September 1998 Archives

30 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

Particle Man

by Science News Staff

Today is the birthday of Hans Geiger, born in 1882, a German physicist known for the techniques he developed for detecting and counting charged particles. Geiger investigated the charge and...

30 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

Biologist Named Russia's Science Minister

by Andrey Allakhverdov

The appointment of a physicist-turned-molecular biologist as Russia's new science minister could help the nation's natural scientists grab a bigger slice of the funding pie. Last week, Prime Minister Evgeny...

30 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

Warrior Bug Tackles Waste

by Jennifer Couzin-Frankel

The Cold War may have ended several years ago, but it left behind some dangerous unfinished business: 3000 nuclear waste sites in the United States alone. Now researchers may have...

30 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

Death in the Soft Jaws of a Stingray

by Meher Antia

Scientists have discovered how stingrays can enjoy their hard-shelled meals of snails and mussels despite the fact that their mouths are made of mushy cartilage: The stingray jaws, it turns...

29 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

A Gene Pill for Lactose Intolerance?

by Dan Ferber

Half the world cannot drink a glass of milk without cramping up. But help may be on the way: Scientists report in next month's issue of Nature Medicine that rats...

29 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

Plants a Player in Ozone Hole?

by Robert Irion

When former President Ronald Reagan slipped and said that trees can pollute the air, it turns out he wasn't far off the mark. New research shows that some leafy green...

29 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

Distant Star's Radiation Jolts Earth's Atmosphere

by David Kestenbaum

WASHINGTON, D.C.--Around 6:22 a.m. EDT on 27 August, a tidal wave of x-ray and gamma ray radiation washed over the Earth, turning night to day in the upper atmosphere and...

28 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

Inca Pillars of Society

by Gretchen Vogel

At banquets and ceremonies today, the guests of honor often sit at a head table raised up for all to see. Now, new archaeological finds are suggesting that ancient Incas...

28 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

Leakey Reappointed Head of Kenyan Parks

by David Malakoff

Politics has again created strange bedfellows in Kenya. Just a week after ousting conservationist David Western as head of the embattled Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), President Daniel arap Moi has...

28 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

Fetal Mutations From Secondhand Smoke

by Kevin Boyd

In newborns exposed to secondhand smoke, mutations in an important gene occur at a high rate, according to a pilot study in next month's Nature Medicine. The findings suggest that...

25 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

His Research Ran Deep

by Science News Staff

Sunday would have been the 78th birthday of Henry Stommel, an American oceanographer who studied the Gulf Stream and other ocean currents. Stommel applied simple mathematical models to the study...

25 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

NSF Bolsters Plant Crop Gene Research

by Elizabeth Pennisi

WASHINGTON, D.C.--Sowing excitement in the plant science community, the National Science Foundation (NSF) today announced that it will award $85 million for studies over the next 5 years aiming to...

25 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

Ecology Lessons From Lilliputians

by Gretchen Vogel

Providing "corridors" that link patches of undisturbed habitats can help protect species from extinction--at least in the tiny world of spiders and mites that dwell on moss-covered boulders. The find,...

25 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

U.S. Science Policy Bent But Not Broken

by David Malakoff

WASHINGTON, D.C.--The United States must commit to "stable and substantial" funding for basic research if the country is to prosper in a post-Cold War world. That's the main conclusion of...

24 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

For Whom the Bell Tolls

by Science News Staff

Today is the birthday of Ivar Pavlov, a Russian physiologist born in 1849 who is best known for his studies of the conditioning of dogs. Between 1890 and 1900, Pavlov...

24 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

2000 Kilometer Deep Sea Extension Cord

by Meher Antia

The ocean floor's first permanent laboratory is powered up and ready to start experiments. Making use of a discarded telephone cable running between California and Hawaii, researchers have been able...

24 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

Cells Tagged by Quantum Dots

by Robert F. Service

Quantum dots are all the rage among physicists and chemists. Now these versatile flecks of semiconductor, which can serve as components in tiny transistors and emit light in rainbow hues,...

23 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

Perturbations of a Mystery Planet

by Science News Staff

Neptune was first spotted on this night in 1846. This was the first time that Newton's theory of gravitation had been used to deduce the position of an unknown planet....

23 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

Ingredient for Life Bubbled From Ocean

by Robert F. Service

Deep-sea hydrothermal vents give rise to some of the most bizarre forms of life on the planet, such as blind albino crabs. Now a study in tomorrow's issue of Nature...

23 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

New Immune System Could Aid Transplants

by Kevin Boyd

Immune systems are notoriously intolerant of transplanted tissue. Although scientists have had some success in damping the immune response to prevent the rejection of animal organs, a team has now...

23 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

Pot Shot for Pain Hits Mark

by Christie Aschwanden

A synthetic form of marijuana's active ingredient kills pain by targeting the same pathway as morphine, researchers report tomorrow in Nature. The finding could lead to better treatments for chronic...

22 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

For Whom the Bell Tolls

by Science News Staff

Thursday is the birthday of Ivar Pavlov, a Russian physiologist born in 1849 who is best known for his studies of the conditioning of dogs. Between 1890 and 1900, Pavlov...

22 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

Hughes Head to Step Down

by Science News Staff

The largest U.S. private nonprofit biomedical research funder is looking for a new leader. On 22 September, Purnell Choppin, 69, president of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), announced that...

22 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

Indian Scientists Say Nuclear Tests Complete

by Pallava Bagla

NEW DELHI--Two of India's leading nuclear scientists say that there are no longer any scientific or technical reasons for the country to oppose the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). In...

22 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

Raising the Stakes in the Race for New Malaria Drugs

by Jocelyn Kaiser

A group of scientists and funders last week gave an initial thumbs-up to a new strategy for bankrolling what could amount to a $30-million-a-year program to develop drugs against malaria....

21 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

Were Vampires Rabid?

by Gretchen Vogel

The vampires of legend may have been real after all. According to a report in this month's Neurology, symptoms of rabies--such as a tendency to bite and an aversion to...

21 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

Lasker Awards for Cancer, Cell Division

by Jennifer Couzin-Frankel

Six biologists will each take home $10,000 and a coveted Albert Lasker Medical Research Award for their work on cell division and the genetic basis of cancer. The prizes, announced...

21 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

Kenya Parks Chief Ousted--Again

by David Malakoff

Kenya's fickle political winds have again blown conservation leader David Western out of office--this time permanently. Just 4 months after losing and then regaining his post as head of the...

18 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

Grappling With Graptolites

by Science News Staff

Sunday is the 156th anniversary of the birth of Charles Lapworth, an English geologist famous for his work with marine fossils called graptolites. By fastidiously collecting the tiny, colonial sea...

18 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

An Eye for an Ear

by Kevin Boyd

Settling a decades-old debate, scientists have confirmed that blind people are just as adept at tracking sounds as people with normal vision. The finding, reported in this week's Nature, could...

18 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

Hot Schools in the Biosciences

by Amy Adams

Quality not quantity. That's what won several institutions the top slot in the latest rankings of specific biological fields, reported in the September/October ScienceWatch. Scientists at the highest ranking universities...

17 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

Plant Plumbing

by Science News Staff

Today is the 321st anniversary of the birth of Stephen Hales, an English clergyman known for his careful biological research, particularly on the physiology and growth of plants. Hales conducted...

17 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

Telescopes That Erase Starlight

by Robert Irion

Astronomers usually try to gather precious starlight, not block it out. But researchers in Arizona are thrilled with new observations that wiped out most of the light from three stars....

17 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

Settling America by Sea?

by Heather Pringle

The big game hunters called Clovis people--whose ancestors crossed the Bering land bridge and swept southward through the Americas perhaps 11,200 years ago--have long been considered the first Americans. But...

17 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

RNA's Knack for Nucleotides

by Michael Balter

The earliest biomolecules must have been able to both carry genetic information and copy themselves. Now researchers report that a type of RNA that helps spur the synthesis of nucleotides--the...

16 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

The First Vitamins

by Science News Staff

Today is the 111th anniversary of the birth of Marguerite Davis, an American chemist who co-discovered vitamins A and B. Davis worked at the University of Wisconsin with Elmer Vernon...

16 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

Canada Tightens Ethics Rules for Human Subjects

by Wayne Kondro

OTTAWA--Canadian scientists have new ethical guidelines for research involving humans. The document, to be unveiled tomorrow, ends a 4-year struggle among the country's three research granting councils to draw up...

16 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

Grants to Bolster Biology Education

by Jennifer Couzin-Frankel

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), best known for picking elite researchers and providing them with generous funding, announced today that it is making a huge investment in the next...

16 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

SOHO Stable, Basking in Sun Again

by Alexander Hellemans

NASA succeeded today in pointing the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) at the sun--a crucial step toward getting the spacecraft collecting data again. However, it will take several weeks before...

15 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

The Man Who Beat Yellow Fever

by Science News Staff

Sunday was the birthday of Walter Reed, an American medical researcher born in 1851 who is celebrated for his work on yellow fever. During the Spanish-American War, more soldiers had...

September 1998 Archives

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