New Scientist Magazine Press Release for 15 Nov 2003

MAGAZINE ISSUE DATE: 15 NOVEMBER 2003, Vol. 180 No. 2421

THE STRANGER WITHIN
When Jane’s family underwent blood tests to see if any of them were suitable kidney donors for her – she didn’t expect such bizarre test results. She was told that two of her sons couldn’t possibly be related to her, even though all her children were conceived naturally. Researchers around the world were scratching their head with bewilderment - until an explanation was found. Jane was in fact a chimera, a mixture of two different people. Jane’s mother conceived non-identical twin girls, who fused during pregnancy to form a single embryo. And there are some researchers who believe that there’s a little bit of chimera in all of us.
FEATURE Pages 34-37

TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT
Is it really safe to halve the vertical distance separating planes flying over Europe? The warning comes from a German computer scientist who says that the reduced separation between air lines, introduced in January 2002, means this could put the plane on a collision course with a third aircraft much sooner than in the past. NEWS Page 23

GRANNY GORILLA KNOWS BEST
A captive female gorilla has been spotted teaching her daughter how to take care of her newborn baby. The daughter had neglected her first baby, which keepers at San Diego Wild Animal Park had to look after. But the grandmother stepped in when the second baby was born to show the mother appropriate maternal behaviour. NEWS Page 12

HELLO, WILL YOU BE MY FRIEND?
Whether you want to meet a business partner or soul-mate, intelligent tags could provide those ice-breaker questions often required at networking conferences or parties. Called an nTag, each delegate’s device is pre-programmed with their personal information supplied earlier to the organisers. The tags communicate with each other and then alert the wearer if they find the owners have anything in common. NEWS Page 26

PAINLESS WAY TO GAUGE DEEP MUSCLE STIFFNESS
Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) is a new painless way of pinpointing precisely which areas of deep muscle are causing pain or stiffness. MRE measures the wavelength of vibrations sent through the muscle fibres by a vibrating metal plate placed on the skin. The American team predict that MRE will benefit athletes, people recovering from injuries, as well as stroke victims and people with cerebral palsy. NEWS Page 25

SIMPLY SURROUNDED
A home theatre system that produces surround sound with just a single speaker has been unveiled by the US electronics company Nirotek. The system packs five speakers into one speaker case and uses a computer to manipulate the sound waves from the speaker to reproduce the effect of ordinary surround sound. NEWS Page 24

RED TAPE IS KILLING GREEN PESTICIDES
Harsh regulations are depriving farmers in Europe of eco-friendly “biopesticides”. According to one UK biopesticide company, farmers who want to apply for the use of a biopesticide are faced with an application procedure that is slow and expensive. And yet biopesticides are flourishing in the US due to a new fast-tracking approval system. NEWS Page 10

CANCER OBEYS LAW
A Universal law that describes the growth of animals also seems to describe the growth of tumours, say American and Italian researchers. Although in its early stages, the research will be able to provide important new insights into the biology of cancer. NEWS Page 14

IT’S NOT WHO YOU KNOW…
Want to influence a large number of people? It’s not how many contacts you have, but who you know with direct links to a large network of people. So say a team of American mathematicians who developed an algorithm to identify the most influential people in a network of 10,750 particle physicists. NEWS Page 14

PUNCTURE REPAIR KIT
Before NASA can allow its three surviving shuttles back into service, they must solve the problem that led to the shuttle Columbia’s catastrophe on 1 February this year. It must work out how to detect and fix any future hole in the shuttle’s heat shield during a flight. James Oberg learnt that pink goop may come in handy. FEATURE Pages 28-31

THE BIG BLUE
Ocean planets could exist somewhere outside our solar system. No one has seen one yet, but astronomers believe these huge shiny water worlds, with no dry land, could be the best place in the galaxy to search for extraterrestrial life. FEATURE Pages 38-41

LIFE’S LITTLE BUILDERS
You’ve heard of natural selection, but how about niche construction? Kevin Laland and John Odling-Smee say that niche construction – where organisms shape their environments - should be recognised as a significant cause of evolution, on a par with natural selection.
FEATURE Pages 43-45

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