#1: INTRODUCING THE MODEL OFFICE WORKER A mannequin called Monika will be coming soon to an office near you. Created by the University of California at Berkeley and loaded with sensors from head to toe, Monika will be masquerading as an office worker while studying sick building syndrome. Page 21 ORDER
#2: CULT'S BIZARRE VISION REKINDLES CLONING DEBATE An international religious cult is setting up company to sponsor research in human cloning. While many biologists dismiss the cult's plans as fantasy, leading bioethicists hope the bizarre episode will awaken legislators in the US and elsewhere to the dangers of failing to regulate cloning technology in the private sector. Page 12 ORDER
#3: POLLUTION MAY LEAD TO A LIFE OF CRIME Environmental pollution makes a big contribution to violent crime and antisocial behavior, according to a provacative new analysis by an American political scientist. He believes that toxic metals, in particular metal in water supplies, can disrupt the neurological control mechanisms that normally inhibit our violent urges. Page 4 ORDER
#4: THE SOUNDS THAT SAY IT ALL AS BIRDS SING THEIR HEARTS OUT Everyone knows that birdsong conveys information, but which parts of the song carry it? Now a Swiss-based researcher has found that all those tweets can be the equivalent of lonely hearts ads, while the overall song structure is designed to get it noticed. Page 16 ORDER
#5: TOXIC RESERVOIRS ARE GLOBAL
Flooded wetlands definitely emit greenhouse gases in large quantities, according to Canadian researchers. Worse, their studies have confirmed that the creation of reservoirs in wetlands unleashes poisons into the human food supply. Page 17 ORDER
#6: PLANET'S TAIL OF THE UNEXPECTEDns into the human food supply. Page 17 Using satellite data, an international team of researchers has found that Venus sports a giant, ion-packed tail that stretches almost far enough to tickle theEarth when the two planets are in line with the Sun. Page 18 ORDER
#7: HOW THE GREAT BARRIER REEF TURNED UP THE HEATe 18 One well-kept secret of Australia's Great Barrier Reef is out: it's a lot younger than scientists thought. And this means that it may have been part of the driving force behind a mysteriously hot period on Earth around 400,000 years ago. Page 19 ORDER
#8: DON'T IT MAKE MY BROWN EYES BLUE... Your eyes can change colour throughout adult life, according to researchers in the US. Although it was known that the eyes of infants can change colour, this new study is the first to show clearly that adult eye colour is not fixed. Page 4 ORDER
#9: THE VIDEO THAT KNOWS WHERE IT LIVES Next month a video recorder comes on the market that should soon be helping the police with their inquiries. When the Sharp video recorder is first used, owners enter their postcode via the remote control, and whenever the machine is used subsequently, it briefly displays the code on screen, thus revealing its origin. Page 21 ORDER #10: ROUNDING UP THE PROTEIN SUSPECTS A protein identity parade is opening up faster routes to the diagnosis and treatment of nearly every human disease. Scientists in the UK say that identifying the proteins in a patient's body could provide a pwerful method for diagnosing disease. Page 20 ORDER
#11: JUMBO BIRTH CONTROL DRIVES BULL ELEPHANTS WILD The first field trials of an elephant Pill have been suspended. The trials, taking place in South Africa's Kruger National Park, made the cows appear to be on heat permanently, which in turn encouraged the constant unwanted attention of elephant bulls. Page 5 ORDER
#12: HUGE ICE CUBES BOMBARD EARTH
Giant chunks of ice have been caught in the act of plunging into Earth's atmosphere from space, vindicating a scientist who has spent the past decade trying to persuade fellow astronomers that this happens. Page 7 ORDER
#13: WHERE AIRCRAFT FEAR TO FLY happens. Page 7 Aircraft cannot fly in the atmosphere just 30 kilometers above the Earth's surface. The reason? Nobody understands the aerodynamics of flight in these conditions and the only way to find out is to drop an experimental plane from that altitude. This is exactly what NASA plans to do. Pages 34-37 ORDER
#14: NORTHERN EXPOSURENASA plans to do. Pages 34-37 Atmospheric scientists have discovered a natural mechanism that transfers chemical pollutants from warmer to colder climes. The discovery explains why whale blubber and seal liver - traditional foods of the Innuit peoples of northern Canada - contain pollutants at concentrations up to 200 times health guidelines. Pages 24-27 ORDER
#15: GOD'S FIRECRACKERS
Gamma ray bursts radiate more energy in a few seconds than the Sun does in a 10 billion years. But how can so much energy be released so quickly? Now scientists have the breakthrough they've been waiting for. Pages 28-32 ORDER
#16: CHINA'S MOUNTAIN MONKEYSen waiting for. Pages 28-32 For the first time, ecologists have documented the lifestyle of one of the most unusual primates: the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey. And their findings may help Chinese conservationists to develop a long-term plan to protect the creature. Pages 38-41
May 28, 1997
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 Lucy Banwell, IPC Press Office Tel: (0171) 261 6415 or e-mail: [email protected] New Scientist is the recipient of 23 major awards, including the 1996 UTNE Reader's Alternative Press Award in the "Emerging Issues" category. 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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