More Stories from the September 11, 2004 issue
- Health & Medicine
Immune reaction to poison gas brings delayed effects
Researchers have a new understanding of why some survivors of carbon monoxide poisoning later develop concentration problems, personality changes, or sensory impairments.
- Animals
Owls use tools: Dung is lure for beetles
Burrowing owls' habit of bringing mammal dung to their burrows attracts edible beetles and counts as form of tool use.
- Earth
Compost reduces landfill gas
Field tests suggest that covering solid waste with compost instead of conventional soil could reduce methane-gas emissions from landfills.
- Health & Medicine
Juice could ward off cancer in smokers
Drinking grapefruit juice every day could reduce the risk of developing cancer from smoking.
- Chemistry
Molecular machines split water
Hydrogen derived from molecular machines that use solar energy to split water, rather than hydrogen from fossil fuels, could drive future fuel cell vehicles.
- Physics
Gold quantum dots
Scientists have created a new type of quantum dot that could find applications in everything from biological imaging to computer displays.
- Chemistry
Meteorites may have delivered phosphorus
Meteorites may have supplied enough phosphorus to prebiotic Earth to spawn the first signs of life.
- Earth
No Deep Breathing: Air pollution impedes lung development
Spending one's childhood in a community with polluted air stalls lung development roughly as much as does having a mother who smokes.
- Earth
Cool Harvest: Frost on sea ice may boost atmosphere’s bromine
Frost flowers, the delicate crystals that sometimes grow atop fresh sea ice, can be a substantial source of ozone-destroying bromine in lower atmosphere near the poles.
- Materials Science
Model Growth: Simulations expose branching nature of polymer crystals
Using computer models, scientists have uncovered previously unknown facets of the physics underlying polymer crystal growth.
- Health & Medicine
An Exploitable Mutation: Defect might make some lung cancers treatable
Nonsmokers who develop lung cancer are more likely than their smoking counterparts to have a mutation in the gene encoding epidermal growth factor receptor.
- Materials Science
Falling into Place: Atom mist yields nanobricks and mortar
Researchers have induced tiny particles of nickel to spontaneously assemble into exceptionally uniform, three-dimensional arrays of macroscopic size.
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A Very Spatial Brain Defect: Gene disorder blocks neural path for vision
Among its many unusual symptoms, the genetic disorder called Williams syndrome robs people of depth perception and the ability to visualize how different parts assemble into larger objects.
- Animals
Super Bird: Cooing doves flex extra-fast muscles
Muscles that control a dove's cooing belong to the fastest class of muscles known.
- Planetary Science
A really cool map
A new infrared image of Saturn's rings provides the most detailed temperature map ever taken of these icy particles.
- Health & Medicine
Figuring Out Fibroids
Researchers now have a better understanding of which women develop fibroids and what causes them.
- Agriculture
The Ultimate Crop Insurance
A new treaty renews hope that the waning diversity in agricultural crops can be slowed, and important genes preserved, both in the field and in gene banks.
- Humans
Letters from the September 11, 2004, issue of Science News
Say what? I don’t think anyone should be surprised that squirrels have figured out how to say “nyah, nyah” to rattlesnakes (“Ultrasound alarms by ground squirrels,” SN: 7/3/04, p. 14: Ultrasound alarms by ground squirrels). After all, it’s what they’ve been saying to cats, dogs, and bird-feeder owning humans for years. R. Kelly WagnerAustin, Texas […]
