Science News articles from August 2006

Science News archives from August 2006

Titan's lakes: evidence of liquid on Saturn's largest moon.
August 5, 2006... New radar images indicate that Saturn's giant moon Titan contains lakes of liquid hydrocarbons. The finding provides the first compelling evidence for bodies of liquid on the surface of any object besides Earth, say the researchers who analyzed...

What's new in the water? Survey tallies emerging disinfection by-products.
August 5, 2006... By analyzing drinking-water samples from U.S. treatment plants, a multi-institute research team has identified some unexpected by-products of disinfection processes. The data indicate compounds that toxicologists should target for further...

Northern refuge: white spruce survived last ice age in Alaska.
August 5, 2006... Genetic analysis of white spruce trees at sites across North America suggest that that species endured the harsh climate of Alaska throughout the last ice age, a notion that scientists have debated for decades. Picea glauca, the white...

Microbial mug shots: telltale patterns finger bad bacteria.(laser beam used for knowing about bacterial colonies)
August 5, 2006... In their everyday battles against harmful bacteria, physicians, food producers, and others need to know quickly which foe they're facing. Yet the procedures currently used to identify bacterial colonies are often time-consuming and expensive....

Stung lung: volatile chemical may cut respiratory capacity.(Stephanie J. London of National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research does research )
August 5, 2006... A chemical in some air fresheners and pestcontrol products may slightly impair lung function in millions of people, a nationwide study suggests. The compound, para-dichlorobenzene, is used to make mothballs, urinal deodorizers, and...

Racial IQ gap narrows: blacks gain 4 to 7 points on whites.(intelligence quotient)
August 5, 2006... A statistical analysis of four national intelligence tests indicates that the difference in scores between blacks and whites decreased by about a third between 1972 and 2002. The findings challenge a century-old argument that the racial gap in...

Autism's cell off: neural losses appear in boys, men with disorder.
August 5, 2006... The brains of males with autism contain unusually few neurons in the amygdala, an inner-brain structure involved in emotion and memory, a new study finds. Although previous research had suggested that wayward amygdala development...

Hot and hungry bees hit hot spots.(prefer warm temperature)(Brief article)
August 5, 2006... As bumblebees buzz around, their body temperatures tend to be warmer than 30[degrees]C. In this infrared image, the brighter the region the higher the temperature, such as on the bumblebee's upper back. According to new lab experiments, the...

Books for late summer: from genius genes to tyrannosaur musings.(Who's Your Daddy? The Genius Factory: The Curious History of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank)(Code Breaking: A Toy Story PopCo)(Thinking About Tomorrow Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change)(Murder and Old Bones Tyrannosaur Canyon)(Decoding Decision Makers Blink)(The Wisdom of Crowds)(A Curious Gaze at the Heavens Find the Constellations)(A Journey Through the World's Backwaters the Ends of the Earth)(Ice Age: From Heroic Scientists to Black-Op Spies Fifty Degrees Below)(Book review)
August 5, 2006... Whether you go to a house at the beach or a cabin in the woods, selecting books to take along is a crucial part of vacation planning. As a Science News reader, you probably consult the "Books" section at the back of recent issues. But for your...

Preserving paradise: huge patch of Hawaiian reefs gets monumental protection.(George W. Bush takes initiative)
August 5, 2006... Dozens of sun-drenched atolls and reefs jut out of Hawaii's northwestern waters, creating an archipelago some 1,400 miles long. Virtually free of human habitation, those islands' sandy beaches may look like ideal spots to get away from it all....

Ancient rains made Sahara livable.(Brief article)
August 5, 2006... Today, no one lives in the parched eastern Sahara desert of Egypt, Sudan, Libya, and Chad. But between 10,500 and 7,300 years ago, monsoon rains transformed this region into a lush magnet for people, a new investigation suggests. A gradual...

Follow the lead.(detecting toxic metal in live cells )(Brief article)
August 5, 2006... A new water-soluble, lead-sensing chemical is the first to detect the toxic metal in live cells, chemists report. Christopher J. Chang of the University of California, Berkeley and his coworkers synthesized a molecular sensor that combines...

Named medical trials garner extra attention.(Survey)(Brief article)
August 5, 2006... AVIATOR. SHOCK. AWESOME. Some medical researchers tag clinical studies with eye-grabbing acronyms to make them easier to refer to and remember. A new study suggests that an acronym also heightens the frequency with which other researchers cite...

Close look confirms two eyes on Venus.( European Space Agency's Venus Express observes)(Brief article)
August 5, 2006... A spacecraft that recently arrived at Venus has confirmed the presence of an unusual storm feature--two giant, hurricane-like eyes within a storm at the planet's south pole. The European Space Agency's Venus Express first observed the...

Drug rescues cells that age too fast.(kinases)(Brief article)
August 5, 2006... People with the rare genetic disease Werner syndrome appear to age at up to five times the normal rate. Furthermore, their cells and tissues undergo early senescence and death. Scientists have now identified a potential drug that slows aging...

Social jet lag: need a smoke?(Till Roenneberg of Ludwig-Maximilian University does research onbiologicals clocks)(Brief article)
August 5, 2006... People who have a hard time waking in the morning because their bodies' internal clocks are out of syne with their sleep schedules are said to have "social jet lag" Researchers in Europe have determined that the phenomenon strongly correlates...

Tapping out a TAI-CHI tune.(Main Crevoisier does research on computer-controlled musical instrument )(Brief article)
August 5, 2006... Main Crevoisier had reckoned that it would be easy to turn almost any hard surface into a keyboard, drum head, or other input for a computer-controlled musical instrument. Just place a few sensors somewhere under a tabletop to read sound waves...

Virtual reality for earthquake fears.(Brief article)
August 5, 2006... A team of researchers is developing computer-generated, virtual reality technology to prepare 12-to-16-year-old Greek children, including those with special needs, for a terrifying event they're likely to encounter: an earthquake. The...

The Father of Forensics: The Groundbreaking Cases of Sir Bernard Spilsbury and the Beginnings of Modern CSI.(Brief article)(Book review)
August 5, 2006... THE FATHER OF FORENSICS: The Groundbreaking Cases of Sir Bernard Spilsbury and the Beginnings of Modern CSI COLIN EVANS Building on the increasing popularity of forensic science in the media, Evans provides a glimpse into the...

The Human Body: Uncovering Science.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
August 5, 2006... THE HUMAN BODY: Uncovering Science CHRIS HAWKES How many kids know that the heart beats up to 10,000 times a day? Or that the brain operates on the same amount of energy as a 10-watt lightbulb? More young people will know those facts...

Skyscrapers: Uncovering Technology.(Brief article)(Book review)
August 5, 2006... SKYSCRAPERS: Uncovering Technology CHRIS OXLADE In this lavishly illustrated book, Oxlade introduces young readers to the amazing feats of engineering that are behind the world's tallest buildings. People have always aspired to build...

The Houseplant Encyclopedia.(Brief article)(Book review)
August 5, 2006... THE HOUSEPLANT ENCYCLOPEDIA INGRID JANTRA AND URSULA KRUGER Houseplants bring fresh air and life to indoor environments, but many would-be gardeners go without these benefits because they find it too challenging to keep indoor plants...

Seeking the Sacred Raven: Politics and Extinction on a Hawaiian Island.(Brief article)(Book review)
August 5, 2006... SEEKING THE SACRED RAVEN: Politics and Extinction on a Hawaiian Island MARK JEROME WALTERS In a poignant style, veterinarian and journalist Waiters tells a cautionary tale about how politics and conservation can intersect in a way...

Rod is the spoiler.(Letter to the editor)
August 5, 2006... While I applaud the work that is looking at the biochemical correlates of aggressive and delinquent behavior, it is important to emphasize that environmental factors still predominate when we are searching for the roots of violence ("Violent...

Odd shape.(Letter to the editor)
August 5, 2006... When I looked at the photo for "As waters part, polygons appear" (SN: 6/3/06, p. 348), I didn't see a "pentagonal shape" in the swirling water. I saw a sine wave, wrapped around a circle. I was immediately reminded of the Bohr--de Broglie model...

Rash statements?(Letter to the editor)
August 5, 2006... It's big news that poison ivy thrives where there are higher concentrations of carbon dioxide ("Pumped-up Poison Ivy: Carbon dioxide boosts plant's size, toxicity," SN: 6/3/06, p. 33.9)? Did everyone forget elementary school science and plant...

Bad vibrations? Ultrasound disturbs mouse brains.(fetal development problems)
August 12, 2006... Prolonged and frequent use of fetal ultrasound might lead to abnormal brain development, a study in mice suggests. The finding sounds a cautionary note for pregnant women getting the commonplace procedure. In that technique, an ultrasound...

Macho moms: perchlorate pollutant masculinizes fish.(This Week)
August 12, 2006... Known largely as a component of rocket fuel, perchlorate is a pollutant that often turns up in soil and water. In dozens of studies, it has perturbed thyroid-hormone concentrations, which can affect growth and neurological development. Data...

New view: method looks inside embryo fossils.(using a X-Ray scanning equipment)
August 12, 2006... Using an X-ray-scanning technique, scientists have taken a high-resolution peek inside fossilized embryos of some of the earliest multicellular organisms. The procedure offers paleontologists a nondestructive way to see what's preserved inside...

Solar system small fry: stellar blinks reveal tiny bodies near Pluto.
August 12, 2006... By measuring tiny dips in the intensity of X rays from a distant star, astronomers say that they have detected more than 50 of the tiniest chunks of ice ever found in the outer solar system. Since 1992, researchers have discovered nearly...

Total recall: drug shows long-lasting boosts of memory in rats.
August 12, 2006... An experimental drug completely regenerates parts of the brain crucial to forming memories, according to researchers who performed tests on rats. Moreover, the drug's effects linger after it clears from a rat's system, so it may lead to a...

Need for speed: faster-acting tuberculosis drugs now in testing would limit deaths.
August 12, 2006... Drugs that would take only 2 months to cure tuberculosis instead of the usual 6 months could prevent millions of TB infections and deaths, a new analysis finds. "It's hard to get people to finish a 6-month course, since a lot of patients...

Fish as farmers: reef residents tend an algal crop.(damselfish cultivates underwater gardens of algal species)
August 12, 2006... A damselfish cultivates underwater gardens of an algal species that researchers haven't found growing on its own. The special alga could be the fishy version of people's domesticated crops, says Hiroki Hata of Kyoto University in Japan....

Crouching scientist hidden dragonfly: monitoring insect lifestyles in the air and the mud.(Martin Wikelski and David Wilcove research)(Cover story)
August 12, 2006... When Martin Wikelski and David Wilcove went bird-watching in Cape May, N.J., one fall day in 2004, they were surprised to find that the main spectacle had four wings instead of two. Migrating dragonflies filled the air, flashing iridescent...

Outside looking in: researchers open new windows on Asperger syndrome and related disorders.
August 12, 2006... In 2003, neuroscientist Matthew K. Belmonte documented the daily lives of a pair of 13-year-old identical twins with an unusual bond. Both twins have Asperger syndrome, a disorder related to autism and characterized by social cluelessness,...

Braking news: disks slow down stars.(telescope usage)(Brief article)
August 12, 2006... Left to their own devices, young stars would twirl so fast that they'd fly apart. Astronomers have long suspected that the planet-forming disks of gas and dust that surround many newborn stars put the brakes on these whirling dervishes. Now,...

Poor sleep can accompany schizophrenia.(Brief article)
August 12, 2006... The body's internal biological clock coordinates a host of rhythms--from hormone production to sleep-wake times--on about a 24-hour cycle. Although everyone's clock tends to run a little fast or slow, sunlight usually resets it. In people with...

Blood sugar and spice.(consuming cayenne pepper)(Brief article)
August 12, 2006... Eating cayenne pepper with meals may mitigate a hormonal response that's linked to diabetes, a trial of two diets suggests. To compare the effects on insulin of different patterns of chili pepper consumption, researchers at the University...

Scientists find midnight-snack center in brain.(obese people eating habits)(Brief article)
August 12, 2006... Researchers have tracked down the location of a body clock that appears to be regulated by food. Several studies have documented that many obese people eat more than half their daily calories at night. Some scientists have hypothesized...

As glaciers shrink, the Alps get taller.(Brief article)
August 12, 2006... As massive glaciers melt in the Alps, the reduction in weight on those peaks is causing them--and the entire region--to gain altitude. Recent surveys of Alpine glaciers suggest that the ice masses as a whole are losing more than 1.5 billion...

Blood clot protein is stretchiest natural fiber ever found.(Brief article)
August 12, 2006... Scientists have new clues to how blood clots seal off wounded blood vessels despite the pressure generated by the pumping heart. The protein that's the backbone of these clots can stretch to several times its length and snap back to its...

Obsidian artifacts can record ancient climate.(Brief article)
August 12, 2006... The layer of material that forms on the surfaces of arrow points, spearheads, and certain other natural-glass objects, as they age can be used to estimate the temperatures that the artifacts have experienced, a new analysis suggests. The...

Glare gives silicon goose bumps.(usage of Fluorescent lighting in silicon chips)(Brief article)
August 12, 2006... Fluorescent lighting in chip factories creates tiny, possibly troublesome welts on the silicon used to make microcircuits, new experiments suggest. Scientists who have seen such nanoscale bumps form in their lab say that light might be...

My Einstein: Essays by Twenty-Four of the World's Leading Thinkers on the Man, His Work, and His Legacy.(Brief article)(Book review)
August 12, 2006... MY EINSTEIN: Essays by Twenty-Four of the World's Leading Thinkers on the Man, His Work, and His Legacy JOHN BROCKMAN, ED, Einstein was one of the most influential physicists ever and one of the most famous figures of the 20th century....

The Female Brain.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
August 12, 2006... THE FEMALE BRAIN LOUANN BRIZENDINE While men and women share more than 99 percent of their genetic coding, the remaining 1 percent makes the two sexes' perceptions of the world profoundly different. Scientists are becoming more aware...

Hollow Earth: The Long and Curious History of Imagining Strange Lands, Fantastical Creatures, Advanced Civilizations, and Marvelous Machines Below the Earth's Surface.(Brief article)(Book review)
August 12, 2006... HOLLOW EARTH: The Long and Curious History of Imagining Strange Lands, Fantastical Creatures, Advanced Civilizations, and Marvelous Machines Below the Earth's Surface DAVID STANDISH In 1692, Edmond Halley submitted a paper to the...

Blame It On the Rain: How the Weather Has Changed History.(Brief article)(Book review)
August 12, 2006... BLAME IT ON THE RAIN: How the Weather Has Changed History LAURA LEE Short of catastrophic storms, changing weather conditions usually are only a minor inconvenience in this day and age. But historically, as author Lee reveals, the...

To Cherish the Life of the World: Selected Letters of Margaret Mead.(Brief article)(Book review)
August 12, 2006... TO CHERISH THE LIFE OF THE WORLD: Selected Letters of Margaret Mead MARGARET M. CAFFREY AND PATRICIA A. FRANCIS, EDS. Margaret Mead was an influential American cultural anthropologist and feminist who offered the world an unprecedented...

Dates of contention.(Letter to the editor)
August 12, 2006... Are the dates quoted in "Stones of Contention: Tiny Homo species tied to ancient tool tradition" (SN: 6/3/06, p. 341) correct? I didn't think Homo existed as a genus 840,000 years ago. DAVID ADAMS, BOOTHWYN, PA. Fossil finds indicate...

No juicy story.(Letter to the editor)
August 12, 2006... "Homegrown Defender: Urinary infections face natural guard" (SN: 6/10/06, p. 355) leads me to ask if this explains the efficacy of that standard home remedy for preventing urinary tract infections: cranberry juice. Does it contain a...

Divide and conquer.(Letter to the editor)
August 12, 2006... Reading the June 10 issue, I was prepared to catch the Simpsonesque spoof (blunder?) in the "Leggiest Animal: Champ millipede located after 79-year gap" (SN: 6/10/06, p. 357). Perhaps the creature had up to 748 legs, or possibly up to 752 legs,...

Disorder in the court.(Letter to the editor)
August 12, 2006... With the known link of asbestos to lung cancer, the new finding that many other diseases can be caused by asbestos only serves as fodder for litigation, clogging of our legal system, and, unfortunately, more enrichment of trial lawyers instead...

New solar system? Twelve planets and counting.(International Astronomical Union )
August 19, 2006... Pluto aficionados, rejoice! Pluto is a planet. So are the giant asteroid Ceres, Pluto's moon Charon, and a large outer-solar system object called 2003 UB313. The solar system has 12 planets instead of the familiar 9, according to a proposal...

Fewer drugs, same outcome: simpler HIV regimens are effective.(Roy M. Gulick of Weill Medical College does research on HIV treatment)
August 19, 2006... The current standard of HIV treatment isn't improved by the addition of a fourth drug, a 3-year study concludes. Moreover, after their disease is under control, some patients can maintain health by taking only a single drug, according to a...

Holy smoke: burning incense, candles pollute air in churches.(Stephan Weber of the University of Duisburg-Essen does research )
August 19, 2006... Incense and candles release substantial quantities of pollutants that may harm health, a detailed new study of air quality in a Roman Catholic church suggests. Even brief exposure to contaminated air during a religious service could be...

Evolution's DNA difference: noncoding gene tied to origin of human brain.(deoxyribonucleic acid )
August 19, 2006... Scientists have identified a gene that appears to have evolved rapidly in people and contributed to the emergence of the uniquely human brain. Rather than coding for a protein, as about half of known genes do, the newly discovered gene...

Origins of ache: immune proteins may yield chronic-pain clues.
August 19, 2006... In people with chronic pain that has no obvious cause, chemical messengers that rev up or slow down inflammation are often out of balance, a new study finds. These proteins, called cytokines, are made predominantly by immune cells. ...

Tricky transformation: bubbling gases tighten, then loosen, the grip of novel molecules on grime.(Philip G. Jessop of Queen's University does research on surfactant)
August 19, 2006... Imagine if detergent could not only pick up grease from your clothes but also let it go on command. You might then prevent the detergent from going down the drain with the dirt. A new class of compounds created by researchers in Canada and...

Logos to go: hydrogel coatings provide removable color.(Cornell University's D. Tyler McQuade invents biodegradable coating)
August 19, 2006... A biodegradable coating could add a temporary splash of color to sports fields, buildings, or even people's bodies. This is the first example of a removable color coating made from environmentally benign ingredients, its inventors say. ...

The sun's halo in 3-D: new perspectives on solar explosions.
August 19, 2006... For 4 minutes and 7 seconds early on the afternoon of March 29, thousands of people who had trekked deep into the southern Sahara Desert saw blazing day turn into night. Wearing turbans to keep the sand out of their hair, the sky watchers in...

The screen team: less unpleasant colon exams might catch more cancers.
August 19, 2006... As tumors go, those in the colon and rectum are among the most preventable. In their early stages, they're also beatable. Yet every year in the United States, nearly 150,000 new cases of colorectal cancer emerge, and the disease kills about...

Rogue alga routed.(caulerpa taxifolia)(Brief article)
August 19, 2006... One of the world's worst weeds, Caulerpa taxifolia, has been eradicated from a lagoon in southern California, government officials reported last month. It was the alga's only known invasion in the Western Hemisphere. Once marketed globally...

On-chip lamp scores a bull's-eye.(brightness of light emitting diodes)(Brief article)
August 19, 2006... Etching a series of concentric ridges around the lamp-on-a-chip known as a light-emitting diode, or LED, flings forward light that otherwise would be lost to the sides or back of the device. The ridges boost an LED's brightness seven-fold...

Air conditioning could heat the world.(Brief article)
August 19, 2006... Global warming predicted for the coming decades may decrease heating bills in some parts of the United States. Ironically, the extra electricity needed for air conditioning could result in increased emissions of planet-warming carbon dioxide....

Hydrogen hopes in carbon shells.(light weight storage for fuels to come in hydrogen-powered vehicles )
August 19, 2006... To succeed as alternatives to conventional cars and trucks, hydrogen-powered vehicles will need a safe, lightweight, compact, and cheap way to store their fuel. Now, theorists studying spherical, 60-carbon shells called buckyballs (SN: 5/20/06,...

Nanotubes signal when engine oil needs changing.(Seung-Il Moon of Korea University finds)(Brief article)
August 19, 2006... A new, easy-to-fabricate sensor made from carbon nanotubes detects when automobile-engine oil needs replacement. As a car is driven, its lubricating oil undergoes chemical reactions with air and with combustion by-products. Those reactions...

Seabirds take record summer vacations.(sooty shearwaters)(Brief article)
August 19, 2006... Seabirds called sooty shearwaters fly some 64,000 kilometers traveling to and from their New Zealand breeding grounds each year, an international research team reports. That's the longest breeding-season-to-breeding-season trek monitored...

Grand Canyon fish seem to be rebounding.(humpback chub's number rising)(Brief article)
August 19, 2006... The population of humpback chub, a fish found only in the Colorado River and its tributaries, may be stabilizing in sections of the Grand Canyon, new data suggest. Gila cypha, a member of the minnow family that can grow to 50 centimeters...

Mulch matters.(releases arsenic into atmosphere)(Brief article)
August 19, 2006... Mulch made from recycled construction and demolition wood can release arsenic into the environment, a study finds. Outdoor structures such as decks typically contain wood treated with chromated copper arsenate (CCA) to make it resistant to...

Butterflies of the World.(Brief article)(Book review)
August 19, 2006... BUTTERFLIES OF THE WORLD GILES MARTIN AND MYRIAM BARAN With their rich diversity of more than 200,000 species worldwide, striking coloring, and amazing life cycles, butterflies and moths capture people's imaginations. French...

Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design.(Brief article)(Book review)
August 19, 2006... WHY DARWIN MATTERS: The Case against Intelligent Design MICHAEL SHERMER Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, conceived after his voyage to the Galapagos Islands, is a scientific achievement whose importance has reached mythic...

Noise.(Brief article)(Book review)
August 19, 2006... NOISE BART KOSKO Car alarms, cell phone chatter, speakers blaring music from every corner of every shop and restaurant. People live in a world in which noise is so ubiquitous that they hardly give it a second thought. Noise, generally...

Can You Feel the Force? Putting the Fizz Back Into Physics.(Brief article)(Book review)
August 19, 2006... CAN YOU FEEL THE FORCE? Putting the Fizz Back into Physics RICHARD HAMMOND Physics is the science of action. With it, we can explain why the planets orbit the sun, why a ball bounces, and why you feel that brief sensation of...

Darwinism and Its Discontents.(Brief article)(Book review)
August 19, 2006... DARWINISM AND ITS DISCONTENTS MICHAEL RUSE While many creationists take the Bible literally, believing that God created all living things in a short span of time, as they are today others have a more nuanced view of life's beginnings....

Aye carumba.(Letter to the editor)
August 19, 2006... Math isn't the only science that makes it into The Simpsons ("Springfield Theory," SN6/10/06, p. 360). In one episode a few years ago, a meteorite landed near Bart. He picked it up and put it in his pocket. Although most people are under the...

The way we were.(Letter to the editor)
August 19, 2006... Tiktaalik may not have left the water by choice, to avoid predators, or to get more oxygen. Instead, it might have found itself left behind on a muddy floodplain each time waters receded with the tide ("Amphibious Ancestors," SN: 6/17/06, p....

A frown for the birdie.(Letter to the editor)
August 19, 2006... I learned that there are three types of birds: eagles, ducks, and tweety birds. To claim that all modern birds evolved from aquatic ancestors based on a 110-million-year-old fossil seems presumptuous ("Ancient webbed masters," SN: 6/17/06, p....

Correction.(LETTERS)(Correction notice)
August 19, 2006... "Repaired Vision: Hubble's camera sees again" (SN: 7/8/06, p. 19) incorrectly stated that NASA wouldn't fly a shuttle mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope until 2010. The mission to repair Hubble could be launched as early as December...

Enlightened: dark matter spotted after cosmic crash.
August 26, 2006... An intergalactic collision is providing astronomers with a giant payoff: the first direct evidence of the invisible material that theorists say holds galaxies together and accounts for most of the universe's mass. For some 70 years,...

Risky legacy: African DNA linked to prostate cancer.(deoxyribonucleic acid )
August 26, 2006... The high rate of prostate cancer among African American men may result in large part from a newly identified stretch of DNA passed down from their African ancestors. A black man's odds of developing prostate cancer by age 55 are more than...

Fields medals: mathematicians win awards for geometry, physics, and probability.(Grigori Perelman honored)
August 26, 2006... Grigori Perelman electrified the mathematical world 3 years ago with his claim to have solved one of the most famous problems in mathematics (SN: 6/14/03, p. 378). The Russian mathematician has now been awarded a Fields Medal, the highest honor...

Sweet finding: researchers propose candidate sour sensor.(Charles S. Zuker of University of California)
August 26, 2006... Two teams of scientists have identified a protein on the surfaces of select tongue cells that may be the long-sought detector of sour taste. People and some other animals, including mice, distinguish five recognized tastes: sweet, bitter,...

Underage spiders: males show unexpected interest in young mates.
August 26, 2006... To the surprise of biologists, a male Australian redback spider will mate with a juvenile female before her reproductive tract has an external opening. The male bites through the immature female's outer coveting and by doing so, protects his...

Pathogen preference: infected amoebas flourish in cooling towers.
August 26, 2006... Cooling towers on buildings harbor amoebas infected with both known and unknown types of bacteria. New research raises the possibility that such towers are more effective than natural waters at fostering novel bacterial species that cause...