NEW SCIENTIST PRESS RELEASE
EMBARGO: NOT FOR PUBLICATION BEFORE
2:OO PM EST WEDNESDAY, 18 MARCH 1998
WITH THE MAGAZINE THIS WEEK ..... A FREE 64 PAGE BOOK: BIZARRE TALES FROM NEW SCIENTIST
A collection of the strangest stories that for more than 40 years have
been the soul of New Scientist including:
* An earth shattering orgasm...whenever you yawn?
* Spiders on marijuana?
* A major contribution to road safety.... from a toothpaste?
THIS WEEK'S STORIES:
ORDER #1: NOWHERE TO HIDE
Faced with a growing threat from terrorist biological weapons, officials in New York City have just completed their first simulated anthrax attack. Though bigger drills are planned for cities across the US, disease experts fear that current efforts are inadequate. Page 4, editorial on page 3
ORDER #2: SICK PLATOON SYNDROME
A shortage of vaccine against a severe cold virus could compromise the defence of the US, military officials warn. Within a year the Army and Navy will run out of a vaccine to protect against a virus that can lay troops low during basic training. Page 12
ORDER #3: CROON LIKE THE KING
Elvis lives - but only inside a computer. Ken Lomax from the University of Cambridge has developed a "voice morpher" which when used on a karaoke machine can convert the voice of anyone who stepped up to the microphone into the singing or speaking sounds of your favorite singer. Page 14
ORDER #4: BIG IS BETTER
Larger sprocket wheels could mean the difference between winning the cycling gold medal at the Olympic Games in 2000 or settling for the silver. Bicycle designs have so far tried to minimise weight by making smaller sprocket wheels, but a mechanical engineer from the University of Bristol has proved them wrong. Page 6
ORDER #5: A SMOKING GUN?
Farmers are the prime suspects in the creation of a new "superbug", according to data from Copenhagen. Genetic evidence linking a farmyard antibiotic to the emergence of a drug-resistant human pathogen will fuel calls for a ban on use of antibiotics as growth promoters in animals. Page 13
ORDER #6: FOUR LEGS BAD
What's good for pigs isn't necessarily good for the countryside. Free range sows create "hot spots" of pig waste loaded with nitrogen. Researchers in Aberdeen have found these levels of nitrogen in fields can create problems with crop growth. Page 22
ORDER #7: TASTY SOLUTION
Many of the world's most toxic solvents and ozone-depleting compounds could have been replaced years ago by a substitute made out of ingredients found in a glass of wine or a bottle of milk. Only now have engineers found a way to manufacture ethyl lactate cheaply. Page 7
ORDER #8: PARADISE LOST
Nature abhors a paradox, which is just as well. Otherwise you could be zapped by a naked singularity or go back in time and accidentally kill your own grandmother. Pages 27-30
ORDER #9: CATCHING THE WIND
Looking at the Sun through a telescope isn't so easy. Their lenses concentrate the Sun's fierce heat so powerfully that its image is blurred. But the solution may lie in the blowing of the wind. Pages 32-34
ORDER #10: PLAYING WITH FIRE
Despite the terrible toll on public health, the incentives for Indonesian farmers to torch vast swathes of forest are as great as ever. Pages 36-39
ORDER #11: BRAIN REPAIR KIT
Engineered cells that home in on damaged tissue could one day be used to patch up the brains of heart attack or head injury patients. Pages 40-43
PLEASE MENTION NEW SCIENTIST AS THE SOURCE OF THESE ITEMS
- ENDS -
March 17, 1998
Issue cover date: 21 March, 1998
For fax copies of full stories or to arrange an interview, please contact Barbara Thurlow at [email protected] or on 202 452 1178. In Europe please contact Jane Baldwin, Reed Business Information Press Office, Tel. (0181) 652 8018 or email [email protected]
New Scientist Planet Science provides Internet users with news, features, reviews and comment drawn weekly from the pages of New Scientist magazine, as well as extra material exclusive to the web site. The site can be found at http://www.newscientist.com
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