NEW SCIENTIST Highlights
EMBARGO: NOT FOR PUBLICATION BEFORE
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1997
ORDER #1: PATCHING INTO THE MIND
A simple skin patch might soon help psychiatrists identify people with
schizophrenia - a diagnosis that can be very difficult to make. The
developers of the test also hope that it will help sufferers accept that
they need medication. Page 22
ORDER #2: TUCK INTO A SOIL SANDWICH
Eating soil can be good for you. This is the verdict of scientists in
Canada who have analysed soils eaten by people in China, Zimbabwe and the
US. The samples they looked at contained excatly the nutrients needed to
provide the benefits that soil-eaters report. Page 14
ORDER #3: TO MARS ON A SHOESTRING
NASA's new mantra is "faster, better, cheaper'. But even its cut-price Mars
Pathfinder mission is wildly extravagant, compared with a proposal for the
mission to Mars from CNES, The French space agency in Paris. Page 23
ORDER #4: ON A WING AND A DECK CHAIR
For thousands of years, sand from the beaches of the northeastern US and
Canada has been making its way to Bermuda, thanks to the curious appetites
of migratory birds which carry quartz crystals to the island in their
stomachs. Page 6
ORDER #5: ON YER BIKE, LEONARDO
Although Leonardo da Vinci anticipated many modern developments, he didn't
invent the bicycle. A sketch of a pedal bike found among his manuscripts is
in fact a doodle made by an Italian monk in the 1960s, says a German
technology enthusiast. Page 28
ORDER #6: BUCKYBALLS ARE A BLAST
Scorchingly hot buckyballs could one day keep satellites in orbit. A German
research student says that the famous 60-atom form of carbon could be the
ideal fuel for the low-power, long-life thrusters that satellites use to
manoeuvre in space. Page 23
ORDER #7: TUMORS FALL TO A TROJAN HORSE
Today salmonella might make you sick or worse; tomorrow it could cure your
cancer. researchers from connecticut have found that mice with an
aggressive form of skin cancer lived twice as long when injected with
altered strains of Salmonella typhimmurium. Page 20
ORDER #8: INDONESIA'S INFERNO WILL MAKE US ALL SWEAT
Peat bogs in Indonesia that have been set alight by the country's raging
forest fires could release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over the
next six months than all the power stations and car engines of Western
Europe emit in a year. Page 22
ORDER #9: BOOM TO BUST
Greedy traders rather than that political and economic pressures could be to
blame for fluctuations in the stock market, says a physicist from Manchester
University who has created his own virtual market. Page 12
ORDER #10: PARADISE LOST TO PIRATES
The world's largest and most pristine coral atoll is threatened with
ecological ruin because the British government has failed to protect it,
according to a research expedition from the University of Warwick. Page 15
ORDER #11: TAKE HEART
A software heart beating away on a computer screen is helping to speed up
the study and treatment of heart disease. Physiome Sciences, of New York
City, says that the virtual heart could help drugs companies to weed out
potentially harmful or ineffective drugs without using animals. Page 10
ORDER #12: FALLEN FOWL
Almost immediately after evolving the ability to fly, some birds may have
returned to a flightless form, say Chinese geologists. Page 14
ORDER #13: MINE SMASHER
Shock waves are being harnessed to destroy underwater mines in a "water
hammer" being developed by the US Department of Defense. Page 11
ORDER #14: A FATE WORSE THAN DEATH
Nonlethal weapons can leave soldiers and civilians with horrific injuries.
Doctors are demanding stricter controls. Pages 26-7
ORDER #15: WHEN WE WERE WORMS
500 million years ago, animal life erupted in a riot of inventiveness called
the Cambrian explosion. Nobody knows what caused this profound window of
creativity but palaeontologists are now finding intriguing clues in our
genes. Pages 24-29
ORDER #16: THE MATCHMAKER
In the war against disease, finding the protein fragments that trigger an
immune response is vital. Now computer models of proteins are making this
process easier and could help to explain why some diseases trigger the
immune system while others such as cancer do not. Pages 36-40
ORDER #17: BACK FROM THE DEAD
We'll never resurrect dinosaurs because DNA decays over a period of a few
million years. But the discovery of Neanderthal DNA means that scientists
are now able to study the genetic make-up of our ancient ancestors for the
first time. Pages 42-43
ORDER #18: JUST LISTEN TO THIS
The ultimate hi-fi replacement is just around the corner, with sound so
perfect it will transform the living room into a concert hall. But we may
never get to hear it because of petty arguments between consumer electronics
companies. Pages 44-48
- ENDS -
October 15, 1997
Issue cover date: October 18, 1997
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