EMBARGO: NOT FOR PUBLICATION BEFORE 2:00 PM EDT WEDNESDAY, 12 MAY 1999
ORDER #1: THE CHIPS ARE DOWN For years the semiconductor industry has had a clean image. Now, workers claim that women in the semiconductor industry suffer an increased risk of spontaneous abortion and that exposure to solvents may cause birth defects and cancer. Pages 18-19
ORDER #2: BUG BUSTERS Scientists at Porton Down in Wiltshire have developed a viral test that will detect dangerous bacteria in blood, pharmaceuticals and food. The new test contains a vicious virus, harmless to people, which can pinpoint contaminated food in eight hours. Page 20
ORDER #3: HYBRID CAMERA Photographers have so far been reluctant to adopt digital cameras, as they don't want to discard their lenses and accessories that only fit their film-based cameras. Now, Kodak are teaming up with Intel to produce a device that lets a normal stills camera take digital pictures. Page 20
ORDER #4: PLANTS CALL IN THE PEST CONTROL Spiders can protect plants from leaf-eating insects in exchange for dollops of sugary nectar. Researchers in New Jersey found that the presence of jumping spiders helped plants boost their seed production and scared off insects. Page 17
ORDER #5: CALLING THE TUNE The call of the male Majorcan midwife toad keeps females ripening their eggs in anticipation of sex, a new British study shows. When researchers played synthesised versions of the male call to female toads their eggs went on to ripen, while those who heard no call had no ripe eggs in their ovaries. Page 16
ORDER #6: TECHNOFILE - DIVOT DEFENDER (SHORT) Pretty patterns could stop golfers carving divots out of golf courses. According to a British inventor, painting multicoloured patterns on the surface of a golf ball makes it easier to judge precisely where it is and easier to hit it. Page 15
ORDER #7: THE GREATEST APES Why are chimps so different from humans when they share 98.5 per cent of the same genes? As well as the obvious differences of appearance and intelligence, chimps are also far less susceptible to infectious diseases than humans, and rarely get cancer. Scientists are now searching for genes that make us different from chimps in the hope that they will lead to new treatments for human ailments. Pages 26-30
ORDER #8: PAPER GOES ELECTRIC Soon our groaning bookshelves could be replaced by a single electronic book. Researchers in the US have developed a remarkable new medium that could spell the end for old-fashioned paper--electronic paper and ink. A single piece of electronic paper is light, readable and can be reused millions of times. Pages 36-39
ORDER #9: STONE AGE KALASHNIKOV An atlatl launches projectiles at high speeds, can kill a deer at 40 metres and can even be fitted with a silencer. Today many people are rediscovering the surprising sophistication of this 25 000-year-old-weapon. Pages 40-43
ORDER #10: ESCAPE FROM THE NUCLEON Fifteen billion years ago, quarks ruled Creation, then just microseconds after the Big Bang, their reign was over. Physicists are now striving to find out if quarks can break free from the nuclear dungeons they ended up in. Pages 32-35
LOCATION INDEX: AZ: #9; CA(Bay Area): #1; #7; #8; #10; CA(Elsewhere): #1; #9; CO: #7; GA: #7; IL: #10; MA: #8; #10; NJ: #4; #10; OH: #9; TX: #7; Canada: #1;
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Issue cover date: 15 MAY 1999
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