More Stories from the March 17, 2007 issue
- Astronomy
Dance of the dead
Astronomers have found what appears to be the fastest-spinning stellar corpse known.
- Earth
Hibernation concentrates chemicals
Some pollutants accumulate in grizzlies during the bears' hibernation.
- Chemistry
Scrubbing troubles
Triclosan, an antibacterial agent found in many soaps, may increase a person's exposure to a potentially toxic chemical.
- Health & Medicine
Emerging bug pilfers DNA
A virulent bacterium invading U.S. hospitals and the battlefields of the Middle East pilfers its genes from other bacteria.
- Tech
EPA council sets priorities
The Environmental Protection Agency's Science Policy Council has outlined the agency's nanotechnology-research needs.
- Earth
Hey, it’s cooler near the sprinklers
Extensive agricultural irrigation can significantly affect local climate and may be masking the effects of global warming in some areas.
- Health & Medicine
Brain Fix: Stem cells supply missing enzyme
Brain stem cells implanted into sick mice restored a missing enzyme and extended life span by 70 percent.
- Anthropology
Ancient Slow Growth: Fossil teeth show roots of human development
An extended period of childhood evolved in people at least 160,000 years ago.
- Physics
Warming Up to Criticality: Quantum change, one bubble at a time
Physicists can now observe matter as it gradually turns into a Bose-Einstein condensate—the exotic state of matter that displays quantum behavior at macroscopic scales.
- Astronomy
First Family: Pluto-size body has siblings
Astronomers have found the first family of objects in the Kuiper belt, a remote outpost of the solar system beyond the orbit of Neptune.
- Animals
It’s a Girl: Atlantic mystery squid undergoes scrutiny
To scientists' surprise, a huge, deep-sea, gelatinous squid formerly reported only in the Pacific Ocean has turned up half a world away.
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New Memory Manager: DNA silencer also controls memory formation
A surprising finding links memory formation to a process of shutting down genes in growing embryos.
- Humans
The Next Generation: Intel Science Talent Search honors high school achievers
A 17-year-old from Oklahoma City who built a homemade Raman spectra system took first place at this year's Intel Science Talent Search.
- Agriculture
Herbal Herbicides
Scientists are tapping plants, and the self-defense chemicals they make, for new weed killers, many of which may find use in organic farming.
- Computing
Games Theory
Online games can not only entertain but also provide valuable data for researchers tackling computer-vision and other tough computational problems.
- Humans
Letters from the March 17, 2007, issue of Science News
Disputable thesis “Counterintuitive Toxicity: Increasingly, scientists are finding that they can’t predict a poison’s low-dose effects” (SN: 1/20/07, p. 40) took a wrong turn into Hormesis Swamp. The hormesis thesis has been thoroughly discredited by all major radiation organizations and professional societies, and its past conferences have been sponsored by tobacco companies and the U.S. […]
