EMBARGO: NOT FOR PUBLICATION BEFORE 1400"ยข HOURS (EST)
WEDNESDAY, 16 FEBRUARY 2000
ORDER ARTICLE #1: BLAST FROM THE PAST
Do you get a buzz out of listening to loud music or singing at the top of your voice? Scientists at the University of Manchester say this is due to a pleasure-inducing hearing mechanism we've inherited from fish.Page 11
ORDER ARTICLE #2: INDIA'S TESTS POLLUTE PAKISTAN
Plutonium from nuclear bombs exploded underground by India has polluted Pakistan's nuclear test site 800 kilometers away, according to US intelligence agents. Page 21
ORDER ARTICLE #3: DOUBLE-CROSSED
Colorado beetles ruin millions of dollars' worth of potato crops every year. Using powerful aromas extracted from potato leaves, researchers in the US intend to lure the insects to their death. Page 14
ORDER ARTICLE #4: THE HOLE STORY?
Plankton are still blooming despite the ravages of ozone depletion. According to Californian researchers, increased ultraviolet radiation from the ozone hole above Antarctica is scarcely having any effect on the growth of marine plankton in the ocean below. Page 17
ORDER ARTICLE #5: CUT OFF IN THEIR PRIME
Fondness for a seafood delicacy is turning male crabs into eunuchs. Fishermen who harvest fiddler crab claws for food are depleting crab populations because the amputee males can no longer attract the attention of females to mate. Page 5
ORDER ARTICLE #6: WET, WET, WET
A tiny light switch has been made from a single molecule by chemists in Italy. This could be a step towards building a chemical computer. Page 15
ORDER ARTICLE #7: SCARY MONSTERS - (SHORT STORY)
One in five childhood fears is so serious that it should be treated like an adult psychiatric disorder, a Dutch report says. Page 5
ORDER ARTICLE #8: DEATH WATCH
Computer software that has been around for years could have alerted health officials to the abnormally high death rate surrounding the British doctor, Harold Shipman, who killed 15 of his patients. But no one bothered to use this kind of analysis, and authorities are only now waking up to the full potential of geographical information systems as an early warning system for medical scandals surrounding abnormally high death clusters. Pages 18-19
ORDER ARTICLE #9: FARMERS' FREE-FOR-ALL
In a move that has stunned environmental regulators, Europe's veterinary scientists have drastically loosened controls on the release of animal antibiotics into the environment. Page 20
ORDER ARTICLE #10: CRIMES OF PASSION?
Years ago, Randy Thornhill was laughed at when he reported experiments showing that male scorpion flies will switch to raping if they lack a nuptial gift to offer a female. Nowadays, he's more likely to be spat at for his latest claim that rape in humans -- like rape in scorpion flies -- is better viewed as a strategy for passing on genes than an expression of male violence. Brave assault on political correctness, or Darwinian thinking gone mad? New Scientist interviewed Thornhill to find out. Pages 44-47
ORDER ARTICLE #11: PATERNAL CARE
Eggs from endangered birds, dotterels, which are often abandoned by their fathers in cold, arctic conditions, are in fact safe and sound. Researchers in Scotland have found that the eggs have a surprising ability to survive frequent exposure to the cold and wet. Page 17
ORDER ARTICLE #12: ROOTS OF IMMUNITY
Over the past few years, amazing parallels have been uncovered between plant and animal disease. Suddenly medical people have gained a newfound respect for the secrets their plant colleagues can reveal about animal disease. Pages 24-28
ORDER ARTICLE #13: OH BROTHER!
In the animal world, examples of brothers and sisters killing one another are plentiful. For evolutionary biologists, siblicide is puzzling. Many assume that when this brutal behavior occurs it is natural selection at work-but it ain't necessarily so. Pages 30-33
ORDER ARTICLE #14: MARS ON A SHOESTRING
A Damien Hurst painting, a Blur tune and a mole are all you need for a British mission to Mars. Beagle 2 is a space probe smaller than a microwave oven designed to sniff the Martian air in the hunt for life on Mars--when it lands there in 2003. Pages 38-42
ORDER ARTICLE #15: BREAKING THE LIGHT BARRIER
If you try to send a laser--even a powerful one--through air, currents and turbulence distort the beam and dust and vapor scatter it, making it a feeble cousin of the one that started off. Now physicists have come up with a new technique to focus the laser beam into "light strings". These strange beasts can travel hundreds of kilometers through cloud and smoke and arrive at their destinations almost unchanged. They could be used for laser rangefinding, missile defense and even for triggering lightning bolts safely. Pages 34-37
- ENDS -
US GEOGRAPHIC INDEX:
California: #4
Colorado: #3
Maine: #3
Maryland: #3
Virginia: #5
-- ENDS --
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Issue cover date:- 19 FEBRAURY 2000
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