ORDER #1: SPACE BALLS Luke Skywalker practised his lightsabre skills in Star Wars with a floating tennis-ball-sized sparring partner. Now NASA is busy creating similar robots called personal satellite assistants which will float around spacecraft monitoring oxygen levels, taking snapshots or even fixing minor problems. Page 7
ORDER #2: HOW WILL IT END? In a blaze of publicity last year, scientists announced that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating in the grip of a weird antigravity force. But now some of the scientists involved say that new data throw the evidence into doubt. Page 4
ORDER #3: HELLO, BOYS Small, male cuttlefish dress up in drag to steal mates from larger guarding males. Australian scientists say that the males originally transformed themselves as a means of camouflage which later turned into female impersonation. Page 21
ORDER #4: HAPPY EVER AFTER Divorcing couples wrangling over possessions could benefit from a mathematical recipe that guarantees fair shares for both sides. Academics in the US have been granted the first-ever patent for a method they have shown is the best way to divide anything from homes to companies. Page 12
ORDER #5: SUPERBUGS ARE BEATING AT THE GATES More and more doctors are resorting to unlicensed drugs to fight the potentially fatal bacterium Staphylococcus aureus as patients fail to respond to established antibiotics. Demand for the experimental antibiotic Synercid has grown in the last five years as the bacterium's ability to resist approved medicines increases. Page 22
ORDER #6: MAX HAS GOT YOUR NUMBER... Those "junk calls" trying to sell you something while you are eating your dinner, can now be replaced by a computer. The new automated system developed in London initiates a call and can even respond to the customer's voice. Page 6
ORDER #7: STEALING A MARCH Viruses can steal genes from bacteria, giving them hitherto unrecognised means of evolving into new pathogens. So claims a researcher in California who says he found scores of bacterial genes in a virus from a woman with chronic fatigue syndrome. Other virologists are intrigued but sceptical. Page 11
ORDER #8: THE SEA GLIDERS A robotic probe designed to map underwater weather systems will glide deep into the Atlantic waters off the New Jersey coast this week. The glider which propels and steers itself, could be the first of a new breed of submarine robots that will patrol the oceans. Page 16
ORDER #9: PROGRAMMED AT BIRTH When middle-aged adults develop high blood pressure or diabetes, we tend to blame their genes or lifestyle. But there may be another cause. Researchers have found a direct link between the state of these middle-aged people and their mother's health as much as fifty years earlier. Researchers hope to provide pregnant women with information to help fight off the diseases their children will suffer in later life." Pages 26-31
ORDER #10: BURNING CLOUDS Most volcanoes exude hot, slow-moving lava. But the world's most destructive volcanoes spew fast-moving clouds of superheated gas and ash. These devastating maelstroms incinerate everything in their path including scientific instruments--so we don't know how they're powered. But new ideas are emerging that could solve this mystery. Pages 36-41
ORDER #11: LISTEN, WE'RE DIFFERENT The periodical cidada is stealing centre stage in biology's top drama - the story of speciation. Entomologists in the US have finally hit the jackpot - they believe they have found a new species in the making. Pages 32-35
ORDER #12: BACK ON TRACK Fifty years after steam engines hit the buffers, they are poised for a comeback. A Swiss company has seen the potential in "new steam" and has built and sold steam locomotives that run as economically as diesels and are more environmentally friendly. Pages 42-45
LOCATION INDEX: AR: #11; CA(Bay area): #1; #2; CA:(Elsewhere): #7; #8; #10; #11; CT: #11; IA: #11; IL: #11; MA: #8; MI: #11; NJ: #8; NY: #4; #10; OR: #9; Canada: #10;
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Issue cover date:" 17 JULY 1999
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