MAGAZINE ISSUE DATE: 16 JULY 2005 (Vol. 186 No 2508)
NEWS:
ROAD ACCIDENTS LINKED TO PETROL FUMESPetrol station forecourt workers have 61 per cent more road accidents than office workers, most of which happen while driving home. According to the researcher who led the study in Taiwan, even motorists inhaling petrol fumes at self-service stations may be more likely to have a crash. This is the first confirmation of a link between low-level exposure to petrol fumes and road accidents. Page 16
A VACCINE TO KILL THE BRAIN INVADERSA vaccine for pigs which targets a gruesome parasite could save 50,000 people a year in poor countries. The vaccine, developed by a team in Australia, targets tapeworm. The adult form, caught from eating undercooked pork, can be debilitating, but the symptoms are far worse if the tapeworm's microscopic eggs are swallowed. Pigs are an essential step in the tapeworm's life cycle, so by preventing infection in pigs, researchers say you break their cycle. Page 17
THE POWER TO FOLLOW YOUR EVERY MOVELater this year the first four satellites of a new positioning system will be launched to rival GPS. Galileo is a European project designed to be far more powerful, accurate and reliable than GPS with stronger signals from a total of 30 satellites. Galileo could become indispensable offering something for everyone, whether it's keeping track of someone or something, in-car navigation, or sending adverts to your phone as you pass commercial stores. Pages 28-29
A BOMB TO BUST THE DEEPEST BUNKERSDespite the lack of weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq, the Pentagon is pressing ahead with the development of a new warhead designed to destroy WMDs. The new blunt-nosed bomb forces the earth ahead of it to the side, creating a cavity which the warhead can then slide through, allowing it to reach deeper buried structures than conventional "bunker busters" . Page 30
SIXTY YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE A-BOMBThe first atomic bomb was tested in a desert in central New Mexico on 16 July 1945 and changed the world forever. Sixty years on and the nuclear legacy is still a worrying threat. The world's nuclear arsenal stands at 27,000 bombs. Thousands of tonnes of plutonium and uranium have been produced by nuclear reactors. To prevent all this fissile material go astray, 89 countries agreed last week to keep closer watch on the movement of nuclear materials. And at the G8 summit last week, leaders renewed their commitment to raise $20 billion to help Russia decommission its stockpile of nuclear submarines. But are these efforts enough? Up to nine countries may possess nuclear weapons today, while dozens more have access to nuclear materials and the technology to turn them into bombs. Pages 6-9
FEATURES:
THE PLAGUE THAT WILL NOT DIELeprosy is hard to catch and easy to cure, yet the disease, which has plagued humans for at least 2600 years, is still alive and well. Leprosy was supposed to be eliminated by the end of this year and yet is still a major problem in parts of Asia, Africa and South America. So why is it so hard to defeat? Pages 38-41
COOL ITA neurologist in the US may have found a way to free people suffering with epilepsy from the constant threat of a sudden, paralysing attack. His idea is to implant a small chip in the area of the brain where the attack normally starts. The chip detects the start of a seizure and quickly cools the misfiring neurons down " extinguishing the electrical storm before the patient has even noticed. Pages 42-45
WHITE-KNUCKLE PLANETFrom mass extinctions to ice ages, life on Earth has been fraught with danger in the past. But what cosmic hazards threaten our planet now? New Scientist reveals the five greatest astronomical threats to life on Earth. Every 150 million years, the solar system traverses one of the Milky Way's spiral arms, putting Earth at high risk from three dangers: Supernovae, giant molecular clouds, and falling comets and asteroids. But not all threats come from crossing the spiral arms. Gamma-ray bursts could strip away 35 per cent of the planet's ozone layer which would be devastating to life on Earth. And if a magnetar flare occurred nearby it could be fatal. Pages 32-37
IF REPORTING ON ANY OF THE ITEMS ABOVE, PLEASE CREDIT NEW SCIENTIST AS THE SOURCE AND, IF PUBLISHING ONLINE, PLEASE INCLUDE A HYPERLINK TO : http://www.newscientist.com
New Scientist is the world's leading science and technology news weekly, boasting a circulation of 151,000. The magazine is now available to readers worldwide, with US and Australian editions of New Scientist now being published. Visit our public website for further stories with our daily online news service: http://www.newscientist.com
RSS