More Stories from the July 8, 2006 issue
- Earth
Asian sediments betray age of nearby desert
Grains of silt embedded in thick sediments of northwestern China may settle a debate about the age of the Taklimakan Desert.
- Health & Medicine
Salmonella may join fight against cancer
Salmonella modified to remove its virulence works as a cancer vaccine, tests in mice show.
- Planetary Science
Lots of red dust, but not much noise
In space, no one can hear you scream, but a new analysis suggests that it's pretty quiet on Mars, too.
- Chemistry
Fungus foils polymer that defeats recycling
A common tree-rotting fungus is the first to break down an otherwise impervious resin found in plywood and fiberboard.
- Earth
Fast-food flies ferry foul fauna
Houseflies buzzing around fast-food restaurants could be spreading antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
- Earth
Underwater landslides tallied near Puerto Rico
An oceanographic survey off the northern coast of Puerto Rico has found remnants of many underwater landslides, a handful of which were large enough to have caused deadly tsunamis.
- Archaeology
Shells may represent oldest known beads
Researchers have identified three perforated shells dating to around 100,000 years ago as beads, making these finds the oldest known examples of personal decoration.
- Earth
The Long Burn: Warming drove recent upswing in wildfires
Major forest fires in the western United States have become more frequent and destructive over the past two decades, in step with rising average temperatures in the region.
- Astronomy
Repaired Vision: Hubble’s camera sees again
The main camera on the Hubble Space Telescope is operating normally again after being blinded for 2 weeks by an electrical failure.
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Young and Deadly: Cancer shares gene activity with developing lungs
Genes that are switched on or off in developing mouse lungs have similar activities in human-lung cancers.
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Smoke Screen: Light cigarettes reduce odds of quitting
People who smoke light cigarettes are much less likely to quit smoking than people who smoke regulars.
- Animals
Dawn Sneaks: Old birds sing early, cuckold sleepyheads
Among European birds called blue tits, older males join the springtime dawn chorus extra early—which may signal their charms to philandering females.
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Feminine Side of ADHD: Attention disorder has lasting impact on girls
Many girls diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder as grade-schoolers struggle with a variety of problems related to that condition as teenagers, even though their hyperactive symptoms often ease.
- Tech
Power Play: Shift from loss to gain may boost silicon devices
By tapping solar cell-like behavior in a silicon optical amplifier, engineers have shown that light-manipulating components made from silicon can become power recyclers rather than power wasters, an advance that boosts prospects for silicon optical devices.
- Astronomy
Astronomy Gets Polarized
Studies using polarized light, an endeavor once considered astronomy's stepchild, are now elucidating the shape of supernovas as well as providing new details about the early universe.
- Earth
Dirty Little Secret
Recognition is growing that many communities have soils laced with asbestos, which has prodded several federal agencies to probe the hazards they might pose.
- Humans
Letters from the July 8, 2006, issue of Science News
The grammar gene? While reading that starlings may be capable of discerning grammatical patterns (“Grammar’s for the Birds: Human-only language rule? Tell starlings,” SN: 4/29/06, p. 261), I recalled the FOXP2 gene. The gene seems to be involved in the development of areas of the brain involved in speech in humans. Variants of FOXP2 were […]
