More Stories from the June 5, 2004 issue
- Astronomy
Oddball asteroid
Astronomers have discovered an asteroid that takes only 6 months to go around the sun.
- Health & Medicine
Breast milk may lower cholesterol
Feeding a newborn baby breast milk instead of formula during the first month of life improves the child's cholesterol readings later on.
- Earth
Killer weather on Mount Everest
An analysis of weather patterns around Mount Everest in May 1996, when eight climbers died, suggests that a sudden drop in barometric pressure may have played a significant role in the deaths.
- Humans
Simple water filter can nail arsenic
Field tests suggest that people who live in areas with arsenic-tainted aquifers may be able to purify their drinking water by passing it through a low-tech, low-cost filter that includes a bed of iron nails.
- Astronomy
Huge solar flares hit far-flung craft
Spacecraft throughout the solar system have detected material spewed into space by a group of huge solar flares late last year.
- Astronomy
Young World: NASA telescope reveals clues to newborn planet
Astronomers have found signs of what may be the youngest planet known, plus the first signs ever of organic compounds in a region of dust that could evolve into a planet-forming region.
- Tech
Protein Power: Solar cell produces electricity from spinach and bacterial proteins
Researchers have fabricated a solar cell that uses photosynthetic proteins to convert light into electricity.
- Tech
Tiny Tubes Brighten Bulbs: Nanotubes beat tungsten in lightbulb test—maybe
Experiments suggest that lightbulbs with filaments made from carbon nanotubes outshine conventional bulbs.
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Death Waits for No One: Deferred demises take a couple of hits
Two new reports challenge the idea that elderly people suffering from serious physical illnesses can prolong their lives just long enough to experience a personally meaningful event.
- Earth
Geyser Bashing: Distant quake alters timing of eruptions
A powerful earthquake that struck central Alaska on Nov. 3, 2002, changed the eruption schedule of some geysers in Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park, more than 3,100 kilometers away.
- Health & Medicine
Gender Neutral: Men, women face same cancer risk from smoking
Women who smoke are no more susceptible to lung cancer than are male smokers.
- Animals
Turtle Trekkers: Atlantic leatherbacks scatter widely
Satellite monitoring of leatherback turtles in the Atlantic show that these animals range widely instead of sticking to "turtle corridors."
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Got Milk? Dairy protein provides bone-forming boost
A protein in milk stimulates bone-forming cells.
- Earth
Dead Waters
Coastal dead zones—underwater regions where oxygen concentrations are too low for fish to survive—are mushrooming globally, threatening to transform entire ecosystems.
- Materials Science
Nice Threads
Once researchers figure out how to spin strong fibers out of carbon nanotubes, real-world applications such as long-distance power-transmission cables, lightweight aircraft materials, and electronic textiles become feasible.
- Humans
Letters from the June 5, 2004, issue of Science News
Blackened reputation Again, humans are implicated in the promotion and distribution of our own misery (“Medieval cure-all may actually have spread disease,” SN: 4/3/04, p. 222: Medieval cure-all may actually have spread disease). However, if bitumen was wrongly credited with darkening the skin of mummified remains, what caused it? Robert FizekNewton, Mass. The coating on […]
