Science News articles from August 2007

Science News archives from August 2007

Slick death: oil-spill treatment kills coral.(This Week)(chemical dispersants)
August 4, 2007... Chemicals used to disperse marine oil slicks may harm corals more than the off itself does, according to a new study. The finding suggests that chemical dispersants should be used near reefs only as a last resort, when oil approaches a...

Waking up: brain stimulator spurs dramatic improvement years after injury.(This Week)
August 4, 2007... A man who spent 6 years in a minimally conscious state regained the ability to talk, eat, and move after doctors implanted electrodes deep in his brain. "The improvements were significant, particularly the communication, because it allowed...

Asian Forecast: hazy, warmer: clouds of pollution heat lower atmosphere.(This Week)
August 4, 2007... The murky clouds of smoke and soot that blanket many regions of Asia have heated the lower atmosphere there in recent decades as much as increases in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases have, a new field study suggests. Scientists...

G whiz! Craft identifies source of faint saturnian ring.(This Week)(G ring)
August 4, 2007... Among Saturn's shimmering ice belts, the planet's G ring has proved the most puzzling. The very location of this faint, narrow ring, well beyond the planet's main ring system, has been a riddle ever since the two Voyager spacecraft spied it in...

Fatherless stem cells: scientific fraud involved an accidental advance.(This Week)(Woo Suk Hwang's research on creating stem cells from unfertilized egg cell)
August 4, 2007... South Korean researcher Woo Suk Hwang caused a scandal in 2005 by falsifying data about his attempts to make the first embryonic stem cells from cloned human embryos. However, new research shows that Hwang's team accidentally made stem cells by...

Soot sense: test tallies exposure to diesel pollution.(This Week)
August 4, 2007... Diesel exhaust from sources such as buses, trucks, and farm equipment is a major component of air pollution around the world and has been linked with lung cancer and other illnesses. Both the Environmental Protection Agency and the National...

Crinkle wrinkle.(This Week)(thin film wrinkles depending on its properties)(Brief article)
August 4, 2007... A thin film wrinkles differently depending on its thickness and elasticity--just as a prune forms wider, deeper wrinkles the thicker or less flexible its skin is. In this image, a droplet of water rests on a polystyrene film a quarter of a...

New clues: gene variations may contribute to MS risk.(This Week)(Multiple sclerosis)
August 4, 2007... Certain versions of two genes show up in multiple sclerosis patients more often than in people without the disease, researchers report. Although these variations modify the usual roles of the genes only in subtle ways, scientists suspect that...

Red-ape stroll: orangutans step into the evolutionary fray over how we became upright.(Cover story)
August 4, 2007... Look, up in the trees. A barrel-chested, long-limbed creature covered with wispy, reddish hair sits on a branch far above the ground. The animal rises to a fully erect posture, reaches up to grab an overhead branch for balance, and promenades...

Signs of life? Organisms' effects on terrain aren't all that easy to perceive.(geomorphologists)
August 4, 2007... Imagine our planet unmarred by humans: no buildings, no highways, no farms, no dams, no open-pit mines. Now, imagine the world suddenly swept clean of all life whatsoever: no plants, no animals, not a single microbe. Would the newly vacant...

Statin reduces dementia risk.(BIOMEDICINE)(Brief article)
August 4, 2007... A popular anticholesterol drug cuts older adults' chances of developing dementia by more than half, according to a new review of 4.5 million medical records. Earlier research offered a mixed picture of cholesterol-reducing statins and...

Shedding light on the precursor to a supernova.(ASTRONOMY)(eruption of supernova)(Brief article)
August 4, 2007... By examining gas lit up by an exploding star, astronomers have obtained new insight into how a common type of supernova erupts. According to a widely accepted model, the stage is set for a type la supernova when a dense, Earthsize star...

TB medication offers pain relief.(BIOMEDICINE)(tuberculosis' D-Cycloserine)(Brief article)
August 4, 2007... A drug used nearly half a century ago to treat tuberculosis may help people who experience chronic pain. The drug, an antibiotic called D-Cycloserine, reduces chronic-pain-like symptoms in rats. A. Vania Apkarian of Northwestern University...

Light reaches deep in southeastern Pacific.(EARTH SCIENCE)(Brief article)
August 4, 2007... An oceanographic survey of the southeastern Pacific has discovered a region where ultraviolet radiation penetrates deeper than has been measured in any other ocean locale. Sunlight streaming onto the ocean's surface is either absorbed by...

More math helps young scientists.(SCIENCE & SOCIETY)(taking advanced high school math )(Brief article)
August 4, 2007... Apparently, high school math is the key to good grades in college science classes. A survey of more than 8,000 students from 74 colleges found that each additional year of high school math correlated with a 1-to-2-point advantage, on a...

Gecko adhesive gets added mussel.(MATERIALS SCIENCE)(combining knowledge in making adhesives based on characteritics of mussels and geckos)(Brief article)
August 4, 2007... Geckos walk up and down walls with the greatest of ease, thanks to tiny, spatula-shaped "hairs" on their feet that adhere and release (SN: 7/15/00, p. 47). Although materials researchers have made surfaces that borrow from the nanoscale design...

Metal spews from tires and brake pads.(ENVIRONMENT)(Brief article)
August 4, 2007... As well as tailpipe emissions, cars and other vehicles throw off metal pollutants from wear on various parts. Despite European regulations requiring cleaner materials in vehicles, a study in Stockholm shows that tires are a significant source...

Dinosaurs' gradual rise to dominance.(PALEONTOLOGY)(dinosauromorphs )(Brief article)
August 4, 2007... Fossil finds in the southwestern United States suggest that dinosaurs didn't quickly supplant the creatures they evolved from, as many paleontologists have assumed. The first dinosaurs evolved from reptiles called dinosauromorphs about 235...

Survival of the Sickest: A Medical Maverick Discovers Why We Need Disease.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
August 4, 2007... SURVIVAL OF THE SICKEST: A Medical Maverick Discovers Why We Need Disease. SHARON MOALEM Can sunbathing reduce cholesterol levels? Did diabetes help humans survive the ice age? Moalem investigates these questions and others surrounding...

Einstein: A Biography.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
August 4, 2007... EINSTEIN: A Biography JURGEN NEFFE In translator Shelley Frisch's newly published English version of a 2005 German best seller, readers gain insight into the personal and professional lives of Albert Einstein--a man of enormous intelligence...

The Social Atom: Why the Rich Get Richer, Cheaters Get Caught, and Your Neighbor Usually Looks Like You.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
August 4, 2007... THE SOCIAL ATOM: Why the Rich Get Richer, Cheaters Get Caught, and Your Neighbor Usually Looks Like You MARK BUCHANAN Common wisdom dictates that the laws of physics aren't directly applicable to human behavior. Buchanan begs to disagree....

Poincare's Prize: The Hundred-Year Quest to Solve One of Math's Greatest Puzzles.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
August 4, 2007... POINCARE'S PRIZE: The Hundred-Year Quest to Solve One of Math's Greatest Puzzles GEORGE G. SZPIRO In 1904, French mathematician Henri Poincare proposed the following problem: Imagine an ant crawling on a large surface. How would it know...

Breathing Space: How Allergies Shape Our Lives and Landscapes.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
August 4, 2007... BREATHING SPACE: How Allergies Shape Our Lives and Landscapes GREGG MITMAN Watery eyes, runny noses, and sneezing fits are just a few of the symptoms that the more than 50 million allergy sufferers in the United States deal with each year....

Here comes the sun.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
August 4, 2007... When "Reaching for Rays: Scientists work toward a solar-based energy system" (SN: 5/26/07, p. 328) says that "scientists don't expect traditional silicon-based solar cells to become competitive with fossil fuels," one has to ask, "Ever?" Can...

Skeletal discovery: bone cells affect metabolism.(This Week)(osteocalcin in osteoblasts)
August 11, 2007... If your blood glucose is out of whack, the problem may be in your bones. New research in mice shows that bone cells exert a surprising influence on how the body regulates sugar, energy, and fat. The discovery could lead to new ways to treat...

Ferrets gone wild: reintroduced animals coming back in Wyoming.(This Week)
August 11, 2007... The first wild population of endangered black-footed ferrets that started from captive-bred animals, once feared to have died out, has survived and is growing, researchers say. The latest survey, from 2006, reports nearly 200 ferrets in...

Bad for baby: new risks found for plastic constituent.(This Week)(bisphenol A)
August 11, 2007... Two animal studies demonstrate that early exposure to a chemical known to leach from baby bottles, the linings of food cans, and other plastic items can trigger illness and even changes in genetic expression. A building block of polycarbonate...

Nerve link: Alzheimer's suspect shows up in glaucoma.(This Week)(amyloid beta-protein)
August 11, 2007... A protein fragment that litters the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease may also bear responsibility for some of the vision loss in glaucoma, a new study in rats shows. Glaucoma patients typically have abnormal fluid pressure within...

Drug overflow: pharmaceutical factories foul waters in India.(This Week)(contamination of Godavari river )
August 11, 2007... Pharmaceuticals ranging from painkillers to synthetic estrogens can harm aquatic life when they enter waterways through human excreta, hospital and household waste, and agricultural runoff. Now, researchers have shown that there's another way...

Bad news, good news: ADHD-risk gene has silver lining.(This Week)(attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, DRD4 gene variant)
August 11, 2007... A gene variant that increases the risk for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder also appears to help children grow out of the worst of their behavioral problems as certain brain structures normalize, new research suggests. "It looks...

Newton's dusty mirror: old experiment inspires ultrafast imaging.(This Week)(Isaac Newton's optical experiment)
August 11, 2007... Occasionally, science museums can stimulate new science. Inspired by an exhibit on an optical experiment performed by Isaac Newton, physicists have taken the first X-ray snapshot of a microscopic explosion. Physicists Henry Chapman and...

Taking a jab at cancer: combined with drugs, vaccines against tumors may finally be working.
August 11, 2007... Imagine a patient getting a vaccine injection in the doctor's office--but not to ward off a virus or a bacterium that causes smallpox, measles, or any other infectious disease. This vaccine is for cancer, specifically for a tumor already...

Hammered saws: shark relatives with threatening snouts win global protection.(sawfish)
August 11, 2007... The sawfish features one of Mother Nature's oddest designs. Its flat snout resembles a chain saw with dozens of toothlike minidaggers. When the predator encounters a school offish, it slashes its saw from side to side. As the injured quarry...

Deep Impact and Stardust: still on assignment.(PLANETARY SCIENCE)(NASA spacecraft and space probe, Comet Boethin)(Brief article)
August 11, 2007... Two old NASA missions have new lives. The agency's Deep Impact mission, which 2 years ago fired a projectile into Comet Tempel 1 and imaged the debris from the explosion, will now journey to Comet Boethin. Deep Impact doesn't have another...

Cholesterol boosts diesel toxicity.(ENVIRONMENT)(Brief article)
August 11, 2007... Cholesterol poses a cardiovascular risk once it becomes transformed into an inflammatory building block of artery-clogging plaque. That process, which happens all the time, is triggered by oxidation. A new study finds that breathing nanoscale...

Gender bender.(ANIMAL SCIENCE)(female mice behaving like males)(Brief article)
August 11, 2007... Call the gender police. Girl mice act like frisky boys when a chemical-sniffing organ crucial for courting behavior is disabled. The altered females chased cage mates of both sexes, persistently sniffing their rear ends, mounting them, and...

CT heart scans: risk climbs as age at screening falls.(HEALTH PHYSICS)(computed tomography)(Brief article)
August 11, 2007... Use of computed tomography (CT) scans to investigate heart blockages is becoming common, especially for people entering emergency rooms with severe chest pain. A new study quantifies a downside to these rapid and relatively noninvasive scans:...

Pliable carbon.(MATERIALS SCIENCE)(graphene)(Brief article)
August 11, 2007... Researchers have made graphene paper. Graphene is the net of carbon atoms, reminiscent of chicken wire, that forms graphite and carbon nanotubes. In graphite, electrostatic forces make graphene layers cling together and form microscopic...

Veiled black holes.(ASTRONOMY)(active galactic nuclei variant)(Brief article)
August 11, 2007... Lurking at the centers of many galaxies, supermassive black holes make their presence known by gobbling gas, which heats up to fuel quasars and other fireworks. These so-called active galactic nuclei (AGN) are among the most luminous objects in...

Beware summer radon-test results.(ENVIRONMENT)(Brief article)
August 11, 2007... Measuring radon with testing kits that sit in a house for just a few days can yield misleadingly low values in summer, a new study finds. Alabama maintains a statewide database of 36,000 domestic measurements of radon, a radioactive gas...

Serotonin lower in shift workers.(BIOMEDICINE)(Brief article)
August 11, 2007... Workers who rotate between day and night shifts are at high risk for sleep and mood disorders. New research highlights a possible biological explanation--lower amounts of the key brain chemical serotonin. Serotonin helps regulate the...

The Zen of Fish: The Story of Sushi, from samurai to Supermarket.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
August 11, 2007... THE ZEN OF FISH: The Story of Sushi, from samurai to Supermarket TREVOR CORSON Sushi has overcome its modest origins. What began as a cheap Japanese street food has become a staple in supermarkets and restaurants across the United States....

Endless Universe: Beyond the Big Bang.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
August 11, 2007... ENDLESS UNIVERSE: Beyond the Big Bang PAUL J. STEINHARDT AND NElL TUROK The Big Bang theory posits that the universe sprang into being in a violent explosion more than 14 billion years ago. In recent decades, the theory has been revised on...

An Ocean of Air: Why the Wind Blows and Other Mysteries of the Atmosphere.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
August 11, 2007... AN OCEAN OF AIR: Why the Wind Blows and Other Mysteries of the Atmosphere GABRIELLE WALKER Air may be Earth's most underappreciated resource. Indeed, Earth's atmosphere makes life possible--it is essential to the food people eat, warms the...

The Hazards of Space Travel: A Tourist's Guide.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
August 11, 2007... THE HAZARDS OF SPACE TRAVEL: A Tourist's Guide NEIL F. COMINS Space tourism is becoming an increasingly realistic possibility, at least for those able to afford the hefty ticket prices. Lest everyone jump on the space bandwagon prematurely,...

The World Without Us.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
August 11, 2007... THE WORLD WITHOUT US ALAN WEISMAN What would happen to the world if humans were to suddenly disappear? This provocative question provides the impetus for this book, which looks at how humans have changed the planet and explores whether...

Sum kids.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
August 11, 2007... While testing was done on 5- or 6-year-old children ("Take a Number: Kids show math insights without instruction," SN: 6/2/07, p. 341), it would be interesting to see if this intuitive skill persists after these students are exposed to standard...

Blowback.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
August 11, 2007... People get excited about the birds and bats killed by 400-foot windmills planted in their flyways ("Guidelines for wind farms," SN: 6/9/07, p. 365), but the average wind speed should also be considered. In our region, the wind speed averages 11...

Mood bugs: beetle changes color in fluid fashion.(This Week)
August 18, 2007... Color-changing animals, such as chameleons and squid, typically alter their hues when nerve signals or hormones spur pigment cells in their skin to expand or shrink. The Panamanian golden tortoise beetle, however, changes color dramatically...

Calming factor: DNA vaccine for MS passes initial test.(This Week)(multiple sclerosis)(Clinical report)
August 18, 2007... An experimental vaccine for people who have multiple sclerosis has proved safe, clearing a necessary first hurdle toward regulatory approval. The results of this initial trial also suggest that the vaccine can indeed quell the self-destructive...

A moment in the life of a cell: microscopic scan images without intruding.(This Week)
August 18, 2007... A new imaging tool could enable researchers to get three-dimensional images of single living cells without resorting to the time-honored procedure of staining their inner structures with chemicals. "We can image the cell as it is; says...

Shocking sheets: power paper packs a punch.(This Week)
August 18, 2007... A new, ultrathin material made from cellulose, the main ingredient in paper, could power future electronic gadgets, medical implants, and even hybrid vehicles. Developed by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., the...

Protein lineages: randomness was crucial to ancient genetic changes.(This Week)
August 18, 2007... After resurrecting a protein from an animal species that lived about 470 million years ago, a team of scientists has now partly reconstructed the protein's evolutionary history. The rare glimpse into a protein's past reveals how a sequence...

Depression defense: sick elderly get mood aid from home treatment.(This Week)
August 18, 2007... Brief instructional sessions delivered by a nurse or psychologist show promise as a way to prevent depression in elderly people with serious health problems, at least in the short run. As the U.S. population ages, such treatment--which...

Road bumps: why dirt roads develop a washboard surface.(This Week)
August 18, 2007... Driving on a dirt road can rattle the bones. Every foot or so, a ridge of dirt up to several inches high lies in wait to jolt passing ears and trucks and their hapless occupants. In many places, road crews battle this "washboard" effect by...

Idiosyncratic Iapetus: Saturnian moon puts a time stamp on the outer solar system.(Cover story)
August 18, 2007... Iapetus, the third-largest and second-farthest-out of Saturn's satellites, is the weirdest moon in the solar system. One half of it is as bright as snow, the other as black as charcoal. Neither spherical nor ellipsoidal, as most moons are,...

Alien pizza, anyone? Biochemistry may have taken a different turn on other worlds.
August 18, 2007... Everything was ready for the celebratory feast. Weeks earlier, the alien fleet had entered Earth's orbit and made radio contact, and now the visitors would receive their official welcome. Dozens of heads of state would greet humanity's guests...

Badly matched birds make troubled parents.(PARTNERING)(Brief article)
August 18, 2007... The troubles of parents who don't communicate well take a toll on their offspring--even among cockatiels. That's the conclusion of work by Rebecca Fox, now of the University of Nevada in Reno. She let captive cockatiels choose mates...

What's so great about 'chuck'?(COMMUNICATION)(Brief article)
August 18, 2007... A little "chuck" sound that a kind of male frog can add to his call proves attractive to friends and foes alike. Now, researchers suggest an explanation for the sound's wide appeal. Small, dark tungara frogs, found in Mexico and northern...

How reading may protect the brain.(ENVIRONMENT)(Brief article)
August 18, 2007... Workers at lead-smelting plants can suffer substantial neural damage from exposure to the toxic heavy metal. Workers who read well, however, experience comparatively less mental impairment, a new study finds. It's not that the better...

Uncharted atomic landscapes.(TECHNOLOGY)(Brief article)
August 18, 2007... Electron microscopes can now not only image single atoms but also map the locations of different chemical elements in a sample. A scanning-transmission electron micro scope (STEM) operates by sending an atom-thin beam of electrons through a...

Anti-inflammatory prevents pancreatic cancer in mice.(BIOMEDICINE)(Brief article)
August 18, 2007... An inflammation-fighting drug limits premalignant lesions in mice prone to getting pancreatie cancer. The new finding suggests that this drug or related ones might prevent pancreatic cancer in people who face an elevated risk of developing it....

Geyser gawker: Plans for a closer look at Enceladus.(PLANETARY SCIENCE)(Brief article)
August 18, 2007... Saturn's moon Enceladus has been in the spotlight ever since the Cassini spacecraft discovered geysers jetting plumes of water vapor from its south pole (SN: 6/2/07, p. 350). The presence of water, along with organic compounds found on the...

The 50 Best Sight in Astronomy and How To See Them: Observing Eclipses, Bright Comets, Meteor Showers, and Other Celestial Wonders.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
August 18, 2007... THE 50 BEST SIGHTS IN ASTRONOMY AND HOW TO SEE THEM: Observing Eclipses, Bright Comets, Meteor Showers, and Other Celestial Wonders FRED SCHAAF On the basis of a lifetime of space observations, Schaaf, an astronomer and a writer for Sky &...

The Blue Death: Disease, Disaster, and the Water We Drink.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
August 18, 2007... THE BLUE DEATH: Disease, Disaster, and the Water We Drink ROBERT D. MORRIS Many people in the United States take clean drinking water for granted. Such complacency, Morris argues, could mean trouble down the road, as the water supply is...

Lives of the Planets: A Natural History of the Solar System.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
August 18, 2007... LIVES OF THE PLANETS: A Natural History of the Solar System RICHARD CORFIELD Within the past 20 years, astronomical exploration has vastly increased the understanding of Earth's planetary neighbors. In an effort to capture and distill this...

A Measure of All Things: The Story of a Man and Measurement.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
August 18, 2007... A MEASURE OF ALL THINGS: The Story of Man and Measurement IAN WHITELAW Inches and centimeters are common units of measurement. But does anyone know what a sydharb is? Of a perch or lustrum, for that matter? Who created these terms, and...

The Most Important Fish in the Sea.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
August 18, 2007... THE MOST IMPORTANT FISH IN THE SEA H. BRUCE FRANKLIN Franklin recounts how the menhaden, a fish that most people today have never heard of, helped shape the natural history of the United States. Native Americans and early settlers buried...

Exhaustive analysis.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
August 18, 2007... I would debate the "1,000 watts or more" value attributed to typical adults during strenuous exercise ("Powering the Revolution: Tiny gadgets pick up energy for free, SN." 6/2/07, p. 344). Hiking up steep slopes, I rarely exceed 250 W myself,...

Seeking the hole truth.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
August 18, 2007... Rather than concluding that the object that hit Canada 12,900 years ago was a comet, I wonder whether there might not be an alternate reason that geologists haven't discovered a large hole ("Ice Age Ends Smashingly: Did a comet blow up over...

If you can stomach it: obesity surgery extends life span.(This Week)
August 25, 2007... Stomach surgery to curb the appetite offers a radical weight-loss option for extremely obese people. Two studies now show that those who get the surgery live longer than those who don't. The research may put to rest lingering doubts about...

Infectious obesity: adenovirus fattens stem cells.(This Week)
August 25, 2007... Twenty-five years ago, researchers discovered that certain viruses can cause obesity in some animals. A decade ago, they extended the finding to people. Now, a team reports that one such virus works by transforming adult stem cells into...

High volume, low fidelity: birds are less faithful as sounds blare.(This Week)(finches)
August 25, 2007... Female zebra finches, normally devoted to their mates, are more likely to flirt with male strangers when background noise goes up, say researchers. A test with finches in a lab found that white noise with the loudness of heavy traffic...

Groomed for trouble: mice yield obsessive-compulsive insights.(This Week)(obsessive-compulsive disorder study)
August 25, 2007... Neuroscientist Guoping Feng and his colleagues had a simple plan. They would breed mice lacking a particular gene in order to probe the brain effects of the protein produced by that gene. To the scientists' surprise, they found that these...

Separation anxiety: cosmic collision may shed light on dark matter.(This Week)
August 25, 2007... Some 3 billion years ago, two massive clusters of galaxies collided head on. The debris from this ancient cosmic train wreck, astronomers say, might pose a new puzzle about the invisible material believed to account for most of the mass in the...

Crueltyfree: counting photons without killing them.(This Week)
August 25, 2007... Disclaimer. No particles were harmed in the making of this experiment. Physicists have found a way to count photons as they zip along, without destroying them. The researchers say that the technique will enable scientists to probe quantum...

O river deltas, where art thou? Coastal sinking stalls sediment accumulation.(This Week)(Siberian delta)
August 25, 2007... Gradual subsidence of terrain along the western coast of Siberia since the end of the last ice age has thwarted the formation of fiver deltas there, a new study suggests. When large rivers reach the sea, they slow and drop much of their...

Cellulose dreams: the search for new means and materials for making ethanol.
August 25, 2007... Alternative energy is hitting the headlines. Last year, former Vice President Al Gore scored a surprise hit with his climate-change documentary An Inconvenient Truth. Currently, drivers are steeling themselves against gasoline prices that could...

Fire inside: structural design with fire safety in mind.(building stability and safety)
August 25, 2007... Assistant chief firefighter Allen Hay was off duty the day terrorists flew hijacked airplanes into the World Trade Center buildings. By the time he reached the scene, both the North Tower and South Tower had collapsed, killing at least 2,550...

Tail singers.(ANIMAL SCIENCE)(hummingbirds)(Brief article)
August 25, 2007... The sound effects of Anna's hummingbirds, widespread along the West Coast, have been misunderstood, according to a new test. Some of the males' most dramatic noises aren't vocalizations, as has been thought. Instead, the birds make noises...

The origins of immunity?(BIOLOGY)(amoebas)(Brief article)
August 25, 2007... When the going gets tough, social amoebas get together. Most of the time, these unusual amoebas live in the soil as single-celled organisms, but when food runs short, tens of thousands of them band together to form a sluglike multicellular...

It's not nice to fool Mother Nature.(CLIMATE)(measures against global warming)(Brief article)
August 25, 2007... Attempts to manipulate climate to counteract current trends of global warming could cause more problems than they solve, a study of weather data suggests. Major volcanic eruptions spew large amounts of tiny particles, or aerosols, high...

Cat disease associated with flame retardants.(ENVIRONMENT)(feline hyperthyroidism)(Brief article)
August 25, 2007... Since 1979, a mysterious epidemic has been afflicting house cats. Feline hyperthyroidism, usually characterized by weight loss, hyperactivity, and eventual heart disease, is now the leading hormonal disorder in cats. A pilot study tentatively...

Lithium might help bone healing.(MICROBIOLOGY)(Brief article)
August 25, 2007... Lithium maintains production of a bone-repair protein, suggesting that the element might help people with fractures that are mending slowly or not at all. Scientists had known that the protein beta-catenin is instrumental in orchestrating...