NEW SCIENTIST PRESS RELEASE
EMBARGO: NOT FOR PUBLICATION BEFORE THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1997
ORDER #1: NOISES OFF Environmentalists claim that a new US Navy sonar system will be so loud that it could deafen marine animals. But the jury is still out for lack of evidence. Pages 30-33
ORDER #2: STEALTHY IMPLANTS BREACH THE BODY'S DEFENSES A simple coating of a chemical commonly used as a food additive could produce medical implants that are truly biocompatible. A biochemical engineer and his team at the University of Washington in Seattle are developing a "stealth" coating to combat the tendency for implants to become encased in a fibrous bag. Page 10
ORDER #3: MORNING SICKNESS LINK 'MISLEADING' Women who suffer from morning sickness used to be cheered by research that suggested they were less likely to suffer a miscarriage. But an anthropologist from Pennsylvania State University claims that morning sickness is simply more frequent in younger women. Page 11
ORDER #4: IT'S THE TICKLE, NOT THE TICKLER Using a fake "tickling machine" and a little deception, two psychologists in California believe they have overturned the theory that tickling is a complex social act that binds together two close indiviuals. Tickling makes you laugh not because of who is doing it, but merely because it tickles, they argue. Page 16
ORDER #5: SUPERVACCINE TARGETS PROSTATE CANCER The most complex anticancer vaccine ever synthesised is being used to treat men with prostate cancer at a hospital in New York. Researchers at the Sloan- Kettering Institute for Cancer Research are confident that their copies of the antigen found on the surface of prostate cancer cells will fool patients' immune systems into launching a fresh assault on any cancer cells still lurking in the body. Page 20
ORDER #6: MAY THE FIFTH FORCE BE WITH US? An exotic heavy particle may have made its debut at a particle accelerator in Hamburg. Researchers say it could mark the birth of an entirely new physics. If the so-called "leptoquark" exists, it implies that a previously unknown force is at work, one that may open the way to a unified theory of all nature's forces. Page 14
ORDER #7: FABRICS THAT FURNISH DAY-LONG FRESHNESS Athlete's foot, jock itch and laundry baskets full of festering socks could be consigned to the history books by acrylic fibres produced by British textile company Courtaulds. The fibres are impregnated with antifungal and antibacterial compounds which prevent nasty niffs in the nether regions. Page 21
ORDER #8: DIAMOND ROBOT GARROTTES OIL WELLS A robot that slices the tops off the protuding caps of disused oil wells should transform life in the North Sea when it starts work next month. The protruding caps can easily snag trawlers' fish nets, endangering lives as well as damaging nets. Page 19
ORDER #9: BEACH BUGGIES ON MARS Mars is destined to be explored by advanced, autonomous rovers. The next generation of these explorers recently strutted their stuff on a beach in California and New Scientist was there to report. Pages 27-29
ORDER #10: PIG TRANSPLANTS 'SHOULD BE BANNED' America's health officials are under attack for allowing animal organs to be transplanted into humans despite mounting evidence that they may bring viruses with them which could infect human cells. Page 6
ORDER #11: DEVILISH TRICKS WITH TINY CHIPS To pin down the identity of killer microbes, researchers are shrinking their labs to the size of a silicon chip.
ORDER #12: ELECTRIC SHOCKERS A team of Greek earth scientists have developed a way of successfully predicting earthquakes by measuring electric currents produced by rocks just before they fracture. Pages 34-37
NOTE: This week, New Scientist's website, Planet Science, features a special section on cloning.
The site can be found at http://www.newscientist.com/clone/
-ENDS- February 26, 1997
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