EMBARGO: NOT FOR PUBLICATION BEFORE 2:00 PM EST WEDNESDAY, 3 MARCH 1999
ORDER #1: SENSOR SENSIBILITY
Computer mice could soon be history if researchers at MIT get their
way. Instead, they have created a "sensory tabletop" that can accurately
keep track of your hand as you move it around in three dimensional
space. Page 11
ORDER #2: HAIR RAISING
Substances that make brain cells grow are also important for the growth
of hair follicles, say dermatologists in Germany. This bizarre discovery
could lead to treatments for baldness or keeping unwanted body hair at
bay. Page 7
ORDER #3: TECHNOFILE - NEWS HUNGRY (SHORT)
You may soon find yourself reading the news headlines on fruit,
vegetables or cheese crackers. Researchers at MIT have come up with a
way to etch headlines onto foodstuffs using a laser cutter. Page 11
ORDER #4: DEATHLY HUSH
Owls could give military aircraft designers tips on reducing noise on
future stealth aircraft. A researcher from Southampton describes how the
trailing edge of owl feathers help to muffle the sound of the bird's flight.
Page 10
ORDER #5: COLD COMFORT
Many off-piste skiers have taken to wearing beacons to help locate them
in the event of being buried by an avalanche. However a recent US study
which analysed rescue attempts using this method, found that skiers' faith
in these beacons may be misplaced. Page 12
ORDER #6: LISTEN TO MOTHER
The clucks and grunts of a farmyard may mean nothing to us, but animals
are skilled at detecting subtle differences in sounds. Canadian scientists
have found they can encourage poultry and pigs to eat by playing them
sounds the animals associate with feeding. Page 22
ORDER #7: MASHED POTATOES
Arpad Pusztai, the scientist who sparked Britain's scare over the safety
of GM foods, will present his case to a parliamentary committee next
week. Meanwhile independent experts have branded his data as
impossible to interpret and unsuitable for publication in a journal. Page
13
ORDER #8: SHUT THAT DOOR
A 56-tonne door meant to shield British workers at Sellafield from
dangerous radiation has been hanging from a single hinge. These claims
by a local antinuclear group could call for an urgent investigation into
safety regulations at the site. Page 5
ORDER #9: SCARED TO DEATH
It seems that you can literally die of fright. Sometimes, in a minority of
cases, the terrorised brain of a healthy person can release a hormone that
causes the heart to contract so fiercely that it never recovers. The heart
"turns to stone", causing death in seconds. Pages 34-37
ORDER #10: AN END TO UNCERTAINTY
Einstein hated quantum theory. In the 1920s, he dreamt up a series of
"thought experiments" to show that it was wrong. But in each case he lost
the debate when his opponent, Niels Bohr, invoked the Uncertainty
Principle--that you cannot simultaneously know both the momentum and
position of a particle. Today, researchers have turned one of these
thought experiments into reality and have found that the principle cannot
explain the results. Physicists seem to have been deluding themselves for
70 years. Pages 25-28
ORDER #11: THE PROBE THAT FELL TO EARTH
A Russian spacecraft carrying a deadly cargo of plutonium crashed to
Earth in 1996. While governments prefer to believe that it is still lying at
the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, there is increasing evidence that the
cargo fell intact into the Andes. Despite the environmental risk of
radiation leaks or the possibility of terrorists getting their hands on the
plutonium, there has been no search effort to find it. Pages 39-42
ORDER #12: ELECTRIC DREAMS
South Africa plans to build the world's first full-scale solar chimney to
harness energy from air heated by the desert Sun. The chimney, made
entirely of glass and concrete, would outlive any fossil fuel plant and
would be taller than anything ever built before. Pages 30-33
LOCATION INDEX:
CA: #9;
CO: #5; #11;
DC: #11;
KY: #9;
MA: #1; #3; #9;
NY: #9;
OH: #9;
VA: #4;
Canada: #5; #6; #12;
- ENDS -
PLEASE MENTION NEW SCIENTIST AS THE SOURCE OF ALL THESE ITEMS - THANKS
Issue cover date: 6 March 1999
For fax copies of full stories or to arrange an interview, please contact
Barbara Thurlow at [email protected] or on 202 452 1178. In Europe please
contact Jane Baldwin, Reed Business Information Press Office, Tel. (0181)
652 8018 or email [email protected]
New Scientist now has a Press Site on the Internet. You'll be able to look up
our press releases, the stories in text & PDF formats plus graphics. If you
haven't already registered, please contact Barbara Thurlow.
New Scientist Planet Science provides Internet users with news, features,
reviews and comment drawn weekly from the pages of New Scientist magazine, as
well as extra material exclusive to the web site. The site can be found at
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