Vol. 166 No. #15
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More Stories from the October 9, 2004 issue

  1. Astronomy

    More space sugar

    Astronomers have found a second, colder source of the simple sugar glycoaldehyde in a dust and gas cloud 26,000 light-years from Earth.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    Adopted protein might be MS culprit

    A protein called syncytin might play a role in causing degradation of the fatty myelin sheath that insulates nerves, damage that leads to multiple sclerosis.

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  3. Car deaths rise days after terror attacks

    A spike in automobile fatalities in Israel 3 days after each of a recent series of terrorist attacks reflects a delayed, population-wide reaction to those violent incidents, two researchers propose.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    Fighting cholesterol with saturated fat?

    Marrying a saturated fat to the plant-derived ingredient in certain health-promoting margarines creates an especially potent cholesterol-lowering food additive.

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  5. Health & Medicine

    Turmeric component kills cancer cells

    Curcumin, the component of turmeric that makes the spice yellow, shows anticancer effects in lab-dish tests and in experiments on mice.

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  6. Physics

    Hurrying a nuclear identity switch

    Radioactive beryllium-7 atoms locked inside molecular cages decay extraordinarily quickly.

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  7. Earth

    Global warming won’t boost carbon storage in tundra

    The notion that a warmer climate in arctic regions will lead to enhanced carbon sequestration in tundra ecosystems isn't supported by field data.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    Carotid Overhaul: Stents and surgery go neck and neck

    Mesh cylinders called stents work as well as or slightly better than surgery in opening blocked carotid arteries in high-risk patients.

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  9. Astronomy

    Planet Signs? Sifting a dusty disk

    Infrared spectra of a disk of debris surrounding the young star Beta Pictoris reveals three distinct bands of dust, suggesting the location of a possible planet flanked by belts of asteroids or comets.

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  10. Tech

    Dawn of the commercial space age

    On Oct. 4, a privately funded, piloted craft called SpaceShipOne reached a height of 378,000 feet (115.1 kilometers), breaking a world altitude record for rocket-powered planes and claiming the $10 million Ansari X prize.

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  11. Animals

    Separate Vacations: Birds winter apart but return in sync

    Mated pairs of black-tailed godwits may fly off to winter refuges a thousand kilometers apart but can still arrive back at their breeding site the next spring within a few days of each other.

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  12. Humans

    Nobel prizes: The sweet smell of success

    Nobel prizes in the sciences went to research on olfactory genes, subatomic particles, and the molecular kiss of death.

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  13. Anthropology

    Evolution’s Buggy Ride: Lice leap boldly into human-origins fray

    A controversial genetic analysis of lice raises the possibility that some type of physical contact occurred between ancient humans and Homo erectus, probably in eastern Asia between 50,000 and 25,000 years ago.

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  14. Humans

    Scrubbing Down: Free soap, hygiene tips cut kids’ illnesses

    In urban slums, enhancing family hygiene can prevent about half of childhood diarrhea and respiratory illnesses, including pneumonia, even among infants too young to wash themselves.

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  15. Health & Medicine

    Vitamin Boost

    Vitamin D is being linked to a host of health benefits that go well beyond stronger bones, extending to muscle preservation and some protection against cancer, diabetes, and multiple sclerosis.

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  16. They’re Sequencing a What?

    Announcements of new targets for genome sequencing are bringing celebrity to lesser-known twigs on the tree of life.

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