Public Release: 5-Mar-2007
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
Spiders: Chastity belts stop cuckoos in the nest
Male wasp spiders place a chastity belt on their partner while copulating, thus preventing the females from further copulations. The tip of their genital breaks off during intercourse, blocking the sexual orifice of the female spider. Biologists from the Universities of Bonn and Hamburg report on this amazing mechanism in the journal, Behavioral Ecology.
Contact: Dr. Gabriele Uhl
g.uhl@uni-bonn.de
49-228-735-557
University of Bonn
Public Release: 5-Mar-2007
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
UF study first to document evidence of 'mafia' behavior in cowbirds
"The Sopranos" have some competition -- brown-headed cowbirds.
Contact: Jeff Hoover
jhoover@flmnh.ufl.edu
352-392-1721
University of Florida
Drug may help alcoholics cut down
Scientists have devised a treatment which could stop alcoholics drinking too much.
The Scripps Research Institute and the Eli Lilly drug company study also found the chemical could prevent relapses and reduce the effects of hangovers.
Public Release: 5-Mar-2007
Free Radical Biology and Medicine
Studies force new view on biology of flavonoids
Flavonoids, a group of compounds found in fruits and vegetables that had been thought to be nutritionally important for their antioxidant activity, actually have little or no value in that role. However, these same compounds may indeed benefit human health, but for reasons that are quite different -- the body sees them as foreign compounds, researchers say, and through different mechanisms, they could play a role in preventing cancer or heart disease.
National Institutes of Health
Contact: Balz Frei
balz.frei@oregonstate.edu
541-737-5078
Oregon State University
Public Release: 6-Mar-2007
JAMA
Stanford diet study tips scale in favor of Atkins plan
Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have completed the largest and longest-ever comparison of four popular diets, and the lowest-carbohydrate Atkins diet came out on top.
Contact: Susan Ipaktchian
susani@stanford.edu
650-725-5375
Stanford University Medical Center
Particle physics on the cancer ward
By Professor Bleddyn Jones
Consultant, University Hospital, Birmingham
Techniques developed by atomic physicists are being used to develop the first of what promises to be a new generation of cancer treatments in place of conventional radiotherapy. One day doctors could even be using anti-matter.
Many gene mutations drive cancer
Sanger Institute scientists looked at more than 500 human genes and 200 types of cancer.  The research suggests that cancer biologists will face a big challenge in distinguishing between mutations that cause cancer and those that do not.
China confirms Moon probe in 2007
Reaching the moon has long been a goal of China's space programme
China will launch its first lunar probe this year, and expects to be able to land a man on the Moon within 15 years, a senior space official has confirmed.
Public Release: 6-Mar-2007
Prescriptions for health advice online
When searching for health advice online, consumers often reject Web sites with high quality medical information in favor of those with a human touch, according to new research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.
Economic and Social Research Council
Contact: Annika Howard
annika.howard@esrc.ac.uk
01-793-413-119
Economic & Social Research Council

Light puts asteroids into a spin
Jonathan Fildes  Science and technology reporter, BBC News
The constant bombardment of billions of tiny particles from the Sun is shaping the Solar System, studies have shown.  As the fine solar shower rains down on objects, such as asteroids, it can steadily alter their orbit and spin.

Algae skeletons made into silicon components GEOLOGY
Petrified lightning bolts’ give peek into ancient climates
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
DALE GNIDOVEC
When lightning strikes sand or soil, it melts and fuses grains into features that some have called petrified lightning bolts. Their scientific name is fulgurites, after fulgur, the Latin word for lightning. They usually are considered mere curiosities, but a recent bit of research reported in the February issue of the journal Geology put fulgurites to a scientific use, to obtain 15,000-year-old climate data.
Unbrushed Teeth Reveal Ancient Diets
Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News
Ick factor aside, ancient tartar-encrusted teeth may be a biological gold mine for scientists, thanks to a new technique for extracting food particles from teeth that once belonged to prehistoric humans.
Vital Signs
Performance: Test of Pilots Shows Age May Be Advantageous
By ERIC NAGOURNEY
Airline passengers who feel reassured when they glimpse a shock of white hair in the cockpit may be on to something.
A new study finds that in pilots, the declines in physical and thinking skills that come with age may be outweighed by their years of experience.
Cases
A Diagnosis for One, but an Impact Shared
By HARRIET BROWN
Being the other sibling is always hard. When one child grapples with a life-changing diagnosis or accident, parents have to focus on that child. And there are ways in which it's good for children to learn that other people have needs, and sometimes those needs come first.
Public Release: 6-Mar-2007
Biophysical Journal
On the (sound) track of anesthetics
Danish scientists challenge the accepted scientific views of how nerves function and of how anesthetics work. Their research suggests that action of nerves is based on sound pulses and that anesthetics inhibit their transmission.
Contact: Gertie Skaarup
skaarup@nbi.dk
453-532-5320
University of Copenhagen
Personal Health
Tough Question to Answer, Tough Answer to Hear
By JANE E. BRODY
Upon receiving a diagnosis of a fatal illness, many patients ask, "Doc, how much time have I got?" It's a reasonable question, given that there is often much to plan for and accomplish before a progressive illness robs patients of their physical or mental abilities.  Yet prognosticating is one of the most challenging tasks doctors face.
In Lice, Clues to Human Origin and Attire The number of kinds of louse that people can carry sheds light on when humans lost their body hair, and when they first made clothing.
Public Release: 6-Mar-2007
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences
Paper challenges 1491 Amazonian population theories
There's a scholarly debate brewing about whether pre-Columbian Amazonian populations settled in large numbers across Amazonia and created the modern forest setting that many conservationists take to be "natural." The view is challenged in a recent paper from Dr. Mark Bush of the Florida Institute of Technology. His findings may rekindle a debate has major implications for land use and policy-setting in the rain forest.
Contact: karen Rhine
krhine@fit.edu
321-674-8964
Florida Institute of Technology
Basics
A Toast to Evolvability and Its Promise of Surprise
By NATALIE ANGIER
If not for evolutionary innovation we might still be so many daubs of blue-green algae decorating a rock.
Study Uncovers Memory Aid: A Scent During Sleep
By BENEDICT CAREY
Science
A familiar scent can help a slumbering brain better remember things that it learned the evening before.
A United Kingdom? Maybe Most of history aside, DNA evidence suggests that the British and the Irish have much more in common than they once thought.
Public Release: 7-Mar-2007
Nature
Despite their heft, many dinosaurs had surprisingly tiny genomes
They might be giants, but many dinosaurs apparently had genomes no larger than that of a modern hummingbird. So say scientists who've linked bone cell and genome size among living species and then used that new understanding to gauge the genome sizes of 31 species of extinct dinosaurs and birds, whose bone cells can be measured from the fossil record.
National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Natural Environment Research Council
Contact: Steve Bradt
steve_bradt@harvard.edu
617-496-8070
Harvard University
Public Release: 7-Mar-2007
A gatekeeper for the US drug industry
At long last, the US is considering a government body, similar to the UK's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), to review evidence on which drugs work well and whether they are cost-effective. The proposed Comparative Effectiveness Board (CEB) would review the pharmaceutical industry's hold on drug prices and stop it peddling mediocre medicines.
Contact: Claire Bowles
claire.bowles@rbi.co.uk
44-207-611-1210
New Scientist
Public Release: 7-Mar-2007
Journal of Consumer Research
On a diet? You'll spend more on impulse purchases
People who exercise self control in some way, such as dieting or trying not to look at or think about something, will tend to make more impulse purchases if given the opportunity, explains a study from the March issue of the Journal of Consumer Research.
Contact: Suzanne Wu
swu@press.uchicago.edu
773-834-0386
University of Chicago Press Journals
Public Release: 8-Mar-2007
Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association
Stroke patients admitted to hospitals on weekends may be more likely to die
Patients admitted to hospitals for ischemic stroke on weekends had a higher risk of dying than patients admitted during the week, in a Canadian study published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, Canadian Institute for Heath Research
Contact: Bridgette McNeill
bridgette.mcneill@heart.org
214-706-1396
American Heart Association
Public Release: 8-Mar-2007
Current Biology
UGA research shows rats are capable of reflecting on mental processes
A new study by researchers from the University of Georgia, just published in the journal Current Biology, shows that laboratory rats possess the ability to think about what they know or don't know. It's the first demonstration that any non-primate knows when it doesn’t know something, and it could open the way to more in-depth studies about how animals -- and humans -- think.
NIH/National Institute of Mental Health
Contact: Kim Carlyle
kcarlyle@uga.edu
706-583-0913
University of Georgia
Public Release: 8-Mar-2007
Nature
Genes and groups of genes commonly shared between species, studies show
Bacteria are known to share genes, spreading drug resistance, for example. But how common is it in other organisms, including mammals like us? Two new studies show that most bacteria have genes or large groups of genes shared by other bacteria. Even among higher organisms, shared genes are the rule rather than the exception, UC Berkeley and LBNL researchers say.
US Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health
Contact: Robert Sanders
rsanders@berkeley.edu
510-643-6998
University of California - Berkeley
Public Release: 8-Mar-2007
Mayo Clinic Proceedings
Hospital equipment unaffected by cell phone use, study finds
Calls made on cellular phones have no negative impact on hospital medical devices, dispelling the long-held notion that they are unsafe to use in health care facilities, according to Mayo Clinic researchers.
Contact: Traci Klein
newsbureau@mayo.edu
507-284-5005
Mayo Clinic
Across the Universe
Trying to Meet the Neighbors
By DAVE ITZKOFF
Are we alone in the universe? Seth Shostak suspects we will know the answer by 2025.
Public Release: 9-Mar-2007
Neurobiology of Aging
Penn study finds inhaled anesthetics accelerate the appearance of brain plaque in animals
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Medicine have discovered that common inhaled anesthetics increase the number of amyloid plaques in the brains of animals, which might accelerate the onset of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's. Roderic Eckenhoff, M.D., vice chair of research in the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care, and his co-authors, report their findings in the March 7 online edition of Neurobiology of Aging.
Contact: Rick Cushman
rick.cushman@uphs.upenn.edu
215-349-5659
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Public Release: 11-Mar-2007
Cocoa 'vitamin' health benefits could outshine penicillin
The health benefits of epicatechin, a compound found in cocoa, are so striking that it may rival penicillin and anaesthesia in terms of importance to public health, reports Marina Murphy in Chemistry & Industry, the magazine of the SCI. Norman Hollenberg, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, told C&I that epicatechin is so important that it should be considered a vitamin
Contact: SCI Press Office
press@soci.org
44-020-759-81548
Society of Chemical Industry
Public Release: 11-Mar-2007
Evolution
These legs were made for fighting
Ape-like human ancestors known as australopiths had short legs because a squat physique and stance helped the males fight over access to females, a University of Utah study concludes. "The old argument was that they retained short legs to help them climb trees that still were an important part of their habitat," says biologist David Carrier. "My argument is that they retained short legs because short legs helped them fight."
National Science Foundation
Contact: David Carrier
carrier@biology.utah.edu
801-585-7967
University of Utah