More Stories from the May 14, 2005 issue
- Health & Medicine
Waking up that lazy eye
Wearing an eye patch can improve vision in children with amblyopia, or lazy eye, up to age 17.
- Earth
Air pollution linked to wheat diseases
The abundance of the air pollutant sulfur dioxide appears to influence which of two fungal pathogens plague more wheat plants.
- Chemistry
Crystal clear
Growing drug crystals on different polymer surfaces could improve a critical step in the development of pharmaceuticals.
- Physics
Test puts pedal to heavy metal
Stellar explosions forge heavy elements such as gold more quickly than scientists had predicted, as indicated by the first measurement of the half-life of a rare form of nickel that's a key link in the chain of element formation.
- Physics
Scales tilt against five-quark particles
Studies that fail to find purported five-quark particles, or pentaquarks, are stacking up quicker than studies that claim to have found such particles, suggesting that they might not really exist.
- Physics
Galactic data shore up a constant
Alpha, a constant of nature found to vary in some astrophysical studies, actually holds steady, according to the first survey of galaxies used to evaluate alpha's constancy.
- Health & Medicine
Proteins’ Promise: New test could reveal early ovarian cancer
A screening test for ovarian cancer shows promise in preliminary trials.
- Animals
Built for Blurs: Jellyfish have great eyes that can’t focus
Eight of a box jellyfish's eyes have superb lenses, but their structure prevents them from focusing sharply.
- Astronomy
Fleeting Flash: Pinpointing a short gamma-ray burst
An invisible, highly energetic flash detected by a spacecraft early this week may have given astronomers their first glimpse of two neutron stars colliding to forge a black hole.
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DNA’s Moody Temperament: Gene variant linked to depression-ready brain
A common version of a gene involved in regulating the neurotransmitter serotonin creates a brain that responds sensitively to stress and is therefore more likely to become depressed.
- Chemistry
Metal Rebel: Under extreme pressure, sodium breaks the rules for turning into liquid
In a demonstration that defies certain basic assumptions in physics, researchers have created liquid sodium at room temperature under high pressures.
- Health & Medicine
Watch and Wait, or Not: Studies weigh risks of delaying prostate surgery
Two long-running studies of men with prostate cancer have partly clarified the risks of postponing treatment of the disease.
- Tech
In Its Own Image: Simple robot replicates itself block by block
A robot made by stacking identical, cubelike modules has demonstrated that it can copy itself.
- Materials Science
Something to Chew On
Researchers are closer than ever to making synthetic enamel to improve dental implants and perhaps to grow a whole tooth from scratch.
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Learning to Listen
Disparate groups of creatures, including bats, toothed whales, and birds, have evolved biological sonar that they use to track prey, but other creatures have evolved ways to detect this sonar and thereby increase their odds of survival.
- Humans
Letters from the May 14, 2005, issue of Science News
It’s kids’ stuff Regarding the therapeutic effects of sunflower-seed oil on infants (“Anoint Them with Oil: Cheap-and-easy treatment cuts infection rates in premature infants,” SN: 3/12/05, p. 165), has any research been done as to the health benefits of the oil in any other age group? Yael LevyNew York, N.Y. Research to date has focused […]
