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Science News articles from April 2006
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Science News archives from April 2006
Smarty brains: high-IQ kids navigate notable neural shifts.(according to Philip Shaw)
April 1, 2006... The road to exceptional intelligence is paved with dramatic neural alterations, a new brain-imaging study finds.
Critical parts of the brain's outer layer, or cortex, thicken more rapidly during childhood and thin more drastically during...
XXL from too few Zs? Skimping on sleep might cause obesity, diabetes.(This Week)
April 1, 2006... Widespread sleep deprivation could partly explain the current epidemics of both obesity and diabetes, emerging data suggest.
Too little sleep may contribute to long-term health problems by changing the concentrations of hormones that...
Pigging out healthfully: engineered pork has more omega-3s.(This Week)
April 1, 2006... Bringing home the bacon may soon lead to a healthier meal. In a feat of genetic engineering, scientists have created pigs that sport much higher concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids in their tissues than normal pigs do.
Many studies have...
Cool wire: nanostructure boosts superconductor.(This Week)
April 1, 2006... Superconductive wire remains a wannabe technology for many applications. Although some ceramic wires can compete with conventional copper for use in power lines, they don't meet requirements for widespread use in industrial devices containing...
Awake and learning: memory storage begins before bedtime.(neurological research)
April 1, 2006... Learning isn't a task that just happens overnight. While research has suggested that a good night's sleep aids in memory storage, some memory is processed while a person is still awake, a new study finds.
Previous research in both people...
Coral clues: rise and fall of reefs record quakes' effects.(This Week)
April 1, 2006... Shallow coral reefs around islands west of Sumatra chronicled the uplift and subsidence that resulted from massive quakes that struck that region recently, a new study shows. From data recorded in this biological database, scientists may learn...
Propelling evidence: Cassini finds clues to source of Saturn's rings.(This Week)
April 1, 2006... Four propeller-shaped gaps in one of Saturn's main rings are the latest evidence that a shattered moon produced the planet's dazzling hoops. The discovery supports the theory that a comet or asteroid struck a large, icy Saturn moon about 100...
Thugs and bugs: cellular pathogens act like human criminals.
April 1, 2006... From across the street, a man clad in a black suit surveys an office building. Several of his henchmen have just cut the building s phone lines and scrambled its Internet and cell phone signals so that the workers inside have no way to summon...
Uncharted territory: ultraslow ridges hold new clues to crust's formation.(Cover story)
April 1, 2006... At the top of the world in the late summer of 2001, the U.S. Coast Guard's icebreaker Healy carved a slow path through the ice-covered Arctic Ocean. On board, marine geologist Henry Dick sent dredge after dredge through the ice to the seafloor,...
Hairy crab lounges deep in the pacific.(ZOOLOGY)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... A newly discovered deep-sea creature has the body of a crab--except with long, fluffy, blonde hair covering its legs.
It lives some 2,200 meters deep in the southeast Pacific near hydrothermal vents, says Joe Jones of the Monterey Bay...
On a dare, teen advances medical science.(roundworms and their health aspects)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... A 16-year-old daredevil inadvertently demonstrated the incubation period of a common roundworm-caused disease after she swallowed an earthworm at a friend's behest. The earthworm harbored larvae of the parasite, her doctors later concluded.
...
Device rids homes of sounds of rap.(Tassano invented Birds-Away Attack Spider, device to prevent woodpeckers from damaging)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... If you live in a house with wood siding--or in a log cabin--you might need protection from a little-recognized but destructive avian threat. "Woodpeckers cause millions of dollars in damage each year to homes and buildings across the United...
Wary male spiders woo lifelessly.(ZOOLOGY)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Certain male spiders confront the threat of a cannibalistic female with a novel tactic: They play dead while having sex.
Nursery spiders (Pisaura mirabilis) belong to a family known for violent females that, on occasion, attack and eat...
Shafts of snow sculpted by sun.(research on glaciers)
April 1, 2006... On the surfaces of many glaciers high in the Andes Mountains, towering spikes of snow called penitentes crowd the terrain like legions of white ghosts. Now, experiments on miniature, laboratory versions of such spikes suggest that those...
Tiny wires trigger electric reversal.(SUPERCONDUCTIVITY)
April 1, 2006... Physicists have observed an unexpected reversal of conductive behavior in ultracold, ultrathin zinc wires.
Typically, a metal wire more readily superconducts, or transports electricity without resistance, when it spans superconductive...
Corralling Brownian motion.(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... If you think making a little kid sit still for a camera is hard, try it with a protein in a water droplet. Such tiny objects jitter constantly from collisions with molecules of the water around them, and that activity quickly drives a protein...
Meetings.(American Physical Society's conference)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... American Physical Society
Baltimore, Md.
March 13-17
Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2006... FIELD NOTES FROM A CATASTROPHE: Man, Nature, and Climate Change ELIZABETH KOLBERT
In the Arctic, land that was once permanently frozen is collapsing into giant sinkholes. Huge glaciers are melting and accelerating downstream toward the...
Dr. Art's Guide to Science: Connecting Atoms, Galaxies, and Everything in Between.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2006... DR. ART'S GUIDE TO SCIENCE: Connecting Atoms, Galaxies, and Everything in Between ART SUSSMAN
In this colorfully illustrated and irreverent book, Sussman, a science educator, introduces the young reader to the major concepts in science and...
Sky Walking: An Astronaut's Memoir.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2006... SKY WALKING: An Astronaut's Memoir THOMAS D. JONES
This is the book for anyone who has ever wondered how astronauts train, what happens off camera on space trips, or how exhausting it might be to take a space walk. Jargonfree and without...
When the Rivers Run Dry: Water--The Defining Crisis of the Twenty-First Century.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2006... WHEN THE RIVERS RUN DRY: Water--The Defining Crisis of the Twenty-First Century FRED PEARCE
Earth contains 1.1 quadrillion acre-feet of water, yet its supply of fresh water is quickly dwindling to crisis levels. In individual consumption...
American Green: The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Lawn.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2006... AMERICAN GREEN: The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Lawn TED STEINBERG
Maintaining the ideal lawn is a constant battle against crabgrass, drought, weeds, and lawn-destroying vermin. It takes gas-powered machines, potent fertilizers, and...
The prion game.(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... I must quibble about the headline of the piece about chronic wasting disease in deer ("Hunter Beware: Infectious proteins found in deer muscle," SN: 1/28/06, p. 52). "Hunter Beware" sounds ominous, but in order to get the mice to exhibit...
Pesky pesticides.(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... I refer to the article on pyrethroid insecticides, "A Little Less Green?" (SN: 2/4/06, p. 74). I suggest that all pesticides, regardless of their chemical structure, should be applied by trained operators who are equipped to degrade the run off...
Cool idea.(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... After reading about the use of electrons in a particle accelerator to "cool" the antiprotons in a secondary ring ("Smashing Success: Accelerator gets cool upgrade," SN: 2/4/06, p. 68) I have a question. Is it possible to make a long straight...
See blind mice: algae gene makes sightless eyes sense light.(This Week)
April 8, 2006
Ring around the pulsar: planets may form in a harsh environment.(This Week)
April 8, 2006
Wired viruses: new electrodes could make better batteries.(This Week)
April 8, 2006
Polyp stopper: controversial drug may prevent colon growths.(Celebrex)
April 8, 2006
Mystery drilling: ancient teeth endured dental procedures.(This Week)
April 8, 2006
A shot against pandemic flu: vaccines would play pivotal role in response.(This Week)
April 8, 2006
Building a bladder: patients for the first time benefit from lab-grown organs.(This Week)
April 8, 2006
Spin city: fiber technique fuels materials research.
April 8, 2006
Revealing covert actions: updated technologies expose air's unseen eruptions.(triacetone triperoxide )
April 8, 2006
Parasite can't survive without its tail.(Trypanosoma brucei)(Brief article)
April 8, 2006
Sharpshooter threatens Tahiti by inedibility.(ZOOLOGY)(Brief article)
April 8, 2006
Chimps scratch out grooming requests.(ANTHROPOLOGY)(Brief article)
April 8, 2006
Two-fifths of Amazonian forest is at risk.(SCIENCE AND SOCIETY)(Brief article)
April 8, 2006
Experimental drug targets Alzheimer's.(BIOMEDICINE)(Brief article)
April 8, 2006
Twin history.(Milky Way and Andromeda galaxy's research)(Brief article)
April 8, 2006
Another red spot, by Jove.(jupiter's research)(Brief article)
April 8, 2006
Volcanic mineral caused rare cancer in Turkey.(erionite)(Brief article)
April 8, 2006
Hot and cold.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
April 8, 2006
Remember your vitamins.(Letter to the editor)
April 8, 2006
Corrections.(Correction notice)
April 8, 2006
Branchless evolution: fossils point to single hominid root.(This Week)
April 15, 2006... Scientists working in Ethiopia's Middle Awash valley have uncovered fossils of a 4.1-million-year-old human ancestor that bolster the controversial proposition that early members of our evolutionary family evolved one at a time on a single...
Microbe hunt: novel bacterium infects immune-deficient people.(This Week)
April 15, 2006... A newfound bacterium can cause illness in people, its discoverers have concluded. However, it may infect only people with a rare, inherited form of immune deficiency.
All three patients known to carry the microbe had a preexisting immune...
Estrogen safety: studies raise cancer, blood clot questions.(This Week)
April 15, 2006... Three studies this week brought mixed news about the risks of estrogen-only hormone replacement therapy to ameliorate menopausal symptoms.
Data from a massive study called the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) show that estrogen therapy...
Into hot water: lab test shows that worms seek heat.(This Week)
April 15, 2006... Worms from deep-sea vents actually prefer water at temperatures near the upper limits of what animals are known to survive. An experiment, featuring a heated aquarium pressurized to 246 atmospheres, marks the first time researchers have...
Limited storage: lack of nutrients will constrain carbon uptake.(This Week)
April 15, 2006... Plants take carbon dioxide out of Earth's atmosphere and use its carbon to promote their growth. However, if human activities continue to increase atmospheric concentrations of the planet-warming gas, vegetation won't sequester large amounts of...
Sleeper finding: hormone key to hibernation?(This Week)
April 15, 2006... A recently discovered hormone may play a major role in triggering and maintaining hibernation. The finding could shed light on this annual period of slumber, which largely remains a mystery even after decades of research.
Each year,...
Dynamic duo: two catalysts build valuable carbon chains.(This Week)
April 15, 2006... By combining the power of two well-known reactions, chemists have devised a way to alter the length of carbon chains. The process might someday convert less-valuable carbon chains into a transportation fuel, the researchers say.
As oil...
Brilliant! Tenth planet turns out to be a shiner.(xena)
April 15, 2006... Xena, unofficially called the 10th planet, is the second-most-shiny known object in the solar system, new observations show. Scientists are scrambling to explain where Xena got its sparkle. Some suggest that it might have enough heat to belch...
They're all part fungus: grass blades, coffee or cacao leaves ... probably all plants.
April 15, 2006... You've mistaken a fungus for a pine tree" can be a ticklish thing for one botanist to say to another. Yet, in the 1990s, one respected university researcher made that very accusation to another. Stories such as this have spiced botanist gossip...
Region at risk: a look at San Francisco's seismic past and future.
April 15, 2006... At 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906, the residents of San Francisco awoke with a start as a massive temblor ripped along the San Andreas fault. The shifting earth turned liquid, and buildings shook from their foundations. Subterranean gas pipes...
Early farmers took time to tame wheat.(ARCHAEOLOGY)(Brief article)
April 15, 2006... Domesticated varieties of wheat emerged gradually in the prehistoric Near East over a roughly 3,000-year span, a new investigation suggests.
Ken-ichi Tanno of the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature in Kyoto, Japan, and George...
Hummingbirds can clock flower refills.(ZOOLOGY)(Brief article)
April 15, 2006... Hummingbirds can keep track of when a particular flower has replenished its nectar and is worth visiting again, say researchers working in the Canadian Rockies.
That knack may require that hummingbirds have parts of what's called episodic...
Making mercury.(its history of origin)(Brief article)
April 15, 2006... A theory about the early solar system suggests that Mercury arose when a giant asteroid struck a large planet 4.5 billion years ago, leaving behind what would become the solar system's innermost planet. New computer simulations indicate that...
Another visitor to Mars.(Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter)(Brief article)
April 15, 2006... The newest emissary from Earth arrived at the Red Planet on March 10. The NASA craft, known as the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, joins three other satellites exploring the planet: two from NASA and one from the European Space Agency. Meanwhile,...
Breakfast trends.(NUTRITION)(Brief article)
April 15, 2006... Breakfast contributes significantly--and positively to the quality of U.S. diets, a new survey finds. On average, it offers just 17 percent of the day's calories but provides a quarter of the day's recommended intake of dairy foods, 28 percent...
DO flame retardants make people fat?(TOXICOLOGY)(Brief article)
April 15, 2006... Studies in recent years have found growing concentrations of certain brominated chemicals in the blood of people worldwide. Manufacturers use these substances widely as flame retardants in plastics and foams. Although the chemicals have caused...
Alcohol spurs cancer growth.(BIOCHEMISTRY)(Brief article)
April 15, 2006... At least in mice, downing the human equivalent of two to four alcoholic drinks per day dramatically spurs the growth of an existing cancer.
Epidemiologic studies have shown that people who regularly drink alcohol face an increased risk of...
Foodfree growth.(rattlsnakes can hibernate for 2 years)(Brief article)
April 15, 2006... Animals endure famine--some more successfully than others--by cannibalizing their own tissues. Rattlesnakes, among the champions, can survive more than 2 years between meals.
To understand how, evolutionary physiologist Marshall McCue of...
What We Believe But Cannot Prove: Today's Leading Thinkers on Science in the Age of Certainty.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
April 15, 2006... WHAT WE BELIEVE BUT CANNOT PROVE: Today's Leading Thinkers on Science in the Age of Certainty JOHN BROCKMAN, ED.
Science is the incremental process of making hypotheses and then testing and retesting them until they're disproved or...
The Electric Life of Michael Faraday.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
April 15, 2006... THE ELECTRIC LIFE OF MICHAEL FARADAY ALAN HIRSHFELD
Michael Faraday began his adult life as an impoverished bookbinder, but with innate curiosity. Hirshfeld describes Faraday's early career toiling ceaselessly in makeshift laboratories and...
The Science of Wine: From Vine to Glass.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
April 15, 2006... THE SCIENCE OF WINE: From Vine to Glass JAMIE GOODE
Wine inspires passion and devotion. Many oenophiles say that the beverage captures the soul of the land on which its grapes were grown. Goode, a wine columnist and former scientific...
Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
April 15, 2006... BEFORE THE DAWN: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors NICHOLAS WADE
Much is known about the physical evolution of humans from their divergence from chimps 5 million years ago to the emergence of modern people 50,000 years ago. But...
Something Out of Nothing: Marie Curie and Radium.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
April 15, 2006... SOMETHING OUT OF NOTHING: Marie Curie and Radium CARLA KILLOUGH MCCLAFFERTY
Through her remarkable achievements in the male-dominated field of the physical sciences, Marie Curie opened the door for a legion of other women. As a...
Light shift.(Letter to the editor)
April 15, 2006... Regarding "Blasts from the Past: Astronomers begin to go the distance with gamma-ray bursts" (SN: 2/11/06, p. 88), why is it that visible light is shifted to lower frequencies but gamma rays aren't? Shouldn't they have become X rays after all...
Sizzle or fizzle?(Letter to the editor)
April 15, 2006... There are several problems with the popular-press interpretation of the study described in "Low-Fat Diet Falls Short: It's not enough to stop cancers, heart disease" (SN: 2/11/06, p. 85). The study saw a reduction to only 29 percent of calories...
Corrections.(Correction notice)
April 15, 2006... "Ancient Andean Maize Makers: Finds push back farming, trade in highland Peru" (SN: 3/4/06, p. 132) miscalculated when the Inca civilization arose, which was nearly 1,000 years ago. "That's One Weird Tooth" (SN: 3/25/06, p. 186) should have...
Crash: ripples of space-time debut in black hole simulations.(This Week)
April 22, 2006... When black holes collide, they cause surrounding space-time to wiggle, generating a torrent of radiation known as gravitational waves. That's what Einstein's general theory of relativity predicts, but computer models have struggled for more...
Switch-a-vision: electric spectacles could aid aging eyes.(This Week)
April 22, 2006... A new type of eyeglasses with electrically adjustable focus might someday render bifocals and reading glasses obsolete, the device's inventors say. So far, the researchers have made a battery-powered prototype with close-up focus that flicks on...
Decent interval: well-spaced babies may have advantage.(This Week)
April 22, 2006... Babies conceived 18 months to 5 years after a previous birth are healthier than those conceived at shorter or longer intervals, a massive data analysis shows.
Studies to determine the optimal spacing between a birth and the mother's next...
Me and my metabolism: personalized medicine takes new direction.(This Week)
April 22, 2006... Physicians may someday predict a drug's toxic effects in individual patients on the basis of their metabolisms, a proof-of-principle study in rats suggests. The finding could lead to a major shift in expectations for personalized medicine,...
Dementia off the menu: mediterranean diet tied to low Alzheimer's risk.(This Week)
April 22, 2006... People who eat a Mediterranean-style diet are less likely than their peers to develop Alzheimer's disease, according to new research on elderly Manhattan residents. The study is the first to link brain benefits to a comprehensive dietary...
Picking pathways: small molecule boosts morphine effect.(This Week)
April 22, 2006... Some small molecules affect specific pathways in one of the body's most common cell-regulating systems, according to a new report. The work could aid investigations of the pathways and lead to new drug therapies, the report's authors say.
...
Babies prune their focus: perception narrows toward infancy's end.(This Week)
April 22, 2006... Rather than crawling inexorably toward a better appreciation of the world around them, infants take a perceptual step backward before their first birthday, a new study indicates. That reversal, ironically, paves the way for advances in thinking...
To leap or not to leap: scientists debate a timely issue.(Cover story)
April 22, 2006... Did last New Year s Eve seem a trifle tedious. I Did your celebration go on a little too long? Maybe that s because just before midnight Greenwich Mean Time--6:59:59 Eastern Standard Time to be exact--the international authority on timekeeping...