More Stories from the August 13, 2005 issue
- Astronomy
Cosmic soot
Astronomers have found a group of complex organic compounds, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, from a time when the universe was less than one-third its current age.
- Health & Medicine
After terror, moms’ stress affects kids
Infants born to women who developed posttraumatic stress disorder during pregnancy have unusually low concentrations of the hormone cortisol.
- Earth
Infants pick up toxic chemicals in intensive care
Newborns in intensive care units absorb high concentrations of a potentially toxic phthalate from the plastic tubing and other equipment used in treating them.
- Agriculture
Feds pull approval of poultry antibiotic
The FDA has announced its intent to ban an antibiotic used by poultry farmers because of concerns that continued use of the drug could make it harder to successfully treat food poisoning in people with products from the same class of antibiotics.
- Physics
Materials scientists go flat out
By separating flakes of single-layer crystals from several ordinary materials, physicists have discovered what may be both the world's thinnest materials and a technologically promising new class of substances.
- Materials Science
Nanotube carpet mimics gecko feet
Carbon nanotubes can outdo the extraordinary sticking power of a gecko's foot hairs.
- Earth
Study finds low battlefield hazard in depleted uranium
A calculation of the health impacts from the use of depleted uranium in antitank munitions projects small increases in the risk of lung cancer and colon cancer, but only for the most heavily exposed individuals.
- Health & Medicine
Sun Struck: Data suggest skin cancer epidemic looms
The incidence of non-melanoma skin cancers in young adults is mushrooming, possibly heralding an epidemic in follow-up cancers during the coming decades.
- Earth
Methane Maker: Method gets to root of gas from rice paddies
Scientists have singled out microorganisms that appear to be largely responsible for natural emissions of the greenhouse gas methane from rice paddies.
- Animals
Out of the Jungle: New lemurs found in Madagascar’s forests
Two new species of lemur have been discovered in Madagascar, the only home of these tiny and endangered primates.
- Tech
Electronic Leap: Plastic component may lead to ubiquitous radio tags
Tiny radio circuits cheap enough to be embedded into countless products have moved closer to reality with the development of a fast, plastic semiconductor diode.
- Astronomy
Three’s Company: Asteroid 87 Sylvia and her two moons
Astronomers have for the first time discovered an asteroid with two moons, an indication that the rock is highly porous.
- Health & Medicine
New Carrier: Common tick implicated in spread of fever
The brown dog tick is capable of spreading the bacterium that causes Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
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A Slumber Not So Sweet: Loss of brain cells that regulate breathing may cause death during sleep
Elderly people may die in their sleep because they gradually lose brain cells that control breathing.
- Astronomy
Cosmic Computing
The largest computer simulation of the universe ever compiled uses dark matter to shed light on the formation of galaxies and on the visible structure of the universe.
- Health & Medicine
Siccing Fungi on Malaria
Two independent research teams have found that fungi can kill mosquitoes or reduce the efficiency with which they transmit the malaria parasite.
- Paleontology
Just for Frills?
The more that paleontologists scrutinize some dinosaurs' plates, frills, and other anatomical oddities, the more they suspect that the rationale behind these features is simply the need to be recognizably different.
- Humans
Letters from the August 13, 2005, issue of Science News
Bay listen It was interesting to read of processing mundane noise to produce an ultrasound image of the geology of Los Angeles (“Seismic noise can yield maps of Earth’s crust,” SN: 6/11/05, p. 382). A big question in the state is the deep structure of San Francisco Bay. Clearly, the bay and the valleys extending […]
