More Stories from the September 20, 2003 issue
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Widows show third-year rebound
Women whose husbands die largely overcome their grief-related problems, including depression and social isolation, by about 3 years after their loss, according to a national study.
- Physics
Particle decays hint at new matter
A surprising disagreement between particle-physics theory and a Japan-based research team's measurement of decay rates of matter and antimatter hints that unknown, heavy subatomic particles may exist.
- Animals
Risk of egg diseases may rush incubation
Bird eggs can catch infections through their shells, and that risk may be an overlooked factor in the puzzlingly early start of incubation.
- Tech
Channeling light in the deep sea
Light-conducting fibers that naturally sprout from certain deep-sea sponges may hold lessons for makers of optical fibers for telecommunications.
- Paleontology
Ratzilla: Extinct rodent was big, really big
Scientists who've analyzed the fossilized remains of an extinct South American rodent say that the creatures grew to weigh a whopping 700 kilograms.
- Health & Medicine
Early Warning? Spinal fluid may signal Alzheimer’s presence
Spinal-fluid concentrations of two compounds already linked to the disease may reveal whether a person has Alzheimer's disease.
- Tech
Dream Machines from Beans: Legume proteins provide motion
Plant proteins swell and shrink in response to calcium, sparking new ideas for micromachines.
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Estrogen Shock: Mollusk gene rewrites history of sex hormone
Estrogen and similar hormones evolved much earlier than thought.
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Unfair Trade: Monkeys demand equitable exchanges
Researchers say they have shown for the first time that a nonhuman species—the brown capuchin monkey—has a sense of what's fair and what's not.
- Physics
One-Atom Laser: Trapped atom shoots steady light beam
A single, ultracold cesium atom sandwiched between two mirrors yields the most orderly beam of laser light ever.
- Materials Science
Molecular Memory: Carbon-nanotube device stores data in molecules
Scientists have created a memory device in which data are encoded in switching molecules called catenanes that are attached to a carbon nanotube.
- Health & Medicine
To Your Health?
Doctors are divided on whether the value of screening the torso with X-rays to find symptomless disease outweighs the costs.
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The Body Electric
An electric field inside an embryo may tell it whether to place an internal organ on its left or right side.
