More Stories from the March 29, 2003 issue
- Math
Prime Finding: Mathematicians mind the gap
Mathematicians have taken a significant step toward proving the twin-prime conjecture by simplifying formulas for estimating the average spacing of primes.
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Uncertainty fires up some neurons
In monkeys, a small set of brain cells that transmit the chemical messenger dopamine to various neural destinations works as an uncertainty meter.
- Earth
Composted sewage captures dirt’s lead
Lead-contaminated soil in urban parks, gardens, and schoolyards could be made safer by adding composted organic waste.
- Health & Medicine
Protein protects rat brains from strokes
Neuroglobin, a protein related to hemoglobin, may protect the brain during strokes.
- Astronomy
By the light of a starry eruption
Astronomers calculating the brightness of a supernova explosion witnessed in the 11th century estimate that it was likely the most brilliant stellar event in recorded history.
- Earth
Dust up north
Strong northeasterly winds blowing across coastal regions of southern Alaska recently exposed by melting snow launched massive clouds of dust over the Gulf of Alaska.
- Animals
At last, a bird that nails killer chicks
For the first time, researchers have found a bird species—Australia's superb fairy-wren—that reacts when all its own chicks disappear and a giant imposter takes their place.
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By a Nose? Human sperm may sniff out the path to an egg
A man's sperm appear to possess a primitive kind of nose that enables them to navigate to a woman's egg by scent.
- Animals
Secret Signal: Fish allurement that predators don’t see
In a rare demonstration of secret messaging in animals, a swordtail fish uses ultraviolet courtship signals that are invisible to a predator.
- Earth
Clean Casualties: Everyday chemicals may shift ecosystems
Trace amounts of the chemical concoctions used to battle bacteria in kitchens and bathrooms may kill off algae, an effect that researchers say may have far-reaching consequences.
- Earth
Dioxin Dumps: Burning exposed trash pollutes soil
The practice of burning refuse in the open in many underdeveloped countries creates prodigious quantities of harmful polychlorinated compounds.
- Materials Science
A Hard Little Lesson: Squeezed nanospheres grow superstrong
A substance not known for its hardness—silicon—becomes one of the hardest of materials when formed into ultrasmall spheres.
- Paleontology
Fine Toothcomb: New fossils add to primate-origins debate
The discovery of 40-million-year-old teeth and jaw fragments belonging to ancient forms of lorises and bushbabies doubles the age of the fossil record for a major primate group.
- Health & Medicine
Morbid Mystery Tour: Epidemic from China is encircling globe
An outbreak of deadly pneumonia that apparently began in southern China spread in March to at least two other continents, including North America.
- Computing
Pictures Only a Computer Could Love
New, unconventional lenses shape scenes into pictures for computers, not people, so that computer-equipped microscopes, cameras, and other optical devices can see more with less.
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After West Nile Virus
As biologists try to estimate the impact of West Nile virus on wildlife, it's not the famously susceptible crows that are causing alarm but much rarer species.
