Science News articles from March 2003

Science News archives from March 2003

Blood cells form liver, nerve cells. (Stem Cell Surprise).(adult stem cells, possible new source)
March 1, 2003... A person's blood could someday provide replacement cells for that individual's damaged brain or liver, a provocative study suggests. Human blood contains so-called stem cells that can be transformed outside the body into a variety of cell...

Fossil finds enter row over humanity's roots. (Pieces of a Disputed Past).(Homo habilis upper jaw, eastern Africa; Homo erectus cranium, Java )
March 1, 2003... Two scientific teams have presented fossil discoveries with controversial evolutionary implications for two ancient species traditionally regarded as direct ancestors of Homo sapiens. A 1.8-million-year-old upper jaw discovered in eastern...

Fish hormones change when oxygen is scarce. (Sexual Hang-Up).(impaired reproduction)
March 1, 2003... Oxygen deprivation tampers with sex hormones in fish and impairs reproduction, according to new research. The results suggest that low oxygen in freshwater ecosystems can disrupt animals' endocrine systems. Researchers say this link might...

Materials repel water with simplicity, style. (Waterproof Coats).(new coatings, Japan, Turkey research)
March 1, 2003... Scientists have long sought new coatings that zealously repel water. This week, publications describe two promising finds. Research from Japan shows that water-repellant materials can also be decorative. In a separate report, Turkish...

AIDS vaccine falters in whites, may help blacks. (Mixed Results).(VaxGen Inc., AIDSVAX vaccine may protect some African Americans)
March 1, 2003... In its first large test, an AIDS vaccine has failed to shield an at-risk population from acquiring HIV, the virus that causes the disease. The results, released by the biotechnology company VaxGen of Brisbane, Calif., may mark a turning...

Likely source of old dioxins identified. (Ancient Taint).(smoke, ash from burning peat, chlorine from oceanic salt spray permeated peat)
March 1, 2003... The burning of peat in coastal areas of Scotland could be responsible for the enigmatic concentrations of dioxins that scientists sometimes find in pre-20th-century European soil samples. Dioxins are a class of more than 200 chlorine-rich...

Can an ant takeover change the rules? (After Invasions).(California invasion of Argentine ants disassembles a community)
March 1, 2003... A rare before-and-after study of the invasion of an exotic species shows the newcomer swiftly disassembling the community, say ant biologists. Before Argentine ants (Linepithema humile) swept into a nature preserve in northern California,...

Jonathan Eberhart 1942-2003.(science writer)(Brief Article)(Obituary)
March 1, 2003... Longtime readers will mourn the death last week of Jonathan Eberhart, following a long illness. A legend among science writers, he covered the birth and adolescence of space flight and exploration for Science News from 1960 to 1991. He was also...

A safe solution: disinfection at home could provide Africa with cheap and abundant potable water.
March 1, 2003... Ogongo, Kenya -- To the crowd's delight, the dancer wiggles his hips and flails his arms. His bulky, blue costume--an oversized embodiment of a bottle of chlorine solution--lurches comically. In step with a drum-and-guitar accompaniment, other...

Mature before their time: in the youthful universe, some galaxies were already old.
March 1, 2003... This winter has been one of the hottest on record for cosmologists. A flurry of new reports suggests that a surprising number of galaxies grew up in a hurry, appearing old and massive even when the universe was still very young. If this...

Worms may spin silk fit for skin. (Technology).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Silk cocoons could become puffs of valuable human proteins if a new bioengineering method developed by Japanese scientists pans out. In the past few decades, various biotechnology research teams have devised ways to mass-produce medically...

A safer antioxidant? (Biochemistry).(Kiyoshi Fukuhara of the National Institute of Health Sciences)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Numerous diseases and complications associated with aging trace to damage from so-called free radicals that form naturally in the body and are chemically reactive. Many people attempt to cope by self-medicating with natural antioxidants,...

Ceramic rebounds from stressful situations. (Materials Science).(Michel W. Barsoum of Drexel University )(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Say the word ceramic and many people think of teacups or plates that shatter when dropped. Although scientists value high-quality ceramics, such as those used to shield spacecraft from heat, for their combination of heat resistance, stiffness,...

Dolly, first cloned mammal, is dead. (Biology).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Dolly, the most famous sheep since Mary's little lamb, was euthanized on Feb. 14 to prevent further suffering after she acquired a severe lung infection. The sheep, which was 6 years old, was the first mammal to be cloned from the DNA of an...

Designer RNA stalls hepatitis in mice. (Microbiology).(Judy Lieberman of Harvard Medical School)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Using strips of synthetic RNA that interfere with normal gene action, scientists working with mice have stopped the progression of hepatitis, a lethal inflammation of the liver often caused by a virus. The study is the first to show that this...

HIV in breast milk can be drug resistant. (Virology).(Esther Lee of Stanford University)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... A drug called nevirapine, sold as Viramune, can reduce the risk of mother-to-newborn transmission of HIV when taken by a woman at the onset of labor. Scientists now report that after taking nevirapine, the women often harbor a form of HIV with...

Good taste in men linked to colon risks. (Biology).(Yale University researcher Linda Bartoshuk)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Men with exceptionally good taste may pay for it in health risks. About 25 percent of people have extra taste buds on their tongues. They live in "a neon taste world" instead of a "pastel" one, as Yale University researcher Linda Bartoshuk...

Technique may yield vocal cord stand-in. (Materials Science).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... A plastic material used in some biological implants could someday form a foundation for tissue that can repair or replace human vocal cords, new experiments suggest. Developing a surrogate for the body's soft tissues can be difficult...

The Chicago Guide to Communicating Science.(SCOTT L. MONTGOMERY)(Book Review)
March 1, 2003... SCOTT L. MONTGOMERY From writing grant proposals to crafting speeches, this guide offers detailed, practical advice on all kinds of scientific communication. Samples from a wide variety of scientific disciplines illustrate where and how to...

The Founding Fish.(JOHN MCPHEE)(Book Review)
March 1, 2003... JOHN MCPHEE Fans of this Pulitzer prize-winning columnist from The New Yorker will surely be delighted as McPhee details his exploits as a shad fisherman. Shad are schooling ocean fish that annually spawn in rivers. Like salmon, they...

The Memory Cure: How to Protect Your Brain Against Memory Loss and Alzheimer's Disease.(MAJID FOTUHI)(Book Review)
March 1, 2003... MAJID FOTUHI A neurologist affiliated with Harvard Medical School and the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Johns Hopkins University updates readers on cutting-edge research on memory. He reports that significant memory loss is not...

The Monkey in the Mirror: Essays on the Science of What Makes Us Human.(IAN TATTERSALL)(Book Review)
March 1, 2003... IAN TATTERSALL In eight short essays, renowned paleoanthropologist Tattersall eloquently details what we know about diversity among hominids and how we came to know it. In presenting these data and the relevant theories, he reveals some of...

Phobias: Fighting the Fear.(HELEN SAUL)(Book Review)
March 1, 2003... HELEN SAUL An estimated 8 percent of adults in the United States--11.5 million people--suffer from some type of phobia. For some, it's a fear of flying; for others, it's the number 13 or crossing bridges. Saul examines phobias from...

Prometheans in the Lab: Chemistry in the Making.(SHARON BERTSCH MCGRAYNE)(Book Review)
March 1, 2003... SHARON BERTSCH MCGRAYNE Profiles of nine chemists and their pervasive though generally overlooked achievements reveal the impact of chemistry on our everyday lives. McGrayne tells the stories behind the advent of soap, clothing dye,...

Jonathan Eberhart: scientist as journalist. (In Memoriam).(Obituary)
March 1, 2003... For 3 decades within our pages, Jonathan Eberhart chronicled space science and exploration, winning kudos along the way. But hobbled by multiple sclerosis, he retired from journalism early--in 1991. On Feb. 18, at 60, he died from complications...

Protein may underlie preeclampsia. (Pregnancy Woe Uncovered).(sFlt1, soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 )
March 8, 2003... Many of the symptoms of preeclampsia, a major cause of maternal death and premature birth worldwide, stem from a single protein, researchers have found. The discovery could lead to new ways of detecting and treating the disease. ...

Mutations produce black house cats, jaguars. (Feline Finding).(gene mutations)
March 8, 2003... A symbol of bad luck for others, the black cat may have had good luck itself. Researchers have identified gene mutations that produce the inky coats in house cats and jaguars, and the scientists speculate that some of these mutations protected...

Phantom energy would trigger the Big Rip. (Cosmic Doomsday Scenario).(universe expanding at faster rate; dark energy density grows)
March 8, 2003... Cosmologists have long speculated about the fate of the universe. Will it expand forever or collapse in a Big Crunch? In the latest model, published online last week, the universe instead ends with a Big Rip--every galaxy, star, planet,...

Molecule could be key to stomach ailment. (Ulcer Clue?).(protein, Ptprz; VacA, Helicobacter pylori toxin; stomach ulcers)
March 8, 2003... An old adage once held that stomach ulcers arise from "hurry, worry, and curry." Scientists dispelled that notion in the early 1980s with the discovery that the bacterium Helicobacter pylori causes most such ulcers. Twenty years later, with the...

Glaciers surge after ice shelf collapses. (Slippin' Slide).(Antarctica's Larsen A ice shelf)
March 8, 2003... Five of the six large glaciers that once fed into Antarctica's Larsen A ice shelf have sped up significantly since that floating ice mass collapsed and drifted away in January 1995, scientists report. Analyses of satellite images and aerial...

Welfare reform hasn't changed kids so far. (Working Out).
March 8, 2003... National welfare reforms enacted in 1996 imposed stricter work requirements for all recipients and established a 5-year limit for receiving federally funded welfare. Reformers and their critics clashed over whether children might suffer if...

Layers break apart in controlled way. (Making Polymers That Self-Destruct).
March 8, 2003... Scientists in Japan have created a polymer film that can chew itself apart, making it a candidate for the controlled delivery of therapeutic drugs. A major thrust of modern medicinal research is to regulate the release of drugs from pills...

In sea of cars, trucks reveal traffic flow. (Watching the Big Wheelers).
March 8, 2003... Traffic managers in urban settings monitor networks of roadway sensors as one way to detect congestion. The faster those networks recognize problems, the quicker authorities can alert motorists and emergency teams to possible trouble. Now,...

Spring forward: warmer climates accelerate life cycles of plants, animals.
March 8, 2003... Ever since the winter solstice last Dec. 22, the days have been getting longer in the Northern Hemisphere and the noonday sun has climbed higher in the sky. These are natures' biggest cues that spring is nigh. As warmth gradually returns to the...

When drinking helps: sorting out for whom a nip might prove therapeutic.
March 8, 2003... Downing a cocktail or other alcoholic drink at least three to four times a week appears to substantially cut a man's risk of heart attack, Boston-area researchers reported in early January. Less than a week later, a U.S.-Canadian team of...

Grave surprise rises in Jamestown fort. (Archaeology).(Brief Article)
March 8, 2003... Excavations in the 17th-century fort at Jamestown, Va., have yielded the grave Of a high-ranking male colonist. Physical and historical evidence indicates that the man was one of the community's leaders, according to William Kelso, archaeology...

Why beer may deter blood clots. (Food & Nutrition).(Brief Article)
March 8, 2003... Downing a beer a day alters the structure of fibrinogen, a blood protein active in clotting. The preliminary finding by an international research team could be good news for people with artery-narrowing atherosclerosis. They might be able to...

Portrait of a cancer drug at work. (Biomedicine).(breast cancer drug Herceptin binds to and inhibits the protein HER2 on cancer-cell surfaces)(Brief Article)
March 8, 2003... As researchers seek better drugs for breast cancer, they have a revealing new picture that could guide their way. It shows where the breast cancer drug Herceptin binds to and inhibits the protein HER2 on cancer-cell surfaces. In 20 to 30...

Miscarriages foretell heart trouble. (Epidemiology).(Brief Article)
March 8, 2003... A woman's experiences in childbearing may presage her risk of heart disease, according to new research. Women who spontaneously lose one or more fetuses early in pregnancy are about 50 percent more likely than other women to later suffer...

Doctoral seesaw. (Science & Society).(doctoral degrees that U.S. universities awarded in science and engineering)(Brief Article)
March 8, 2003... Throughout most of the 1990s, the number of doctoral degrees that U.S. universities awarded in science and engineering climbed steadily, according to a new national survey. By 1998, the class of newly minted Ph.D.s peaked at an all-time high of...

Light could be therapy against blindness. (Biomedicine).(Brief Article)
March 8, 2003... Beaming red light at animals soon after they've drunk methanol partially protects their eyes against that chemical's blinding effects, research on rats suggests. Such light therapy might find applications in people who accidentally ingest...

Death of a pioneer. (Astronomy).(Pioneer 10, the first spacecraft to venture to the edge of the solar system)(Brief Article)
March 8, 2003... Pioneer 10, the first spacecraft to venture to the edge of the solar system, appears to have sent its last signal to Earth. NASA's Deep Space Network of radio receivers last recorded a feeble signal from the venerable craft on Jan. 22, when it...

Blood sugar processing tied to brain problems. (Neuroscience).(Brief Article)
March 8, 2003... People with diabetes experience more short-term-memory problems on average than do people without the disease. Researchers now report that some nondiabetic people who nevertheless have slightly elevated blood sugar concentrations also have...

Aquagenesis: the Origin and Evolution of Life in the Sea.(Book Review)
March 8, 2003... RICHARD ELLIS In lucid and engaging prose, Ellis traces the history of life on Earth as animals moved from sea to land and back to sea again. He discusses not just how but why this journey occurred. By comparing creatures living in and...

Federal Bodysnatchers and the New Guinea Virus: Tales of Parasites, People, and Politics.(Book Review)
March 8, 2003... ROBERT S. DESOWITZ In the 20 years since the publication of Desowitz' book Tape Worms and Jewish Grandmothers, the science of genetics in disease has advanced dramatically, as have potential treatments based on that science. However, as...

Dying to Drink: Confronting Binge Drinking on College Campuses.(Book Review)
March 8, 2003... HENRY WECHSLER AND BERNICE WUETHRICH In the United States, two out of every five college students regularly binge drink. That's defined as at least four and five drinks in a row, respectively, for women and men. There are approximately...

Six Degrees: the Science of a Connected Age.(Book Review)
March 8, 2003... DUNCAN J. WATTS How do small outbreaks of disease become epidemics? How do populations of flashing fireflies or beating pacemaker cells manage to synchronize their rhythms? How vulnerable is the U.S. power grid or the Internet to attack?...

Synaptic Self: How Our Brains Become Who We Are.(Book Review)
March 8, 2003... Joseph LeDoux In LeDoux's last book, The Emotional Brain, he discussed the biological foundation of memory and emotion. In Synaptic Self, he explores the biological mechanisms by which the brain makes the self. LeDoux provides a primer in...

Love for the love frog? (Letters).
March 8, 2003... The nocturnal singing of coquies is beloved in Puerto Rico, especially after several years of unexplained population decline ("Hawaii's Hated Frogs," SN: 1/4/03,p. 11). Is there any chance that the little coquies can be returned from Hawaii?...

Tough stuff. (Letters).(Nanotubes toughen up ceramics)(Brief Article)
March 8, 2003... "Fracture Protection: Nanotubes toughen up ceramics' (SN: 1/4/03, p. 3) reports that adding single-wall carbon nanotubes to a ceramic can "nearly triple its resistance to fracturing." The similar technology of adding tubes (straw) to bricks has...

Antibody treatment stifles peanut reactions. (Tough Nut Is Cracked).
March 15, 2003... Researchers have successfully demonstrated the first preventive treatment against peanut allergy. The drug, which raises the threshold at which allergic people react to peanuts, could reach the market in 2 to 3 years, the scientists say. ...

Shuttle-borne radar detects remnant of dino-killing impact. (Killer Crater).
March 15, 2003... Newly released radar images gathered during a flight of the space shuttle Endeavour 3 years ago show what previous orbital photos haven't--the subtle topography related to the impact of an asteroid or comet that may have wiped out the dinosaurs...

Extrasolar orb is too close for comfort. (Planet's Slim-Fast Plan).
March 15, 2003... Planets beware! Get too close to your parent star and you will vaporize. That's the message of a study that examines a planet residing within roasting distance of the star it orbits. The planet, dubbed HD209458b, circles a star at...

Schizophrenia linked to fetal diuretic exposure. (Pressurized Pregnancies).
March 15, 2003... Pregnant women who take diuretic medication for high blood pressure during the third trimester substantially raise the chances that their unborn children will develop schizophrenia by age 35, according to a new study. Schizophrenia affects...

Females prefer nests with pizzazz. (Fish That Decorate).
March 15, 2003... Biology has met home-decorating TV. In spring, some male fish build nests of algae where females visit and occasionally deposit eggs. In the wild, a nest's murky mass looks to human eyes as if it would be perfect for camouflaging the eggs....

Top U.S. science and engineering students reap recognition, rewards. (Science Flair).
March 15, 2003... For young scientists, the spectacle was akin to the Academy Awards. To the whoops and cheers of formally attired admirers and beneath a cascade of confetti, 40 of the nation's brightest high school science seniors received credit for the years...

Scotch pines emit nitrogen oxides into the air. (Fallen Trees?).
March 15, 2003... Even pristine forests can contribute to air pollution. In fact, researchers now say that northern pine forests exude a family of nitrogen oxides and do so in quantities that may rival those produced worldwide by industry and traffic. ...

On the rebound: reversed echoes may fight disease and foster communication.
March 15, 2003... Imagine descending into an Alice-in-Wonderland canyon where the echo that returns when you shout "hello" sounds like "olleh" No such sound-reversal canyons exist in nature. However, physicists in Europe and the United States have recently been...

Blood work: scientists seek to identify all the proteins in plasma.
March 15, 2003... In his 1998 book Blood: An Epic History of Medicine and Commerce, author Douglas Starr traced the rise of blood as a commercially exploited tissue. In the preface, he compared blood to oil and suggested that the former is more valuable. At the...

Ancient people get dated Down Under. (Anthropology).(Brief Article)
March 15, 2003... Estimates of ages for two human skeletons excavated at Lake Mungo in southeastern Australia have ranged from 60,000 to 20,000 years old. Results of new dating analyses, confirmed at four laboratories, split that difference. The Lake Mungo...

Brain training aids kids with dyslexia. (Neuroscience).(Brief Article)
March 15, 2003... A reading-improvement course for children with dyslexia appears to go to their heads. After completing the course, 20 grade-schoolers diagnosed with this reading disorder not only improved their speech and reading skills, but showed signs of...

New approach smooths wrinkle analysis. (Physics).(Brief Article)
March 15, 2003... From furrowed brows to mountain-forming ripples in Earth's crest, wrinkles are ubiquitous. To better understand these widespread phenomena (SN: 6/15/96, p. 3763, scientists would like to predict certain topographical properties of wrinkles,...

Protective virus ties up HIV docking sites. (Immunology).(Brief Article)
March 15, 2003... In 2001, two groups of scientists reported that people with HIV are much less likely to die from AIDS if they're concurrently infected with a harmless virus called GBV-C (SN: 10/6/0I, p. 216). One of the research groups has now uncovered a...

Vampire bats don't learn from bad lunch. (Zoology).(Brief Article)
March 15, 2003... A vampire bat may be the first mammal ever to flunk the ultimate taste test, researchers say. Mammals that eat something with a novel flavor and then get sick are known to avoid that flavor after just one experience, says John M. Ratcliffe...

Abortion-cancer link is rejected. (Biomedicine).(Brief Article)
March 15, 2003... A report stemming from a workshop sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Bethesda, Md., concludes that abortions don't increase a woman's risk of developing breast cancer. This controversial issue was reviewed in late February...

Ordinary matter: lost and found. (Astronomy).(Brief Article)
March 15, 2003... Never mind about dark matter. Forget dark energy. Astronomers aren't even sure of the whereabouts of most of the cosmos' ordinary material: protons, neutrons, and electrons. New findings add to the evidence that two-thirds of this matter...

Bunches of atoms madly morph. (Physics).(Brief Article)
March 15, 2003... Minuscule clusters of atoms don't hold their shapes as well as hold-in-your-hand solids do. Understanding such instability is a growing priority as circuits, machines, and other structures shrink to atomic scales (SN: 2/15/03, p. 110). ...

Building the Great Pyramid.(Book Review)
March 15, 2003... KEVIN JACKSON AND JONATHAN STAMP Nearly 4,500 years since it was erected, the Great Pyramid of Khufu is the last standing monument that was once counted as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. For many years, its origins were speculative....

The Firefly Dictionary of Plant Names: Common and Botanical.(Book Review)
March 15, 2003... HAROLD BAGUST Arranged according to 14 plant groups--including aquatics, bulbs, herbs, house and garden plants, trees, bushes, shrubs, and wildflowers--this dictionary lists more than 30,000 plants alphabetically by their common names and...

Hacking Matter: Levitating Chairs, Quantum Mirages, and the Infinite Weirdness of Programmable Atoms.(Book Review)
March 15, 2003... WIL MCCARTHY Imagine that with a flick of a switch, a wall becomes a window, a soft cushion becomes hard, or your sweater changes color. Imagine making such changes in almost any type of material on a whim. Today, scientists are developing...

Plundering Paradise: the Hand of Man on the Galapagos Islands.(Book Review)
March 15, 2003... MICHAEL D'ORSO For many people, the Galapagos Islands conjure up images of a pristine natural habitat that is home to some of the world's most exotic plant and animal life and largely devoid of people. D'Orso believed this until he...

Van Nostrand's Concise Encyclopedia of Science Ninth Edition.(Book Review)
March 15, 2003... CHRISTOPHER G. DEPREE AND ALAN AXELROD, EDS. Since the first edition, published in 1938, this encyclopedia has kept up with cutting-edge advances in the sciences while continuing as an accessible reference. This concise edition is only...

The World of Caffeine: the Science and Culture of the World's Most Popular Drug.(Book Review)
March 15, 2003... BENNETT ALAN WEINBERG AND BONNIE K. BEALER Considering that 85 percent of Americans use caffeine on a daily basis, its prevalence in society is overwhelming--but hardly new. Weinberg and Bealer tell how cave dwellers may have chewed seeds...

Camel comment. (Letters).(Brief Article)
March 15, 2003... Thank you for the article about the wild Bactrian camel ("Camelid Comeback," SN: 1/11/03, p. 26). However, one false impression needs correction. The Wild Camel Protection Foundation (WCPF) is not planning a program of captive wild camel embryo...

On target? (Letters).(Brief Article)
March 15, 2003... Sorry to be paranoid, but if the technology exists to make scratches on bullets that are exact duplicates for use in testing "A Shot in the Light," SN: 1/11/03, p. 23), does not the ability also exist to produce a bullet supposedly from a...

Well-grounded fear. (Letters).(Brief Article)
March 15, 2003... "Unfounded Fear: Scared to fly after 9/11? Don't reach for the car keys" (SN: 1/11/03, p. 20) tells us there are 65 times fewer deaths per mile traveled in flying commercial aircraft than in driving. Fear of being killed in traveling is, I...

Correction. (Letters).(Brief Article)
March 15, 2003... "Columbia Disaster: Why did the space shuttle burn up?" (SN: 2/8/03, p. 83) gave the wrong name, Hamilton,for a commenter in the story. Jeffrey A. Hoffman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said that age wasn't necessarily a factor in...

Particle shower may spotlight loose nukes. (Muon Manna?).
March 22, 2003... At U.S. ports and border crossings, agents are increasingly using X-ray surveillance of shipping containers and trucks to foil attempts to smuggle nuclear weapons or radioactive materials into the country. A new study indicates that radiation...

Mutation shows up in binge eaters. (Genetically Driven).
March 22, 2003... Overweight binge eaters are more likely to harbor a genetic mutation that disrupts brain signals governing satiety than are people of normal weight or obese people who don't regularly eat far more food than is needed to satisfy hunger,...

Gamma-ray bursts may one-up themselves. (Cosmic Afterglow).
March 22, 2003... Bursts of gamma rays that originate beyond our galaxy are already known to be the universe's most energetic flashes. But new observations suggest that these cosmic outbursts may pack an even greater wallop than scientists had estimated. ...

Six-legged bugs may have evolved twice. (Original Kin).
March 22, 2003... Six legs, new; more legs, old. That could be an adage for biologists who hold that all six-legged terrestrial bugs evolved from a single relatively recent branch of the ancient lineage of arthropods. Earlier, they say, that tree had sprouted...

Brain cells for alertness fire without cues. (No Rest for the Waking).
March 22, 2003... The brain cells that keep people awake fire spontaneously and continuously on their own, neuroscientists have found. This result suggests that sleep depends on signals from other brain regions that quiet these neurons. Scientists...

Parasite ploy suggests drug-delivery tactic. (A Tale of the Tapeworm).
March 22, 2003... For the tapeworm Hymenolepis diminuta, heaven is a rat's intestines. A single, nearly foot-long parasite can live there for years. It's no wonder then that the tapeworm has developed means for keeping itself lodged within an often undulating...

Do birds build up better tool designs? (Techno Crow).
March 22, 2003... New Caledonian crows don't have cell phones, yet, but researchers propose that these birds may ratchet up the sophistication of the tools they do have and pass along the better designs. The crow Corvus moneduloides fashions tools for...