September 20, 1997

Full Text Available for Selected Articles

News of the Week:

Ancient Mound Builders Get Cultured

Hunter-gatherers built and seasonally inhabited a cluster of 11 earthen mounds in Louisiana more than 5,000 years ago, undermining the view that complex cultures arose only in farming societies.

Joe W. Saunders
Department of Geosciences
Northeast Louisiana University
Monroe, LA 71209

Tinier transistors for tomorrow's chips

An industry group is funding three Department of Energy national laboratories to develop extreme ultraviolet lithography for commercial manufacture of computer chips.

Richard R. Freeman
Virtual National Laboratory
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
P.O. Box 808
Livermore, CA 94551

Liver transplant transfers peanut allergy

Christophe Legendre
Service de Transplantation
Hospital Necker
161 rue de Sevres
75743 Paris CEDEX 15
France

Signs of ancient life in deep, dark rock

Scandinavian scientists have found fossilized microbes far below Earth's surface.

Karsten Pedersen
Department of General and Marine Microbiology
Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology
Goteborg University
Medicinaregatan 9C
S-413 90 Goteborg
Sweden

Global Surveyor arrives at Mars

Mars Global Surveyor successfully entered orbit around the Red Planet, becoming the first U.S. craft to do so in 21 years.

Mario H. Acura
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt Road
Greenbelt, MD 20771

Bruce M. Jakosky
University of Colorado
Lab for Atmospheric and Space Physics
Campus Box 392
Boulder, CO 80309

Bright fish + dim light = diversity lost

The cichlid fish of Lake Victoria may be threatened by turbid waters, which interfere with the ability of some females to recognize their brightly colored mates.

Les Kaufman
Boston University Marine Program
Department of Biology
Boston University
Boston, MA 02215

Ole Seehausen
Institute of Evolutionary and Ecological Sciences
University of Leiden
P.O. Box 9516
NL-2300 RA Leiden
Netherlands

A surprising role for Alzheimer proteins?

Proteins implicated in Alzheimer's disease may play a part in organizing chromosomes during cell division.

Huntington Potter
Department of Neurobiology
Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA 02115

Anticancer agent sprouts up unexpectedly

Paul Talalay
Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
725 North Wolfe Street
Wood Basic Science, Room 406
Baltimore, MD 21205
E-mail: ptalalay@welchink.welch.jhu.edu

Lee Wattenberg
Department of Laboratory Medicine
University of Minnesota
6133 Jackson Hall
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Glass film yields to a light touch

A material made of arsenic and selenium shrinks and expands when exposed to polarized light, making it potentially useful for nanotechnology.

Stephen R. Elliott
Department of Chemistry
University of Cambridge
Lensfield Road
Cambridge CB2 1EW
England

Research Notes:

Astronomy

A galaxy that goes the distance

For the first time since the discovery of quasars in 1963, a galaxy holds the title of most distant object known in the universe.

Marijn Franx
Kapteyn Institute
P.O. Box 800
NL-9700 AV
Groningen
Netherlands

Big asteroid has big dent

The large asteroid called 4 Vesta has a huge crater near its south pole.

Peter C. Thomas
Center for Radiophysics and Space Research
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853

Biology

Cellular structure linked to aging

A yeast gene similar to the human gene responsible for Werner's syndrome provides clues to the aging process.

Leonard Guarente
Department of Biology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA 02139

George M. Martin
Department of Pathology
Box 357470
University of Washington Medical School
Seattle, WA 98195

Trash to one is treasure to another

To gain entry to cells, harmful mycobacteria recycle a protein the mammalian host has discarded.

Eric J. Brown
Department of Internal Medicine and Department of Molecular Biology
Washington University School of Medicine
St. Louis, MO 63110

Lalita Ramakrishnan
Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Fairfield Science Building
Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford, CA 94305-5402

Biomedicine

Fever-causing gene located

Two research groups have identified the gene that causes Mediterranean fever.

Sources:

Elizabeth Mansfield
Arthritis and Rheumatism Branch
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases
Bethesda, MD 20892-1820

Jean Weissenbach
Genethon
Laboratoire des Maladies Genetique Humaine
1 bis rue de l'Internationale
9100 Evry
France

Gas therapy for sickle-cell anemia

Nitric oxide gas shows promise in the treatment of sickle-cell disease.

Sources:

C. Alvin Head
Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, MA 02114

Chemistry

Nonsmokers inhale carcinogen

People who spend time in smoke-filled rooms absorb a potent carcinogen called NNK.

Sources:

Stephen S. Hecht
University of Minnesota Cancer Center
420 Delaware Street, S.E.
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Shedding tears for scientific study

The chemical composition of tears and other eye fluids may help researchers understand the biochemistry of diseases.

Sources:

Andy J. Tomlinson
Mayo Clinic
200 First Street, S.W.
Rochester, MN 55905

Articles:

Dry Sand, Wet Sand

Digging into the physics of sandpiles and sand castles

Understanding sand and other granular materials presents a host of scientific challenges.

Sources:

Albert-Laszlo Barabasi
Department of Physics
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556
Website: http://www.nd.edu/granular/

Susan N. Coppersmith
James Franck Institute
The University of Chicago
5640 South Ellis Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637

Hans J. Herrmann
ICA1
University of Stuttgart
Pfaffenwaldring 27
70569 Stuttgart
Germany
Website: http://www.ica1.uni-stuttgart.de/home/hans/WWW/personal.html

Sidney R. Nagel
James Franck Institute
The University of Chicago
5640 South Ellis Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637

Peter Schiffer
Department of Physics
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556
Website: http://www.nd.edu/granular/

The Tissue Issue

Losing oneself to science?

Researchers ponder appropriate guidelines for research uses of tissue removed from a person's body.

Sources:

George J. Annas
Boston University School of Public Health
80 East Concord Street
Boston, MA 02118

Arthur L. Caplan
Center for Bioethics
University of Pennsylvania
3401 Market Street, Room 320
Philadelphia, PA 19104-3308

Ellen W. Clayton
Division of General Pediatrics
Medical Center East 5028
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Nashville, TN 37232-8555

Lawrence O. Gostin
Georgetown University Law Center
600 New Jersey Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20001

Mary Jo Kahn
Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation
P.O. Box 17884
Richmond, VA 23226

David Korn
Association of American Medical Colleges
2450 N Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20037

Richard G. Lynch
Department of Pathology
University of Iowa School of Medicine
Iowa City, IA 52242

Abbey S. Meyers
National Organization for Rare Disorders
P.O. Box 8923
New Fairfield, CT 06812

Thomas Puglisi
Office for Protection from Research Risks
National Institutes of Health
MSC 7507
6100 Executive Building, Room 3B01
Rockville, MD 20892-7507

Mark E. Sobel
Molecular Pathology Section
National Cancer Institute
10 Center Drive
MSC 1500
Building 10, Room 2A33
Bethesda, MD 20892-1500

Elizabeth J. Thomson
National Human Genome Research Institute
38 Library Drive, Room 617
Bethesda, MD 20892-6050

Robert F. Weir
Program in Biomedical Ethics
110 MEB
University of Iowa College of Medicine
Iowa City, IA 52242

Mary Ann Wilson
Alliance of Genetic Support Groups
35 Wisconsin Circle, Suite 440
Chevy Chase, MD 20815

(Editor's note (Sept. 22, 1999): The contact information for the Alliance of Genetic Support Groups is now 4301 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 404, Washington, DC 20008-2304, Web site: http://www.geneticalliance.org)

Table of Contents - 9/20/97

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