More Stories from the July 31, 2004 issue
- Astronomy
Cassini eyes Iapetus
Only a few days after it entered orbit around Saturn, the Cassini spacecraft captured an image of Saturn's split- personality moon Iapetus.
- Anthropology
Chimps mature with human ancestor
The Stone Age human ancestor Homo erectus grew at about the same pace as wild chimpanzees today do.
- Health & Medicine
Birthing age and ovarian cancer risk
Giving birth confers on women some protection against ovarian cancer, and the later in life the last pregnancy happens, the better the protection.
- Earth
PCBs can taint building caulk
Long-banned, toxic polychlorinated biphenyls in some building caulk applied in the 1960s and 1970s may still pose an exposure risk.
- Health & Medicine
Dentists: Eschew chewing aspirin
Chewing aspirin or just letting the tablets dissolve in the mouth can seriously damage teeth.
- Paleontology
Early life forms had a modular structure
Fossils recently discovered in northeastern Newfoundland reveal that some of Earth's earliest large organisms had modular body plans whose main architectural element was a branching, frondlike structure.
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Brain development disturbed in autism
A brain-imaging study suggests that autism is characterized by disturbances in the development of the amygdala and the hippocampus, two inner-brain structures.
- Humans
EPA to fine DuPont over ingredient in Teflon
The Environmental Protection Agency says it may levy a fine surpassing $300 million against DuPont for concealing evidence that it was contaminating the environment with perfluorooctanoic acid.
- Health & Medicine
Prion Proof? Evidence grows for mad cow protein
Misfolded proteins known as prions can cause disease when injected into the brains of genetically engineered mice.
- Ecosystems
Fish Stew: Species interplay makes fisheries management tricky in the long run
Annual fluctuations in certain fish populations can be best understood and controlled by accounting for ecological factors, such as predation by other fish, in addition to fisheries harvests.
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Gutless Wonder: New symbiosis lets worm feed on whale bones
A newly discovered genus of marine worm can take nourishment from sunken whale skeletons, thanks to a previously unknown form of symbiosis.
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Lighting Up the Rainbow: Color perception tied to early visual experience
A study of baby monkeys finds that exposure to natural light in the year after birth fosters their ability to recognize colors as lighting gets brighter or dimmer.
- Astronomy
Universal Truths: Distant quasars reveal content, age of universe
Using quasars as searchlights on the distant universe, astronomers have mapped the distribution of gas between galaxies with unprecedented precision, allowing precise determinations of the age of the universe.
- Chemistry
Velcro Therapy: Branching polymer wards off scarring after eye surgery
Specially designed polymer molecules called dendrimers reduce scar tissue formation after glaucoma surgery, dramatically improving the procedure's outcome.
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Invasive Genes: Humans incorporate DNA from parasite
Bits of foreign DNA from the parasite that causes Chagas' disease becomes integrated into the DNA of infected hosts, marking the first time that parasitic DNA has ever been found in the human genome.
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Deception Detection
Psychologists are trying to see whether the statistically significant deception signals found in laboratory experiments exist in high stakes, realistic lies, and whether real lie detectors, such as police officers and judges, are able to detect them.
- Earth
Parting Shots
Data collected during an 18-day barrage of major solar flares late last year—including a record-setting coronal mass ejection on Nov. 4—will help scientists refine models of flare formation and behavior.
- Humans
Letters from the July 31, 2004, issue of Science News
More than child’s play? While reading about the amazing properties of Archimedes’ Stomachion (“Glimpses of Genius,” SN: 5/15/04, p. 314: Glimpses of Genius), I wondered whether a mere child’s toy would exhibit such mathematical precision, with each vertex falling on a lattice point of a 12-by-12 grid. Perhaps Archimedes took the basic plan of the […]
