More Stories from the November 17, 2001 issue
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Desert beetle catches fog on its back
The bumpy back of a desert beetle has inspired a design for collecting water from fog.
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When ground squirrels cry badger
Richardson's ground squirrels respond differently to alarm calls depending on whether the caller has a history of false alarms.
- Health & Medicine
Seizures and reproductive ills linked
Abnormal electrical signaling in the brains of women with epilepsy may alter sex hormone cycling and explain why epileptic women seem to have a higher rate of reproductive disorders than do other women.
- Health & Medicine
Reducing blood pressure in the lungs
A new drug seems to help reduce abnormally high blood pressure in the lungs, a condition that can trigger heart failure.
- Chemistry
New sensor can ID dangerous bacteria
When newly created organic molecules, called TWTCPs, are attached to a porous silicon wafer and exposed to a certain class of bacterium, the wafer changes color.
- Chemistry
Foam gets its shot at anthrax
A recently developed chemical cocktail that kills anthrax spores and breaks down chemical warfare agents and anthrax has received its first real- world trials in anthrax cleanups.
- Earth
Cancer risk linked to night shifts
Women who work the graveyard shift increase their chance of developing breast cancer, perhaps because of chronic suppression of melatonin.
- Earth
EPA switchback on arsenic
On Oct. 31, the Environmental Protection Agency rescinded its March decision to rescind a proposed tougher limit on arsenic in drinking water and is now planning to implement the tougher limit of 10 parts per billion in 2006.
- Health & Medicine
Cholesterol enables nerve cells to connect
Neurons form connections with each other using cholesterol supplied by other brain cells called glia.
- Earth
Sediments Sink River’s Flow into Sea
Deep-sea observations of occasional sediment-rich plumes of fresh water dumped into the ocean by rivers suggest that such underflows may be a prime conveyor of pesticides, organic carbon, and various nutrients to the seafloor.
- Physics
The Brazil nut effect gets more jumbled
New and puzzling evidence for why big particles bob to the top when mixtures of granular materials are shaken-the so-called Brazil nut effect-emerges from an experiment showing that even the air between grains plays a role.
- Animals
She-male garter snakes: Some like it hot
Male garter snakes that emerge from hibernation and attract a mob of deluded male suitors may just be looking for safety in numbers and body heat.
- Paleontology
New fossils threaten an extinction theory
Recent discoveries of long-dead marine invertebrates call into question the occurrence of a catastrophic global extinction during the Late Devonian period, between 385 and 375 million years ago.
- Archaeology
Farmers took fast track in settling Europe
A review of radiocarbon evidence indicates that farming groups colonized southern Europe over no more than 100 to 200 years, beginning around 7,400 years ago.
- Astronomy
SOHO craft gets the lowdown on sunspots
Using sound waves to obtain the first clear picture of the structure beneath the surface of a sunspot, scientists say they now have an explanation for why these dark blemishes-sites of intense magnetic activity-can persist for days.
- Health & Medicine
Heart pump extends patients’ survival
Patients who have an implanted device to help the heart pump blood have a higher survival rate than patients getting only heart medication.
- Health & Medicine
The Science of Secretin
The discovery that a gut hormone also exists in the brain may shed light on the origins of autism.
- Computing
Sneaky Calculations
The same communication system that brings you the Web page of your choice can be exploited to perform computations.
