NEW SCIENTIST PRESS RELEASE
EMBARGO: NOT FOR PUBLICATION BEFORE
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1997
ORDER #1: BAKED ALASKA
As the US comes under fire for refusing to sign up for cuts in emissions of
carbon dioxide, new studies show that global warming appears to be hitting
hardest in Uncle Sam's own back yard. In Alaska, the permafrost is thawing.
Page 4
ORDER #2: FOR YOUR EARS ONLY
Fans of Pavarotti could soon be attending concerts in which their hero
sounds as if he is singing just for them. Using hundreds of microphones and
speakers, Dutch researchers have found a way to move the source of sound
around, so that every listener in a concert hall hears the performance as it
if were being staged just in front of them. Page 7
ORDER #3: BORN WHEEZERS
Unborn babies infected in the womb by a common sexually transmitted
bacterium are more likely to develop asthma in later life, claim US
researchers. About 50 per cent of Western women carry the bacterium. Page 14
ORDER #4: LET'S TALK ABOUT SEX
China's 300 million adolescents, many of whom are woefully ignorant about
sex, are to be enlightened under a pioneering program. The effort is being
funded by three leading contraceptives manufacturers. Page 16
ORDER #5: WHAT GOES UP
Russian rockets carrying western satellites are poisoning hundreds of
thousands of people living in the shadow of the launch site. Page 18-19
ORDER #6: DRILLING FOR GRAVITY
Prospecting for oil, gas and mineral deposits should become a less
hit-and-miss affair thanks to an accurate and robust instrument that can
spot the valuable resources by their impact on the Earth's gravitational
field. This gradiometer has been developed by a physicist working in New
Zealand. Page 6
ORDER #7: VACCINE FAILURE
A strain of whooping cough that is resistant to a leading vaccine is causing
an epidemic among children in the Netherlands and is spreading across
Europe. Public health officials are braced for a continent-wide epidemic as
the traditional peak season for whooping cough approaches. Page 5
ORDER #8: ON A WING AND A VORTEX
Insects should not be able to fly, at least according to the old laws of
aerodynamics. But now a group of scientists think they have solved the
conundrum. Pages 24-27
ORDER #9: BLESSED IS THE WEAK
The weak force is the quiet one of the four fundamental forces in the
Universe. But without it the Sun won't shine. Nobel prize-winning author
Sheldon Glashow explains all on Pages 28-31
ORDER #10: RADIATION ROULETTE
Radiation damages DNA in a new and unexpected way, raising fears that it may
cause a far wider range of diseases than previously thought, say scientists.
Pages 36-40
- ENDS -
October 7, 1997
Issue cover date: October 11, 1997
Please remember to mention New Scientist as your source for any resulting
stories. Thanks.
For fax copies of full stories or to arrange an interview, please contact
Barbara Thurlow at [email protected] or on 202 452 1178. In Europe
please contact Lucy Banwell, IPC Press Office
Tel: (0171) 261 6415 or e-mail: [email protected]
New Scientist Planet Science provides Internet users with news, features,
reviews and comment drawn weekly from the pages of New Scientist magazine,
as well as extra material exclusive to the web site. The site can be found
at http://www.newscientist.com
RSS