More Stories from the January 29, 2000 issue
- Health & Medicine
New Compounds Inhibit HIV in Lab
Two new compounds uncovered by pharmaceutical scientists block integrase, an enzyme essential to the replication cycle of the virus that causes AIDS.
- Health & Medicine
Meaty receptor helps tongue savor flavor
Scientists have identified a receptor protein in taste buds that recognizes the flavor of monosodium glutamate.
- Earth
Major mood swing alters Pacific character
The temperature of the North Pacific Ocean has apparently veered from one extreme to the other—a change that could alter North American weather for the next decade or two.
- Animals
Why don’t racing horses fry their brains?
Lumpy sacs bulging out of a horse's auditory tubes may solve the mystery of how such an athletic animal keeps its brain from overheating during exercise.
- Planetary Science
Life on Europa: A possible energy source
New evidence supports the notion that Jupiter's moon Europa contains an ocean beneath its icy surface, and a planetary scientist has proposed a novel way that Europa could be getting the energy required to sustain life within that ocean.
- Earth
Backyard burning is recipe for dioxin
A few rural households burning trash may generate more toxic dioxins than a major, properly operated municipal incinerator.
- Humans
Students shine in Science Talent Search
The Intel Science Talent Search announces its 40 finalists
- Materials Science
In glass, fast crowds boogie to brittle end
New experiments suggest that a coordinated dance involving more and more molecules may help explain the puzzling transformation from liquid to the molecular gridlock of solid glass.
- Astronomy
Chandra eyes low-temperature black hole
An observatory in space has detected the coolest black hole yet found
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Evolution may not be slow or random
Studies of fruit flies taking over the New World and stickleback fish adapting to Canadian lakes suggest that evolution can proceed quickly and take predictable paths.
- Animals
Redder is healthier in squawking birds
When barn swallow nestlings open wide for food, their parents may be looking for the healthiest throats.
- Health & Medicine
Poor glucose metabolism risks clots
Excess concentrations of insulin in the blood may hamper the body's ability to break down blood clots efficiently.
- Health & Medicine
Firm nears completion of human genome
Celera Genomics announced that it has sequenced 90 percent of the human genome and claimed it has found about 97 percent of all human genes.
- Health & Medicine
Impotence high after prostate removal
Roughly 60 percent of men who have a cancerous prostate gland removed are subsequently impotent.
- Math
Trailing after double bubbles
A proof of the double-bubble conjecture for the case in which the two bubbles' volumes are unequal appears within reach.
- Math
Unveiling the work of Archimedes
An ancient manuscript long hidden from public view may provide significant insights into the way Archimedes did his mathematical work more than 2,000 years ago.
- Earth
Liquid Assets
Research provides guidance on how best to bank water during times of plenty for use during subsequent droughts
- Health & Medicine
NO News
Preliminary research suggests that inhaled nitric oxide may offer a much-needed treatment for patients suffering from complications of sickle cell disease.
