More Stories from the August 7, 2004 issue
- Planetary Science
A little bit of Mars on Earth
Scouring an ice field in Antarctica, scientists have made the latest discovery of a chunk of rock that was blasted from Mars and fell to Earth.
- Health & Medicine
Computers read mammograms to detect breast cancer
Mammogram–scanning computers can help radiologists detect breast cancers that would otherwise escape diagnosis.
- Astronomy
Young star’s glow suggests planet find
The X-ray outburst of a young, sunlike star might provide new insights about planet formation.
- Humans
Title IX: Women are catching up, but . . .
Though a federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in academic settings has fostered women's participation in science, they still lag behind men in salaries and research opportunities.
- Tech
Quantum dots light up cancer cells in mice
Brightly fluorescent crystals known as quantum dots have the potential to seek out cancerous cells in the body, a trick that could lead to highly precise cancer screening.
- Materials Science
Charging gold with a single electron
Dropping a single electron onto a gold atom with a scanning tunneling microscope converts gold from its neutral state to an ionic state.
- Humans
Where Ph.D.s pay off
Salaries for full-time scientists and engineers in the United States have generally outpaced inflation, but academic researchers tend to earn substantially less than their counterparts in industry and government.
- Earth
Twin satellites track water’s rise and fall
A pair of satellites launched in 2002 has detected small, regional changes in Earth's gravitational field that are caused by seasonal variations in rainfall and soil moisture.
- Health & Medicine
Stopping Alzheimer’s: Antibody thwarts disease in mice
Antibodies against amyloid protein, which gums up the brains of Alzheimer's patients, reverse a form of the disease in mice.
- Astronomy
Explosive News: Telescopes find signs of gentler gamma-ray bursts
Astronomers appear to have discovered an unexpected population of low-energy gamma-ray bursts, and they could be 10 times more numerous than previously-known higher-energy bursts.
- Health & Medicine
Gene Delivery: Mouse study shows new therapy may reverse muscular dystrophy
A single defective gene causes muscular dystrophy, and researchers have now found a way to deliver a working copy of that gene to the entire muscular system in mice.
- Tech
Lighting the Way for Water: New strategy for steering drops with finesse
Using a beam of ultraviolet light, researchers manipulate tiny drops of water on a surface—a demonstration that could lead to ultrafast and highly precise chemical reactions on a chip.
- Animals
Anybody know this fish?
A 2-month marine-biodiversity survey of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge concluded this week, bringing home much data and some novel specimens.
- Health & Medicine
Swallowed a Fly: Insects may spread foodborne microbe to chickens
Flies sucked through the ventilation ports of industrial chicken coops may spread the pathogen Campylobacter jejuni, which can ultimately sicken people who eat undercooked chicken.
- Paleontology
Bird Brain? Cranial scan of fossil hints at flight capability
Detailed computerized tomography scans of the fossilized braincase of an Archaeopteryx show that several flight-related regions of the feathered creature's brain were highly developed.
- Ecosystems
Corals without Boarders
The last decade has been a great era for discovering corals in the deep ocean, but a United Nations report warns that these cold, dark reefs urgently need protection.
- Physics
Starting from Square One
Physicists appear to have wedded the arcane theory of quarks to cutting-edge computer science, giving themselves tools for precisely predicting properties of subatomic matter and possibly observing new physical phenomena.
- Humans
Letters from the August 7, 2004, issue of Science News
Pot shots Regarding “Pot on the Spot: Marijuana’s risks become blurrier” (SN: 5/22/04, p. 323: Pot on the Spot: Marijuana’s risks become blurrier), it seems to me that the stronger the social pressure against using marijuana in a culture, the more likely it will be that those who use it will be troubled, antisocial, or […]
