EMBARGO: NOT FOR PUBLICATION BEFORE
1900 HOURS GMT WEDNESDAY, 18 FEBRUARY 1998
ORDER #1: HIGH ANXIETIES
According to a leaked document, an analysis by WHO experts has
confirmed what hippies have known for decades: cannabis is safer than
alcohol or tobacco. The analysis concluded that the amount of dope
smoked worldwide does less harm to public health that its legal
counterparts drink and cigarettes. Page 4
*This week New Scientist runs an exclusive "Marijuana Special Issue".
ORDER #2: IN THEIR JEANS
The FBI has found an ingenious way to catch crooks--by looking at
their jeans. Scientists from the bureau reported at last week's
meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences in San Francisco
that every pair of blue jeans has a unique wear pattern, which makes
it easy to place a suspect at the scene of a crime. Page 5
ORDER #3: LAWN MENACE
The ever-increasing size of sports stadiums is great for spectators,
but the high walls block out the sun, preventing grass from growing.
Now an experiment on the Centre Court at Wimbledon is helping grass to
grow more strongly, even in the shade, by flooding the turf with
artificial light. Page 6
ORDER #4: COMING UP FOR AIR
Rats divert blood to certain key parts of their brains as they swim
underwater, researchers in Canada say. A comparable human study has
already begun in the search for ways to treat strokes and other brain
injuries. Page 19
ORDER #5: FEEL THAT SIGHT
Feeling a key in your pocket is almost like seeing it on a table: you
can pick out its shape almost as if you can see it. Neuroscientists in
Sweden say they may have found the part of the brain that explains how
tactile information produces a visual mental image. Page 18
ORDER #6: SOFT LANDING
Scaffolders and roofers are always at risk of falling from a great
height. Stephen Taylor of Walsall, has come to the rescue by patenting a
special pack consisting of airbags, which workers can fit to their
front and back. When inflated, the airbags break the fall and prevent
serious injury. Page 7
ORDER #7: ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES
Reading by Victorian gas lamps was probably to blame for blackening
the pale faces of angels on an 800-year-old illuminated manuscript, chemists
working in London have discovered. The British Library began
the investigation to find out why so many illustrations in a Byzantine
book had turned black. Page 7
ORDER #8: ROPY MAGIC
Now see the amazing Indian rope-trick performed before your very
eyes... Researchers have a strange new way to make a rope stand on
end. Pages 32-33
ORDER #9: CELL WARS
In the battle against cervical cancer, doctors are searching for
cancerous cells as if they were features on the surface of Mars. And
they believe they are on the trail of a better screening procedure.
Pages 36-39
ORDER #10: A SNAIL'S PACE
Researchers are likening the internet to a gigantic dinner party,
where everyone wants to eat the most and pay the least. People are
basically greedy. So it may take a clever mathematics to enforce the
kind of social dynamics that will prevent the Web from grinding to a
halt. Pages 40-43
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- ENDS -
Issue cover date: 21 February, 1998
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