More Stories from the September 8, 2007 issue
- Animals
Hive Scourge? Virus linked to recent honeybee die-off
A poorly understood virus seems to have a connection to the recent widespread demise of honeybees.
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The Venter Decryption: Biologist decodes his own genome
For the first time, one man's genome, including both sets of chromosomes, has been decoded.
- Astronomy
Killer Collision: Dino demise traces to asteroid-family breakup
The asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago was a wayward fragment from a violent collision in the asteroid belt.
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Live Wires: Axons can influence nerve impulses
Axons are not simply passive carriers of electrical signals in the brain, but influence how neurons fire.
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Role Change: Mast cells show an anti-inflammatory side
Cells that cause inflammation in allergic skin reactions to poison ivy also produce a protein that subdues the reaction a few days later.
- Earth
Sonic Sands: Uncovering the secret of the booming dunes
The age-old mystery of sand dunes that produce loud, thrumming noises is explained by a new theory that involves a resonant layer of dry sand.
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Bipolar Express: Mental ailment expands rapidly among youth
Diagnosis of bipolar disorder in kids and teenagers has dramatically increased since 1994, raising concerns that this severe mood disorder is being overdiagnosed.
- Planetary Science
A different view of Uranus’ rings
The rings of Uranus are now tilted edge on to Earth, revealing small, inner rings made of fine dust.
- Health & Medicine
HIV is double trouble for brain
The virus that causes AIDS can also cause dementia, by both killing mature brain cells and blocking the creation of new ones.
- Anthropology
Men’s fertile role in evolving long lives
The ability of men 55 and older to father children may have had evolutionary effects that caused both sexes to develop longer lifespans.
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Virus thrives by hiding
Some viruses create cocoonlike refuges in the cells they invade, shielding them from the cell's defense mechanisms.
- Earth
Lack of oxygen stunts fish reproduction
Seasonal oxygen shortages in coastal waters, increasing in severity because of pollution, may impair fish reproduction.
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Orangutans hand it to researchers
Orangutans try to communicate by gesturing when they think they're being misunderstood, much as people do when playing charades.
- Health & Medicine
Aura origins show the way in epilepsy surgery
Epilepsy patients who experience multiple auras before a seizure, usually considered poor candidates for corrective brain surgery, might benefit from by a new brain scan procedure.
- Earth
Laser printers can dirty the air
Some laser printers emit substantial amounts of potentially hazardous nanoscale particles.
- Earth
What Goes Up
A massive scientific field study in Mexico City, along with lab experiments and computer simulations, show that pollution from the world's megacities has a global impact.
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Genome 2.0
Detailed explorations of the human genome are showing that individual genes may have complex structures, and that much of what had been called junk DNA is not junk at all.
- Humans
Letters from the September 8, 2007, issue of Science News
Patent pending If Drs. Glass and Venter succeed in assembling a viable synthetic bacterial genome (“Life Swap: Switching genomes converts bacteria,” SN: 6/30/07, p. 403), will the genome or the new life form itself be patentable? Virgil H. SouleFrederick, Md. The team that performed this work stirred controversy when it applied for a patent on […]
