More Stories from the August 12, 2006 issue
- Astronomy
Braking news: Disks slow down stars
Astronomers have the first clear-cut evidence that rotating young stars are slowed by the planet-forming disks of gas and dust that surround many of them.
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Poor sleep can accompany schizophrenia
The biological clocks in people with schizophrenia often are disturbed, if not broken.
- Health & Medicine
Blood sugar and spice
Eating cayenne pepper with meals may mitigate a hormonal response to food that's linked to diabetes.
- Health & Medicine
Scientists find midnight-snack center in brain
Researchers have tracked down the location of a body clock that appears to be regulated by food.
- Earth
As glaciers shrink, the Alps get taller
The melting of massive glaciers in the Alps is removing weight from those peaks and causing them to gain altitude.
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Blood clot protein is stretchiest natural fiber ever found
The protein that forms the backbone of blood clots can stretch to several times its own length and then snap back to its original size.
- Earth
Obsidian artifacts can record ancient climate
The layer of hydrated material that forms on the surface of ancient obsidian artifacts as they age can be used to estimate the temperatures that the artifacts have experienced.
- Tech
Glare gives silicon goose bumps
New experiments show that fluorescent lights cause undesirable bumpiness on the surface of silicon, identifying what may be a previously unrecognized cause of flaws in microchips that could become increasingly important.
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Bad Vibrations? Ultrasound disturbs mouse brains
Prolonged and frequent use of fetal ultrasound might lead to abnormal fetal brain development, a study in mice suggests.
- Earth
Macho Moms: Perchlorate pollutant masculinizes fish
Perchlorate, a compound best known as a component of rocket fuel, can disrupt sexual development in fish.
- Paleontology
New View: Method looks inside embryo fossils
Using an X-ray–scanning technique, scientists have taken a high-resolution peek inside fossilized embryos of some early multicellular organisms.
- Astronomy
Solar System Small Fry: Stellar blinks reveal tiny bodies near Pluto
By measuring tiny dips in the intensity of X rays from a distant star, astronomers say they have detected more than 50 of the tiniest chunks of ice ever found in the outer solar system.
- Health & Medicine
Need for Speed: Faster-acting tuberculosis drugs now in testing would limit deaths
Drugs that take only 2 months to cure tuberculosis instead of the usual 6 months could prevent millions of TB infections and deaths.
- Health & Medicine
Total Recall: Drug shows long-lasting boosts of memory in rats
Research in rats shows that an experimental drug completely regenerates parts of the brain crucial to forming memories.
- Ecosystems
Fish as Farmers: Reef residents tend an algal crop
A damselfish cultivates underwater gardens of an algal species that researchers haven't found growing on its own.
- Animals
Crouching Scientist, Hidden Dragonfly
Although dragonflies are among the most familiar of insects, science is just beginning to unravel their complex life stories.
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Outside Looking In
A new wave of research offers insights into the nature and causes of Asperger syndrome, a condition related to autism that's characterized by social cluelessness, repetitive behavior, and unusually narrow interests.
- Humans
Letters from the August 12, 2006, issue of Science News
Dates of contention Are the dates quoted in “Stones of Contention: Tiny Homo species tied to ancient tool tradition” (SN: 6/3/06, p. 341) correct? I didn’t think Homo existed as a genus 840,000 years ago. David AdamsBoothwyn, Pa. Fossil finds indicate that the Homo genus originated roughly 2.4 million years ago.—B. Bower No juicy story […]
