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December 1998 Archives

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10 December 1998 | ScienceNOW

Traces of Evolution in Roach Bowels

by Gretchen Vogel
Cockroach guts may not sound like a promising hunting ground for clues to the origins of complex cells. But by plumbing the lower digestive tracts of the household pest, scientists...
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10 December 1998 | ScienceNOW

Five Thousand Years of Cyclones

by Robert Irion
SAN FRANCISCO--Researchers digging into coastal mud along the Gulf of Mexico have compiled the first long-term hurricane record. This diary of destruction shows that far fewer intense cyclones have pummeled...
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10 December 1998 | ScienceNOW

The Worm Revealed

by Elizabeth Pennisi
A blueprint for making an animal will be unveiled for the first time, in tomorrow's Science: the virtually complete genome of a tiny nematode worm, Caenorhabditis elegans. As the first...
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9 December 1998 | ScienceNOW

India Backs Off on Animal Regulations

by Pallava Bagla
NEW DELHI--Indian scientists are hailing a government decision to scale back a proposal for a centrally run system to regulate research involving animals. The final rules, adopted late last month,...
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9 December 1998 | ScienceNOW

ROSAT: Rest in Peace

by David Malakoff
Astronomers bid a bittersweet farewell today to a pathbreaking satellite. After defying death countless times during its 8-year career, the Röntgen Satellite (ROSAT) lost its last working instrument yesterday, leaving...
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9 December 1998 | ScienceNOW

Excited Electrons Accelerate Above Earth

by Robert Irion
SAN FRANCISCO--Earth's magnetic field whips charged particles into frenzied orbits around the planet in a surprisingly erratic fashion, new research has shown. Rapid changes in these ribbons of radiation may...
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9 December 1998 | ScienceNOW

Summers in the City Worse Than Ever

by Jennifer Couzin-Frankel
Grandpa may recall hot summers from his youth, but chalk those memories up to youthful hormones. The dog days of summer have been more brutal in recent years for U.S....
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9 December 1998 | ScienceNOW

Ancient Hominid Found in Good Shape

by Constance Holden
A nearly complete skeleton, including skull, of what may be a 3.5-million-year-old human ancestor has been discovered in a South African cave. The bones, described at a press conference yesterday...
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8 December 1998 | ScienceNOW

Still Splicing After All These Years

by Science News Staff
ScienceNOW wishes a happy 51st birthday to Thomas Cech, a biochemist who helped discover catalytic RNA. In the process, Cech and his colleagues overturned conventional wisdom about the interactions between...
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8 December 1998 | ScienceNOW

Clinton Awards 14 Science, Technology Medals

by Science News Staff
WASHINGTON, D.C.--Nine basic scientists, one heart surgeon, two industrial teams, and two life science companies have been selected as the 1998 recipients of the National Medals of Science and Technology....
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8 December 1998 | ScienceNOW

Human Cloning Ban Urged in U.K.

by Eliot Marshall
Britain may have discovered how to clone mammals last year, but its biotechnicians should never use these skills to reproduce a human being, according to a joint report this week...
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8 December 1998 | ScienceNOW

Sky Survey Racks Up Record-Setting Quasars

by James Glanz
CHICAGO--The Sloan Digital Sky Survey, not even yet in full operation, has already bagged three of the four most distant quasars ever seen, including a new record-holder. It has also...
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8 December 1998 | ScienceNOW

Here's the Beef: Japan Clones Adult Cows

by Dennis Normile
NARA, JAPAN--Researchers here have reported the first successful cloning of adult cows. Their findings, to appear in the 11 December Science, reflect the intense effort under way in Japan to...
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7 December 1998 | ScienceNOW

Discover Editor Ousted

by David Kestenbaum
The heavy hand of Mickey Mouse descended on Discover Magazine today, ousting editor-in-chief Marc Zabludoff. Insiders say Zabludoff was bounced after banging heads with the new head of publishing at...
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7 December 1998 | ScienceNOW

Ancient Mexico's Least Livable City

by Joshua Fischman
PHILADELPHIA--For centuries, Teotihuacan had bustling markets, powerful kings, magnificent buildings, and the promise of lucrative work to lure the most energetic youth of its time. But by 600 AD, pollution...
7 December 1998 | ScienceNOW

Missing Ice on Mars

by Robert Irion
SAN FRANCISCO--A striking altitude survey of the north pole of Mars suggests that its ice cap is only half the expected size. Despite sitting in a huge basin that would...
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4 December 1998 | ScienceNOW

Inscrutable Atoms

by Science News Staff
Tomorrow would have been the 97th birthday of Werner Heisenberg, a German physicist who founded the field of quantum mechanics. In 1925, Heisenberg came up with the first precise mathematical...
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4 December 1998 | ScienceNOW

Channeling a Neuron's Excitability

by Marcia Barinaga
Like people, neurons sometimes need to be steadied a bit, so that they don't overreact to stimuli. Helping to keep neurons in check are potassium channels, tiny pores that allow...
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4 December 1998 | ScienceNOW

Vibrant Times After the Big Bang

by James Glanz
The early universe, once thought to be sedate, was a rollicking place, two observations recently reported on the Web suggest. One group of astronomers has found frenzied star birth almost...
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3 December 1998 | ScienceNOW

France to Go to Mars With NASA

by Alexander Hellemans
France, Europe's most ambitious space-faring nation, announced a major new initiative this week outside the scope of the European Space Agency (ESA): a collaboration with NASA on the U.S. agency's...
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3 December 1998 | ScienceNOW

Finding the Family Jewels

by Gretchen Vogel
Being in the right place at the right time is vital for young cells in a developing embryo. Now biologists report in today's Nature an intriguing new clue to how...
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3 December 1998 | ScienceNOW

Songbirds Stressed in Winter Grounds

by Bernice Wuethrich
Minnesotans may dream of relaxing winter escapes to the Caribbean, but not the American redstart. Winters down south are a time of stress for this migratory songbird, and a lean...
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3 December 1998 | ScienceNOW

New German Science Minister Shows Her Hand

by Robert Koenig
BERN, SWITZERLAND--Germany will shut down and dismantle a number of unnecessary nuclear power research facilities, Education and Research Minister Edelgard Bulmahn announced this week. The plan dovetails with the new...
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2 December 1998 | ScienceNOW

U.S., Russia Step Up Efforts to Employ Nuke Specialists

by Richard Stone
WASHINGTON, D.C.--As many as 50,000 nuclear weapons scientists, engineers, and technicians in Russia may need new jobs in the next 5 years, Department of Energy (DOE) officials said at a...
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2 December 1998 | ScienceNOW

Major Donation to Spur Vaccine Delivery

by Dan Ferber
A $100 million donation from Bill Gates, chair of Microsoft Corp., could save the lives of more than 2.5 million children each year. The gift, announced today in New York...
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2 December 1998 | ScienceNOW

Expert Panel Finds No Danger in Implants

by Jocelyn Kaiser
Weighing in on one of the biggest health controversies of the decade, a court-appointed scientific panel concluded this week that, based on the available evidence, silicone breast implants do not...
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1 December 1998 | ScienceNOW

Gene Therapy Success in the Flesh

by Jocelyn Kaiser
What may sound like an ad for a futuristic tanning salon is actually a triumph of gene therapy research: A tweaked gene turns the skin cells of albino mice a...
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1 December 1998 | ScienceNOW

Grad Students Picket in California

by Kevin Boyd
SAN FRANCISCO--In what may be the largest student labor strike in U.S. history, the graduate student employees' union comprising more than 9000 teaching assistants and other workers at eight University...
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1 December 1998 | ScienceNOW

IOM Sounds Civilian Bioterror Alert

by Science News Staff
WASHINGTON, D.C.--Worried about a looming new era of terrorism, a scientific panel urged the government today to step up efforts to protect civilians from emerging chemical and biological threats. The...
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