More Stories from the November 18, 2000 issue
- Chemistry
Chemistry Catches Cocaine at Source
Scientists have devised a method for identifying cocaine's geographical origin by determining the chemical signatures of five distinct coca-growing regions in the Andes.
- Earth
New database describes all the marbles
Analyses of the isotope ratios of carbon and oxygen in hundreds of samples of Greek marble may help researchers identify the quarries that supplied the stone for some of Europe's most famous statues and architecture.
- Health & Medicine
Gene therapy might keep arteries open
Tiny steel-mesh tubes coated with a DNA-containing polymer could prevent arteries from becoming reclogged after cardiovascular treatment.
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Untreated schizophrenia may spare brain
Contrary to the fears of some researchers, treatment delays for schizophrenia may not worsen brain deficits associated with the mental disorder.
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Wild tobacco heeds ‘ouch’ from sagebrush
Biologists studying wild tobacco and sagebrush say they have found a case of interspecies plant communication in the field.
- Astronomy
Variable quasar may help measure the cosmos
A flickering cosmic mirage, recorded for the first time in X rays, promises to provide a new estimate of how rapidly the universe is expanding.
- Health & Medicine
Path to heart health is one with a peel
Consuming lots of oranges and other citrus fruits, or their juices, can trigger beneficial, cholesterol-moderating changes in the blood.
- Tech
Chair becomes personalized posture coach
Pressure imprints made by a person in a chair provide a new type of computer input useful for tracking posture or, perhaps, other clues to someone's activities and state of mind.
- Planetary Science
When storms collide on Jupiter
Astronomers have for the first time witnessed two giant storms merging on Jupiter.
- Planetary Science
NASA postpones plans for Mars samples
Still reeling from the failure of its two most recent missions to Mars, NASA announced late last month that it would delay by nearly a decade plans to bring back samples from the Red Planet.
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Study casts doubt on minibacteria
Results from polymerase chain reaction experiments challenge the existence of ultratiny microbes called nanobacteria.
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Drug-resistance gene found—again
A mutant gene confers resistance to chloroquine upon parasites that cause malaria.
- Earth
Sprawl’s aquatic pollution
A new study links the traffic associated with urban sprawl to an unexpectedly large rain of air pollutants entering local waters.
- Ecosystems
More on California’s rogue seaweed
Scientists have obtained genetic confirmation of the assumption that a newfound rogue alga in California waters is the same strain that has been smothering seafloor communities in the Mediterranean.
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