NEW SCIENTIST PRESS RELEASE
EMBARGO: NOT FOR PUBLICATION BEFORE
1900 HOURS GMT WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1997
ORDER #1: OUT OF THE FRYING PAN
Food irradiation is rapidly gaining favor and could soon be on the menu to reduce food poisoning and help clean-up food hygiene. This technology, which kills microorganisms, could reinstall consumer confidence in food safety, after a year of food scares. Pages 14-15
ORDER #2: PERIL ON A PLATE
Food poisoning is reaching epidemic proportions. In Britain, the number of notified cases reached 97,000 six weeks before the end of 1997, and the annual figure is set to pass 100,000 for the first time. Given that only 1 in 10 cases are notified, the true figure may exceed one million. Page 4
ORDER #3: SAY IT LIKE IT IS
People who have difficulties with speech are learning to pronounce words more clearly using an artifical palate that allows them to see exactly what their tongue is doing. The developers of this computerised electropalatograph, in Edinburgh, hope it will be of particular benefit to deaf people and those with cleft palates. Page 8
ORDER #4: FEAR NOT
Panic attacks are sparked by about half a dozen small sites in the brain, researchers in Indianapolis say. The discovery has already led scientists to suspect that infusions of sodium lactate could lead to new ways of preventing these attacks. Page 7
ORDER #5: SPOT THE FIBER
Clearing old asbestos from buildings is a risky business. Now a portable asbestos detector will soon be able to register not only the volume of fibers in the air but also how dangerous the individual fibers are. Page 9
ORDER #6: VICIOUS CIRCLES
Tiny rings of DNA could slowly be killing you. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have discovered that natural gene circles, in yeast, and possibly in people, cut life short by replicating rapidly, hogging the machinery for normal chromosome replication, sickening cells and halting their division. Page 6
ORDER #7: FASCINATING RYHTHM
A perfect, regular heartbeat is a sign of heart disease, say cardiologists. Healthy hearts show subtle changes in rhythm that help them cope with the ups and downs of everyday life. Pages 20-25
ORDER #8: CAN WE TAME WILD MEDICINE
Traditional Chinese medicine is in danger of dying out because of the destruction of medicinal plants and their habitats. And the destruction is being caused by the relentless rise in popularity of the treatments themselves. Pages 26-29
ORDER #9: THUMBING A RIDE
When you hitch a ride into space, not everything goes according to plan. New Scientist follows the path of two tiny satellites into orbit. Pages 30-33
ORDER #10: SNIFF 'N' SHAKE
Different smells are the result of the way molecules vibrate rather than their chemical properties, says a researcher at University College, London. The new theory can explain why chemically different molecules can smell the same and could one day be used to predict the smells of new chemicals. Pages 34-37
- ENDS -
December 31, 1997
Issue cover date: January 3, 1997
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