More Stories from the December 23, 2000 issue
- Humans
Science News of the Year 2000
A review of important scientific achievements reported in Science News during the year 2000.
- Planetary Science
Ganymede May Have Vast Hidden Ocean
A combination of images, spectra, and magnetic field measurements suggests that in addition to Jupiter's moon Europa, another Jovian moon, Ganymede, may also have had—and might still harbor—an ocean.
- Earth
Salmon puzzle: Why did males turn female?
Most of the spawning female Chinook salmon in one part of the Columbia River appear to have started life as males.
- Health & Medicine
Drugs counteract irritable bowel syndrome
Antibiotics can knock out bacteria overload in the small intestine, temporarily reversing irritable bowel syndrome.
- Animals
Birds may inherit their taste for the town
Tests switching cliff swallow nestlings to colonies of different sizes suggest the birds inherit their preference for group size.
- Math
Proof clarifies a map-folding problem
Researchers have developed an efficient algorithm to determine, given a collection of creases on a piece of paper, whether a sequence of simple folds produces a flat result, like a folded road map.
- Chemistry
Researchers stretch for improved surfaces
A surprisingly simple, new technique could create better coatings for everything from medical implants to ship hulls.
- Tech
Ink-jet dots form transistor spots
A new technique makes ink-jet printing of transistor circuits possible from conductive polymer inks.
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Great tits inherit egg spots from mom
An unusual study of eggshell spots suggests that there may be a gene for spottiness on the great tit's female sex chromosome.
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Nightlife: Marsupial meets mistletoe
A tiny marsupial in Argentina turns out to disperse mistletoe seeds, a job once presumed to be for the birds.
- Paleontology
Subway dig in L.A. yields fossil trove
Fossil finds made when a subway line was extended from Los Angeles into the San Fernando Valley include bones of mastodons, ground sloths, extinct bison and camels, and 39 new species of fish.
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- Plants
Botany under the Mistletoe
Twisters, spitters, and other flowery thoughts for romantic moments.
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