Science Service, founded in 1921 to provide better information to the public about scientific discoveries, is changing its name to Society for Science & the Public, reflecting a renewed mission to advance public engagement in science. (p. 3)

The Editors of the Utne Reader have named Science News magazine a 2007 winner in its science and technology category. (p. 3)

The antimalarial drug chloroquine may prevent some cancers. (p. 3)

Recent sonar surveys off the southeastern United States have detected dozens of broad furrows on the seafloor that were carved by icebergs during the last ice age. (p. 4)

The earliest stars in the universe might have been fueled by dark matter instead of nuclear fusion. (p. 4)

Damage to either of two brain regions protects combat veterans against developing the severe stress ailment known as post-traumatic stress disorder, a finding with implications for treating this condition. (p. 5)

The ancestors of whales, some of which are the largest creatures ever to evolve, probably were mammals no larger than a fox. (p. 5)

Scientists have discovered that human cells make RNA transcripts of telomeres, the repetitive DNA at the ends of chromosomes, a finding that could have implications for understanding aging and cancer. (p. 6)

The unsanctioned use of an obscure hallucinogen, ibogaine, to treat addiction has exploded recently. (p. 6)

Understanding estrogen's function is complicated by the fact that it can bind to two distinct receptors; scientists studying the second receptor now think that drugs targeting it could help a wide variety of ailments. (p. 8)

Looking for personalities in animals, even among spiders and insects, could add new twists to ideas about evolution and explain some odd animal behavior. (p. 10)

Being overweight increases the risk that people will develop breathing difficulties after encountering smoggy air. (p. 13)

Physicists have found that a water-skating insect leaps off the water surface by applying just the right amount of force. With video. (p. 13)

A compound found in milk can mitigate damage to people's brains caused by stroke or diseases such as Alzheimer's. (p. 13)

Chromium supplements reduced some of the unhealthy effects of a sedentary lifestyle in rats. (p. 13)

Evidence of an extraterrestrial object striking Earth at the height of the last ice age comes from micrometeorites embedded in the tusks of creatures that were grazing the Alaskan tundra when the object burst in the air above. (p. 14)

In New Hampshire, the trend toward earlier spring thaws has significantly lowered logging revenues. (p. 14)

Traffic-control measures can significantly reduce urban air pollution, a field study in Beijing this past summer indicates. (p. 14)

The duration and extent of ice melt across high-altitude portions of the Greenland ice sheet last year were the highest they've been in recent decades, satellite observations indicate. (p. 14)

(p. 15)