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Tip Sheet from New Scientist for 3-18-98

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Events begun 150 million years ago -- resulting in the formation of the Diamond Crystal salt dome under Lake Peigneur, Louisiana-- still affect us today. When an oil drill punctured the dome in 1980, it ruptured, flooding the mining tunnels, dissolving the salt and forcing a hasty evacuation of the miners working there. Within seven hours the entire lake was empty. The dome has been partially opened again, but not for the mining of salt--it is now used to store 60-million-year-old oil.

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A new book, edited by a University of Georgia professor, brings together for the first time some of the most important American speeches of the 20th century.

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A University of Georgia historian has discovered that it is possible for African-Americans to begin identifying particular ethnic cultural and social influences once thought unrecoverable.

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A team of anthropologists from the University of Georgia has joined the Foxfire Fund, Inc., to help preserve materials collected during the 30 years of the project that studies the southern Appalachians.

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National Science Foundation Tips: 1) Study of Microbes May Hone Predictions of Mining Impacts, 2) Studies Find Successful Nsf Engineering Programs, 3) Lichen Growth Reveals Unknown Earthquakes

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East Lansing, Mich. - Forget to watch "NYPD Blue" this week? If so, you probably missed seeing 25 percent of all Latinos portrayed on prime time TV. A Michigan State University study reveals that although Latinos are the second largest minority in the nation, they are distinctly underrepresented on prime time broadcast television. In fact, Latinos constitute only 3.2 percent of the prime time TV population but are 11 percent of the nation's population.

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The leather weightlifting belts worn by many people while working out at health clubs may hinder development of back and abdominal muscles and are not needed by most weightlifters, according to a study by Sohail Ahmad, M.D., chief resident physician in orthopedic surgery at Albany Medical Center.

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Physicians reporting at the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS) annual meeting this week will describe how the Digital Holography System from Voxel (NASDAQ:VOXL) improves the display of trauma and anomalies of the cervical spine.

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A liquid-manure applicator under development at Purdue University can be incorporated into a precision farming setup that uses computer-directed equipment and satellite-oriented GPS (geopositioning) technology. The hi-tech manure applicator is the first of its kind in the nation. This isn't a load of you-know-what.

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Business call center budgets are growing by 12 percent per year, salaries are on the rise, and employee turnover is down, according to a Purdue University study.

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Doug Christiansen, director of Purdue's Office of Admissions, says taking the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) or the American College Test (ACT) does not have to be a nerve-racking experience. He offers advice for taking standardized tests.

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Dotting the shoreline near Delaware's Cape Henlopen, seashells evoke Native Americans boiling oysters, clams and conchs 1,000 years ago, says a University of Delaware geologist whose work should help archaeologists "see through" salt marshes--without digging them up.

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A new raven-sized fossil bird, showing clear evidence of the close relationship between theropod dinosaurs and birds, has been discovered on the island of Madagascar by scientists working under a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant. This discovery was announced by a team of researchers -- led by paleontologist/anatomist Catherine Forster of the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook -- in this week's issue of the journal Science.

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The cholesterol-lowering effect of soy is the result of natural compounds in the soy known as isoflavones, Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center researchers reported today at an American Heart Association meeting in Santa Fe, NM. John R. Crouse III, M.D., said the project was the first to dissect the effects of isoflavones in soy from the overall soybean.

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Postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy markedly reduces the occurrence of atherosclerosis in the internal carotid artery in monkeys, a Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center research team reported today. Hormone replacement therapy from soy protein with phytoestrogens provided equivalent stroke-prevention benefits to the standard Premarin therapy prepared from mammalian estrogens.

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Soy proteins contain "phytoestrogens" -- biochemical cousins of the female hormone that are a possible alternative therapy to protect against artery disease. In a new 3-year study, postmenopausal cynomolgus monkeys were fed an artery disease-causing diet.

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Adding more fuel to this ongoing research debate is a new analysis by the Los Angeles Atherosclerosis Study: Data from 577 symptom-free utility workers age 40 to 60 show a "significant" relation between total alcohol intake and fractionally less thickness of the wall of the large carotid artery in the neck -- but only in women.

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In a large study involving 12,466 middle-aged African and European Americans, researchers report finding a "strong association" between at least two episodes of angina pectoris (chest pain due to heart disease) and migraine headaches, especially in those who also experience "aura," the visual sensation that can accompany migraine.

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Santa Fe, N.M. -- Sex-related differences in an enzyme that breaks down blood fats -- particularly "bad cholesterol" known as LDL -- may explain why men develop heart disease earlier than women, say scientists today at the American Heart Association's epidemiology and prevention conference.

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Santa Fe, N.M. -- Genetic make-up may significantly influence how a person responds to a cholesterol-lowering drug, according to researchers who presented their findings at the American Heart Association's epidemiology and prevention conference today.

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Santa Fe, N.M. -- As men and women add extra fat over the years, a silent killer -- high blood pressure -- is creeping up along with the numbers on the weight scales, researchers reported today at the American Heart Association's epidemiology and prevention conference.

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Evelyn Cunningham, a journalist who risked her life in the early 1950s covering the budding civil rights movement, will accept the George Polk Career Award on April 15 in Manhattan on behalf of the Pittsburgh Courier, the pioneering African American newspaper for which she worked for many years. (Editors: please note that Cunningham is available for interviews.)

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Edward Said, professor of comparative literature and chair of the doctoral program at Columbia University will give the next Rice University President's Lecture on "The Tragedy of Palestine" Thursday, March 26, 1998.

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Scientists have demonstrated another essential step toward building a computer based on the quantum mechanical behavior of elementary particles and say they may be able to perform simple calculations in a couple of years.

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The Northeast enjoyed its third warmest winter (December through February) and its third warmest February since official record-keeping began in 1895, according to Keith Eggleston, a climatologist with the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University.

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A unique collection of correspondence between Indonesian adolescents and the psychology professor who has become Southeast Asia's own "Dr. Ruth" is now available at the Cornell University Library.

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"Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi," a book by John Dittmer, DePauw University professor of history, provides further insight into the civil rights efforts of the 1960s and the documents released by the Sovereignty Commission.

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The University of South Florida College of Medicine is the lead center for a federally-approved study investigating the safety and effectiveness of transplanting brain cells from pig embryos into the brains of patients with advanced Parkinson's disease.

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A new agreement extends some protection to astronomers who use the Arecibo Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico and have been concerned about potential interference from the commercial satellite system IRIDIUM. The memorandum of understanding signed between the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, which operates Arecibo, and Motorola, Inc., which operates IRIDIUM, guarantees eight hours of observing time each day "unpolluted" by interference.

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U.S. physicians should "take their blinders off" and embrace the use of natural antioxidants and other natural forms of patient care backed by scientific research, said Nancy Snyderman, M.D., renowned physician, journalist and author.

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New Orleans and San Francisco, March 17, 1998 "” A novel cartilage-transplant technique, performed on an out-patient basis, was shown to repair injured and arthritic knee joints, in a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Orthopaedic Research Society in New Orleans.

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New insights into ancient North America will result from the discovery of 165 million year-old dinosaur footprints near Shell, Wyo., according to a University of Wyoming researcher.

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A new screening method helps determine which athletes with torn knee ligaments can safely delay surgery to complete a sports season, University of Delaware researchers reported today. "For athletes, the question is always, 'Can we play them now and fix them later?'" explains UD's Lynn Snyder-Mackler. "And, weekend athletes looking forward to a skiing vacation or workers who can't take time off also should benefit."

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DALLAS, March 20 -- Just because you're getting older doesn't mean senility is inevitable. In fact, a Swedish study published in this month's Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association suggests that controlling blood pressure may help prevent the memory loss associated with aging.

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Santa Fe, N.M. -- With U.S. cigar sales up 44 percent since 1993, a major new health study on the effects of cigar smoking offers both good news and bad news for the growing number of American men and women now puffing "stogies," say researchers today at the American Heart Association's epidemiology and prevention conference.

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A new "meta-analysis" of data from 14 studies involving 6,166 individuals with coronary heart disease (CHD) finds that passive smoking was associated with an overall 23 percent increase in the risk of CHD among men and women who had never smoked.

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Santa Fe, N.M. -- Blood clotting abnormalities, which have emerged as a potential risk factor for heart disease and stroke, appear to run in families, according to two studies reported today at the American Heart Association's epidemiology and prevention conference.

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Santa Fe, N.M. -- T'ai chi -- a slow, relaxed physical activity program created in ancient China -- lowered blood pressure in older adults nearly as much as moderate-intensity aerobic exercise, researchers reported today at the American Heart Association's epidemiology and prevention conference.

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Feeling more confused than enlightened after reading or hearing about the latest dietary study du jour? Newly-released guidelines, based on an advisory group convened by the Harvard School of Public Health and the International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation, aim to help the public have a better understanding of emerging nutrition, food safety and health science.

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Dimples and bluff bodies may sound like they belong in the world of high fashion models, but they are actually part of the world of Bob Thurman, an aerospace engineer whose designs would not be at home on the fashion runway or airport runway.

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Studies covering topics ranging from computer- assisted mammography to the role of ultrasound in breast cancer detection will be presented at the 28th National Conference on Breast Cancer. The meeting, sponsored by the American College of Radiology, will be held April 18-21 at the Marriott Hotel on Woodley Road in Washington, DC.

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According to the current issue of Tobacco Control, the number of U.S. smokers who successfully quit every year has increased approximately 20 percent since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the over-the-counter (OTC) sale of nicotine medications to help smokers quit just two years ago.

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Twenty university-level student teams from around the world (including one each from Russia, Ecuador, Mexico and South Africa) will compete for the $10,000 top prize in the Ninth Annual NASDAQ-SDSU International Student Business Plan Competition hosted by San Diego State University's Entrepreneurial Management Center. The forum provides students with the experience of pitching their business concept to seasoned professionals in a way that mirrors real life. Students gain invaluable input and business contacts they likely would not have made on their own.

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St. John's University (NY) Establishes Financial Services Institute which will prepare men and women for careers in the global financial services sector as well as expand the knowledge and skills of individuals already working in the industry.

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Results of a new study demonstrate Accolate (zafirlukast), the oral asthma controller therapy from Zeneca Pharmaceuticals, may have a positive additive effect for symptomatic asthma patients on low-dose inhaled corticosteroids. The study data were introduced today in a scientific presentation at the 54th annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.

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From the March 1998 Journals of the American Society for Microbiology: 1) First Case of Lyme Disease in Taiwan, 2) Oysters in Chesapeake Bay Contain Cryptosporidium, 3) Progesterone Affects Chlamydia's Infectivity

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A groundbreaking new book by William Rottschaefer, professor of philosophy, Lewis & Clark College, integrates recent findings and theories in evolutionary theory, biology and psychology to explore what it means to behave morally. "The Biology and Psychology of Moral Agency" explains how people acquire and put into practice their capacities to act morally and how these capacities are reliable means to achieving true moral beliefs. Most philosophers argue that the sciences are no help at all in answering how moral action is justified. Rottschaefer argues that science has a lot to contribute.

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A researcher at The New York Botanical Garden is investigating the potential use of a commonly found species of microscopic fungus as a biological control of the northeastern tick Ixodes scapularis, the key to the spread of both Lyme disease and Human Granulocytic Ehrlichiosis (HGE).

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Creating Effective Technical Documents, a comprehensive guide to technical writing covering every aspect from research to distribution, is available from ASME International (American Society of Mechanical Engineers).