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Two technologies developed at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will make it more difficult for smugglers to slip illicit items past border enforcement agents.

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Young men who report difficulty sleeping are one-and-a-half to two times as likely to experience major depression later in life, according to a new government-funded study by Johns Hopkins researchers.

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Fusarium head blight, a plant disease also known as wheat scab, has taken aim at America's breadbasket and is now seriously threatening New York State's $30 million wheat-growing industry, according to Cornell plant pathologists. The plant scientists will be speaking on new ways to solving this threat at the American Phytopathological Society annual meeting, in Rochester, N.Y., Aug. 9-13.

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The Presidential Commission on Dietary Supplement Labels, chaired by Cornell's Malden C. Nesheim, issues its draft report calling for or more scientific research on supplements, guidelines for scientific substantiation of any statements of nutritional support and for government surveillance to identify safety issues.

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Newer antihypertensive medications are more effective in controlling blood pressure of elderly people, especially those with heart disease who see their doctors regularly and have their prescriptions filled at one pharmacy.

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A three-dimensional view of the fine bones, nerves, and hollow spaces in the human ear--from any vantage point inside or outside the organ-- is now possible, thanks to a virtual model constructed by a team of researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The model--explored using a wand and a special pair of eyeglasses while facing a 20-square-foot screen--allows surgeons to familiarize themselves with the complex spatial relationships of structures composing the ear.

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At a recent conference on "data mining" at the University of Illinois at Chicago, experts from around the world witnessed a first in the use of the next generation of network communications. The demonstration of data mining--the automatic search for patterns, asociations, and changes in large databases--is important because it showed data mining shows data mining can be done over a wide geographic area.

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Disabling sophisticated bombs without getting hurt is what a small team of researchers at Sandia National Laboratories knows how to do best. Now Sandia is sharing its technology and expertise in the occult art of bomb disablement with members of the worldís most elite bomb squads during an eight-day, hands-on training conference in Albuquerque Aug. 11-18.

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Research team gains important insights into dengue fever; disease afflicts tens of million annually and it's moving into the U.S.

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Researchers at Johns Hopkins have developed the first human embryonic stem cell lines, cells that theoretically can form all the different cells and tissues of the body.

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Researchers have found that an endogenous peptide can reduce both hormonal and behavioral manifestations of human stress.

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Washington, D.C., July 24 -- Four high school chemistry students, representing the USA in the 29th International Chemistry Olympiad, returned home from Montreal, Canada, with four medals-- and one California student earns the highest finish ever for a U.S. student.

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Three Tips from Los Alamos: 1) This Won't Hurt a Bit--new laser analysis of lead poisoning; 2) Taking a Calculated Risk--software program aids emergency response to chemical spills; 3) Another Bright Idea--new type of fluorescent light bulb

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1) Immigrant Scientists And Engineers Decline; 2) NSF & NASA Launch Satellite Assessment; 3) Researchers Recommend Changes In Census' Racial Identifications

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A computer model developed by a Johns Hopkins biomedical engineer mimics the way a heart works, down to the sub-cellular level, and can be used to mathematically "test" drugs for various heart disorders.

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In four separate studies, researchers from Henry Ford Hospital's Heart & Vascular Institute found no link between race and a patient's physiological response to a heart attack. These findings indicate there is no need to factor race into decisions regarding medical treatment after a heart attack.

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Researchers have discovered that packrats seem to save a little of everything-- including clues in fossilized packrat urine from prehistoric dens--that can help scientists more accurately determine the age of water and other materials.

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Press release of issue dated 26 July for New Scientist, the international science and technology weekly news magazine.

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"Most issues that relate to families also relate to family- owned businesses," says Doug Sprenkle, Purdue University professor of child development and family studies. When problems in the workplace involve the family relationships of the participants, standard business advice is of limited value, he says.

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A comparison of data on fast-food consumption and rising obesity has found a surprising wrinkle: There doesn't appear to be much of a link, at least in terms of large populations.

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Injuries continue to have a major impact on the health of Americans, according to the latest federal government report on the nation's health, issued today by HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala.

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Remote islands of surreal beauty, the foggy, windswept Aleutians are thousands of miles from heavily populated areas. Even so, the islands harbor a nasty reminder of human activity: Sea otters and bald eagle eggs from the western Aleutians carry potentially harmful levels of DDT and other contaminants.

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Scientists studying mice genetically engineered to develop familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, have found that the human gene Bcl-2 may delay the onset of ALS. The study appears in the July 24 issue of Science.

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Researchers from Southern Illinois University have discovered the oldest African or Asian monkey skull yet found. Their account of their find appears in the July 24 issue of ìNature.î

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The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) today congratulated President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hilary Rodham Clinton on their efforts to immunize America's children, noting the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's new data indicating that 90 percent or more of America's toddlers received the most critical doses of each of the recommended vaccines in 1996.

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UCSD Chemists Create Polymer "Mirror" for a variety of "Time Reversal" Optical Tasks.

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Researchers have found a way of controlling a tailor-made version of a protein that gives the glow to the Pacific Northwest jellyfish. The discovery not only sheds light on the inner workings of the green fluorescent protein (GFP) of the jellyfish Aequorea victoria, it also suggests a potential new way for storing and accessing computer memories in packages the size of a single molecule.

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Using electron-beam lithography, researchers at the Cornell University Nanofabrication Facility have built what they believe are the world's smallest mechanical devices, including a Fabry-Perot interferometer and, for fun, the world's smallest guitar, carved out of crystalline silicon and no larger than a single cell. The technology that could have a variety of uses in fiber optics, displays, sensors and electronics. Mechanical force probes can be made much smaller than a single cell, and forces associated with single biological molecules could be measured.

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A gene linked to the most common abdominal cancer in children also may contribute to the development of breast cancer, according to a study at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Oregon Health Sciences University.

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El Nino is a warming of surface waters of the tropical Pacific Ocean with far- reaching climatic consequences. This Tip Sheet describes an upcoming scientific meeting on El Nino, the relation between El Nino and global warming, and a new El Nino book, and lists El Nino experts and Web sites.

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Continuing its leadership in optical networking, Lucent Technologies has demonstrated a record-breaking experimental ultra-wideband optical-fiber amplifier that can boost lightwave signals carried simultaneously over 100 or more channels, or wavelengths, of light. The experiment underscores the potential of optical networks to deliver unprecedented network capacity. The optical amplifier spans 80 nanometers of the lightwave spectrum.

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The first ASME Asia Congress and Exhibition, sponsored by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), will be held in Singapore, September 30 to October 2, 1997, at the Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre. This conference provides a forum for engineers to examine environmental issues and technological advancements relevant to this region's industries, particularly those involved in power generation, offshore technology, oil and gas.

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Topics: Picking a sunscreen is easy if you follow some simple rules; Don't be shy about telling your eye care professional what to look for when you get glasses; Weight training in kids requires special precautions; Beware of once exotic bugs that can now pop up in your food supply.

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The M.W. Kellogg Company in Houston has pledged $100,000 to a foundation operated by ASME International (American Society of Mechanical Engineers), a gift which will be put toward programs to enhance science, technology and engineering throughout the world.

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IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Repeated exposure to molds often found in damp hay and grain can irritate the lungs causing a disease known as farmer's lung or hypersensitivity pneumonitis. The syndrome causes coughing and shortness of breath, and is "reasonably common in the Midwest," says Dr. Gary Hunninghake, University of Iowa professor of internal medicine, who has studied the disease for many years.

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Breeding trees that can be more easily processed into paper, with less harm to the environment, has long been a goal of researchers. Now, thanks to the discovery of abnormal, brown-colored wood in a mutant pine tree, scientists at North Carolina State University may be a step closer to achieving that goal.

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Government social welfare programs have helped create a less secure labor environment for the typical American worker by inadvertently harming family values, according to a new study by two University of Notre Dame economists.

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Big-cat expert, Dr. Alan Rabinowitz of the Wildlife Conservation Society, applauds last week's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision to list the jaguar as an endangered species on U.S. soil. Rabinowitz released a report last week on the status of jaguars in the southwest.

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Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital researchers have achieved the first successful repair, in animals, of congenital anomalies by combining the emerging technologies of video-guided fetal surgery and the engineering of a scarce commodity--live replacement tissue.

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A study of first and second-generation African Caribbeans living in England found many undiagnosed cases of high blood pressure and more whose blood pressure medications were not adequately controlling their hypertension. It is the first study to focus on blood pressure, dietary salt and salt sensitivity among first and second-generation African Caribbeans living in the United Kingdom.

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British colleagues warned Baltimore hypertension researcher Dr. Elijah Saunders that he would not be able to recruit enough African Caribbeans for a study of high blood pressure and dietary salt. He not only signed up the 150 he needed, he has 200 more waiting in line.

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Sales managers have low expectations when African-Americans apply for professional sales jobs, but according to a study conducted at the University of South Florida, that can have a paradoxical effect: interested, qualified African-Americans may be seen as even more qualified than equally-qualified Caucasians.

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Atlantic City, N.J., was a relative cool spot as it broke five low temperature records and tied another in June, while Baltimore tallied three low temperature records, and Charleston, W. Va., marked its first 90-degree reading in more than a year, according to the climatologists at the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University.

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Elevated levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere benefit some plants by making them more tolerant to cold temperatures. If carbon dioxide levels double within the next century as we are expecting, some plant species should be able to withstand temperatures a few degrees cooler than they can now. Northeastern farmers and home gardeners may be able to plant some crops earlier in the spring. This will also affect the distribution and mixture of species.

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The National Science Foundation has awarded grants for seven new projects to study Martian meteorite ALH84001 in greater depth. The grants are part of a coordinated program with NASA to further investigate possible traces of ancient life in the Martian rock.

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Scientists at The University of Texas-Houston Medical School and the University of Alberta in Canada have determined the three-dimensional structure of cardiac troponin C (cardiac TnC), a protein responsible for regulating muscle contraction in the heart.

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Preparing for marriage is crucial, but a Purdue University expert on family budgeting suggests that the slogan "look before you leap" may be just as important when it comes to divorce.

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The technology that makes the fastest computers so fast ã parallel processing ã is starting to wend its way from the research community into personal computers, and a Purdue University engineer is helping speed that delivery with a new program that automatically translates conventional computer programs so they can run faster.

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A new type of influenza vaccine given in a nasal spray is very effective at preventing the flu in healthy young children, according to results from a large multicenter study supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the biopharmaceutical company Aviron.

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The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that, based on an initial analysis of a pivotal Phase III trial, Avironís (pronounced Av-uh-ron; Nasdaq: AVIR) intranasal cold adapted influenza vaccine prevented culture-confirmed influenza in nearly all of the children who received it.