More Stories from the April 5, 2008 issue
-
High CO2—a gourmet boon for crop pest
Relatively high concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide weaken soybean defenses against Japanese beetles.
- Health & Medicine
Microbes weigh in on obesity
The kinds of microbes living in an infant's gut may influence weight gain later in childhood.
- Health & Medicine
New drug curbs rheumatoid arthritis in adults, children
The experimental drug tocilizumab quells rheumatoid arthritis in adults and children by inhibiting an inflammatory compound called interleukin-6.
- Earth
Tibetan Plateau history gets a lift
The Tibetan Plateau formed when the Indian and Eurasian plates collided, but scientists may have had the order of events wrong.
- Materials Science
Squid beaks are hardly soft
Water softens squid beaks toward their base, so they don't cut into the squid's own soft tissue.
-
Rare mutations tied to schizophrenia
Individual-specific DNA deletions and duplications, many located in genes involved in brain development, occur in an unusually large percentage of people with schizophrenia.
-
Without Substance: ADHD meds don’t up kids’ drug abuse risk
Boys with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder who take prescribed stimulant medication don't become more likely to abuse drugs than boys who don't receive the medication.
- Planetary Science
Caught in the Act? Images may reveal planetary birth
Astronomers, for the first time, have imaged dusty clumps surrounding young stars that could be planets in the making.
- Animals
Night Flights: Migrating moths may use a nighttime compass
Silver Y moths choose to fly when wind blows in the same direction that they migrate, and they may even compensate when the wind pushes them off-course.
- Health & Medicine
Curbing Chemo: Fasting cushions drug’s side effects in mice
Two days of starvation kicks mice's cells into repair mode and helps them endure high doses of chemotherapy.
- Paleontology
Salty Old Cellulose: Tiny fibers found in ancient halite deposits
Researchers have recovered microscopic bits of cellulose from 253-million-year-old salt deposits deep underground.
- Health & Medicine
Traveling Toxin: Botox may hitch a ride on nerve cells
New evidence suggests that Botox migrates from the injection site, perhaps traveling along nerve cells.
- Health & Medicine
Take a Breath: Fatty substance may play role in cystic fibrosis
A fatty compound called ceramide that accumulates in lung cells may be instrumental in the devastating disease cystic fibrosis.
- Animals
Comb jellies take root in a new tree of animal life
A team of biologists places comb jellies, not sponges, at the base of a new tree of animal life.
- Materials Science
Quantum Cocoon
Diamond can hold quantum information even at room temperature, which makes it a candidate material for future quantum computers.
- Health & Medicine
You, in a Dish
Human cells grown in conditions that mimic life inside the body are beginning to replace lab animals for testing drug candidates and industrial chemicals.
- Humans
Letters from the April 5, 2008, issue of Science News
Follow the glow “State of the Universe: Microwave glow powers cosmic insights” (SN: 3/15/08, p. 163) brings up a question. This glow should be stronger in one direction, which can point us to the center of the universe. Is this possible? Donald BurrNovato, Calif. Studies of the microwave glow reveal that Earth is moving surprisingly […]
