More Stories from the October 29, 2005 issue
- Materials Science
Brainy bandages
Researchers have taken a step toward smart bandages that would indicate the presence of an infection in a wound.
- Paleontology
Some plesiosaurs went for clams
The fossils of plesiosaurs recently unearthed in Australia suggest that the long-necked, aquatic reptiles had a more varied diet than scientists had previously suspected.
- Physics
Nanobots walk ‘n’ roll
A molecule that waddles on stubby feet and another that drives on ball-like wheels demonstrate scientists' increasing control over the usually haphazard motion of molecules on surfaces.
- Planetary Science
’10th planet’ has a partner
The so-called 10th planet, an object larger than Pluto that ranks as the most distant body known in the solar system, has a moon.
- Planetary Science
Shoreline for Titan?
New radar images of Saturn's smog-shrouded moon Titan show evidence of a shoreline cutting across the moon's southern hemisphere.
- Health & Medicine
Single drug dose may be better against cholera
A single dose of the antibiotic ciprofloxacin cures cholera in children as often as a 12-dose regimen of erythromycin does.
- Health & Medicine
Defense Mechanism: Circumcision averts some HIV infections
Men who get circumcised reduce their risk of acquiring the AIDS virus by more than half.
- Paleontology
Caribbean Extinctions: Climate change probably wasn’t the culprit
Remains of extinct sloths unearthed in Cuba and Haiti indicate that the creatures persisted in Caribbean enclaves until about 4,200 years ago, a finding that almost absolves climate change following the last ice age as a cause for the die-offs.
- Earth
Breaking Waves: Mangroves shielded parts of coast from tsunami
Along a strip of India's southeastern coastline, trees protected certain villages from last December's tsunami, while waves wiped out neighboring settlements that weren't sheltered by vegetation.
- Tech
Muck Tech: Natural enzyme displaces precious metal in fuel cell
A prototype fuel cell uses an enzyme from a soil microbe to generate electricity from hydrogen rather than from rare and expensive metal catalysts such as platinum.
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SNPs Ahoy! Scientists complete map of genetic differences
A new map that delineates small genetic differences among people may be a powerful tool for figuring out why some individuals get certain diseases and how to customize their treatments.
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Left Out by a Stroke: Right-brain injury may upset attention balance
People who suddenly ignore everything to their left after suffering a right-brain stroke display disturbed activity in uninjured parts of a widespread neural network associated with attention.
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Read My Gestures: Body language can trump facial expressions
Body language can influence the perception of emotion on a person's face.
- Chemistry
Making a Little Progress
Scientists are using nanotechnology to develop new strategies for diagnosing and treating cancer.
- Tech
Ghost Town Busters
Facing the threat of a radioactive mess from a dirty bomb, government and industry labs are creating novel cleaning agents and fixatives to aid rescue operations and speed restoration of contaminated zones.
- Humans
Letters from the October 29, 2005, issue of Science News
Food for thought I note that pleasure activates the neurobiological response that fuels addictive behavior (“Food Fix: Neurobiology highlights similarities between obesity and drug addiction,” SN: 9/3/05, p. 155). It has long been a tenet of the 12-step programs that there is no pleasure greater than to use one’s talents to help others similarly afflicted. […]
