ORDER #1: PAINLESS INSULIN
Diabetics fed up with the daily chore of injecting insulin may one day be able to take the drug orally. A joint US-Japanese team has developed a gel capsule which stops insulin breaking down in the stomach and releases it in the less harsh environment of the small intestine. Page 10
ORDER #2: BORN-AGAIN MAMMOTHS
A radar device used by police to locate buried murder victims is about to be used in a very different body hunt. A geophysicist from a London firm of consulting engineers plans to travel to Siberia next summer to help locate woolly mammoths that have been buried in permafrost for 40,000 years. A Japanese scientist is convinced that the mammoths can be recreated by injecting DNA from mammoth sperm preserved in permafrost into the eggs of African elephants. Page 25
ORDER #3: OFF TO A DIRTY START
Catalytic converters are supposed to be one of the most effective "clean" technologies of recent years, reducing nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon pollution from cars by 90 per cent. But these devices may not be as green as they seem, suggests German research. Page 13
ORDER #4: EVERY MOVE YOU MAKE
For more than 2,000 years the magnetic compass has remained unchanged. Now, a Californian company has updated the device so that it remembers the movements of anyone carrying it. Page 11
ORDER #5: LIFE IN THE UNDERWORLD
The case for life in the underworld is stronger than ever, say Swedish scientists, who have found the remains of micro-organisms that once flourished in granite more than 200 metres underground. Page 6
ORDER #6: TOO HOT TO HANDLE
Heart attacks and earthquakes are, thankfully, rare events. But the mathematical tools used to predict when they will strike are now being used to unclog data lines choked with Internet traffic. Page 10
ORDER #7: 2011 A MARS ODYSSEY
The first human mission to Mars could happen sooner than most people realize. How are NASA and the Russian space agency going to protect the astronauts from intense Solar flares, an increased cancer risk, the psychological effects of two and a half years of isolation, and the debilitating effects of microgravity? Pages 28-33
ORDER #8: DEATH OF A WATERY WORLD
NASA's next robot to land on Mars is due for launch in less than 18 months. Its mission will be to find out why Mars turned from a warm, wet paradise into the barren, frozen desert we see today and whether a similar fate could be in store for Earth. Pages 34-37
ORDER #9: POSTCARDS FROM ANOTHER PLANET
For the price of a Hollywood movie, Pathfinder has sent back stunning pictures of an alien world. But what has it told us about the Red Planet. New Scientist sifts through the data. Pages 38-39
ORDER #10: CORAL IN DEEP WATER-39
A rare form of deep-water coral that thrives off the coast of Scotland is being threatened by oil drilling. Pages 40-43
ORDER #11: BEIRUT'S BIG GAMBLE
Plans to rebuild Beirut may have to be redrawn after the discovery that the Lebanese capital sits on top of an active earthquake fault. The evidence is backed up by archaeological digs showing that in AD 551, the city was levelled by a quake of biblical proportions. Pages 44-48
- ENDS -
September 17, 1997
Issue cover date: September 20, 199748
Please remember to credit New Scientist in any resulting stories. Thanks! For fax copies of full stories or to arrange an interview, please contact Barbara Thurlow at [email protected] or on 202 452 1178. In Europe please contact Lucy Banwell, IPC Press Office Tel: (0171) 261 6415 or e-mail: [email protected] New Scientist is the winner of over 23 major awards, including the 1996 UTNE Reader's Alternative Press Award in the "Emerging Issues" category. New Scientist Planet Science provides Internet users with news, features, reviews and comment drawn weekly from the pages of New Scientist magazine, as well as extra material exclusive to the web site. The site can be found at http://www.newscientist.com
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