More Stories from the March 31, 2001 issue
- Earth
Leaden calcium supplements
Consuming calcium along with lead limits, and may prevent, the body's absorption of the toxicant.
- Earth
POPs in the butter
Governments may be able to monitor trends in the release and transport of persistent organic pollutants by sampling butter.
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Distressed amoebas can call for help
Amoebas having trouble dividing produce a chemical signal that draws other amoebas to the scene.
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DNA-cutting enzyme looks like scissors
One type of restriction enzyme not only cuts a DNA strand but also looks like a pair of scissors.
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Gene found for chloroplast movement
Scientists have found the gene that directs chloroplasts to dance out of a cell's shaded edges to soak up the sun or back into that shade when the light is too intense.
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Depression linked to heart deaths
In a community sample, people suffering from moderate to severe depression exhibited an elevated death rate from heart disease over a 4-year study period, even if they had no discernable heart disease to begin with.
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Dyslexia gets a break in Italy
Although dyslexia involves a common disruption of reading-related brain activity, the reading performance of people with dyslexia appears to improve if they use a language that has consistent spelling rules.
- Astronomy
Starry Data Support Revved-Up Cosmos
Astronomers have confirmed one of the weirdest properties of the universe: Some mysterious force is pushing galaxies apart at a faster and faster rate.
- Health & Medicine
Urine tests can foretell bladder cancers
U.S. and Chinese researchers find that two unconventional urine tests can often predict when a person is developing bladder cancer even before tumors appear.
- Earth
Ancient tree rings reveal past climate
Using tree-ring analysis, an international team of researchers has reconstructed the earliest record of annual climate variation.
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Bacterial cells reveal skeletal structures
The finding of a cytoskeleton in Bacillus subtilis bacteria eliminates a fundamental difference between bacteria and higher (eukaryotic) cells.
- Earth
Microbes put ancient carbon on the menu
Scientists have found microorganisms within Kentucky shale that are eating the ancient carbon locked within the rock, a previously unrecognized dietary habit that could have a prevalent role in the weathering and erosion of similar sedimentary rock at many other locations.
- Physics
Moon may radio cosmic rays’ biggest hits
Efforts to use the moon to detect the highest-energy cosmic rays get a boost from an experiment showing that gamma rays zipping through a giant sandbox cause the kind of microwave bursts moon-watchers are hoping to see.
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Touching legs turns shy locusts gregarious
Researchers have discovered that sensing repeated touch on the hind leg triggers a shy, green locust to flip into swarming mode.
- Health & Medicine
Breathing on the Edge
Researchers are exploring how both sea-level lowlanders and high-altitude natives cope with low oxygen levels.
- Health & Medicine
Blood Relatives
After decades of research, several companies are about to release the first line of artificial blood products.
