More Stories from the November 17, 2007 issue
- Anthropology
Wild chimps scale branches of culture
Distinctive behaviors in wild-chimp communities point to a basic cultural capacity in these animals.
- Agriculture
Insects laughing at Bt toxin? Try this
A new countermeasure restores the toxicity of Bt pesticides to insects that have evolved resistance.
- Tech
Bucky shrink-wrap
Scientists filmed cage-shaped carbon molecules as they shrank to become buckyballs.
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- Earth
New climate sensor: Swiss grapes
Records of grape harvests reveal the summer climate in parts of Switzerland as far back as the 1400s.
- Health & Medicine
Superbug: What makes one bacterium so deadly
A molecule that pierces immune cells gives some aggressive antibiotic-resistant staph bacteria their fearsome virulence.
- Plants
Tough Frills: Ferns’ wimp stage aces survival test
A supposedly fragile stage in the life of ferns shows surprising toughness.
- Paleontology
Huge, yet not quite life-size
The Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh will unveil the world's largest dinosaur mural on Nov. 21, when its dinosaur halls reopen after a 30-month, $36 million renovation.
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Crime Growth: Early mental ills fuel young-adult offending
Mental disorders in children can lead to criminal behavior in adulthood.
- Astronomy
Flare-Up: Comet Holmes’ surprise bloom
Comet 17P/Holmes abruptly brightened last month, blossoming into a naked eye object.
- Health & Medicine
Bone Builder: Drug may offer steroid users new protection against fractures
A bone-growth medication called teriparatide outperforms the standard bone-preserving drug alendronate in people with steroid-induced osteoporosis.
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Flawed Stem Cells Yield Fragile X Clues: Researchers study genetic disorder via discarded embryos
The most common inherited cause of mental retardation arises when a mutated gene is shut down early in embryonic development.
- Paleontology
Back from the Dead?
The long-term disappearance of creatures from the fossil record and their later reemergence can provide insights into ancient environmental conditions and the trustworthiness of the fossil record itself.
- Physics
Shadow World
Physicists have found new evidence for a 10-year-old conjecture that bridges the gap between the many-dimensional space of string theory and more familiar theorizing.
- Humans
Letters from the November 17, 2007, issue of Science News
Unequal opportunity “The Wealth of Nations” (SN: 9/1/07, p. 138) describes the difficulty of moving from exporting one product to exporting another in terms of a “distance” between various products. I would imagine, however, that a nation that already manufactures computers, for example, could easily move into calculators, but that the reverse might not be […]
