggest insulin is underused
Autopsy studies indicate that the insulin-producing cells of people with type II diabetes are damaged.
- Health & Medicine
Diabetes problems aren’t just old news
Children who developed a type of diabetes that normally occurs only in adults suffer kidney failure, miscarriages, and death in their 20s.
- Chemistry
Ions on the Move: Theory of hydroxide’s motion overturned
New computer calculations reveal that a long-held belief about the hydroxide ion's movement in water is wrong.
- Earth
Pharm Pollution
Antibiotics in sewage sludge and manure have the potential to poison plants or end up in food.
