From: LARRY KLAES (ljk4_at_msn.com)
Date: Thu Sep 18 2003 - 07:06:19 PDT
----- Original Message -----
From: newsletter_at_newscientist.com
Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2003 8:12 AM
Subject: Plasma blobs hint at life in a bubble
NewScientist.com newsletter, 18 September 2003
welcome to the New Scientist newsletter, which this week
reveals how plasma blobs could completely change our ideas of how
life evolved, how hearts can be stopped more safely during
operations and how rogue cells are wrecking medical research…
If you would prefer to receive an HTML version of this newsletter,
please visit:
http://www.prq0.com/quickstart/survey.asp?e=XbcajfijDE-RaA&oid=UcjjbCB
EDITOR'S CHOICE:
LIFE IN A BUBBLE
It's a discovery that could require a complete rethink of how life
on Earth began, and how likely life is on other planets. The current
consensus is that over millions of years, simple molecules must have
formed amino acids, then primitive proteins, before finally forming
an organised cell structure. However, physicists recreating the
atmosphere of the early Earth have produced blobs of gaseous plasma
that fulfil the four criteria used to define living cells:
possession of a distinct boundary layer and the ability to
replicate, communicate and grow. What's more, such cell-like
self-organisation can occur in a few microseconds…MORE
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994174
TOP STORIES:
Heart-stopping drugs reduce surgery risks
A new way of halting the heart during bypass operations could cut
damage to the heart and improve patients' chances of a full recovery
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994177
‘Miscalculation’ could mean the end of caviar
Experts are at odds on the number of beluga sturgeon left in the
Caspian Sea – some warn that continued fishing will hasten their
demise
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994176
Row erupts over asteroid press scare
Appalled astronomers call for an overhaul in the way asteroid
threats are rated to discourage journalists’ stories of Armageddon
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994178
Fossil reveals world's oldest genitals
The discovery proves that little has changed over the last 400
million years - at least for daddy-long-legs
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994175
Impostor cells are wrecking medical research
New types of “rogue cells” that contaminate cell cultures are
emerging, leading to bogus or misleading results
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994173
Monkey business reveals sense of fair play
Spotting a rip-off is not solely a human skill, biologists discover,
bolstering the idea that cooperative behaviour appeared early in our
evolutionary history
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994179
Giant star caught swallowing three planets
Each "meal" was accompanied by massive eruptions, making the star
briefly the brightest in the Milky Way
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994172
Security standards could make anti-piracy easier
A software-hardware system designed to make personal computers more
secure could also improve copy prevention systems
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994171
First human clone embryo ready for implantation
The first cloned human embryo is ready to be implanted into a
surrogate mother, claims a controversial US fertility expert
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994168
Insiders blamed for most online movie piracy
Most pirate movies circulated online are leaked by industry
employees rather than copied at the cinema or at home, say
researchers
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994166
Teen brain changes increase cigarette addiction
The fine-tuning of the brain during adolescence may mean teenage
smokers may develop more tenacious addictions than late starters,
suggests a teen rat study
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994163
AND FINALLY...
Unfortunately it seems we humans are even more puny at the high jump
than we thought. Find out why we wouldn't be able jump as high on
the Moon as original calculations suggested in this week's Last Word
section…
http://www.newscientist.com/lastword/article.jsp?id=lw1035
THIS WEEK'S PRINT EDITION:
To subscribe to New Scientist magazine go to:
http://www.newscientist.com/subscribe/subs_home.jsp?source=default
FEATURES
TIME’S UP FOR THE TIME BANDITS
Forget about coming back to murder your great-grandfather. It never
happened, and there are forces out there making sure it never will
WAVE POWER'S MAIN CONTENDERS
Rival strategies for harvesting endless electricity from the ocean
are about to be pitched head to head at a purpose-built test site
off Scotland's coast
LAST OF THE LIONS
Across Africa, predator populations are plummeting. If we don't
want to end up without any lions, we'll have to work out ways to
live with them
BETRAYAL OF INNOCENCE
Parents who deliberately make their children sick to gain attention
are clearly child abusers. But how often do doctors get the
diagnosis wrong, and point the finger at genuinely caring parents?
NEWS
Iron nanodust attacks pollutants
Summer babes have more heirs
DJs turn to MP3s
To subscribe to New Scientist magazine go to:
http://www.newscientist.com/subscribe/subs_home.jsp?source=nletter
*********************************************************************
NEW SCIENTIST REPORTS
The new weekly science bulletin is now showing as part of Science
Night on Discovery Channel UK. Top stories this week include:
- Indecipherable - the quantum machine that makes codes unbreakable
- Asteroid impacts - how to end the false alarms
Find out more at:
http://www.discoverychannel.co.uk/newscientist/index.shtml
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