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Week of April 26, 2003 Vol. 163, No. 17

This Week's Cover

Gem of a Find

A discovery about the crystal structure of tiger's-eye quartz suggests that the shimmering gemstone isn't formed the way that scientists have assumed for the past 130 years. (C. Clark/National Museum of Natural History)  More...


Spheres in Disguise: Solid proof offered for famous conjecture

A Russian mathematician has proposed a proof of the Poincaré conjecture, a question about the shapes of three-dimensional spaces.

Fig-Wasp Upset: Classic partnership isn't so tidy after all

Genetic analysis suggests that a textbook example of a tight buddy system in nature—fig species that supposedly each have their own pollinating wasp species—may need to be rewritten.

Feel the Heat: Rain forests may slow their growth in warmer world

During a long-term research project in a Central American rain forest, mature trees grew more slowly in warm years than they did in cooler ones.

Genetic Clue to Aging? Mutation causes early-aging syndrome

A gene defect that causes accelerated aging may provide insight into normal aging.

Ancestors Go South

A group of new and previously excavated fossils in South Africa represents 4-million-year-old members of the human evolutionary family, according to an analysis of the sediment that covered the finds.

Bone Fix: New material responds to growing tissue

A new scaffolding material stimulates bone regeneration.

Blunt Answer: Cracking the puzzle of elastic solids' toughness

Rubbery materials prove tougher than theory predicts because cracks trying to penetrate those stretchy materials grow blunt at their tips.

Out of China: SARS virus' genome hints at independent evolution

The newly identified SARS virus is the product of a long and private evolutionary history, clues from its genome suggest.


Eye of the Tiger

Recent research has upended a 130-year-old, previously unchallenged theory about how the semiprecious stone called tiger's-eye is formed.

A Rocky Start

A new origin-of-life theory holds that life began within the confines of iron sulfide rocks surrounding hydrothermal vents at the ocean bottom.

Digital Cells

Researchers are gearing up to create cells with computer programs hardwired into the DNA.


Chicks open wide, ultraviolet mouths

The first analysis of what the mouths of begging birds look like in the ultraviolet spectrum reveals a dramatic display that birds can see but people can't.

Traces of lead cause outsize harm

Minute amounts of lead in blood are worse for children than had been realized.

Little vessels react to magnetic switch

Magnets can act like vascular switches, increasing or decreasing blood flow to a region of the body.

Prenatal nicotine: A role in SIDS?

New data suggest why exposure to nicotine in the womb can put an infant at greater risk of sudden infant death syndrome.

Athletes develop whey-better muscles

Dietary supplements coupling whey and creatine promote the development of bigger, stronger muscles in experienced body builders.

Teen taters, too

The epidemic of adolescent obesity may owe more to a paucity of exercise than to a growing intake of calories.



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