More Stories from the October 8, 2005 issue
- Physics
Transistor laser flaunts twin talents
A transistor that doubles as a laser can now operate at room temperature, bringing it to the verge of practical applications.
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Brains disconnect as people sleep
Rather than turning off completely during sleep, the brain shuts down communication among structures that make up neural networks.
- Planetary Science
What whacked the inner solar system?
Planetary scientists have determined that the cavalcade of space debris that hammered the inner solar system for the first 700 million years of its existence were main-belt asteroids, not comets.
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Flu from horses is racing among dogs
A highly contagious influenza virus that has killed greyhounds and sickened other dogs may have first jumped to canines from a single infected horse.
- Tech
Humane bloodletting
Medical researchers have designed a new lancet that dramatically reduces the pain experienced by lab mice during blood-sampling procedures.
- Humans
Tulane’s traveling med school
Houston medical schools opened their facilities to a sister institution in New Orleans whose faculty and students were sent into exile by Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters.
- Health & Medicine
High testosterone linked to prostate cancer risk
Men with naturally high testosterone levels face an elevated risk of prostate cancer, suggesting that men who use hormone supplements to combat age-related problems could also be in trouble.
- Materials Science
Carbon nanotubes get nosy
Researchers have demonstrated that individual nanotubes, decorated with DNA, can rapidly detect a number of gases.
- Archaeology
Q Marks the Spot: Recent find fingers long-sought Maya city
A hieroglyphic-covered stone panel discovered at an ancient Maya site in Guatemala last April adds weight to suspicions that the settlement was Site Q, an enigmatic city about which researchers have long speculated.
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Killer Findings: Scientists piece together 1918-flu virus
Two new studies shed light on the 1918-flu virus by wrapping up efforts to sequence its genome and reconstructing its genes into a living model.
- Materials Science
Heart of the Matter: Scanning scope digs deeper into microchips
Researchers have developed a noninvasive imaging technique that lets them see deep inside a microchip.
- Planetary Science
Saturnian sponge
The first close-up portrait of Saturn's icy moon Hyperion reveals a spongy-looking surface unlike that of any other known moon.
- Humans
Nobel prizes: The power of original thinking
The 2005 Nobel prizes in the sciences honor a gutsy move, optical brilliance, and chemical crossovers.
- Computing
Untangling a Web: The Internet gets a new look
A new mathematical model of the Internet shows that it may not be as vulnerable to centralized attacks as previous research suggested.
- Earth
Fertility and Pollution: Dirty air, ozone linked to sperm troubles
Men develop lower sperm counts and produce more sperm with fragmented DNA when the air has higher levels of ozone and other pollutants.
- Humans
Benched Science
As a result of three U.S. Supreme Court decisions in the 1990s, people who sue for redress from injury are now less likely to have scientific or medical evidence concerning that injury reach a jury.
- Astronomy
Crisis in the Cosmos?
Baby galaxies that hail from the early history of the cosmos but are full of old stars and are nearly as massive as the Milky Way is today may challenge the standard theory of galaxy formation.
