NEW SCIENTIST PRESS RELEASE
EMBARGO: NOT FOR PUBLICATION BEFORE
2:00 PM EST, 8 APRIL 1998
ORDER #1: STICKING POINT
Damaged cartilage in joints can be regenerated by pulling cells into the affected area with a magnet, says an orthopaedic surgeon in Michigan. Producing the magnets and tagged cells is a cheap and non-invasive method of forming new cartilage tissue. Page 10
ORDER #2: HOLD THE MAYO...
Eggs now on sale in Britain are just as likely to contain Salmonella bacteria as those sold at the height of the egg scare in the late 1980s. New figures show alarming levels of contamination with Salmonella found in about one out of every 700 eggs. Page 5
ORDER #3: AIR EMERGENCY
Excluding aircraft emissions from the Kyoto climate change agreement last year seems to have been a big mistake. Leading scientists estimate that aircraft emissions could have more than half the global warming potential of emissions from road transport. Page 4
ORDER #4: STICKING POINT
Damaged cartilage in joints can be regenerated by pulling cells into the affected area with a magnet, says an orthopaedic surgeon in Michigan. Producing the magnets and tagged cells is a cheap and non-invasive method of forming new cartilage tissue. Page 10
ORDER #5: WHY FARMERS SHOULD LOVE THE DARK
Farmers can reduce the number of weeds in their fields - and hence the amount of herbicide they use - by ploughing at night, a team of scientists has shown. Ploughing brings weed seeds to the surface, but they will only germinate if they are exposed to enough light before being reburied. Page 12
ORDER #6: A REAL WASTE
Bulldozing disused city land to meet housing needs could be far worse for conservation than using open countryside. Some British ecologists and planners warn that there is much more biodiversity in derelict urban sites than on many sterile greenfield sites. Pages 20-21
ORDER #7: TOILETS TO GO
Outbreaks of cholera, typhoid and other waterborne diseases in refugee camps could be dramatically cut with a new type of portable toilet which has a built-in miniature sewage plant. The toilet, developed in Australia, stops sewage from seeping into water supplies, keeping bacteria counts to a minimum. Page 11
ORDER #8: THIS WAY UP
Drugs have to "pucker" in the right way to fight HIV, say scientists in the US. Their tests on the drug AZT show that only one of the two shapes that the molecule can adopt is active against the virus. Page 14
ORDER #9: FEATHER MOPS
Chicken feathers may soon be padding out nappies or helping mop up oil slicks, now that US agricultural researchers have found a way to turn them into valuable absorbent and filler materials. Page 16
ORDER #10: TO INFINITY AND BEYOND
The good news is that the Universe will not end in a cataclysmic crunch. The bad news is that an even worse fate lies in store--a slow, irreversible drift into eternity. Pages 27-30
ORDER #11: FELLINI WITH FLIPPERS
When all the best scenes are underwater, you need a special non-human breed of cameraman. Pages 32-35
ORDER #12: DRINKING BY NUMBERS
Brewers using fuzzy logic to decide where to put their next pub? No, it's not an idea dreamt up after guzzling a six-pack, but the newest thing in inebriation science. Pages 36-39
ORDER #13: MONSTER SPERM
Why does a fruit fly smaller than a tomato seed need a whopping sperm 6 centimetres long? New Scientist ventures where few have dared. Pages 40-43
PLEASE MENTION NEW SCIENTIST AS THE SOURCE OF THESE ITEMS - THANKS
- ENDS -
April 8, 1998
Issue cover date: 11 April, 1998
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 Jane Baldwin, Reed Business Information Press Office, Tel. (0181) 652 8018 or email [email protected]
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