More Stories from the December 22, 2007 issue
-
-
Macho pheromones rile fellows
Pheromones that induce aggression in other male mice are found in the major urinary protein complex in the animals' urine.
- Humans
Fishing curbs can lead to profit
New economic models suggest that fishing crews that cut back long enough to let stocks rebound will find compensation in higher profits later.
- Health & Medicine
Vitamin D: Blacks need much more
To achieve healthy concentrations of vitamin D, many African-Americans may need hefty daily supplementation.
- Health & Medicine
Novel fused protein quells inflammation
A new compound called GIFT-15, made from the fusion of two proteins, stops inflammation in mice.
- Health & Medicine
In search of safer marrow transplants
A synthetic antibody called ACK2 that targets certain bone marrow cells may make marrow transplants a possibility for people with severe autoimmune disease.
- Health & Medicine
Immune cells to fight leukemia
A cancer vaccine against leukemia helps some patients avoid a relapse for months or years, but only if given early in the course of the disease or when a patient is in remission.
-
New clue to Down syndrome, leukemia link
One-fifth of people with Down syndrome who also have acute lymphocytic leukemia harbor a mutation in their JAK2 gene.
- Earth
Portrait of a Meltdown: Many factors led to 2007’s record low in Arctic sea ice
A variety of climatological factors converged in a perfect storm that melted the Arctic Ocean's ice cover to a record low in 2007. It could be a harbinger of ice-poor summers for decades to come.
-
Limiting Damage: Fragile X symptoms modulated in mice
Reducing activity of a gene in mice alleviates many of the symptoms of fragile X syndrome, a genetic defect that causes mental retardation in people.
- Astronomy
Black Hole Bully: Galaxy blasts its smaller neighbor
A distant galaxy is shooting a deadly jet of radiation at a neighboring galaxy, astronomers have observed.
-
Mean Streets: Kids’ verbal skills drop in bad neighborhoods
A long-term study of Chicago children and their families finds that kids living in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods display substantial declines in verbal ability as they get older, even if they move to a nicer community.
- Health & Medicine
Unseen Risk: Lifestyle, physical problems may underlie psoriasis link to early mortality
Severe psoriasis knocks as many years off a person's expected life span as high blood pressure.
- Health & Medicine
Not Yet: CDC panel questions antidepressant gene test
A genetic test designed to tailor drug treatment for depression offers little clinical value, says a CDC panel.
-
Furry Math: Macaques can do sums like people in a hurry
Macaques and college students showed similarities in performance on a computer test of split-second arithmetic, suggesting a common inheritance of the ability to do approximate math without counting.
- Humans
Science News of the Year 2007
A review of important scientific achievements reported in Science News during the past year.
- Earth
North by Northwest
The Earth's magnetic poles wander around quite a bit, a phenomenon that occasionally confounded ancient explorers but is proving useful for today's archaeologists.
- Earth
Dead Serious
Little progress has been made this decade in reducing the size of the Gulf of Mexico's dead zone, a massive area of oxygen-depleted water caused by agricultural and urban runoff.
- Math
Tied Up in Knots
Physicists have shown that tumbled strings will form surprisingly complex knots, helping explain how knots spontaneously form in nature.
- Humans
Letters from the December 22 & 29, 2007, issue of Science News
Amylase with your veggies Your article (“Advantage: Starch,” SN: 9/15/07, p. 173) notes how groups of people may have different numbers of copies of the amylase gene. Is it correct then that individuals have varying numbers of the gene as well? If so, would this explain why some people don’t like meat and become vegetarians […]
