More Stories from the July 17, 2004 issue
- Earth
Treaty enacted to preserve crop biodiversity
The United Nations enacted a new international treaty to halt the erosion of genetic diversity of crops.
- Tech
Nanorods go for the gold
Gold blobs grown onto the ends of tiny, rod-shaped crystals provide potential points for electric contact and chemical liaisons that could enable such semiconductor bits to self-organize into complex circuits or structures.
- Humans
The high cost of staying current
Reading peer-reviewed journals remains a primary means by which researchers stay on top of developments in their fields, but the annual costs for these periodicals are steep.
- Health & Medicine
Four die of rabies in transplanted tissues
Four people who received tissue transplanted from a man who had died from an undiagnosed rabies infection have since themselves died from the same incurable neurological disease.
- Earth
Bacteria found to release arsenic into groundwater
Arsenic gets into groundwater largely through the action of bacteria residing in aquifer sediments.
- Physics
Quantum snare entraps key fifth photon
By coaxing five quantum particles into a state of entanglement, physicists have taken an important step toward dependable quantum computers and more-versatile schemes for transferring quantum information.
-
-
Female brains know how to fold ’em
Women compensate for the smaller overall volume of their brains by squeezing more folds into some of the space than men do.
- Earth
Sea Change: Carbon dioxide imperils marine ecosystems
Almost half the carbon dioxide produced by human activity in the past 2 centuries is now dissolved in the oceans, resulting in chemical changes that, if unchecked, could threaten some marine ecosystems.
- Health & Medicine
A Toxic Side of Weight Loss: Pollutants may slow body’s metabolism
Weight loss releases toxic chemicals into the bloodstream, which may slow the body's metabolism.
-
Groomed DNA Handles Threats: Mothering styles alter rats’ stress responses
In rats, mothering styles set the genetic stage for a pup's lifelong responses to stressful situations.
- Chemistry
Nitrogen Power: New crystal packs a lot of punch
At extremely high temperatures and pressures, nitrogen gas assumes a three-dimensional crystal structure called polymeric nitrogen, a long-sought energy-storage material.
- Physics
Feel the Force: Magnetic probe finds lone electron
Scientists have observed a single electron's magnetism.
- Health & Medicine
Leukemia Fighter: Drug could combat resistant cases
A new drug for treating chronic myeloid leukemia that is resistant to the frontline drug imatinib shows promise in mouse tests.
- Animals
Sparrows Cheat on Sleep: Migratory birds are up at night but still stay sharp
During their fall migration season, white-crowned sparrows sleep only about a third as much as they do at other times of the year without becoming slow-witted.
- Health & Medicine
Counting Carbs
Although low-carbohydrate diets can be powerful weight-loss tools, many physicians now conclude they aren't for anyone who isn't under a doctor's watchful eye.
- Materials Science
Diatom Menagerie
Materials scientists are trying to coerce diatoms into making silicon-based microdevices with specific features.
- Humans
Letters from the July 17, 2004, issue of Science News
Readers on reading Other librarians and I regularly discuss illiterate, functional, aliterate, and avid readers. I am pleased that research has begun into what happens in readers’ brains (“Words in the Brain: Reading program spurs neural rewrite in kids,” SN: 5/8/04, p. 291: Words in the Brain: Reading program spurs neural rewrite in kids). The […]
