Science News

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Press release of issue dated June 28 for New Scientist, the international science and technology weekly news magazine. 1) Pot Bellies Are Made In The Womb; 2) No More Washday Whites That Come Out Pink; 3) Failing Airframe Speaks Volumes To Engineers; 4) Attention Problem Tracked In Twins; 5) Tadpoles Rule The Nursery By Behaving Badly; 6) Gene Tests Pose Challenge For Privacy Guardian; 7) Sentient Beings; 8) Camera Goes On Smog Control; 9) Were Aussie Birds First To Sing? ; 10) Can't See The Tanks For The Trees; 11) New Homes For Air Force Chimps; 12) Escape From Mars; 13) Little And Large; 14) Packing Them; 15) Flipper's Secret

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Researchers from Cornell and Southern Illinois University at Carbondale found that Seven percent of college students said they had carried a weapon on campus, translating to some 980,000 students nationwide. That is less than for the general population and for high school students, but still a problem for campuses, since weapon-carrying male students also report that they drink more alcohol, engage in binge drinking and substance abuse, and get in more fights and arguments.

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Scientists at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research Inc., located at Cornell University, have discovered and cloned a protein that, when delivered into an insect's gut by way of a "trojan horse," attacks the pest's intestines, rendering the pest helpless against a companion virus.

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"The missing link" has been found in how tiny ocean algae produce a chemical substance that influences cloud formation in the atmosphere. The breakthrough research by a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded scientist at the University of Florida at Gainesville could help explain global climate changes and make it possible to develop agricultural crops that resist freeze, drought and salt-water damage.

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Chloroplasts, the green globules inside plant cells responsible for photosynthesis, communicate via slender tubules that exchange proteins, Cornell scientists find using a unique laser-micrscope.

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Mt. Washington, N.H., had its old monthly snowfall record crushed for May by a whopping 43.6 inches. The Northeast's cool weather continued through May, as the average temperature for the 12-state region was 4.4 degrees cooler than normal. This was the fourth coolest May in the last 103 years, according to Keith Eggleston, a climatologist at the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University.

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Roll down your window next time you drive past a wheat field. Listen carefully. Or better yet, get out and grab a handful of soil. Hidden in that soil is a conversation between the wheat's roots and a variety of soil bacteria. It takes a special ear, though, to hear this "cross talk," says USDA-Agricultural Research Service plant pathologist David Weller. For the conversation takes place via chemical signals.

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The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced today an action that moves the Internet toward privatization. Internet Protocol number assignments will soon be handled by a non-profit organization.

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Parents spanking their children may undermine the parent-child bond enough to make youngsters tend towards juvenile delinquency. The study of 915 children will be presented at the 5th International Family Violence Research Conference.

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The National Science Foundation is joining other federal agencies in preparing to implement the requirements of the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993.

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Land mine detection and demining efforts of the Department of Defense are going high-tech with the assistance of Oak Ridge National Laboratory and nine other Department of Energy laboratories.

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The U.S. Department of Energy plans to provide $10 million over the next five years to Washington State University (WSU) researchers to create an Institute for Shock Physics as part of DOE's strategic investment in selected scientific disciplines important to science based stockpile stewardship.

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The world of Yogi Gupta is measured in billionths of a second and hundreds of thousands of atmospheres. It is understandable that he wears of late a permanent grin, for he has just been given a $10 million charter to explore even more remote regions of this very unusual world over the next several years.

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NSF Tipsheet for 6-20-97: 1- plant-protecting bugs against plant-eaters; 2- do people experience emotions in the same way, or does culture convert feelings; 3- Cloning presents no radically new ethical issues.

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DePaul University in Chicago will break ground this summer on a $12 million biology and environmental sciences facility to be named for William G. McGowan, the late founder of MCI Communications. The facility will advance DePaul's plans to strengthen teaching and research in biology and environmental science programs, improve science education for non-majors and attract women and minority students to science careers.

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92nd Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association in Toronto, August 9 - 13, 1997

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Purdue University researchers are developing a prototype device that uses a loudspeaker to power a refrigerator, without the use of refrigerants that can harm the environment.

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A class of chemicals that's virtually identical to sooty sand found on most beaches may one day provide the basis for a new generation of efficient and environmentally friendly fluorescent lighting for homes, computer laptop displays and television sets.

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A study of IHNV -- an Ebola-like virus that affects fish -- may result in the development of a sophisticated model to predict mutations of viruses, a marine scientist at the College of William and Mary suggests.

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Dartmouth researchers have found a novel way to determine the home stream of adult salmon ó vital information for salmon conservation efforts worldwide. Under natural conditions, salmon migrate from the ocean to their home streams to breed, sometimes navigating more than a thousand miles.The study, which focused on Atlantic salmon in the Connecticut River, is reported in the current issue of the journal Nature.

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Researchers are working to close the gap between today's computers and machines, like those on "Star Trek," that can understand, respond to and act upon human speech.

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A calculator and a clipboard aren't enough for this college-level summer course. Backpacks slung over the shoulders also contain the necessities -- insect repellant, a canteen of water and perhaps a roll of biodegradable toilet paper. This summer, classroom learning has been converted to outdoor experiences for about 50 forestry majors.

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Looking for ways to increase producer profits while conserving environmental resources drives modern agricultural science, say a trio of USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) researchers at the Conservation and Production Laboratory at Bushland.

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When a farmer looks at a clump of good Panhandle soil, what's in the dirt isn't readily evident to the eye. The action starts at the molecular level where particulate matter and life forms include the pathogens which cause disease. And, for area sugar beet growers, diseases in that mix can have devastating consequences to yield, and profits.

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Starting this year, two agricultural engineers at the USDA-Agricultural Research Service Conservation and Production Agricultural Research Laboratory are gathering data to compare the efficiency of low-energy precision (LEPA) and low-elevation spray (LESA) application devices with the more common overhead spray heads.

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Agricultural scientists here are having some major successes in developing wheat that is resistant to greenbugs, the single most damaging insect pest for small grains in the southern Great Plains.

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Tanks may be destructive by nature, but with the help of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, the U.S. Department of Defense is trying to make them more environmentally benign. A water-quality monitoring project at Fort Hood, Texas is helping determine how soil erosion may be impacted by military training exercises. The information will be used to reduce environmental impacts.

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Researchers already know ryegrass can save water and provide good forage for South Texas ranchers, but using it to best advantage with cattle can be a tricky business. Researchers have found that cattle with some fiber in their diet before they are turned onto the grass have good weight gains and fewer digestive problems, but the facts on exactly how and when to balance cattle diets are still somewhat elusive.

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The National Science Foundation (NSF) awards Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants to stimulate technological innovation that meets federal research and development needs. NSFís SBIR budget for 1997 is $50 million. The program makes it financially possible for small firms to undertake high risk, cutting-edge research with strong potential for commercial results. The following are a few of the many SBIR success stories.

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Technology being developed at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory to save lives on the battlefield and in hospitals closer to home could one day be used in baby cribs to help prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

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Researchers at Northwestern University have constructed a tiny nanoscale phototonic resonator that is a hundred times smaller than the cross-section of a human hair--so small that it can only be seen with an electron microscope. When combined with an equally tiny semiconductor laser, these components can form nanoscale photonic integrated circuits that are a thousant times smaller than those currently in use, and which should be cheaper to fabricated and more efficient to use.

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Nature's tiniest ice cubes are providing new information about the unique properties of water. A Purdue University study shows that when water molecules are cooled to very low temperatures, naturally arrange themselves into small cubic structures that come in two forms.

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The classroom practices and professional development of teachers who earn a Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST) -- the nationís highest honor for K-12 educators -- more resemble their peers in nations that score high on international comparisons than those of many of their U.S. colleagues.

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Scientists are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the electron this year. Detection of this enigmatic particle -- which still has not surrendered all its secrets to modern researchers -- helped lift society up from its agrarian roots and permitted the development of such modern-day devices as microwave ovens, semiconductors, television and lasers, according to an article in the June 16 issue of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the American Chemical Society's weekly news magazine.

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The heady odor of jasmine flowers is enough to give some people headaches and nausea. But there is a way to tame the aggressive perfume of jasmine and other blooms, according to research described in the June 16 issue of the American Chemical Society's Journal of Agricultural & Food Chemistry.

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Statement by Dr. Joseph Bordogna, Acting Deputy Director, National Science Foundation On Release of Third International Mathematics and Science Study 4th Grade Scores

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Clouds of primordial gas located near the outer reaches of the Universe appear to be infant galaxies whose behaviors are surprisingly similar to their grown-up counterparts, including our own Milky Way. According to new studies by astrophysicists at University of California, San Diego, the fact that these protogalaxies form relatively thick disks that rotate as rapidly as the mature gallaxies we see today contradicts accepted theory.

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U.S. fourth-gradersí performance on the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) proves that students can overcome factors that traditionally are blamed for poor learning, if challenged by a solid curriculum based on national education standards coupled with competent teaching, according to officials of the National Science Foundation (NSF).

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1) Cheating Budgies Do It Out Of Sight; 2) The Real Reason To Fear Flying; 3) Food Bug Detectives Look Beyond The Usual Suspects; 4) Born-Again Superstar Breaks Record; 5) Can Gene Drugs Help You Dry Out?; 6) Miscarriage Danger; 7) Cold Comfort For Coral As Oil Wells Advance; 8) Cellphone Tests Aim To Bridge The Atlantic; 9) Will Phone Calls Travel By Balloon?; 10) The Box That Banished Office Wiring; 11) A Stretch Of The Imagination; 12) Slaughter On Seventh Avenue; 13) What Is This Octopus Thinking?; 14) Son Of Concorde

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Cornell University's Integrated Pest Management program has started a new pest-forecasting service. Growers and farmers can now belong to the Northeast Weather Association and get the latest in bacterial, fungal and pest forecasts.

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Astronomers using an advanced Defense Department satellite also available for non-Defense research have snapped an unusual ultraviolet image of the constellation Orion, hoping to find new insight into a bright region of new star formation.

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The Hubble Space Telescope has located a cosmic train wreck, the collision of the remnants of two neighboring stars that both exploded in a galaxy 17 million light years from Earth. Such interactions between supernovas, producing a tremendous amount of energy, had been predicted but never before witnessed.

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The picture of a pocket-protector-equipped computer nerd toiling quietly in a cubicle may someday become obsolete, according to research conducted by Temple University computer and information sciences professor John T. Nosek.

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No ice is on the moon, according to a radar survey done at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico by Cornell and other researchers. This contradicts data from the military's Clementine mission last year, in which researchers suggested a small lake of ice might be around the South Pole. Not so, according to the Arecibo data.

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It's the environmental equivalent of turning a sow's ear into a silk purse ã Purdue University researchers have developed a process for making topsoil from coal ash, yard waste and industrial byproducts. "The potential benefits include the economical and environmental management of two waste products ã coal ash and industrial byproducts.".

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A biochemical technique being refined at Sandia National Laboratories may soon enable sensors that can in seconds detect the equivalent of one contaminant particle among a billion other molecules in waste streams.

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While climate change may have a wide range of adverse impacts on global water resources, a bigger threat to the future availability and use of water may come from other factors, such as population growth, technology, and economic, social and political conditions, according to a new issues brief published by Resources for the Future.

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A poultry vaccine that could reduce the incidence of salmonella-tainted eggs has been developed by an Iowa State University researcher. Veterinary microbiologist Theodore Kramer said the vaccine could improve food safety.

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Two Savannah River Ecology Laboratory researchers are among four scientists who have been awarded a $115,000 grant to study how the nation's paper industry can save money by reducing its need for water and chemicals.

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Typical news reports, documentaries or movies about the aftermath of disasters, such as the recent tornadoes in Texas and floods in North Dakota, portray survivors progressing through predictable stages of emotions. These start with distress, then, ultimately, acceptance and recovery.