More Stories from the February 9, 2008 issue
- Humans
Diabetes drug and conflicts of interest
A U.S. senator outed a noted diabetes researcher for breaking confidentiality and leaking a study while he was peer-reviewing it for a major journal.
- Chemistry
Chomping on uranium
Chemists forced the most common form of uranium into a new kind of chemical reaction, which could lead to new industrial applications and new tools to clean up the environment.
- Earth
Early dioxin exposure hinders sperm later
Dioxin exposure at an early age affects sperm quality later in life.
- Archaeology
The Black Death chose its victims selectively
An analysis of medieval skeletons in England and Denmark finds that the devastating epidemic known as the Black Death killed excess numbers of people who were physically frail to begin with.
- Archaeology
Zeus’ altar drew early visitors
Archaeologists have discovered evidence that people used a ceremonial altar to the ancient Greek god Zeus around 5,000 years ago, a millennium before Zeus worship originated.
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Growing Up to Prozac: Drug makes new neurons mature faster
Prozac may relieve depression by stimulating growth and maturation of neurons in some parts of the brain.
- Earth
Finding Fault: Trace of old subduction zone found in Italy
A thick layer of rocks now lying high in the mountains of Italy is the remains of a quake-generating subduction zone active under the sea millions of years ago, a discovery that provides clues about ancient seismic activity along this interface between tectonic plates and insights into what may be happening along many such subduction zones today.
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Tots Who Tote: Babies show neural signs of budding number sense
By three months of age, infants already display separate brain networks for detecting changes in either the number or the types of objects that they see.
- Animals
Whales Drink Sounds: Hearing may use an ancient path
Sounds can travel to a whale's ears through its throat, an acoustic pathway that might be ancient in the whale lineage.
- Ecosystems
Spread of nonnative fish mirrors human commerce
Invasions of foreign freshwater fish are more common in areas with relatively high economic activity, suggesting that humans are a part of the problem.
- Health & Medicine
Pot Downer: Marijuana users risk gum disease
Regular marijuana smoking is linked to gum disease in young adults.
- Humans
Wish List: FY ’09 budget proposal ups physical sciences
President Bush's proposed 2009 federal budget would boost R&D in the physical sciences while reining in biomedical research.
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Faulty Fountains of Youth
As a source of new cells to revitalize tissues, adult stem cells may cause some of decline of the body in old age, but the link between the two is not as simple as it seems.
- Archaeology
Dawn of the City
A research team has excavated huge public structures from more than 6,000 years ago in northeastern Syria, challenging the notion that the world's first cities arose in the so-called fertile crescent of what's now southern Iraq.
- Humans
Letters from the February 9, 2008, issue of Science News
Small, or just invisible? “Heavy Find: Weighty neutron stars may rule out exotic core” (SN: 1/12/08, p. 20) says that the companion star of the pulsar PSR B1516+02B must be “tiny” because it cannot be seen. Isn’t it possible that the companion is made of dark matter? Is there a “wobble” test or other way […]
