Highlights of News Scientist for 4-26-97
#1: NEW SCIENTIST EXCLUSIVE - CALLING ALL INSOMNIACS... Beaming radio waves into your head using a small transmitter that is placed in the mouth cures some types of insomnia, according to clinical trials of the device at two sleep centers in the US. The device is the brainchild of Swiss scientists and a start up company in New York. New Scientist investigates the science behind the new discovery, and meets its inventors. Special Supplement, pages 2-3 ORDER
#2: ROGUE PROGRAM THAT MAILS ITSELF ventors. Special Supplement, pages 2-3 A sinister new computer virus has been discovered. Last week, staff at McAfee, an antivirus software company in California, reported a virus called ShareFun that automatically sends itself by e-mail to your friends and colleagues. Page 7 ORDER
#3: CAN PROTEIN SPRING INTO LIFE? to your friends and colleagues. Page 7 Proteins may one day claim the status of a molecular Adam or Eve, say pioneering chemists who have built protein "ecosystems" that display some properties of life. A team at the Scripps Research Institute in California found that molecular ecosystems could form complex interactions that are the signature of living systems. Page 18 ORDER
#4: VIRTUAL MOUNTAINEERS SCALE THE HIGHEST PEAK In only the second experiment of its kind, a team of volunteers will next week experience the summit of Everest without leaving Marseilles. To study the physiological and psychological changes that affect people at high altitudes, eight virtual "climbers" have been locked inside a hypobaric chamber while the pressue is gradually lowered and the air rarefied. Page 10 ORDER
#5: YOUNG CRIMINALS LEAVE NO CLUES. Page 10 Children are less likely to leave fingerprints than adult criminals, according to police in Tennessee. This is because children's fingers exude more volatile chemicals which quickly evaporate from the scene of a crime. Page 11 ORDER
#5: FEELING IS BELIEVING IN A VIRTUAL WORLDf a crime. Page 11 Virtual worlds may be more realistic than they were, but data-suits and virtual reality gloves still give a poor impression of what an object should feel like. So researchers at the University of Stanford in California are working on a dense mat of tiny pistons which could mimic the size and texture of any object a virtual explorer touches. Page 22 ORDER
#6: ALARM GREETS CONTRACEPTIVE VIRUS A live genetically engineered virus has been used to stop mice getting pregnant. The Australian scientists who achieved the feat hope one day to use similar viruses to prevent the mouse "plagues" that periodically engulf parts of Australia, and to control other pest species. Page 4 ORDER
#7: ROGUE PROGRAM THAT MAILS ITSELFage 4 A sinister new computer virus has been discovered. Last week, staff at McAfee, an antivirus software company in California, reported a virus called ShareFun that automatically sends itself by e-mail to your friends and colleagues. Page 7 ORDER
#8: DID COMETS STIR EARTH'S BREW? to your friends and colleagues. Page 7 Researchers in California are suggesting that comets might not only have provided the starting material, but could also have supplied the energetic push that got biological chemistry rolling. Page 20 ORDER
#9: SHARK CHOKES HUMAN CANCERS20
An extract from shark tissue that could help prevent tumors from growing by cutting off their blood supply will be tested for the first time on cancer patients this year. Page 23 ORDER
#10: TAX BUNGLE THREATENS SCOTTISH ENVIRONMENT Toxic spills are going undetected and waste tips unchecked because of financial bungling by the British government, says the Scottiish Environment Protection Agency. Page 5 ORDER #11: CLICK ON THE CANDIDATE
Why do we still trundle down to the polling station when we could all be voting from home via the Internet? Pages 26-27 ORDER
#11: A GAME OF THREE ROBOTSges 26-27 This June, teams will clash in the second world microrobot football tournament. At stake is not just a cup, but the best way to make machines that think independently and work as a team. Pages 28-31 ORDER
#12: THE FAMINE FUNGUSPages 28-31
A fungus is expected to reach Britain this Summer that could play havoc with the potato harvest. For us this would be an expensive inconvenience. But if the fungus reaches Africa and Asia, where people are abandoning traditional crops in favour of the spud, the result could be disastrous. Pages 32-36 ORDER
#13: CROSSING THE QUANTUM FRONTIERsastrous. Pages 32-36 Electrons live a ghostly existence in which they can be in many places at once. Yet we who are made of electrons live in a world of solid certainty. Physicists are now on the verge of discovering what happens at the boundary between these two contradictory realms. Pages 38-41
SUPPLEMENT WITH THIS WEEK'S NEW SCIENTIST: MIND TRAVELLERS: UNRAVELLING THE MYSTERIES OF SLEEP The April 26 issue of New Scientist will carry a colour supplement including the following articles: SWEET DELIRIUMicles:
Thousands of people are queuing up for sleepless, feverish nights in the sleep clinic. Pages 4-7
NIGHT MOVESs 4-7
Why do we spend a third of our lives unconscious? We burn the midnight oil looking for an answer. Pages 8-13
NOISES FROM THE CELLARes 8-13
Suddenly, your brother turns into a beautiful woman - but you're not a bit surpised. The brain's basement is combed for clues. Pages 14-19
DINING AT THE SHUTEYE CAFE is combed for clues. Pages 14-19 When it comes to sleep, you can be an anorexic, a glutton or a fast-food junkie. But just how much sleep do we need? Pages 18-20 GET REAL, SIGGImuch sleep do we need? Pages 18-20
Freud would be furious - hard-nosed pragmatists are taking over his fabulous dream factory. Pages 21-23 Plus: Dreamy Gorillas Drinking to Forget Dolphin Slumber Sleepless in Iowa Droopy Insects Mexican Fantasies Acts of Creation -ENDS-y Insects Mexican Fantasies Acts of Creation April 22, 1997s Mexican Fantasies Acts of Creation
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