NEW SCIENTIST PRESS RELEASE
EMBARGO: NOT FOR PUBLICATION BEFORE
1900 HOURS GMT WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1997
ORDER #1: HEAVY NIGHT, SIR?
Every traffic cop knows hungover drivers can kill, but people who drive the
morning after a night's heavy drinking often have blood alcohol levels below
the legal limit. As the alcoholic excesses of yuletide draw near, a
scientist in Sweden has unveiled a test which can show whether you've been
drinking heavily the night before - even if little of the ethanol you
consumed remains in your body. If driving with a hangover ever becomes an
offence, the test could earn the same legal status as today's Breathalyser.
Page 12
ORDER #2: HOW TO STOP SLIP SLIDING AWAY
Every winter, drivers must run the gauntlet of ice on the roads. Thousands
of accidents happen when they feel their cars begin to slide, slam on the
brakes and skid out of control. But researchers have developed a new sensor
mounted on the front of cars which can detect both ice and water on the road
ahead, warning drivers or even slowing them down automatically. Page 7
ORDER #3: NUTS WITHOUT FEAR
People who are allergic to foods such as milk, nuts and cereals may one day
be able to indulge in them without a qualm. Researchers in California have
found a way to treat the proteins in these foods so that they no longer
trigger problematic or dangerous reactions. Page 6
ORDER #4: THE CUP THAT POISONS
Your morning mug of tea or orange juice could be giving you a dose of heavy
metals leached from its glaze, according to scientists in India. While most
large Western potteries no longer use highly toxic metal salts in their
glazes such as cadmium and lead, mugs glazed with these salts can still be
imported or produced by smaller potteries. Page 14
ORDER #5: LIES, DAMNED LIES...
The air in Britain's cities is often much dirtier than the official figures
show. The technique used to measure small particles can underestimate the
total by more than a third. The thicker the smog, the greater the error. Page 5
ORDER #6: COUNTDOWN TO CHAOS
As 170 nations gather in Japan next week for the most important
environmental conference since the Earth Summit in Rio, the future of the
planet hangs in the balance. For 10 days, politicians in Kyoto will work
into the night to forge a deal on future emissions of carbon dioxide and
other greenhouse gases. Climatologists fear the outcome will condemn the
world to decades, perhaps
centuries, of global warming and climatic chaos. Page 22-23
See New Scientist Planet Science's global warming special report at
http://www.newscientist.com (from 2000 hours 11/26/97).
The Kyoto conference coverage will be updated daily.
ORDER #7: AT THE MERCY OF MINK
Wild mink, descendants of animals that escaped from fur farms, are wiping
out wildlife in parts of Britain. New studies from Oxford University and the
Scottish Association for Marine Science reveal that since the mid-1980s,
predation by mink has cut populations of gulls and terns on the west coast
of Scotland by up to half and almost exterminated water voles on some
English rivers. Page 26
ORDER #8: CRACKING THE WHIP
Male sauropod dinosaurs wooed their lovers and intimidated their rivals by
cracking their tails like huge bullwhips, according to Microsoft's research
supremo, Nathan Myhrvold. The idea had surfaced previously, but no one had
seriously tested it prior to Myhrvold's computer simulations of sauropod
tail movement. Page 27
ORDER #9: YOU ARE HERE...
A world atlas of aerial and satellite images will appear on the Internet in
a few months' time. The Microsoft project will cover most cities with a
population above 100,000, giving a level of detail comparable to that of
early spy satellites. Page 16
ORDER #10: IT'S A JUNGLE OUT THERE
If economists thought of markets as ecosystems, the collapse of big
businesses such as the Japanese broking firm Yamaichi Securities would not
come as a surprise. The link is a result of work by mathematicians showing
that complex systems like ecosystems and economies have similar mathematical
properties. Pages 30-34
ORDER #11: SOUNDS IMPOSSIBLE
French scientists have developed a mirror that reverses time. The mirror
records sound waves and time reverses them so that they converge on their
source rather than diverge. The device is already being used to destroy
tumours with highly focused sound waves. Pages 36-39
ORDER #12: CRYSTAL GAZING
A giant crystal that changes size and colour in the presence of certain ions
has been developed by scientists. The crystal could revolutionise the
detection of heavy metal and change the way pollutants are monitored. Pages
40-44
ORDER #13: OUT FOR BLOOD
The ideal blood substitute must be disease-free, long-lasting and cheap. And
it must still carry oxygen around the body. Now scientists say a viable
artificial blood is just around the corner. Pages 46-49
- ENDS -
November 26, 1997
Issue cover date: November 29, 1997
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