More Stories from the February 4, 2006 issue
- Health & Medicine
Diabetes most often begins in March
A person's likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes varies seasonally and is about 50 percent higher in March than in August.
- Animals
New candidates for smallest vertebrate
Two recent scientific papers have described fish species that could, depending on the definition, be the world's smallest known vertebrate.
- Earth
Warming climate will slow ocean circulation
Later this century, rising concentrations of greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere could slow the ocean currents that bring warm waters to the North Atlantic.
- Health & Medicine
Tumor’s border cells told to leave
Cells on a tumor's outer layer that touch healthy tissue receive a chemical signal that sends them wandering away.
- Health & Medicine
Rotavirus vaccines pass big safety tests
The largest industry-funded medical trials in history have found that two new vaccines are both safe and effective against life-threatening childhood diarrhea caused by rotavirus.
- Earth
Manganese can make water toxic
Drinking water contaminated with manganese can subtly limit a child's intellectual development.
- Earth
2005 was warmest year on record
Last year's global average temperature was the warmest since scientists began compiling records in the late 1800s.
- Astronomy
Galactic cannibalism
A highly elongated group of stars is most likely a dwarf galaxy that is being gobbled up by the Milky Way.
- Animals
Poor Devils: Critters’ fights transmit cancer
Tasmanian devils transmit cancer cells when they bite each other during routine squabbles, producing lesions that are often fatal.
- Health & Medicine
Self Help: Stem cells rescue lupus patients
By rebuilding a patient's immune system using his or her own stem cells, doctors can reverse of the course of lupus in severely ill patients.
- Physics
Smashing Success: Accelerator gets cool upgrade
A novel scheme for increasing the number of collisions in particle accelerators has boosted the performance of the world's highest-energy collider.
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Good for Something: Prion protein maintains stem cells
The same protein that, in an altered shape, causes mad cow disease maintains the body's cache of blood-producing stem cells.
- Earth
Cold and Deep: Antarctica’s Lake Vostok has two big neighbors
Trapped beneath Antarctica's kilometers-thick ice sheet are two immense bodies of water that may harbor ecosystems that have been isolated for millions of years.
- Health & Medicine
Protecting People from a Terrifying Toxin: Vaccine stimulates immune response against ricin
In its first test in people, a vaccine against the toxin ricin appears safe and generates antibodies that are expected to be protective against the potential bioterrorism agent.
- Animals
Bird-Safe Rx: Alternative drug won’t kill India’s vultures
Researchers have found an alternative to the livestock drug that has accidentally poisoned a majority of the vultures in India and neighboring countries.
- Tech
Microbial Moxie
Microbial fuel cells, which take advantage of the fact that some microbes generate electricity when they break down organic matter, could one day power remote sensors, wastewater-treatment plants, and portable devices.
- Earth
A Little Less Green?
Emerging data indicate that use of pyrethroid pesticides, even by home owners, poses significant environmental risks.
- Humans
Letters from the February 4, 2006, issue of Science News
Double trouble? “Sleep apnea could signal greater danger” (SN: 11/26/05, p. 349) says that “twice as many … with sleep apnea had a stroke or died of that or another cause. …” This sounds serious, but your readers can’t correctly assign importance to “twice as many” because you omit numbers of deaths. David KollasTolland, Conn. […]
