More Stories from the September 16, 2000 issue
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Monkeys May Tune In to Basic Melodies
Simple tunes prove as memorable to rhesus monkeys as they do to people.
- Chemistry
Old Martian questions may have new answer
Researchers simulating Martian conditions in a test tube discover a likely reason why no organic molecules have yet been found on the surface of the Red Planet.
- Health & Medicine
Blood-cell transplants slow kidney cancer
A new transplant technique that uses blood transfusions from a sibling combined with decreasing doses of immune-suppressing drugs enables some patients to fight off advanced kidney cancer.
- Animals
Sexual conflict pushes species making
A novel comparison of 25 pairs of insect lineages finds that sexual conflict plays more of a role in making new species than scientists had realized.
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Moms and pups sniff out immune genes
Genes involved in the immune system also create individualized body odors that allow parents and offspring to recognize each other.
- Tech
Device ups hydrogen energy from sunlight
A solar-electric cell that stands above an acid bath on electrode legs has converted light to hydrogen fuel with unprecedented efficiency.
- Earth
Small quake shakes up hydrothermal vents
Long-term, post-earthquake fluctuations in the temperature and volume of water spewing from hydrothermal vents off the coast of Washington state suggest that the fluid flow feeding such vents may be much more complex than previously thought.
- Humans
Postdocs warrant more status and support
A new study finds a pressing need to improve the pay and status of postdoctoral scholars.
- Archaeology
Maya palace suddenly expands
Archaeologists find a sprawling palace and other surprises at a 1,300-year-old Maya site in Guatemala.
- Ecosystems
Virtual skylarks suffer weed shortfall
A new mathematical model raises the concern that switching to transgenic herbicide-tolerant crops could deprive birds of weed seeds.
- Earth
Bt corn pollen can hurt monarchs
A second test of a strain of corn genetically engineered to make its own insecticide finds potential for harm to monarch butterfly caterpillars.
- Computing
Going to digital extremes
A researcher designs the ultimate laptop, stretching the laws of physics to their limits to achieve blazing computation rates.
- Tech
Robots making robots, with some help
A new type of robotic system that designs and produces robotic offspring may represent a first step toward self-replicating "artificial life."
- Computing
Resistance leaps as magnetism mounts
A tiny traffic island for electrons promises to serve as an extraordinarily sensitive detector of magnetic fields.
- Earth
High-Flying Science, with Strings Attached
In the hands of scientists, kites do serious data gathering.
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Risky Business
The science of decision making grapples with sex, race, and power.
