More Stories from the November 26, 2005 issue
- Astronomy
Images of a fiery youth
A faint, infrared glow captured by the Spitzer Space Telescope might be light from the universe's first stars.
- Health & Medicine
Sleep apnea could signal greater danger
The nighttime breathing disorder called obstructive sleep apnea might double a person's risk of death or stroke.
- Planetary Science
Found and lost
Astronomers who previously announced that they had identified the likely remains of the Mars Polar Lander in images taken by an orbiting spacecraft now say that they were fooled by electronic noise in those images.
- Earth
Antibiotics afield
Antibiotics shed by livestock in manure can end up in crops or bound to soil, where they can foster disease-resistant germs.
- Health & Medicine
Marrow cells boost ailing hearts
Extracting cells from a heart attack patient's bone marrow and then inserting them into the person's heart via a catheter can improve pumping capacity.
- Health & Medicine
New drug fights heart failure
The experimental drug levosimendin, in combination with standard drugs, eases heart failure symptoms better than standard drugs alone do.
- Health & Medicine
Endurance cycling tied to lasting heart damage
Former professional bicyclers have signs of heart problems nearly 4 decades after competing in grueling endurance events.
- Health & Medicine
Pill eases craving
An experimental drug called varenicline helps cigarette smokers kick the habit better than bupropion does, the most effective medicine currently on the market.
- Health & Medicine
Natural Ingredients: Method grows vessels from one’s own cells
Starting with bits of skin, scientists have produced new blood vessels in a laboratory and successfully implanted them into two patients.
- Materials Science
Atom Hauler: Molecular rig snags multi-atom loads
Specialists in atomic-scale construction can now use a new molecule to gather small groups of atoms and drop them, as clusters, at specific locations.
- Earth
Roots of Climate: Plants’ water transport cools Amazon basin
Field tests in the Amazon have for the first time measured daily and seasonal movements of soil moisture through the deep roots of trees.
- Animals
Unway Sign: Ant pheromone stops traffic
Researchers have found a new kind of traffic sign on ant trails, a chemical "Do not enter" that keeps foragers from wasting their time on paths that don't lead to food.
- Earth
Nonstick Taints: Fluorochemicals are in us all
A new federal study strongly suggests that all U.S. residents harbor measurable traces of fluorochemicals, compounds found in a host of consumer products.
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Danger Mouse: Deleting a gene transforms timid rodents into daredevils
By removing one gene from a mouse's standard repertoire, scientists have turned a timid animal into an intrepid one.
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DNA Clues to Our Kind: Regulatory gene linked to human evolution
A gene that exerts wide-ranging effects on the brain works harder in people than it does in chimpanzees and other nonhuman primates.
- Astronomy
Ring around the galaxy
The Hubble Space Telescope has captured the largest number ever of elliptical galaxies with Einstein rings, a marker of gravitational lensing.
- Health & Medicine
Staring into the Dark
Amid a growing array of medications for treating insomnia, sleep researchers point to large gaps in their knowledge about which of these medicines work best and for how long they remain effective.
- Planetary Science
Mars or Bust!
Scientists are working to overcome the biomedical challenges that would hinder a human voyage to Mars.
