More Stories from the October 23, 2004 issue
- Materials Science
Reversible gel restores artwork
To help conservationists restore paintings to their original glory without damaging the original paint, chemists have developed a cleaning product that switches from a liquid to a gel.
- Anthropology
Chimps show skill in termite fishing
Video cameras set up in a central-African forest have recorded the sophisticated ways in which local chimpanzees catch termites for eating.
- Chemistry
Branching polymer could heal cataract wounds
Cataract surgery might get a little easier, thanks to a transparent gel that seals surgical incisions in the eye better than standard sutures do.
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Single gene turns flu deadly
Variations in a single gene may have dramatically increased the virulence of 1918 Spanish flu.
- Tech
Cramming bits into pits
By skewing the alignment of pits on an optical disk's surface, disk makers might store much more than one bit per pit.
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Cavefish blinded by gene expression
New evidence supports the theory that Mexican blind cavefish are sightless by evolutionary selection, not chance.
- Physics
Tiny tubes tune in colors
At the right length and conductivity, ultrathin filaments of carbon known as carbon nanotubes can receive visible light waves in the same the way as larger antennas receive radio signals.
- Physics
Dancing the heat away
By laser-zapping nanocapsules of water, scientists find that the specific molecular motions caused by the excitation, not just simple heat diffusion, determine how energy and heat flow through such minuscule structures.
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Medical Decisions in Question: Mental incapacity missed by docs
A substantial minority of medical patients treated for acute conditions at a British hospital lacked the ability to make informed decisions about their care, although their physicians usually didn't recognize it.
- Physics
Graphite in Flatland: Carbon sheets may rival nanotubes
Researchers have created freestanding carbon films as thin as one atom.
- Plants
Green Red-Alert: Plant fights invaders with animal-like trick
Mustard plants' immune systems can react to traces of bacteria with a burst of nitric oxide, much as an animal's immune system does.
- Chemistry
Microbes Make the Switch: Tailored bacteria need caffeine product to survive
Bacteria that rely on a chemical derived from the breakdown of caffeine for their survival could help lead to the development of decaffeinated coffee plants.
- Paleontology
Early Bird: Fossil features hint at go-get-’em hatchlings
A well-preserved, 121-million-year-old fossilized bird embryo has several features that suggest that the species' young could move about and feed themselves very soon after they hatched.
- Health & Medicine
A Problem of Adhesion: More evidence of sickle-cell stickiness
Interrupted blood flow in people with sickle-cell disease might arise from stickiness inherent in the unusual red blood cells these individuals have.
- Astronomy
Messy Findings: Planets encounter a violent world
Some young planets continue to take a beating hundreds of millions of years after they've formed.
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Reworking Intuition
Financially endangered companies rapidly reorganized to become profitable after key staff members ran simulated companies in 2-day sessions organized by a San Diego psychologist.
- Health & Medicine
Creepy-Crawly Care
Encouraging results from research on medical uses for maggots and leeches, coupled with recent government approval of both therapies, lend credibility to the idea that some live organisms deserve a place in the medical armamentarium.
- Humans
Letters from the October 23, 2004, issue of Science News
Hand to mouth “Skin proves poor portal for arsenic in treated wood” (SN: 7/24/04, p. 62: Skin proves poor portal for arsenic in treated wood) shouldn’t make parents any less wary of allowing their children to come in contact with the chromated-copper arsenate wood structures. What children pick up on their hands from a deck […]
