Science News articles from February 2003

Science News archives from February 2003

Milk ran deep in prehistoric England. (Dairying pioneers).
February 1, 2003... Farmers who settled in England around 6,000 years ago literally milked cattle and other grazing animals for all they were worth. A chemical analysis of broken pots found at 14 ancient British sites confirms archaeological evidence suggesting...

Mailes prefer flower's scent to female wasp's. (Better than real).(orchids)
February 1, 2003... In an extreme case of sex fakery, an orchid produces oddball chemicals that mimic a female wasp's allure so well that males prefer the floral scents to the real thing, scientists say. This plant's come-on is different from that of a related...

Gel helps animals detect thermal fluctuations. (Shark sense).
February 1, 2003... Sharks possess uncanny skill at tracking down prey, but it's unclear how the animals sense their surroundings so acutely. New studies suggest that a clear jelly under a shark's skin keeps the animal informed about minute changes in seawater...

Noise may cause gene damage in heart. (Rackets and radicals).
February 1, 2003... Exposure to loud, continuous sound can pepper free radicals throughout heart tissue and cause injury to cells' DNA that persists after the din subsides. This new finding from animal research adds to evidence that too much noise may be bad for...

Sperm may follow rising temperature to egg. (Heat-seeking missiles).
February 1, 2003... As a blast of Arctic air chills much of the United States this winter, many people travel long distances seeking warmth. Much like sperm, apparently. A new study suggests that rabbit sperm find their way toward an unfertilized egg by...

Cetaceans provide cheap labor in the icy deep. (Putting whales to work).(environmental research in the Arctic)
February 1, 2003... Polar scientists have recruited an unlikely pair to aid their exploration of freezing Arctic waters: two wild white whales. The data gathered by these cetacean assistants promise to bolster scientists' understanding of environmental conditions...

Talent found: top science students chosen in 62nd annual competition.(2003 Intel Science Talent Search)
February 1, 2003... Forty wunderkinder from 14 states and the District of Columbia have been named as finalists in the 2003 Intel Science Talent Search. The competitors, announced on Jan. 29, represent the cream of more than 1,500 high school seniors who submitted...

Why the mercury falls: heavy-metal rains may trace to oxidants, including smog.
February 1, 2003... In the mid-1980s, some researchers in the northern Midwest, Canada, and Scandinavia began reporting alarming concentrations of mercury in freshwater fish. Curious about Florida's largemouth bass and other finned delicacies, state scientists...

Electronic jetsam: ocean rovers explore the depths and monitor the environment.
February 1, 2003... Twice each day at more than 1,100 sites around the world, scientists simultaneously loft weather balloons to collect data about Earth's atmosphere. During each balloon's ascent, which lasts a couple of hours or so, instruments garner...

Psychiatric drugs surge among kids. (Behavior).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... During the early 1990s, the numbers of children and teenagers in the United States receiving prescriptions for psychiatric drugs rose markedly, a new study finds. Julie M. Zito of the University of Maryland, Baltimore and her coworkers...

Clot promoter cuts surgical bleeding. (Biomedicine).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Blood banks face a perpetual supply shortage, but a clot-promoting agent known as recombinant activated factor VII (FVIIa) might offer a new means to staunch the demand for blood. When administered during surgery, the lab-generated enzyme can...

Gamma-ray burst leaves ephemeral afterglow. (Astronomy).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... A ground-based telescope on automatic pilot has recorded the visible-light afterglow of a gamma-ray burst less than 2 minutes after the eruption. One of the most energetic flashes of radiation known in the universe, gamma-ray bursts seem to be...

Quantum computers to keep an eye on. (Physics).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Among schemes to build extraordinarily powerful computers whose calculations depend on quantum properties of particles, an approach using molecules in liquids as information bits has consistently attained a higher level of computing complexity...

New moons for Neptune? (Astronomy).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Astronomers say they have discovered three additional moons circling Neptune. If confirmed, the findings would bring to 11 the planet's retinue and would be the first Neptunian moons found since Voyager 2 flew past the planet in 1989 and the...

As population ages, flu takes deadly turn. (Epidemiology).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... The annual toll of influenza has risen dramatically since the late 1970s, according to an analysis of U.S. death statistics. One major factor is the advancing average age of the population. Another is the increasing prevalence of virulent...

Sea bacteria may be new anticancer resource. (Chemistry).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Many drugs, including the antibiotic streptomycin, are derived from soil microbes called actinomycetes. Lately, however, scientists have been wondering whether they have wrung out all of the drugs possible from these bacteria. Now, William...

Kilauea: 20 years on, it's still erupting. (Earth Science).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... As of Jan. 3, Hawaii's Kilauea volcano has been erupting continuously for 2 decades. During that period, this Energizer Bunny of volcanic activity has repaved more than 110 square kilometers of mountainside, as well as 13 km of local highways....

Dreaming: An Introduction to the Science of Sleep.(Book Review)
February 1, 2003... J. ALLAN HOBSON Drawing on basic brain research, sleep-lab studies, and his own dream journal, Harvard psychiatrist and sleep researcher Hobson explains how and why the brain creates dreams. He and his team are focusing less on what dreams...

Floods, Droughts, And Climate Change.(Book Review)
February 1, 2003... MICHAEL COLLIER AND ROBERT H. WEBB The year 2002 was the second-worst wildfire season in 50 years, scorching more than 6.7 million acres of U.S. land. Almost half of the United States has experienced drought for several years. Despite these...

1421: The Year China Discovered America.(Book Review)
February 1, 2003... GAVIN MENZIES While pursuing his passion for medieval history, Menzies came across an intriguing item--a chart dated from 1424 that appeared to portray islands of the western Atlantic. After prolonged and intense research, he concluded...

Einstein's Unfinished Symphony Listening to the Sounds of Space-Time.(Book Review)
February 1, 2003... MARCIA BARTUSIAK Gravity waves--tremors in the fabric of space-time caused by massive cosmic events--define the great remaining mystery of Einstein's general theory of relativity, Physicist and veteran science writer Bartusiak spins this...

State Of The World 2003.(Book Review)
February 1, 2003... CHRIS BRIGHT, CHRISTOPHER FLAVIN, ET AL. This annual from the environmental watchdog group the Worldwatch Institute celebrates its 20th anniversary of tracking economic trends that imperil ecosystems and touting ways to foster an...

Picture this. (Letters).
February 1, 2003... "Photography at a Crossroads" (SN: 11/23/02, p. 331) asserts that the earliest photographic image was taken in 1826. In fact, the earliest photographic image may date to much earlier. Using silver nitrate on linen (1992) and later silver...

Oldies but goodies. (Letters).
February 1, 2003... What is reported in "Loony Tunes: Bugs blare in software set to music" (SN: 11/30/02, p. 339) is a new application of an old idea. In the 1950s and early 1960s, engineers would check a computer by setting a radio beside the central processing...

Vaccine query.
February 1, 2003... Many people who are exploring the possible connection between childhood vaccines and autism claim that the culprit is not the vaccines themselves, but the mercury-containing preservative thimerosal ("Study exonerates childhood vaccine," SN:...

Space, time, matter, and ... modern geometries.(Flatterland)(Book Review)
February 1, 2003... First there was Edwin A. Abbott's remarkable Flatland, published in 1884 and one of the all-time classics of popular mathematics. Now, from mathematician and accomplished science writer Ian Stewart, comes a dazzling, modern sequel. ...

Why did the space shuttle burn up? (Columbia Disaster).
February 8, 2003... The space shuttle Columbia, which tore apart killing all seven of its crew on Feb. 1 just minutes before it was scheduled to land, may have been doomed since its liftoff. That's when an estimated 2.7-pound chunk of insulating foam, perhaps...

Catch of the day for cancer researchers.(Brief Article)
February 8, 2003... Glowing zebrafish, like this one, may provide insight into the spread of human leukemia and other cancers in which a gene called MYC promotes cell growth. Researchers fused the mouse version of MYC to a gene encoding a fluorescent-green protein...

Foods' acrylamide risks appear low. (Exonerated).(study shows low cancer risk from foods with acrylamide)
February 8, 2003... A new Swedish analysis downplays the likelihood that people will develop cancer from eating foods naturally tainted with acrylamide, a building block of many plastics and an animal carcinogen. Acrylamide made headlines last year when...

Snoozing soundly staves off the big sleep. (Bad Sleepers Hurry Death).
February 8, 2003... For many people, a good night's sleep is rare. Surveys indicate that around one in three older adults, ages 55 and up, experiences chronic insomnia or other sleep disturbances. The news gets worse. Among a group of healthy elderly people...

Yields up in India; pests low in Arizona. (Bt Cotton).(genetically engineered cotton)
February 8, 2003... The two cotton-growing centers could hardly differ more. But small farms in India and industrial fields in Arizona both provide case studies that show the bright side of a widespread genetically engineered crop. The crop, Bt cotton, has...

R&D for Defense, NASA garner funding rise. (Budget Boosts and Busts).(federal budget)
February 8, 2003... The five-volume, 2,866-page budget proposal forwarded to Congress by President Bush on Feb. 3 contains a record-setting request for federal research and development. Together, NASA and the Department of Defense are slated to receive about 80...

Anesthesia in baby rats stunts brain development. (Mind Numbing).
February 8, 2003... General anesthetic drugs that physicians commonly administer to children undergoing surgery, when given to baby rats, trigger brain cells to commit a cellular form of suicide that leads to lasting memory and learning deficits, neuroscientists...

Dietary dilemmas: Is the pendulum swinging away from low fat?(determining the best diet for weight loss)
February 8, 2003... This time of year, thoughts turn from overloaded holiday tables to overweight bodies, the beach, and diet programs. Losing weight is not just a matter of looking good in a swimsuit. Packing on the pounds increases a person's risk of heart...

Genghis Khan's legacy? The Mongol warlord may have left his imprint on the world's DNA.
February 8, 2003... Some 800 years ago, a fearsome, charismatic warrior named Temujin united the nomadic tribes of Mongolia. In 1206, he assumed the title Genghis Khan, often translated as emperor of emperors, and started invading surrounding territories....

Essence of g: scientists search for the biology of smarts.(general factor used to determine intelligence level)
February 8, 2003... Nearly a century ago, British psychologist Charles Spearman started what remains one of the most passionate debates about people's mental abilities. Spearman declared in 1904 that he had found the way to measure an individual's core...

Dust devils produce magnetic fields. (Earth Science).(Brief Article)
February 8, 2003... Scientists who chase dust devils report that the tiny twisters can produce a small magnetic field that changes magnitude between 3 and 30 times per second. When grains of sand and clay collide inside a dust devil, they generate electric...

Sleepy brains make memorable waves. (Neuroscience).(relation between sleep and memory)(Brief Article)
February 8, 2003... Snoozing rodents provide clues to how a sleeping brain bolsters memories of recently learned material. Cells in two brain areas--the somatosensory cortex, which handles sensory information, and the hippocampus, which contributes to learning and...

Microscopic glass ribbons provide molecular labels. (Materials Science).(Brief Article)
February 8, 2003... A new type of barcode is too small to see with the naked eye, yet it holds big promise for biomedical research, law enforcement, and everyday life, say researchers. The fluorescent tagging devices are short glass ribbons just 100...

Cell phones distract drivers, hands down. (Behavior).(Brief Article)
February 8, 2003... Calling all motorists: Using a hands-free cell phone while driving markedly interferes with the ability to maneuver a vehicle safely, according to several new tests. In 2001, David L. Strayer of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and...

A Map of the Child: A Pediatrician's Tour of the Body.(Book Review)
February 8, 2003... DARSHAK SANGHAVI When he was a young doctor training at Boston's Children's Hospital, Sanghavi worked briefly in several specialties. Similarly, this book is a crash course in how anatomy, physiology, psychology, and public health policy...

Murder and Mayhem: A Doctor Answers Medical and Forensic Questions for Mystery Writers.(Book Review)
February 8, 2003... D.P. LYLE Where do writers for television shows, such as Law and Order, or authors of crime novels turn when they need technical answers to medical questions? one of the first places is the author of this book, cardiologist D.P. Lyle. This...

Return of the Crazy Bird: The Sad, Strange Tale of the Dodo.(Book Review)
February 8, 2003... CLARA PINTO-CORREIA The dodo's history is just about as crazy as its name. This large, flightless bird was discovered in the early 16th century by Portuguese and Dutch explorers on the island of Mauritius. Before then, it lived peacefully,...

The Museum of Hoaxes.(Book Review)
February 8, 2003... ALEX BOESE This collection of pranks, stunts, deceptions, and other stories tracks the myriad ways people have been duped from medieval times to the present. It seems no one is immune. Boese details schemes that fooled The New York Times,...

That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles: 62 All-New Commentaries on the Fascinating Chemistry of Everyday Life.(Editorial)
February 8, 2003... JOE SCHWARCZ Do growth hormones extend life? Why is cabbage good for you? HOW do firewalkers tolerate hot coals on their feet? On his popular Canadian-radio show, Schwarcz answers questions such as these as he debunks pseudoscientific...

When Smoke Ran Like Water: Tales of Environmental Deception and the Battle against Pollution.(Devra Davis)(Brief Article)
February 8, 2003... DEVRA DAVIS Professionally, Davis has spent her career as an epidemiologist researching links between environmental pollution and human health. Personally, she has been touched by the pursuit, as well. She grew up in a Pennsylvania valley...

Fine tune. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
February 8, 2003... It's no surprise to find that the Borneo tree frog tunes into his tree hole ("Frogs Play Tree: Male tunes his call to specific tree hole," SN: 12/7/02, p. 356). From the resonance of electron shells to the orbits of planets, stars, and...

Bubble trouble. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
February 8, 2003... "Deadly Bubble Bath: Ultrasound fizz kills microbes under pressure" (SN: 12/7/02, p. 358) says that in cavitation, "bubbles form when falling pressure permits dissolved gases to pop out of solution." A cavitation-vapor bubble is formed when the...

Don't cut down the trees. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
February 8, 2003... "Solving Hazy Mysteries" (SN: 12/7/02, p. 360) shows hazy pictures from Great Smoky Mountains National Park and says the cause of the haze is "volatile organic compounds released by trees." I'm the airquality specialist in the park, and I know...

Rough riders. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
February 8, 2003... "Jarring Result: Extreme biking can hurt men's fertility" (SN: 12/7/02, p. 355) recommended shock absorbers and cushioned seats. Did this study survey what type of bikes the volunteers rode? DOUG LANDON, SIMI VALLEY, CALIF.

Satellite homes in on the infant universe. (Cosmic Revelations).(Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe )
February 15, 2003... Like beaming parents showing off pictures of their newborn, astronomers this week proudly unveiled the sharpest snapshot of the baby universe ever taken. The scientists had a lot to smile about. Their infant portrait, revealed by the...

Farming has increased flow of soil onto reef. (Dirty Story).(Brief Article)
February 15, 2003... Ever since European settlers brought agriculture to Australia, soil has been deposited on the Great Barrier Reef at an accelerated pace, according to new research. The study suggests that the introduction of farming near coastlines can have...

Bacterial toxin may fend off colon cancer. (Montezuma's Welcome Revenge?).(Giovanni M. Pitari and Scott A. Waldman of Thomas Jefferson; University in Philadelphia )(Brief Article)
February 15, 2003... Some microbes that cause diarrhea may have important beneficial consequences. Researchers have found that the illness-inducing toxin from some strains of the common gut bacterium, Escherichia coli, stifles the growth of cancerous intestinal...

Nanothread mesh could lead to novel bandages. (Natural Healing).
February 15, 2003... By recasting clot-promoting protein fibers found in blood into a fine meshwork, researchers have devised a wound covering that may speed healing and never need removing. Gary L. Bowlin and his coworkers have produced mats of the protein,...

Transparent pipes shape microstructures. (Light Splash).
February 15, 2003... A little high-tech plumbing and colored water may change how engineers make miniaturized fluid-carrying structures. A team at the University of Washington in Seattle has added a new twist to the light-blocking patterns, or photomasks, used...

Drug limits disease effects in laboratory mice. (Huntington's Advance).(huntingtin protein suberoylanilde hydroxamic acid inhibits acetyltransferases)
February 15, 2003... A compound that inhibits enzymes that act as stop signs for genes counteracts the movement disorders brought on by Huntington's disease, a mouse study suggests. In this hereditary disease, a genetic mutation results in oversized versions...

Doomed booby chick turns relentlessly violent. (Sibling Desperado).
February 15, 2003... The first known case among nonhuman vertebrates of so-called desperado aggression--relentless attacks against an overwhelming force--may come from the underling chick in nests of brown boobies. An unusual experiment that tucked junior...

How the butterfly gets its spots: and what they tell us about fate.
February 15, 2003... Paul Brakefield is a world authority on spots. His laboratory team delves into wide-ranging questions about the circles and dots on butterfly wings: What genes change the spots' size? Do different spots evolve separately or in concert? What...

Nanolights! Camera! Action! Tiny semiconductor crystals reveal cellular activity like never before.(quantum dots)
February 15, 2003... Last December, Sanford Simon attended a cell biology meeting where researchers presented picture after picture of cells colorfully highlighted by organic dyes or fluorescent proteins. Speakers also debuted movies--featuring proteins as cellular...

9/11 ash, and more found in river muck. (Earth Science).(Hudson River )(Brief Article)
February 15, 2003... Sediment cores pulled from the Hudson River near the World Trade Center site just a month after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks contain a thin layer of metal-rich ash and pulverized debris. That's not surprising. What did surprise...

Synthetic molecule may treat anemia. (Chemistry).(erythropoietin)(Brief Article)
February 15, 2003... A hormone that regulates the production of red blood cells now comes in a synthetic version. The lab-made hormone could treat anemia in patients with cancer or kidney failure. Known as erythropoietin (EPO), the natural protein is made in...

Streams plus nanostrands equals electricity. (Physics).(Brief Article)
February 15, 2003... Since the discovery of carbon nanotubes in 1991, scientists have marveled at the structures' superlative strength and their promising electronic and optical properties. Now it seems that the tubes might also serve as tiny hydropower plants. ...

Starry eruption on a grand scale. (Astronomy).(Rho Cassiopeiae)(Brief Article)
February 15, 2003... For nearly a decade, astronomers have patiently watched Rho Cassiopeiae, a bloated, relatively cool star 500,000 times brighter than the sun. They knew it was just a question of time before the star would erupt, but the scientists were still...

Worms offer the skinny on fat genes. (Biomedicine).
February 15, 2003... Microscopic worms that feasted on genetically engineered bacteria might shed light on why people gain weight. Biologists used this bacterial diet plan to turn off individual genes in the worms in order to identify ones that influence the...

Gene found key to brain chemical. (Neuroscience).(tryptophan hydroxylase encoding gene)
February 15, 2003... The story of serotonin, a brain chemical associated with depression and anxiety, just became more complicated. German scientists have found that the mouse brain doesn't use the expected enzyme to create the neurotransmitter. The previously...

How the Other Half Thinks: Adventures in Mathematical Reasoning.(Book Review)
February 15, 2003... SHERMAN STEIN "This is a book of mathematics, not a book about it," declares Stein, as he presents eight problems that exercise analytical thinking skills and require no mathematical prowess beyond knowing basic arithmetic. Each problem is...

The Life and Death of Planet Earth: How the New Science of Astrobiology Charts the Ultimate Fate of Our World.(Book Review)
February 15, 2003... PETER WARD AND DONALD BROWNLEE Nothing lasts forever. One day, Earth will be annihilated as our sun goes through its own death throes. Scientists are drawing heavily on a new field of study called astrobiology--a synthesis of biology,...

The Neanderthal's Necklace: in Search of the First Thinkers.(Book Review)
February 15, 2003... JUAN LUIS ARSUAGA Paleoanthropologists used to believe that if a Neandertal male put on a suit and tie, he could pass as a rider on the New York City subway, though he might not be able to figure out which stop he needed, Arsuaga, a...

Perennials All Season: Planning and Planting an Ever-Blooming Garden.(Book Review)
February 15, 2003... DOUGLAS GREEN One of the most elusive traits of a garden is a constant show of blooms from the first of spring through early autumn. Green argues that the three essential components to establishing a perennial garden as good as those...

The Solar House: Passive Heating and Cooling.(Book Review)
February 15, 2003... DANIEL D. CHIRAS Americans spend about $54 billion a year to heat and cool their homes. In addition to the financial costs, one-fifth of the nation's total fossil fuel energy production goes to maintaining the environment in our homes....

Thinking ahead. (Letters).
February 15, 2003... I found "Trust That Bird? A bit of future-think lets jays cooperate" (SN: 12/14/02, p. 373) quite fascinating. In 1973, my colleagues and I showed that rats would respond with the future in mind. Specifically, rats will make a response that...

On the waves. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
February 15, 2003... "Waves," or crenulations, occur not only on water icicles ("Icicle waves go with the flow," SN: 12/14/02, p. 381), but also in caves on dripstone and flowstone speleothems composed of calcite, epsomite, goethite, and even mud. All of these...

Heroes and bilirubins. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
February 15, 2003... I read "Bilirubin: Both villain and hero?" (SN: 12/14/02, p. 381) about bilirubin protecting cells from free radicals and possibly cancer and heart disease. People with Gilbert's syndrome, which affects 5 percent of the population, have...

Not a super model. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
February 15, 2003... "Contrails forecast on the horizon" (SN: 12/21&28/03, p. 400) reports that 223 out of 243 aircraft in the study produced contrails and that the researchers produced a model that predicts contrails correctly 92 percent of the time (but doesn't...

Radiation from cell phones hurts rats' brains. (Hold the Phone?).
February 22, 2003... A single 2-hour exposure to the microwaves emitted by some cell phones kills brain cells in rats, a group of Swedish researchers claims. If confirmed, the results would be the first to directly link cell-phone radiation to brain damage in any...

Hybrid gene forms clue to human, ape origins. (Evolution's DNA Fusion).(Tre@)
February 22, 2003... A gene of mixed evolutionary pedigree may have transformed mammalian reproduction, leading to the evolution of apes and humans. Analyses of genetic data from a variety of mammals show that this gene, called Tre2, occurs only in apes and...

Carved by melting snow? (Martian Gullies).(a look into gully formation)
February 22, 2003... Ever since 2000, when spacecraft observations revealed that Mars has a multitude of gullies that were probably carved by recent flows of water, planetary scientists have been hard-pressed to find a source of water that could do the job. The...

Campaign ad may have swayed voters subliminally. (Dirty RATS).
February 22, 2003... Psychological research sparked by a controversial campaign advertisement aired during the 2000 presidential election suggests that a 30-second spot--which briefly flashed "RATS"--may have negatively affected viewers' opinions of Democratic...

Stored slime reveals why release went undetected. (Cult Anthrax).
February 22, 2003... A sample of mysterious ooze has shed new light on the use of biological weapons in 1993 by the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo. The cult achieved worldwide notoriety in March 1995 for releasing sarin, a deadly nerve gas, in the Tokyo subway...

Success of experimental AIDS drugs offers promise of future therapies. (Full pipeline).(TNX-355, TMC114 and T-1249)
February 22, 2003... Three experimental drugs designed to thwart HIV have performed well in early tests on AIDS patients. If further testing supports these preliminary findings, the drugs might serve as able stand-ins for existing drugs in patients whose HIV...

Tidily tweaking electrons' twirls. (Electronic Acrobats).
February 22, 2003... Controlling a quantum trait of electrons that could be vital for future computers may just have gotten easier. Instead of manipulating electrons' spins with microscale magnetic fields, which tend to be weak and sluggish, researchers in...

Afghan droughts linked to rain in Indian Ocean. (If it's wet in Malaysia ...).
February 22, 2003... An analysis of nearly 2 decades of weather patterns suggests that there's a link between an abundance of precipitation in the eastern Indian Ocean and a lack of rain in portions of southwestern Asia. A persistent drought recently afflicted...

Proof of burden: scores of contaminants course through people's veins.
February 22, 2003... Farm-field runoff, raw sewage, and smokestack emissions may contain a slew of poisonous chemicals. But how about a healthy person's blood? Two independent teams of scientists report that bodily fluids carry chemical cocktails that include toxic...

Mining the mouse: a rodent's DNA sheds light on the human genome.
February 22, 2003... In 1906, a descendant of Paul Revere named Clarence Cook Little was pursuing studies in the new discipline of genetics while attending Harvard University. One of his professors challenged him to do a project on the inheritance of coat color in...