Science News articles from February 2007

Science News archives from February 2007

Suburb of Stonehenge: ritual village found near famed rock site.
February 3, 2007... Excavations in southern England of a village dating to 4,600 years ago are transforming archaeologists' notions about the function of nearby Stonehenge, the legendary set of massive stones that people positioned on Salisbury Plain around the...

Disaster's consequences: Hurricane's legacy includes arsenic.
February 3, 2007... Within the construction debris strewn across the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina is a disturbing amount of arsenic, according to a new study. The tainted rubble, as it is currently managed, might contaminate groundwater, the researchers say....

Kaput: Hubble's main camera stops working.(Advanced Camera for Surveys)(Hubble Space Telescope)
February 3, 2007... The sharpest, most sensitive camera on the aging Hubble Space Telescope has stopped working, and its most impressive capability can't be revived, NASA announced this week The problem began on Jan. 27, when the orbiting observatory abruptly...

Bite this: borrowed toad toxins save snake's neck.
February 3, 2007... An Asian snake stocks its defensive arsenal by collecting toxins from poisonous toads, scientists report. The tiger keelback snake stores toxins in glands behind its head, says Deborah A. Hutchinson of Old Dominion University in Norfolk,...

Waves from the Big Bang: upcoming detectors may view newborn universe.
February 3, 2007... Ripples in space-time, new research shows, may soon give scientists a glimpse of the universe as it looked a tiny fraction of a second after its birth. That's the moment when the initial runaway expansion of the universe ended in a burst of...

Top prospects for tomorrow's labs: national competition yields a dream team of young scientific talent.(Intel Science Talent Search)
February 3, 2007... Twenty young women and 20 young men last week aced an early challenge in their scientific careers. They entered the high school science playoffs--the finals of the annual Intel Science Talent Search. This year marks the first time in the...

Sudden chill: even a limited nuclear exchange could trigger a climate catastrophe.(Cover story)
February 3, 2007... In the mid-1980s, at the height of the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union each had thousands of nuclear warheads, along with a multitude of aircrews and missiles, sitting on red alert to carry those bombs to their targets at a...

Savvy skins: researchers pour new functions into coatings.
February 3, 2007... Among the innovations highlighted in the Dec. 10, 2006 New York Times magazine's "Year of Ideas" was a coating manufactured by Nissan. Called Scratch Guard Coat, this substitute for clear-coat car finishes--currently available on a sports...

Child abuse heralds adult inflammation.(Brief article)
February 3, 2007... New findings from a long-term investigation indicate that child abuse leads to a potentially dangerous disruption of the body's stress response in adulthood. Previously abused individuals display elevated blood concentrations of inflammatory...

Magnet makeover.(Robin G. Hicks)(Brief article)
February 3, 2007... A new family of magnets may be a first step toward organic versions of the familiar metal objects, researchers say. Fabricating metal magnets requires high temperatures, notes Robin G. Hicks, a chemist at the University of Victoria in...

Trade-offs in fibroids treatments.(Brief article)
February 3, 2007... A minimally invasive procedure to cure uterine fibroids was less expensive, but also less effective, than surgery in a new study. Uterine fibroids are benign tumors that can cause pain and heavy bleeding. Hysterectomy is the only sure...

Old cure may offer new malaria option.(tazopsine)(Brief article)
February 3, 2007... An herbal-tea remedy for malaria contains a component that may form the basis of a novel drug against the disease, tests in mice show. The compound, called tazopsine, is derived from the bark of a tree (Strychnopsis thouarsii) found in...

Gas tanks could guzzle half of U.S. corn yields.(Brief article)
February 3, 2007... In his Jan. 23 State of the Union Address, President Bush called for ramping up production of biofuels, such as ethanol from corn, to help cut U.S. dependency on foreign oil. A new report describes an ethanol-industry expansion already under...

Microstructures make a beetle brilliant.(Brief article)
February 3, 2007... Engineers looking to make a variety, of surfaces whiter and brighter could learn a few things from a lowly beetle, a new study suggests. The tiny scales that cover several beetles in the Cyphochilus genus of southeastern Asia are much...

The mystery of the missing mass.(Hideto En'yo)(Brief article)
February 3, 2007... Particles inside a nucleus weigh slightly less than the same particles in free space, new research shows. The experiment is a step toward understanding what determines the masses of particles. Most of these particles' masses come not from...

Plastics ingredient disrupts fetal-egg development.(Brief article)
February 3, 2007... A common estrogen-mimicking chemical can damage eggs while an animal is still in the womb, researchers report. Bisphenol A is found in polycarbonate plastics--those used to make baby bottles and hard-shell water bottles--and in the lining...

The Songs of Wild Birds.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Audiobook review)
February 3, 2007... Birds communicate with other members of their species through a wide array of sounds made both by singing and by using their feathers and other body parts to flutter, tap, and scrape out their messages. In this combination book and compact...

Vaccine: The Controversial Story of Medicine's Greatest Lifesaver.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 3, 2007... Although vaccines have saved many thousands of lives, their history is fraught with controversy. Allen, a journalist, tells the story from the turn of the 20th century and the development of the smallpox vaccine. He describes the wartime...

Richter's Scale: Measure of an Earthquake, Measure of a Man.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 3, 2007... It's probably safe to say that only one seismologist is a household name. Charles Richter developed the now-standard system of measuring the strength of an earthquake. However, the man himself has been an enigma. Hough draws on a wealth of...

Oppenheimer: The Tragic Intellect.(J. Robert Oppenheimer)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 3, 2007... Because he directed the U.S. effort to develop the atomic bomb, physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer at the height of World War II became a new kind of icon among select scientists. Perhaps never before in history had a scientist held so much power....

New Atlas of the Moon.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 3, 2007... The moon, Earth's lone natural satellite, is at once familiar and alien. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin described its surface as "magnificent desolation." This oversized atlas reveals the intricate and interesting features of the moon that may go...

All together now.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
February 3, 2007... It is not only the scientific literature that documents the unexpected "doughnut" pattern in swarms ("The Mind of the Swarm" SN: 11/25/06, p. 347). Italo Calvino's fictional Mr. Palomar observed (rather more lyrically) about the flocking of...

Inside story.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
February 3, 2007... Your article "Cancer Link: Gene regulates progesterone effect on breast cells" (SN: 12/2/06, p. 355) made a common mistake in characterizing the mechanism of steroid-hormone receptors. These receptors are not "proteins on the cell surface" but...

Big is bountiful.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
February 3, 2007... Regarding "Stone Age Role Revolution: Modern humans may have divided labor to conquer" (SN: 12/2/06, p. 358), economists would suggest that population growth allowed the division of labor. Notice that the most advanced economies are those with...

From bad to worse: earth's warming to accelerate.
February 10, 2007... Global warming is real and will continue, and there's strong evidence that people are to blame, an international panel of scientists has concluded. Other scientists suggest ways that people might reduce future atmosphere-warming greenhouse-gas...

Fatal flaw? Antibleeding drug faces new safety questions.
February 10, 2007... A drug commonly used to slow bleeding during heart surgery increases a patient's risk of dying during the next 5 years, a new study suggests. U.S. heart surgeons have used the drug, called aprotinin, for 14 years. But last year,...

Why so dry? Ocean temperatures alone don't explain droughts.
February 10, 2007... The western United States continues to struggle with the worst dry spell since the 1930s, and an international report on climate change predicts more and worse droughts to come (seepage 83). As scientists work to understand what triggers...

Ingredient shuffle: a trans fat substitute might have risks too.
February 10, 2007... A controversial nutritional test of a chemically modified fat suggests that the substance is more harmful, in at least some respects, than are the partially hydrogenated vegetable oils that it's intended to replace. Many food producers are...

Transferred touch: sensory rewiring to improve prosthetics.
February 10, 2007... Transferring a lost limb's nerves to other areas of the body might one day permit an amputee to feel the heat of a coffee cup with an artificial hand. Scientists now report progress toward that goal. They've augmented a technique created...

Online victims: internet behaviors make targets of some kids.
February 10, 2007... About one in five youngsters reports encountering at least one instance of unwanted sexual solicitation or harassment online in the past year, a national telephone survey finds. Internet-safety programs that typically urge children to avoid...

More of the same: 2008's science budget mirrors 2007's.
February 10, 2007... President Bush's proposed science budget for fiscal year (FY) 2008 closely reflects last year's recommended budget, with priorities focused on maintaining current spending levels in most departments while giving a modest boost to three agencies...

Well-tooled primates: the evolutionary roots of our technological prowess may run deep.
February 10, 2007... In a lab in Japan, a macaque monkey eyes a small, plastic rake and performs an act that his wild brethren would never dream of doing. The animal grasps the utensil by its handle and extends it toward a food pellet placed beyond his reach....

Vice vaccines: scientists give a shot in the arm to the fight against smoking, drug abuse, and obesity.
February 10, 2007... When Rachel Harrison was 16 years old, she took a drag from her first cigarette. She remembers loving it right away--the taste, the warmth, and especially the lightheaded rush that smoking gave her. Like a bad character in an after-school...

Solar craft get into position.(Brief article)
February 10, 2007... With the assist of gravitational boosts from the moon, twin spacecraft in late January completed a series of maneuvers that will enable them to take three-dimensional images of the sun. The pair of NASA craft, known together as STEREO...

Wrinkle, wrinkle, little polymer.(dimethylpolysiloxane)(Brief article)
February 10, 2007... Scientists have developed a cheap and easy way to create specific patterns of tiny wrinkles on the surface of a flexible and commonly used polymer--a technique that could be used to fabricate an assortment of microdevices. ...

Corn, a new sensor of carbon dioxide.(Brief article)
February 10, 2007... Scientists have developed a way to use corn plants to monitor and map the human-generated emissions of carbon dioxide. Only a small fraction of Earth's atmosphere is carbon dioxide. In summer 2004, that share averaged about 378 parts per...

Many babies born short of vitamin D.(Brief article)
February 10, 2007... Even in the womb, babies face a high risk of vitamin D deficiency, a new study finds. The sunshine vitamin is a building block for a hormone that not only helps build bone and muscle, but also fights infections and many chronic diseases. ...

An unexpected, thriving ecosystem.(Brief article)
February 10, 2007... A diverse group of creatures beneath an Antarctic ice shelf could give pause to researchers who infer past ecological conditions from fossils found in such sediments. In December 2003, researchers drilled a hole through the 480-meter-thick...

Glittering male seeks fluorescing female.(Brief article)
February 10, 2007... A tropical jumping spider needs ultraviolet wavelengths for courtship, say researchers. The tiny spider, Cosmophasis umbratica, often turns up on sun-loving plants in tropical southeast Asia, explains Daiqin Li of the National University...

Food smells reduce diet's life-extending benefits.(Brief article)
February 10, 2007... Researchers have long known that some lab animals live longer than normal when they receive diets sharply reduced in calories. But in a surprising twist, scientists have now cut short that longevity effect in fruit flies by simply tantalizing...

Do flies eat their sibs before birth?(Brief article)
February 10, 2007... The case of the missing unborn flies may have a solution: prenatal cannibalism. Females of the small fly species Emblemasoma auditrix deposit their larvae on cicadas, insects on which the youngsters feed for about 5 days. Those larvae...

State of the World 2007: Our Urban Future.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 10, 2007... STATE OF THE WORLD 2007: Our Urban Future WORLDWATCH INSTITUTE Each year, the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute releases a summary of the ecological, economic, and environmental challenges facing the world and describes how local and...

From Clockwork to Crapshoot: A History of Physics.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 10, 2007... FROM CLOCKWORK TO CRAPSHOOT: A History of Physics ROGER G. NEWTON Newton, professor emeritus of physics at Indiana University, recounts the transformation of science from recorded observations to discoveries about how the world operates. He...

Extreme Waves.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 10, 2007... EXTREME WAVES CRAIG B. SMITH The earthquake and resulting tsunamis that devastated portions of Thailand and Indonesia in 2004 brought into sharp relief the deadly power of ocean waves. Smith, an engineer and avid sailor, explains how...

When Languages Die: The Extinction of the World's Languages and the Erosion of Human Knowledge.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 10, 2007... WHEN LANGUAGES DIE: The Extinction of the World's Languages and the Erosion of Human Knowledge K. DAVID HARRISON Close to half the world's languages will disappear when their current speakers die, writes linguist Harrison. A specialist in...

The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History Since 1900.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 10, 2007... THE SHOCK OF THE OLD: Technology and Global History Since 1900 DAVID EDGERTON The reigning view of technological innovation focuses on invention, constant progress, and novelty. In this book, historian Edgerton proposes a different...

Grape gripe.(Letter to the editor)
February 10, 2007... "A Toast to Healthy Hearts: Wine compounds benefit blood vessels" (SN: 12/2/06, p. 356) leaves us up in the air with this statement: "... since the traditional wine-making techniques still in use in southwestern France and Sardinia increase...

Pretty interesting.(Letter to the editor)
February 10, 2007... If membership in a species is characterized by the inability to breed with members of another species, how can there be "animal species known to have arisen from crossbreeding with other species" ("New Butterfly," SN: 12/02/06, p. 355)? JEFFRY...

Transforming relationship.(Letter to the editor)
February 10, 2007... "Howdy, Neighbors: Long-term study finds a batch of red dwarfs" (SN: 12/2/06, p. 356) says that a planet so close to a red dwarf would be forced to "rotate in sync" with the star. Is this the same situation that causes the moon to rotate in...

Corrections.(Correction notice)
February 10, 2007... "Counterintuitive Toxicity" (SN: 1/20/07, p. 40) should not have attributed "Conceptually, [low-dose radiation] is analogous to a vaccine," to J. Leslie Redpath. That was the writer's comparison. "Perchance to Hibernate" (SN: 1/27/07, p. 56)...

Chimpanzee stone age: finds in Africa rock prehistory of tools.
February 17, 2007... Working along a riverbank in a West African rain forest, researchers have uncovered remnants from a chimpanzee stone age that started at least 4,300 years ago. The finds constitute the only evidence yet detected of prehistoric ape behavior. ...

Clear the way: stenting opens jammed arteries in the brain.
February 17, 2007... By pushing a tiny mesh cylinder called a stent through blood vessels leading from the groin to the head, doctors can prop open narrowed arteries in the brain much as they do in the heart, several new studies show. A brain artery that's...

On the trail of dead planets: dust ring around a white dwarf.
February 17, 2007... Infrared observations have just depicted the dusty vestiges of a planetary system dancing around a dead star. Researchers say that the dust is generated by collisions among comets that outlived both their parent star and the star's innermost...

Taking cancer's fingerprint: rapid genetic profiling for personalized therapy.
February 17, 2007... A new, faster way to identify cancer-causing mutations in the DNA of tumor cells may pave the way for the next generation of custom-tailored cancer therapies. The cells of each person's cancer show a particular pattern of genetic changes,...

Stroke of good fortune: a wealth of data from petrified lightning.
February 17, 2007... The lumps of glass created when lightning strikes sandy ground can preserve information about ancient climate, new research indicates. Worldwide, lightning flashes occur about 65 times per second. Each bolt releases as much energy as is...

Bridging the divide? Technique sheds light on cleft palate gene.
February 17, 2007... A new approach has enabled researchers to prevent cleft palate in mice genetically engineered to develop that birth defect. The scientists used a technique that they crafted to identify the short period when a particular gene is turned on...

Perils of migration: new evidence that bats stalk birds.
February 17, 2007... Big Mediterranean bats snatch migrating songbirds out of the night sky in spring and fall, according to a new study. When researchers proposed that idea in 2001, "there was so much controversy," says Ana Popa-Lisseanu of the Donana...

Net heads: huge numbers of brain cells may navigate small worlds.
February 17, 2007... About 40 years ago, the late psychologist Stanley Milgram tapped into the commonsense notion that "it's a small world." Milgram asked 60 people to send a folder to a certain individual whom none of them knew. Participants were given a little...

What's going on down there? 2,000 ocean scientists do the biggest, wettest census ever.(Polarstern expedition to Antarctica)(Census of Marine Life)
February 17, 2007... Researchers have taken clam digging to new extremes. To look for any mollusks or other creatures that live under several hundred meters of ice, scientists have just finished searching the ocean bottom off the Antarctic Peninsula. They cruised...

Two dimensions of mind perception.(Brief article)
February 17, 2007... Scientists want to figure out how individuals can tell whether someone or something else has a mental life. Controversial studies have addressed whether chimpanzees and children with autism are capable of making such an inference about others....

Tiny shutters for new observatory.(James Webb Space Telescope)(Brief article)
February 17, 2007... With the Hubble Space Telescopes sharpest camera no longer working and its repair uncertain, the spotlight falls on the orbiting observatory's successor. Scheduled to fly in 2013, the infrared-sensing James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is...

Terrorism sparks heartfelt aftermath.(Brief article)
February 17, 2007... Although terror-attack survivors often rebound emotionally, their bodies stay on heightened alert long after such traumas, a new investigation suggests. Psychiatrist Phebe M. Tucker of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in...

Orexin-blocking pill speeds sleep onset.(ACT-078573)(Brief article)
February 17, 2007... A new compound that inhibits the activity of alertness-promoting brain peptides called orexins shows promise as a sleeping pill, according to tests in people and animals. Men who took the drug fell asleep more quickly than did men who took...

Small tweaks prevent 1918-flu transmission.(Brief article)
February 17, 2007... After just a couple of small changes to a single gene in a pandemic flu virus, it no longer passes efficiently between lab animals. That finding reveals a simple way in which avian-flu strains, such as the bird-flu strains now looming in Asia,...

Titan's organic cloud.(observations)(Brief article)
February 17, 2007... An infrared detector on the Cassini spacecraft has imaged a huge cloud that engulfs most of the north pole of Saturn's icy moon Titan. Particles of ethane, methane, and other organic compounds in the cloud could be a source of the liquid...

Seeds: Time Capsules of Life.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 17, 2007... SEEDS: Time Capsules of Life ROB KESSELER AND WOLFGANG STUPPY Plants have evolved over the past 600 million years to propagate all corners of Earth. Much of this capacity stems from the attributes of seeds. They're remarkable...

Pollen: The Hidden Sexuality of Flowers.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 17, 2007... POLLEN: The Hidden Sexuality of Flowers ROB KESSELER AND MADELINE HARLEY This vividly imaged book unites science and art in a celebration of pollen. It reveals the essence of the grains necessary for plant propagation. Their intricate...

Out of the Labyrinth: Setting Mathematics Free.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 17, 2007... OUT OF THE LABYRINTH: Setting Mathematics Free. ROBERT KAPLAN AND ELLEN KAPLAN Some people believe that any talent for mathematics is inborn. This myth, the authors write, discourages many students young and old. The Kaplans are the...

Dragon Sea: A True Tale of Treasure, Archeology, and Greed off the Coast of Vietnam.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 17, 2007... DRAGON SEA: A True Tale of Treasure, Archeology, and Greed off the Coast of Vietnam FRANK POPE Underwater archaeology, invented in the 1950s, offers a unique mix of history, adventure, and danger to its practitioners. Pope recounts...

The Boy Who Was Raised as A Dog: And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 17, 2007... THE BOY WHO WAS RAISED AS A DOG: And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook BRUCE D. PERRY AND MAIA SZALAVITZ Until the early 1980s, children were viewed as naturally resilient--capable of bouncing back from stress and...

Fear factor.(Letter to the editor)
February 17, 2007... In response to "The Predator's Gaze" (SN: 12/9/06, p. 379), I write as a psychiatrist and a mother. My ex-husband is now in prison, and my son likely carries the genes of sociopathy. The quality of fearlessness mentioned in the article seems to...

Mitigating factor.(Letter to the editor)
February 17, 2007... "Bitter Pill: Costs surge for new schizophrenia drugs" (SN: 12/9/06, p. 371) shares a common deficit with many other reports addressing cost-effectiveness of the medications used to treat schizophrenia. It is clearly true that the newer...

Factor worth considering.(Letter to the editor)
February 17, 2007... "Milk Therapy: Breast-milk compounds could be a tonic for adult ills" (SN: 12/9/06, p. 376) states that "human-breast milk is not available for sale" When I was breast-feeding my children, had I known that my breast milk could help people...

Correction.(Correction notice)
February 17, 2007... "Aquatic Non-Scents" (SN: 1/27/07, p. 59) misidentified glyphosate. This herbicide is the active ingredient not in atrazine but in a range of products such as Roundup. Studies in Canada have shown that both atrazine and glyphosate can impair...