More Stories from the June 23, 2001 issue
- Chemistry
Chemists make hard-to-catch molecules
Chemists have devised a new way to stabilize highly reactive molecules called carbenes.
- Chemistry
Hassium holds its place at the table
Researchers have performed the first ever chemical studies on the element hassium.
- Paleontology
Fossil footprints could be monumental
Trace fossils found in a vacant lot in a small town in Utah, including the footprints of meat-eating dinosaurs, could soon be protected as part of a new U.S. national monument.
- Paleontology
Sahara yields second-largest dinosaur
Excavations near an Egyptian oasis have unearthed the fossils of an animal that probably ranks as the second-most-massive dinosaur known.
- Tech
Polymer takes dim view of explosives
By spraying surfaces with a light-emitting polymer, researchers have taken a step toward making new sensors for traces of common explosives.
- Tech
Robosaur roams with spring in its step
The novel dinosaur robot Troodon takes two-legged walking machines onto new terrain.
- Tech
Device fingers chemical thugs at scene
A compact, new instrument exploits quantum mechanics to rapidly identify illegal drugs, pollutants, and other chemicals, on the spot.
- Physics
Physics Bedrock Cracks, Sun Shines In
The first data from a new Canadian detector of particles called neutrinos not only resolve a 30-year-old puzzle about how the sun works, but also revise estimates of mysterious "dark" matter in the universe and strengthen a key challenge to the prevailing theory of particle physics.
- Paleontology
Two new dinosaurs chiseled from fossil gap
A sleek predator and a pot-bellied giant dinosaur have emerged from North American rocks to fill in a 30-million-year gap in the dinosaur fossil record.
- Health & Medicine
Leukemia overpowers drug in two ways
Researchers discover why the anticancer drug Gleevec, also called STI-571, helps many patients who have chronic myelogenous leukemia but not those who have entered the crisis stage of the disease.
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Babies may thrive on wordless conversation
Although unable to say a word, 4-month-olds coordinate the timing of their vocalizations with those of adult partners in conversational ways that may have implications for social and intellectual development.
- Chemistry
Chemists decorate nanotubes for usefulness
Researchers have developed a new technique for attaching groups of atoms to the sides of carbon nanotubes, creating compounds with extraordinary strength and conductivity.
- Health & Medicine
Studies suggest how salad may protect heart
Lutein, a yellow pigment in many fruits and vegetables, may inhibit processes that jump-start the development of atherosclerosis.
- Animals
Fruit flies hear by spinning their noses
Drosophila have a rotating ear—and odor-sensing—structure that's new to science.
- Health & Medicine
Prostate protection? This is fishy
Diets rich in fish may cut a man's risk of prostate cancer.
- Health & Medicine
Forget about jet lag, and much more
Airline flight attendants with chronic jet lag have higher stress hormone concentrations and smaller temporal lobes (centers of short-term memory in the brain)than do more rested attendants.
- Astronomy
An Illuminating Journey
Astronomers are beginning to use the cosmic microwave background, the remnant glow from the Big Bang, in a dramatically different way: Instead of treating it as a snapshot of the early universe, researchers are proposing to employ the radiation as a flashlight that probes the evolution of structure in the universe over its entire 13-billion-year history.
- Chemistry
Perfecting Porosity
Researchers are designing novel porous materials that could clean up toxins, store gases, or catalyze difficult chemical reactions.
