NEW SCIENTIST PRESS RELEASE
EMBARGO: NOT FOR PUBLICATION BEFORE 2:00 P.M. EST WEDNESDAY, 25 FEBRUARY 1998
ORDER #1: LIVING DANGEROUSLY
Nuclear power plants might be damaging young children and old people around
the world, according to an analysis by a leading epidemiologist who claims
that the database to set safe limits of radiation may be flawed. Page 12
ORDER #2: DUBIOUS ORGANS
The discovery of a previously unknown virus in pigs has rekindled
fears about the safety of xenotransplants - transplants of animal
organs into human patients. The virus, which caused deformities and
stillbirths among pigs, also infected two piggery workers near Sydney.
Page 5
ORDER #3: NAKED INTO BATTLE
Thousands of troops have been sent to the Gulf equipped with anthrax
vaccines and antibiotics that may not work, experts are warning. Experiments
have shown that the vaccine called MDPH gave protection against only one of
the five main natural strains of anthrax. Page 4
ORDER #4: DEADLY SECRETS
Random inspections of any factory capable of producing lethal
organisms is surely essential in the global fight against biological
weapons. So why won't the US allow them? Members of the Biological and
Toxin Weapons Convention are trying to strengthen the treaty by
including a system of verification. Pages 16-17
ORDER #5: CATALYSTS FOR CHANGE
Hydrogen is touted as the next fuel of the future, being well suited
to motor vehicles and pollution-free. The prospect of a cheap supply
of hydrogen has moved closer to reality now that researchers working
independently in Japan and Spain have succeeded in splitting the
elements of water at room temperature with a catalyst. Page 10
ORDER #6: IT'S A GOAL!
Live broadcasts of sports matches over the Internet are now possible
thanks to an Israeli-developed system that uses radar to keep track of
the players. The system, called Sportrack, creates a 3D computer
animation of soccer players using transponders sewn inside every player's
shirt and one inside the ball. Page 18
ORDER #7: GONE WITH THE WIND
A yachtsman and physicist has found an ingenious way to work out the fastest
route for sailing from port A to port B. He's worked out a recipe for
defining the ideal sailing course by using the mathematics of optics. Page 7
ORDER #8: TAKE A SPIN
It's intellectually fancy enough to please physicists at the frontier,
and it's practical enough for diehard engineers worrying about the
limits of tomorrow's computers. It's a new field of electronics called
spintronics, and its tiny devices may change forever the way computer
memories and processors work. Pages 24-28
ORDER #9: LAND OF THE LOVELESS
An African tribe once demonised as the epitome of all that is degraded
and evil is being given a second look. Three years ago, one scientist
set out for the northeast corner of Uganda to find out for himself
about the infamous Ika people. This is his story. Pages 30-33
ORDER #10: FAST AND FURIOUS
Forget Bunsen burners and electric hotplates. Chemists are now turning
to the power of the microwave oven to produce antibiotics and
anticancer compounds in record time. Scientist pages 34-37
ORDER #11: HOT ROCKS
It's not so hard anymore to make synthetic gems. But these little
fakes are now becoming so good that it is almost impossible to tell
the real thing from a crafty copy. Pages 38-41
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- ENDS -
February 24, 1998
Issue cover date: 28 February, 1998
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