More Stories from the February 1, 2003 issue
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Psychiatric drugs surge among kids
The proportion of children and teenagers in the United States taking drugs prescribed for psychiatric disorders more than doubled from 1987 to 1996.
- Health & Medicine
Clot promoter cuts surgical bleeding
A clot-promoting protein known as recombinant activated factor VII might offer a new way to staunch demand for blood transfusions.
- Astronomy
Gamma-ray burst leaves ephemeral afterglow
A ground-based telescope on automatic pilot has taken one of the earliest images ever recorded of the visible-light afterglow of a gamma-ray burst, one of the most energetic flashes of radiation in the universe.
- Planetary Science
New moons for Neptune?
Astronomers say they have discovered three additional moons circling Neptune.
- Health & Medicine
As population ages, flu takes deadly turn
The annual U.S. toll of influenza has risen dramatically since the late 1970s, in part because of the advancing age of the population.
- Chemistry
Sea bacteria may be new anticancer resource
Researchers examining deep-sea sediments have uncovered a large source of previously unknown bacteria that appear to produce disease-fighting chemicals.
- Earth
Kilauea: 20 years on, it’s still erupting
As of Jan. 3, Kilauea—Hawaii’s Energizer Bunny of volcanic activity—has been erupting continuously for two decades.
- Anthropology
Dairying Pioneers: Milk ran deep in prehistoric England
Chemical analyses of prehistoric pot fragments indicate that English farmers milked livestock beginning around 6,000 years ago, providing the earliest confirmed evidence of dairying anywhere in the world.
- Animals
Better Than Real: Males prefer flower’s scent to female wasp’s
In an extreme case of sex fakery, an orchid produces oddball chemicals to mimic a female wasp's allure so well that males prefer the flower scent to the real thing.
- Chemistry
Shark Sense: Gel helps animals detect thermal fluctuations
New studies suggest that clear jelly under sharks' skin can enable the animals to detect minute changes in seawater temperature—potentially leading them to prey.
- Health & Medicine
Rackets and Radicals: Noise may cause gene damage in heart
Exposure to loud, continuous sound can scatter free radicals within heart tissue and cause injury to cells' DNA even after the din subsides, new animal research suggests.
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Heat-Seeking Missiles: Sperm may follow rising temperature to egg
In a process called thermotaxis, sperm cells may use a temperature gradient in the fallopian tubes to find their way to an unfertilized egg.
- Earth
Putting Whales to Work: Cetaceans provide cheap labor in the icy deep
Whales equipped with environmental sensors discover warm water beneath Arctic ice.
- Humans
Talent Found: Top science students chosen in 62nd annual competition
Forty wunderkinder, named as finalists in the annual Intel Science Talent Search, will collect $530,000 in scholarships for original research in science, mathematics, and engineering.
- Physics
Quantum computers to keep an eye on
A primitive ion-based computer exploiting the weirdness of quantum mechanics has taken an important step forward in problem solving.
- Earth
Why the Mercury Falls
Certain pollutants can foster the localized fallout of mercury, a toxic heavy metal, from the atmosphere.
- Earth
Electronic Jetsam
Oceanographers are developing and deploying a variety of seafaring probes—including drifters, gliders, and scientific torpedoes—that will enable them to explore and monitor the ocean remotely.
