More Stories from the June 19, 2004 issue
- Health & Medicine
Hepatitis C drugs are less effective in black patients
A standard drug combination for hepatitis C is less likely to knock out the virus in blacks than in whites.
- Physics
Squashed spheres set a record for filling space
Modestly deformed spheres can stack with unexpected compactness.
- Health & Medicine
Compound in salsa kills off Salmonella
Cilantro, one of the key ingredients of salsa, harbors an antibacterial compound that attacks Salmonella bacteria.
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Sperm defender has second role
An antimicrobial protein may also trigger maturation of sperm.
- Health & Medicine
Tackling stroke and heart risks
Lowering cholesterol in diabetes patients lessens their risk of heart attack or stroke, even when their initial cholesterol was in the normal range.
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Gene variant boosts diabetes risk
Variant forms of two genes that encode receptor proteins for the hormone adiponectin show up more often in people with type 2 diabetes than in people who don't have the disease.
- Health & Medicine
Cell transplants stop diabetes in some patients
Islet cell transplants can reverse diabetes in some patients.
- Health & Medicine
Blocking an enzyme combats disease
By blocking an enzyme that breaks down a beneficial compound in the body, researchers are able to help diabetes patients control their blood sugar.
- Physics
Teleporting Matter’s Traits: Beaming information quantum-style
Physicists have transferred a quantum state from one atom to another by manipulating a mysterious, atom-to-atom quantum link called entanglement.
- Planetary Science
Portrait of Phoebe: Cassini images a large Saturn moon
The Saturn-bound Cassini spacecraft took the first close-up images ever recorded of one of Saturn's oddest moons, Phoebe.
- Earth
Blueberry Hills: Utah nodules resemble some found on Mars
Analyses of small iron oxide nodules found within certain sandstones of the U.S. Southwest could shed light on how similar spherules may have formed on Mars.
- Health & Medicine
Better Form, Same Function: Liposuction doesn’t lessen health risks
Liposuction doesn't improve the long-term health prospects of very obese people.
- Animals
A tale of new whiskers
A newly discovered, featherweight tree mouse with an unexpected evolutionary past has survived widespread habitat destruction on the Philippine island of Luzon.
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Tuning Up Young Minds: Music lessons give kids a small IQ advantage
Regular music lessons, focused either on learning to play an instrument or to sing, result in small but statistically significant IQ gains for first graders by the end of the school year, a new study finds.
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Bubble Trouble: Mad cow proteins may hitch a ride between cells
Prions, the proteins behind mad cow disease, may travel between cells in bubbles called exosomes.
- Paleontology
Fossil Fingerprints: Rare earths tie bones to burial ground
The soil in which fossilization occurs leaves a chemical imprint on the bones, suggesting that scientists can use this soil signature to identify more precisely a fossil's original home.
- Tech
Sixth Sense
A budding technology called electric field imaging may soon enable devices such as appliances, toys, and computers to detect the presence of people and respond to their motions.
- Health & Medicine
Narcolepsy Science Reawakens
Recent advances in understanding the biological underpinnings of narcolepsy have created a new diagnostic tool and point toward possible future therapies.
- Humans
Letters from the June 19, 2004, issue of Science News
Scan or scam? Using laser technology that has an apparent resolution of only about half a centimeter is somewhat laughable (“Laser scanners map rock art,” SN: 4/3/04, p. 222: Laser scanners map rock art). I also wondered whether the “fresh coat of desert varnish” was an April fool joke. Actually, I really look forward to […]
