MAGAZINE ISSUE DATE: 27 MARCH 2004 (Vol. 181 No 2440)
NEWS:-
POP A PILL TO FEND OFF THE BENDSDivers may soon be able to take a drug which allows them to stay under the water for longer, without risking decompression sickness when they get to the surface. A team of Norwegian scientists initially found that a burst of exercise before diving reduces the chances of a diver getting the bends (where a decrease in pressure causes bubbles to form in the blood). They then went on to show that giving mice a drug that mimics the effects of exercise also reduces bubble formation. Pages 12-13
BIRD FLU'S TICKING TIME BOMBVaccinating chickens may be the only way out of the bird flu nightmare in Asia. But the fear that the flu virus may mutate among vaccinated birds into a strain that could lead to a human pandemic, is underlined by new research in Mexico. This research shows for the first time that bird flu virus evolves at an unprecedented rate among vaccinated chickens. Experts point out that safeguards need to be in place for successful vaccination " such as by having a small number of unvaccinated birds placed in with vaccinated stock to show up any flu symptoms. Pages 6-7
UNDERWATER LUMBERJACKA 3-tonne chainsaw-wielding submersible robot may sound like it's out of a sci-fi movie. But, called the Sawfish, this machine is chopping down trees beneath a lake in Canada which were submerged decades ago when the area was flooded by a hydroelectric dam. Because this timber doesn't rot, wood from these flooded forests can be dried out and used like any other lumber. Page 23
IT'S LIFE JIM"¦If there is life on Mars - it's there because we put it there. After studying whether organisms can survive sterilisation procedures used on space probes, an American scientist says there's a good chance that some Earth bugs hitched a ride to Mars and might still be living there. Page 5
US MAD COW TEST QUESTIONEDThe US plans to measure the incidence of mad cow disease in its cattle with a test that its own officials have said gives too many false positives. Page 4
SOYA-POWERED PLANESAmerican biochemists say aircraft fuel based on soya oil is just the thing to give commercial aviation a greener future. The biofuel blend would slash consumption of fossil fuel and slow the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, because the carbon it releases is from renewable sources. Page 22
DID ANCIENT HUNTERS KILL OFF THE MAMMOTH?Mass killing of mammoths by the ancient Clovis people of North America was unlikely to have driven them to extinction, according to an American study. Scientists measured isotopes of elements in the enamel of fossil mammoth teeth from three old Clovis sites. The study suggests the mammoths were all unrelated and killed over a long period of time. Page 16
WAYWARD ASTEROID CIRCLES EARTHAstronomers have found an asteroid that seems to be a travelling companion to Earth, but is in fact orbiting the Sun. The object is following a path that makes it appear to be orbiting Earth - making it the only quasi-moon discovered so far. Page 16
FEATURES:-
A MIRROR TO COOL THE WORLDWith very little sign of politicians cutting emissions of greenhouse gases, climate scientists are starting to take a very serious look at various global "mega-engineering" technologies to stave off global warming. The fastest way to halt global warming would be to reflect solar radiation away from our atmosphere and back into space. Ideas include: golf balls floating in the oceans, a giant mirror in space, or making clouds whiter. But closer to becoming a reality is the alternative solution - remove carbon dioxide by burying it somewhere. Pages 26-29
SAVE THE RHINO MAGGOT!For every animal facing extinction there is an entire world of other species living on and inside it that depend on them for survival, and may be equally endangered. Should conservationists be just as worried about the fate of these parasites as they are about the survival of their hosts? Pages 41-43
TAKE A DEEP BREATHAsthma rates are soaring and no one knows why. For decades, doctors have focused on the inflammatory response to certain triggers of asthma attacks, such as dust mites and cigarette smoke. But what happens between these attacks? Recently a growing number of researchers have been rethinking the condition's fundamental nature and argue that permanent damage to our airways in early development may be the root cause of the disease. Pages 36-39
THE WEIRDEST LINKMany physicists are now using entanglement " the spooky connection between two particles " as a technological tool. But it seems we have only just scratched the surface of the potential of entanglement and the effects it has on materials " and it's about to get a whole lot weirder. Page 32-35
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