New Scientist Tip Sheet for June 5.
ORDER #1: CHEATING BUDGIES DO IT OUT OF SIGHT
A male budgerigar is far more likely to be tempted into an illicit affair
when out of sight of his vengeful mate, say scientists from NY. They
suspect that males want to avoid getting into trouble with their partners
- or even being dumped altogther. Page 19
ORDER #2: THE REAL REASON TO FEAR FLYING
More airline passengers are dying from heart attacks and other medical
emergencies than in plane crashes. The latest figures from the US
Federal Aviation Administration suggest that the number of in-flight
medical emergencies has doubled in the past decade. Page 4
ORDER #3: FOOD BUG DETECTIVES LOOK BEYOND THE USUAL SUSPECTS
The bacterium e-coli 0157 is being wrongly blamed for many cases of food
poisoning that are caused by five of its equally deadly relatives,
according to researchers in Belgium. Page 5
ORDER #4: BORN-AGAIN SUPERSTAR BREAKS RECORD
Astronomy can boast a new superstar, Sakurai's object. In "the fastest
case of stellar evolution ever seen," the star has swollen from a ball
roughly the size of the Earth to become a monstrous globe 80 times wider
than the Sun. Page 17
ORDER #5: CAN GENE DRUGS HELP YOU DRY OUT?
Alcoholics trying to stop drinking have to endure the painful trembling
and convulsions of withdrawal, which may alone be enough to have them
reaching for the bottle again. Now researchers are on the trail of genes
that control these symptoms. This could lead to drugs that help
alcoholics and drug addicts to kick their habits. Page 18
ORDER #6: MISCARRIAGE DANGER
The stress of working long hours can triple a pregnant woman's risk of
miscarrying, research suggests. Epidemiologists at the University of
California at Davis questioned female lawyers and found a clear link
between long hours in the office and miscarriage in the first three
months of pregnancy. Page 13
ORDER #7: COLD COMFORT FOR CORAL AS OIL WELLS ADVANCE
Taking oil from deep beneath the North Atlantic could damage ancient
coral reefs that harbour a wealth of wildlife, say marine scientists.
They are worried that the oil industry is trying to exploit an area off
northwest Scotland known as the Atlantic Frontier before biological
surveys are completed. Page 10
ORDER #8: CELLPHONE TESTS AIM TO BRIDGE THE ATLANTIC
One of Britain's main cellphone operators is planning to experiment with
a method of cramming ten times as many subscribers onto its mobile phone
network. If Vodafone's trials are successful, it may become possible to
use the same mobile phone on both sides of the Atlantic. Page 22
ORDER #9: WILL PHONE CALLS TRAVEL BY BALLOON?
Fleets of robotic airships made of cling-film could soon be taking to the
skies to create a global communications network. Japanese scientists are
designing helium-filled balloons that can cruise at a height of 20,000
meters and bounce mobile phone signals back to Earth. Page 22
ORDER #10: THE BOX THAT BANISHED OFFICE WIRING
The tangle of wiring needed to connect computers and phones in offices
could be banished by a box the size of a pocket dictionary. Called a
picocell, the box can be linked to a central network server through
fibreoptic cables, and uses radio waves to "talk" to computers and phones
over a range of 200 metres. Page 24
ORDER #11: A STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION
Scientist are making some strange and versatile new materials that
actually get fatter when you stretch them. And they may soon show up in
everythign from dream mattresses that mold round you to body parts for
cars and bullet- proof helmets. Pages 36-39
ORDER #12: SLAUGHTER ON SEVENTH AVENUE
The greatest chess player the world has ever seen is still licking his
wounds after IBM's chess computer beat him last month. But is Kasparov
right to feel so hurt by the defeat? Pages 26-29
ORDER #13:What is this Octopus thinking?
Are octopus and squid as intelligent as cats and dogs? New research by
maverick neuroscientists suggests that they might be. Pages 30-35
ORDER #14: SON OF CONCORDE
The stakes are high and no one says it will be easy. But NASA is trying
to build a faster, greener supersonic plane that could carry 300 people
at more than twice the speed of sound, and cut ten hours off the flight
from Tokyo to LA. Pages 40-43
-ENDS-
June 4, 1997
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