Vol. 162 No. #11
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More Stories from the September 14, 2002 issue

  1. Animals

    Singing frog in China evokes whales, primates

    A frog in China warbles and flutes with such versatility that its high-pitched calls sound like those of birds or whales.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    Protein flags colon, prostate cancers

    A compound first identified as a possible culprit in Huntington's disease may be an indicator of cancers of the prostate gland and colon.

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  3. Animals

    Many fish run on empty

    Many fish eat all the time, while some others spend their days going from brief feast to lengthy famine.

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  4. Earth

    Cave formations yield seismic clues

    Analyses of toppled stalagmites and other fallen rock formations in two Israeli caves may provide hints about the rate of ancient earthquakes in the area.

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  5. Earth

    Chinese records show typhoon cycles

    Historical records compiled by local governments along China's southeastern coast during the past 1,000 years suggest that there's a 50-year cycle in the annual number of typhoons that strike the area.

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  6. Archaeology

    Could the Anasazi have stayed?

    New computer simulations of the changing environmental conditions around one of the Anasazi cultural centers in the first part of the last millennium suggest that drought wasn't the only factor behind a sudden collapse of the civilization.

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  7. Chemistry

    Money Allergies: Two-toned euro coins shed metallic allergen

    The two-alloy composition of some euro coins makes them release large amounts of nickel, a common skin allergen.

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  8. Distressing Dispatches: Some journalists feel stress wounds of war

    A substantial and largely unnoticed minority of war reporters and photographers develops symptoms of a severe stress reaction as a result of the job.

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  9. Astronomy

    Birth of a Tiny Galaxy: In the universe, dwarfs may pop up last

    Using the Hubble Space Telescope to observe a tiny galaxy still in the process of being born, astronomers are getting a rare glimpse of how larger galaxies formed early in the history of the universe.

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  10. Humans

    Small Steps: World Summit delegates wrangle over eco-friendly future

    Twenty thousand delegates from around the world met in Johannesburg last week for a contentious World Summit on Sustainable Development.

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  11. Materials Science

    Better-Built Diamonds: Fast growth, purity may multiply uses

    A research group has fabricated the purest diamonds ever made or found, and another has devised a way to grow high-quality diamonds up to 100 times faster than typical growth rates.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    Smoking Gun? Mouse tests link nicotine to crib death

    Nicotine may impair a molecule that's necessary for arousing people and other animals from sleep, an effect that could account for the heightened risk of sudden infant death syndrome in babies born to women who smoked during pregnancy.

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  13. Corn Defenses: Bitten plants deploy gut-rotting enzyme

    Some corn varieties that arose on the Caribbean island of Antigua defend themselves with chemical attacks that leave insect gut linings in tatters.

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  14. Health & Medicine

    Targeted Therapies

    Tailoring prescriptions based on a person's genes may help reduce side effects and allow the development of more personalized medicine.

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  15. Save Our Sounds

    Some 14 libraries around the world have built up substantial collections of natural sounds, from bird songs to fish hums.

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