From: Webmaster@scienceguide.com (Robert W. Georgantas III) Subject: EPUB: Science News Date: 29 Dec 1997 21:03:22 GMT Message-ID: Organization: The Science Guide Sign up for the SCIENCE GUIDE DAILY NEWS UPDATE. This free daily newsletter summerizes science related news from news and academic institutions from around the world. To receive the News Update simply send and email to news@scienceguide.com with "subscribe" in the subject field. An example of the News Update from Dec 29th follows: THE SCIENCE GUIDE DAILY NEWS UPDATE The Science News from 10:59 AM EST; Monday, December 29, 1997 You have two ways to use the Science Guide News Update: 1) Goto our News Page (http://www.scienceguide.com/News/News_LowGraph.html) 2) If your email program supports web links you can simply click on the URL listed below each story title, or you can simply copy the URL into you browser's location bar\ ******** Features From Daily News Sources ******* BIOLOGY, BIOTECHNOLOGY, AND MEDICINE **** Birds slaughtered in bid to contain mystery flu - CNN Heath http://www.scienceguide.com/News/News_Articles/122997Article_6.html Poultry workers and government teams began the wholesale slaughter of birds Monday, the first step in a plan to contain the mysterious "bird flu" virus that has crossed over to humans and caused four recent deaths. **** Mystery disease in Kenya and Somalia could be form of anthrax - CNN Heath http://www.scienceguide.com/News/News_Articles/122997Article_7.html An unexplained disease that has caused scores of Kenyans, Somalis and livestock to bleed to death this month may be a form of anthrax, medical experts said Sunday. **** Oral Test for HIV Virus Is Winning Converts - New York Times http://www.scienceguide.com/News/News_Articles/122997Article_14.html The oral test, made by Epitope Inc. of Beaverton, Ore., isn't likely to replace the more traditional roll-up-your-sleeve test any time soon, because millions of HIV tests are done each year on blood donations or in conjunction with other blood-based medical tests. But OraSure _ just one of several alternative HIV tests on the market, including a home blood test, a blood test with a 10-minute response test and a urine test _ is winning converts from coast to coast because it's so easy to take, and virtually as accurate as a blood test. **** Nutrition Questions and Answers - New York Times http://www.scienceguide.com/News/News_Articles/122997Article_15.html **** Comment: Consumer-Rights Bill Doesn't Help Doctors - New York Times http://www.scienceguide.com/News/News_Articles/122997Article_16.html Anytime you give something away for nothing, you will never have enough of it. That is what is happening to physicians' time under managed care. We are not only expected to give it away, patients are being given the right to it. **** Forbes reports that Tylenol can be dangerous in big doses - Nando Times http://www.scienceguide.com/News/News_Articles/122997Article_18.html Tylenol, safe in proper doses, can be very dangerous in slightly larger doses, Forbes magazine reported in its latest issue. **** In the fight against AIDS, some find reason to hope - Excite.com News http://www.scienceguide.com/News/News_Articles/122997Article_21.html With new drug regimens fueling a decline in AIDS mortality in the United States, Americans in 1997 were more optimistic than ever about the possibility of conquering the devastating illness. But surveys show that the public, far from thinking the epidemic is over, feels that the widespread emergence of breakthrough therapies this year has not signaled the end of AIDS. **** AIDS drugs - Excite.com News http://www.scienceguide.com/News/News_Articles/122997Article_22.html Eight months after Vice President Al Gore asked for a policy change allowing poor people with HIV to get effective new drugs for free, the government has concluded the plan is too costly. **** Innovation - Excite.com News http://www.scienceguide.com/News/News_Articles/122997Article_25.html Biotech firm develops cancer vaccines. **** The DNA Drugstore: How Genetics is Changing our Lives: Part Six - Excite.com News http://www.scienceguide.com/News/News_Articles/122997Article_26.html PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS, SPACE, AERONAUTICS, AND AEROSPACE **** After bad start, Galileo is sending back dramatic data about Jupiter - Excite.com News http://www.scienceguide.com/News/News_Articles/122997Article_23.html NASA's Galileo mission to Jupiter threatened at times in its long journey to become a humiliating failure, slowly playing out its sad fate beyond help, almost half a billion miles from the sun. Instead, the spacecraft overcame a crippled main antenna and other problems, and its human handlers have successfully completed their two-year prime mission, producing dramatic evidence that the Jovian ice-moon Europa once harbored a liquid ocean capable of nourishing life -- and may still. **** NASA's Prospector to search for water on moon - Excite.com News http://www.scienceguide.com/News/News_Articles/122997Article_24.html Twenty-five years after men last roamed the moon, NASA is returning with a little robot named Prospector. Diminutive as it is and cheap, too, NASA's 4-foot Lunar Prospector will search for something more precious to scientists than gold: evidence of frozen water at the moon's poles. The spacecraft also will rummage for gases and minerals that, like polar ice, could be used by human settlers. AGRICULTURE **** Report: U.S. to slash limits on Pacific Coast fishing - CNN Earth http://www.scienceguide.com/News/News_Articles/122997Article_8.html Fearing a sharp decline in Pacific fish, the federal government will toughen restrictions on the commercial catch for 83 species, including popular black cod, ling cod, dover sole and rock fish, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday. **** Scientists using Boston Harbor to farm fish - CNN Earth http://www.scienceguide.com/News/News_Articles/122997Article_11.html There was a time when all Boston Harbor seemed able to produce was stink and slime. Now they want to raise fish there. **** 'Bird flu' scare hits Chinese farmers - Nando Times http://www.scienceguide.com/News/News_Articles/122997Article_17.html A ban on chicken exports from mainland China to Hong Kong prompted by the "bird flu" scare is devastating farmers in southern Guangdong province, a Chinese official said Monday. ENGINEERING, ENERGY, MATHEMATICS, ANDTECHNOLOGY **** Pentagon introducing high-tech dog tags - CNN Sci-Tech http://www.scienceguide.com/News/News_Articles/122997Article_1.html By 1999, the 1.4 million members of the active duty military will be issued a high-tech dog tag that contains a computer chip. **** Is wind the energy future for Texas? - CNN Sci-Tech http://www.scienceguide.com/News/News_Articles/122997Article_4.html Texas and oil are in many ways synonymous, and pumping stations have been a familiar part of the region's landscape for decades. But there may soon be other structures springing up in the state: there is a push to use wind energy for commercial purposes and to set up the kind of fields of wind turbines already familiar elsewhere. **** 'Smart gels' improve eyedrops, muscles, in-line skates - CNN Sci-Tech http://www.scienceguide.com/News/News_Articles/122997Article_5.html They look like floating Christmas tree ornaments made of jello, bobbing in a small aquarium. But he gel-like balls could prove instrumental in helping treat wounds or improve eyedrops. CHEMISTRY. COMPUTERS, COMPUTER SCIENCE, AND THE INTERNET **** Army tests virtual systems for soldier training - CNN Sci-Tech http://www.scienceguide.com/News/News_Articles/122997Article_2.html While it's still effective to send infantry soldiers crawling through the mud during basic training, the U.S. Army is testing four virtual-reality systems that can simulate battlefields and teach specialized skills. **** Remote-control system uses brain waves - CNN Sci-Tech http://www.scienceguide.com/News/News_Articles/122997Article_3.html Something spooky's afoot. Lights turn on without warning. The TV flashes channels at random. In the distance, a chime goes off. But there are no poltergeists here. ANTHROPOLOGY, ARCHAEOLOGY, LINQUISTICS, AND PALEONTOLOGY ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & ISSUES, GEOLOGY, METEOROLOGY, AND OCEANOGRAPHY **** Study shows environmental risks of animal waste - EurekAlert http://www.scienceguide.com/News/News_Articles/122997Article_9.html The staggering amount of animal waste produced on American farms often pollutes water, and the risk is growing as more large-scale livestock operations take hold, according to a new U.S. Senate study. **** Egypt envisions future beyond the Nile - CNN Earth http://www.scienceguide.com/News/News_Articles/122997Article_10.html A platoon of bulldozers plows methodically in the parched, unforgiving dirt, waging a dust-choked mission across a sea of golden sand broken by black cliffs and desert brush. **** EPA makes record number of fines, referrals in 1997 - CNN Earth http://www.scienceguide.com/News/News_Articles/122997Article_12.html The Environmental Protection Agency says it referred a record number of cases for prosecution and assessed its largest total of fines in 1997. **** Large amounts of animal manure pose environmental risks, study shows - Nando Times http://www.scienceguide.com/News/News_Articles/122997Article_19.html The huge amount of animal waste produced on American farms often pollutes water, and the risk is growing as more large-scale livestock operations take hold, according to a new U.S. Senate study **** Has the world reached its 'Limits to Growth'? - Nando Times http://www.scienceguide.com/News/News_Articles/122997Article_20.html Our blood ran cold as we sat in the dark that year, millions of moviegoers chilled by the vision of "A Clockwork Orange," of a "horrorshow" future of anarchy and violence. **** Growing concerns about persistent organic pollutants - Excite.com News http://www.scienceguide.com/News/News_Articles/122997Article_27.html Massive oil spills, fires at chemical plants and leaking radioactive waste, because of the highly toxic materials involved, rarely fail to attract widespread attention. Much less is known, however, about the environmental and health effects of other chemicals that, while less toxic, are much more widely distributed. **** When's the air really dirty? - Excite.com News http://www.scienceguide.com/News/News_Articles/122997Article_28.html How can Denver's air be so good and yet look so bad? The air quality is undeniably better than it used to be. Just 25 years ago the metro area exceeded federal air standards 125 times a year. And on almost every winter day, the pollution was at levels harmful to public health. PSYCHOLOGY **** Stepchildren May Expand Pool Of Caregivers For Baby Boomers - EurekAlert http://www.scienceguide.com/News/News_Articles/122997Article_13.html Unprecedented rates of divorce and remarriage are already redefining families of baby boomers. According to a new analysis from University of California, Berkeley, when the boomers become the elderly of the future, they will have impressive numbers of stepchildren and stepgrandchildren, expanding the numbers of family members on whom they may rely, if necessary. -- Robert Georgantas BS, MS, PhD (candidate) Researcher in Experimental Immunotheraputics Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Also publisher of: The Science Guide The World Wide Web News and Information Service for Scientists http://www.scienceguide.com