Vol. 172 No. #18
Read Digital Issue Modal Example Archive Issues Modal Example |

More Stories from the November 3, 2007 issue

  1. Anthropology

    DNA to Neandertals: Lighten up

    DNA analysis indicates that some Neandertals may have had a gene for pale skin and red hair.

    By
  2. Materials Science

    Printing scheme could yield 3-D photonic crystals

    An innovative printing scheme makes three-dimensional crystal structures that could be used to control the flow of light.

    By
  3. Paleontology

    The first matrushka

    A newly found fossil preserves one creature inside another that lies nestled inside yet another, a Paleozoic version of the Russian nesting dolls known as matrushkas.

    By
  4. Paleontology

    Deinonychus’ claws were hookers, not rippers

    The meat-eating dinosaur Deinonychus probably used the large, sicklelike claw on its foot to grip and climb large prey, not disembowel it.

    By
  5. Paleontology

    Dinosaurs matured sexually while still growing

    Distinctive bone tissue in fossils of several dinosaur species suggests that the ancient reptiles became sexually mature long before they gained adult size.

    By
  6. Paleontology

    Meet the old wolves, same as the new wolves

    The dire wolf, an extinct species preserved in abundance at the La Brea tar pits, seems to have had a social structure similar to that of its modern-day relatives.

    By
  7. Health & Medicine

    Early Arrival: HIV came from Haiti to United States

    New analysis of 25-year-old blood samples indicates that HIV reached the United States in about 1969, 12 years before AIDS was first formally described.

    By
  8. Animals

    Cousin Who? Gliding mammals may be primates’ nearest kin

    Two species of small, little-known rain forest mammals may be primates' closest living relatives.

    By
  9. Extreme Healing: Protein aids limb regrowth in newts

    The ability of newts to regenerate severed limbs depends crucially on a protein released by the insulating sheath around nerves.

    By
  10. Earth

    Clay That Kills: Ground yields antibacterial agents

    A special type of French clay smothers a diverse array of bacteria, including antibiotic-resistant strains and a particularly nasty pathogen that causes skin ulcers.

    By
  11. Planetary Science

    Chilled Out? Ice could lurk beneath Martian equator

    An immense volume of ice-rich material may underlie a formation that extends about one-quarter of the way around Mars' equator.

    By
  12. Stimulant Inaction: ADHD drug’s mental lift proves surprisingly weak

    A widely used drug often calms children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder but does little to alleviate the condition's underlying mental deficits.

    By
  13. Physics

    Rock, paper, toxins

    A computer model simulates a kind of rock-paper-scissors competition among three species of virtual bacteria.

    By
  14. Health & Medicine

    Plugging Leaks: Manipulating receptors may impede sepsis

    Manipulation of signaling proteins on blood vessels may help combat sepsis, an often fatal condition.

    By
  15. Anthropology

    Fossil Sparks

    Two new fossil discoveries and an analysis of ancient teeth challenge traditional assumptions about ape and human evolution.

    By
  16. Astronomy

    Gammas from Heaven

    An orbiting gamma-ray observatory, set for launch next spring, will seek out the most violent events in the cosmos.

    By
  17. Humans

    Letters from the November 3, 2007, issue of Science News

    Waste not, want not “Cellulose Dreams” (SN: 8/25/07, p. 120) ignored important research by David Tilman and Jason Hill of the University of Minnesota. They found that planting a crop of 18 different native prairie plants grown in highly degraded and infertile soil with little fertilizer or chemicals yielded substantially more bioenergy than a single […]

    By