More Stories from the August 5, 2000 issue
- Chemistry
Crystal Reveals Unexpected Beginnings
For the first time, researchers have directly observed a protein begin to crystallize, and they've found it has a peculiar shape.
- Astronomy
Evidence grows for nearby planetary system
Astronomers have found the nearest known planet that lies outside the solar system, a mere 10.5 light-years from Earth.
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Ebola protein explains deadly mystery
The infamous virus called Ebola has a surface protein that kills cells in blood vessels.
- Physics
Why is antimatter absent? Hunt heats up
Two new particle accelerators built to help discover why there's matter instead of antimatter in the universe are closing in on an answer at record speed.
- Plants
Team corners culprit in sudden oak death
After 5 years of mystery, California pathologists announced they may have identified the cause of a new tree disease called sudden oak death.
- Earth
Lack of spring snowpack bodes ill for many
NASA satellite images released last week confirmed that the northern United States had much less snow cover than normal this spring, following North America's warmest winter on record.
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Virus boosts fat in chickens and mice
Injecting mice and chickens with a type of adenovirus that causes colds in humans led to higher body fat, though not higher body weight, and researchers point to indirect evidence for a role for the virus in human obesity as well.
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Metal in diet harms Colorado birds
Cadmium, a metal naturally present in south-central Colorado, concentrates at deadly levels in willow plants, poisoning the ptarmigan that rely on the plant during winter months.
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Yeast sex: Only for certain partners
Two studies independently confirm that Candida albicans, a strain of yeast long believed to be asexual, can sexually reproduce under certain conditions.
- Earth
Estrogen effects linger in male fish
Male fish can inappropriately make egg yolk protein, even when only intermittently exposed to water tainted with an estrogenic pollutant.
- Earth
Death for the killer seaweed
Biologists have launched a campaign to eradicate the first infestation in open American waters of an invasive mutant algae.
- Health & Medicine
Venison can contain E. coli bacteria
Escherichia coli, which causes severe diarrhea in people, may be widespread in deer, a finding that raises concerns about preparation of wild-game meats.
- Health & Medicine
New Australian virus infects people
Australian scientists have identified a new virus, apparently spread by fruit bats, that causes birth defects in pigs and severe illness in some people exposed to infected pigs.
- Health & Medicine
Indian encephalitis is traced to measles
An outbreak of fatal encephalitis in India appears to have been caused by a strange form of rashless measles in a majority of the sick children tested.
- Health & Medicine
Danes keeping drugs out of livestock
Reducing the amount of antibiotics given to livestock in Denmark has lowered the amount of drug-resistant Enterococcus faecium bacteria in the meat of these animals.
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Inside Violent Worlds
Political conflict and terror look different up close and local.
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Silence of the Xs
Does junk DNA help women muffle one X chromosome?
