ORDER #1: POT BELLIES ARE MADE IN THE WOMB
Smaller babies tend to deposit more fat around their midriffs as they grow older, a meeting on obesity was told last week. The discovery, by a researcher at Southampton University, might help explain a controversial link between low birth weight and heart disease in later life. Page 7
ORDER #2: NO MORE WASHDAY WHITES THAT COME OUT PINK
Brightly coloured underwear and socks that infiltrate the whites on washday and turn the whole lot lurid shades of pink can now be thwarted with an enzyme which bleaches dyes only when they have bled from stowaway socks and pants into water. Page 18
ORDER #3: FAILING AIRFRAME SPEAKS VOLUMES TO ENGINEERS
Some fatal aircrashes could be prevented by using nothing more sophisticated than a wire attached to a tape recorder. A team of accident investigators has discovered that unused tracks on cockpit voice recorders can reveal when an aircraft is about to suffer catostrophic structural failure. Page 6
ORDER #4: ATTENTION PROBLEM TRACKED IN TWINS
Children who are restless, impulsive and easily distracted in lessons suffer from a condition that is inherited, according to Australian researchers. Page 15
ORDER #5: TADPOLES RULE THE NURSERY BY BEHAVING BADLY
When two species of tadpole share a pond, one thrives at the expense of the other. They do it not by attack but by bullying, a Northern Arizona University researcher announced at the annual meeting of the Animal Behavior Society in Maryland this week. Page 14
ORDER #6: GENE TESTS POSE CHALLENGE FOR PRIVACY GUARDIAN Britain's privacy watchdog fears complaints from members of the public as the results of genetic tests become routine fodder for insurance companies. Page 4
ORDER #7: SENTIENT BEINGS
The European Union has officially recognised that animals have feelings. Changes to the EU's basic treaties include a protocol, requested by Britain, requiring EU rules on agriculture, trade, transport and scientific research to "pay full regards to the welfare requirements of animals" as "sentient beings". Page 11
ORDER #8: CAMERA GOES ON SMOG CONTROL
Japan's national broadcasting company, NHK, has developed a camera that can display infrared and ultraviolet light in real time and in colour. The camera could be used for pollution monitoring, health checks and detecting art forgeries. Page 19
ORDER #9: WERE AUSSIE BIRDS FIRST TO SING?
Songbirds performed their first arias in Australia 50 million years ago, if the interpretation of some tiny scraps of fossilised bone found in the back yard of a farm in Queensland are correct. These fossils suggest that, far from having a derivative bird fauna, Australia was the place where songbird species first evolved. Page 15
ORDER #10: CAN'T SEE THE TANKS FOR THE TREES
Shooting your allies isn't the best tactic in peace or war, but "friendly fire" accidents are all too common. Now researchers at the University of St Andrews in Scotland are working on a combat identification system to solve such problems. Page 18
ORDER #11: NEW HOMES FOR AIR FORCE CHIMPS
Some of their parents were astronauts, others have been infected with HIV or hepatitis for the sake of biomedical research. Now, after years working for the American military, more than a hundred chimpanzees need a new home. Page 5
ORDER #12: ESCAPE FROM MARS
Next week, an American spacecraft will land on Mars for the first time in twenty years. It will never make the return journey. But if humans are ever to visit Mars, they will have to make the fuel for the return journey from Martian natural resources. Pages 24-27
ORDER #13: LITTLE AND LARGE
Most female spiders dwarf their mates but until recently nobody knew why. Now researchers believe they have discovered the answer. Pages 28-29
ORDER #14: PACKING THEM
With the most notorious problem in mathematics now solved, mathematicians have turned to an even older puzzle - discovering the most efficient way to stack spheres. Pages 30-33
ORDER #15: FLIPPER'S SECRET
Dolphins can spot fishes the size of golfballs from 70 metres, even in murky waters. But working out how they do it is no easy task. Now, some curious underwater experiments are beginning to throw light on the secret of dolphin vision. Pages 34-39
-ENDS-4-39
June 24, 1997
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