ORDER #1: GAMES WHALES PLAY
Killer whales are notorious for playing with their food. But
the whales off the northern shores of New Zealand have invented
a new game: they play frisbee with stingrays. The whales seem
to toss the rays around until they are in a position where they
can eat the bulk of the fish whilst avoiding the dangerously
barbed tail end. Page 5
ORDER #2: FIELDS OF GENES
Renewed fears over the safety of plants carrying genes from
viruses may lead to curbs on genetically engineered crops in
the US. Page 4
ORDER #3: PLUTONUM BECOMES A BURNING ISSUE
Plutonium stored at Britain's Sellafield reprocessing plant in
Cumbria should be burnt in the country's nuclear power
stations, proposes an expert group of scientists due to report
to the Royal Society in October. Any plan to do so will be
fiercely opposed by environmentalists alarmed at the risk of
plutonium leaking or being stolen in transit. Page 10
ORDER #4: DYING FOR THE CAUSE
Cancer cells could play a vital role in protecting troops
against nerve gases, say scientists in the US. A revolutionary
biosensor which uses cancer cells can detect nerve poisons
whether or not they have been previously identified. Page 7
ORDER #5: FATAL ADDITION
Millions of pounds can vanish into a financial black hole
through the errors people make when filling in computer
spreadsheets used by companies to keep track of their cash.
The problem, says an Hawaiian scientist, is that spreadsheets
demand a level of accuracy that humans find difficult to
maintain. Page 13
ORDER #6: RIVER OF DEATH
At least one of the four Australian athletes who died after a
bridge collapsed at the 'Jewish Olympics' in Israel last month
may have been poisoned by chemicals in the Yarkon River,
according to doctors who treated some of the victims. Page 15
ORDER #7: STING IN THE TALE FOR BEES
Plants that have been genetically engineered to ward off
destructive insects could also harm beneficial ones such as
bees, shortening their lives and imparing their ability to
recognise flower smells, says a team of French, Belgian and
British researchers. Page 14
ORDER #8: A DYING FALL
Song sparrows are sloppier vocalists in the autumn when the
song-controlling regions of their brains are at their smallest,
say researchers in the US. The discovery may help
ornithologists understand how the brain controls birdsong.
Page 18
ORDER #9: SPEED FREAKS
Neutrinos, the tiny particles generated in nuclear reactions,
may be whizzing across the Universe faster than light, say
physicists in Poland. The calculations may help to explain the
strange shortfall in the number of neutrinos from the Sun that
arrive at the Earth. Page 19
ORDER #10: STRIKE A LIGHT AND STAND WELL BACK
Coal mining has turned the Cataract River in New South Wales
into the 'river of flames'. Strike a match and toss it into
the river at a spot called Cataract Gorge, near Wollongong, and
the water is liable to burst into flames up to half a metre
high. Page 5
ORDER #11: WHAT REALLY KILLED THE DINOSAURS?
If an asteroid impact killed the dinosaurs, how come amphibians
and mammals survived unaffected? Nobody knows. Now more and
more scientists say an asteroid impact may not have been
responsible after all. Pages 22-27
ORDER #12: RUNNING RAGGED
Uphill running feels hard but some muscle minded researchers
think that running downhill is what really does the damage.
Pages 28-29
ORDER #13: TAKING LIFE TO BITS
How many genes does an organism need to live? Meet the
researchers who are on a mission to build the smallest bug in
the world. Pages 30-33
ORDER #14: STICKING POINT
Cold fusion is alive and doing well at the Rutherford Appleton
Lab in Oxfordshire. And scientists say they are tantalisingly
close to the all-important breakeven point, where fusion
produces more energy than it uses up. Pages 34-37
- ENDS -
August 13, 1997
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 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
RSS