More Stories from the September 27, 2003 issue
- Earth
Mapping carbon dioxide from space
An orbiting observatory in space will sense atmospheric carbon dioxide levels around the globe, creating a detailed map of the greenhouse gas' sources and sinks.
- Materials Science
Soft spheres yield photonic structures
A novel technique for patterning light-guiding channels through photonic crystals made of hydrogel nanoparticles may lead to faster, all-optical telecommunications technologies.
- Materials Science
Charging cartilage
A hybrid material made of biodegradable polymers and carbon nanotubes yields an optimal scaffold for growing cartilage.
- Chemistry
Mollusks point way toward better drugs
Growing drug crystals on different polymer surfaces may lead to improved medicines.
- Tech
The Daily Flicks: Morphing ink may bring video to newspapers
New types of electronic-paper pixels may eventually make it possible to view full-color video clips in your morning newspaper.
- Ecosystems
Killer Consequences: Has whaling driven orcas to a diet of sea lions?
Killer whales may have been responsible for steep declines in seal, sea lion, and otter populations after whaling wiped out the great whales that killer whales had been eating.
- Planetary Science
Galileo’s Demise: A planetary plunge, by Jove
Out of fuel and according to plan, the Galileo spacecraft ended an 8-year tour of Jupiter and its moons on Sept. 21, when it dove into the planet’s dense atmosphere.
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Faulty Memory: Long-term immunity isn’t always beneficial
Quickly losing immune-system defenses against some viruses may protect humans from far nastier bugs, a mathematical model suggests.
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Letting the Dog Genome Out: Poodle DNA compared with that of mice, people
Biologists have deciphered the DNA sequence of a poodle, an accomplishment that may help researchers study more than 300 human diseases that also affect dogs.
- Materials Science
A Soft Touch: Imaging technique reveals hidden atoms
Researchers have devised a new imaging technique for visualizing every carbon atom in the basic unit of graphite.
- Archaeology
Origins of Smelting: Lake yields core of pre-Inca silver making
Metal concentrations in soil extracted from a Bolivian lake indicate that silver production in the region began 1,000 years ago, 4 centuries before well-known silver-making efforts by the Incas.
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Breathless: Reef fish cope with low oxygen
A coral reef may look like a high-oxygen paradise, but the first respiration tests of fish there show an unexpected tolerance for low oxygen.
- Planetary Science
After the Tragedy
NASA's plan to return the space shuttles safely to flight after the Columbia accident is coming under intense scrutiny.
- Animals
Leashing the Rattlesnake
Even in the 21st century, there's still room for old-fashioned, do-it-yourself ingenuity in experimental design for studying animal behavior.
- Health & Medicine
Checkmate for a Child-Killer?
If a new generation of vaccines pans out, the days of rotavirus, which kills at least 450,000 infants and children every year by causing severe diarrhea, may be numbered.
