MAGAZINE ISSUE DATE: 9 JULY 2005 (Vol. 186 No 2507)

NEWS:

A BATTLE FOR SCIENCE'S SOULIn 1925, a schoolteacher from Tennessee was found guilty of teaching evolution. Eighty years on and Darwin's theory of natural selection is still under attack in the US by creationists. But this time creationists have invented "intelligent-design" . Its supporters argue that we can use science to find evidence that complex organisms were "designed" by an intelligent agent (be it God or another supernatural intelligence). It's an idea that's spreading in the US and beyond. Growing movements are seeking to force the teaching of intelligent-design to students, as an alternative to Darwin's argument for evolution. Pages 8-9PLUS " "A sceptics guide to intelligent design" Pages 10-12

PATENTS GAGGED IN THE NAME OF NATIONAL SECURITYEvery year, governments slap secrecy orders on a handful of private patents. Many patent applications never see the light of day because the technology is deemed a threat to national security. Talk about your invention to anyone and you could get two years in jail. But what type of innovations become declassified and who decides? Pages 24-25

TASMANIAN DEVIL'S BITE IS THE KISS OF DEATHThe facial tumour disease that has wiped out nearly one-third of Tasmanian devils since the mid-1990s might be spreading through the transfer of cancerous cells between the animals during fighting and biting. This is a hypothesis put forward by a team of researchers who studied 81 diseased animals in Tasmania. Page 14

QUAKE-PROOF HOUSESWhen earthquakes strike traditionally built adobe houses, which shelter about a third of the world's population, the vulnerable houses are usually damaged or destroyed. Now, a team in Australia have developed a cheap, simple way of reinforcing existing adobe houses " using string, mud and bamboo. Page 26

NO ESCAPE FOR THE OIL SLICK CHEATSFinding the oil tanker responsible for an oil spill is often very difficult to do. A new software system developed in Australia could make the task of matching two oil samples much easier and more reliable. The software decides how likely it is that a pollutant sample matches a suspected source. Page 26

ECO-TOURISTS SHOULD KEEP THEIR DISTANCE (Short story)According to a major survey, a quarter of mountain gorilla deaths were, surprisingly, due to respiratory diseases. In a bid to cut the risk of people passing these diseases on, eco-tourists are already kept at least 7 metres away when they come to see gorillas in the wild. Page 17

CHINA'S CAPTIVE PANDAS IN TROUBLE (Short story)China's captive giant pandas are in very bad health and need urgent veterinary attention. The study of pandas in the country's zoos was presented to an International conference in Australia, last week. Page 18

WHY COMPUTERS ARE LIKE WEATHER (Short story)The microchips that drive computers can behave just as unpredictably as the weather. A team in France carried out standard tests on microprocessors, and found that the time tasks took varied irregularly. They detected a "chaotic" pattern that governs other systems such as the weather. Page 17

FEATURES:

IN THE BLINK OF AN EYEIf you thought evolution took millennia to work its wonders, think again. Biologists have noted that human activities such as hunting and fishing are speeding up evolution more dramatically than ever before. Hunting the largest animals and catching the biggest fish have led to an intense form of selection where animals are evolving towards maturing at smaller sizes. Pages 28-31

CONCERTO FOR MOTHER TONGUEIs a nation's language reflected in its music? Researchers analysed patterns in the rhythm, pitch and tone of composers' patriotic tunes as compared to those in everyday speech, and found that music does indeed have a distinct national character. Pages 32-34

THE LAST BLASTThe Hubble Space Telescope has beamed back some spectacular images of dying stars known as planetary nebulae. The more weird and wonderful the images, the harder it's been for astronomers to work out what has created them. But understanding planetary nebulae could give us a glimpse of our sun's likely future. Pages 35-37

TAKE IT TO THE LIMITNo communication channel is free from background noise and static. But two static-bashing technologies called turbo codes are battling it out to dominate communications technology. Both codes will soon be on their way to your home in mobile phones and computers, and could soon be used on spaceships bound for Mars. Pages 38-41

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