JANUARY 2002

This section features key science stories from The Daily Telegraph's online news service at www.telegraph.co.uk during January 2002. Click on the links for the full story.

Trail proves Jurassic giant was no slouch
PERFECTLY preserved fossilised footprints of dinosaurs, found in an English quarry, are giving scientists a glimpse of how Jurassic predators moved and hunted.

31 Jan 2002

Live webchat on energy efficiency
We are all aware of the cold weather we are presently experiencing and the result this has on our heating bills!

30 Jan 2002

Gene linked to miscarriages
WOMEN who suffer recurrent or late miscarriages may carry a defective gene that predisposes them to blood clots, according to new research.

30 Jan 2002

Scientists need to be seen on TV
Science is changing the world we live in - yet unlike arts and sport it is virtually ignored by all channels, argues Sir Harry Kroto

30 Jan 2002

Life as a machine
The genome jigsaw is gradually being pieced together, reports Roger Highfield

30 Jan 2002

Cancer man to be father after sperm cell implant
A CANCER patient is to become a father after a ground-breaking operation to restore his fertility following chemotherapy.

29 Jan 2002

Cancer drug breakthrough
SCIENTISTS have made a breakthrough against one of the world's fastest growing and deadliest cancers.

28 Jan 2002

Ovarian cancer treatment breakthrough offers women fresh hope
A NEW treatment for ovarian cancer appears to give women a far greater chance of survival than current therapies.

27 Jan 2002

Herod 'killed by kidney disease and gangrene'
KING Herod is usually thought of as a paranoid and cruel leader. Now doctors believe he may have become even more ill-tempered towards the end of his life because of kidney disease and rotting genitalia.

26 Jan 2002

Invaders from Earth
In the Arctic, scientists are simulating the conditions under which we may one day live on Mars, says Adrian Berry

26 Jan 2002

'First ecological experiment' rediscovered
SCIENTISTS hunting for studies that influenced Charles Darwin's work on evolution have rediscovered details of what may be the world's first ecological experiment.

25 Jan 2002

Alcohol can help prevent dementia
PEOPLE who have between one and three alcoholic drinks a day can reduce their risk of dementia in later life by up to 70 per cent, according to Dutch researchers.

25 Jan 2002

Frozen ovaries 'can work again'
EVIDENCE that whole ovaries could be removed from women before sterilising chemotherapy, then put back to restore fertility is published today.

23 Jan 2002

Rubella almost eradicated in US
GERMAN measles, which causes serious disabilities in unborn babies, has been almost eradicated in America, scientists claimed yesterday.

23 Jan 2002

Searching for life on alien Earths
At the first Cheltenham Science Festival eminent speakers will include the Astronomer Royal Sir Martin Rees, debating the chances of finding life on another planet

23 Jan 2002

Sex and the senses
THE PUBLIC will be invited to think more deeply about sex, chocolate and other sensual pleasures in the first Cheltenham Science Festival

23 Jan 2002

Twitchers seek Elvis of birding
SIX American birdwatchers are splashing through the marshlands of Louisiana in search of "the ghost of the southern swamps": a woodpecker officially deemed extinct.

21 Jan 2002

Secret of success
In a team game it's always the manager who gets the boot, says Robert Matthews

20 Jan 200

Drug promises lovers a whiff of instant passion
SCIENTISTS have developed an "instant" alternative to Viagra. The new anti- impotence drug, PT-141, is a nasal spray designed to stir the passions of both men and women within minutes.

20 Jan 2002

GM virus research will stay secret
A NUMBER of dangerous genetically modified viruses and bacteria under development in British laboratories will remain secret for reasons of "national security" when a public register is reopened next month, the Government announced yesterday.

19 Jan 2002

Loophole on cloning is closed
A HIGH COURT ruling that would have left human cloning uncontrolled by law was overturned yesterday by the Court of Appeal. The decision means that cloning is now regulated by legislation which prevents research on embryos above the age of 14 days.

19 Jan 2002

Herb cure for hay fever
SCIENTISTS have discovered that butterbur is just as effective in treating hay fever as an antihistamine drug.

18 Jan 2002

Aircraft that mimic geese can save fuel
TAKING a cue from geese, aeronautical engineers are developing technology to enable aircraft to save significant amounts of fuel by playing follow my leader.

18 Jan 2002

'Spider-goats' start work on wonder web
A HERD of goats containing spider genes is about to be milked for the ingredients of spider silk to mass-produce one of nature's most sought-after materials.

18 Jan 2002

Mountains hold clue to chances of life on Mars
SCIENTISTS have found an underground colony of hydrogen-munching microbes that could hold the key to understanding life on other planets.

17 Jan 2002

Eating with the family 'feeds a child's mind'
RESEARCHERS have found that teenagers who regularly eat with their parents are less prone to mental health problems such as anxiety and depression.

17 Jan 2002

Obesity 'killing 30,000 a year'
OBESITY in England has reached "shocking" levels, contributing to 30,000 deaths a year, a committee of MPs says today.

16 Jan 2002

Where scientists are looking for God
Lourdes, in France, has a reputation for miracles but are these `inexplicable' cures evidence of divine intervention? Raj Persaud investigates

16 Jan 2002

Stem cells: the key to staying young
WE are conceived, are born, live a few decades then die. Every aspect of this sentence, it seems, is now open to question. The science of stem cells, parent cells of every tissue in the body, now offers huge opportunities to repair a damaged body and restore the sick and injured

16 Jan 2002

Ecstasy use 'increases mental disorders'
DANCERS at clubs who take ecstasy are 25 per cent more likely to have a mental disorder, according to a survey published yesterday.

15 Jan 2002

Children cope with divorce, says study
DIVORCE does not harm children in the large majority of cases, an American study claims.

15 Jan 2002

New DVT test can identify travellers most at risk
A FAST new test for deep vein thrombosis could help identify travellers at risk of potentially fatal blood clots, British doctors said yesterday.

15 Jan 2002

Antarctic cools in warmer world
THE Antarctic has cooled during the past 35 years despite the worldwide temperature rise, according to a study published today.

14 Jan 2002

Koi carp develop a taste for the blues
KOI carp are not normally considered the most artistically sensitive of creatures, but an American scientist has discovered they can be stirred by the blues of John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters.

14 Jan 2002

Need for punishment rules out Utopia
THE utopian society, in which it is in everyone's interest to co-operate and there are no sanctions, is an impossible dream, a study using game theory suggests.

14 Jan 2002

The price of happiness
LAST week a lottery winner drank himself to death. But new research confirms that money does indeed buy happiness, provided you're not too rich already, writes Alasdair Palmer.

13 Jan 2002

Charles backs controversial CJD research
THE PRINCE OF WALES has given his support to a British scientist who believes that the human equivalent of mad cow disease may be caused by pollution rather than by eating BSE-infected beef.

13 Jan 2002

Aspirin 'could prevent thousands of heart attacks'
GIVING aspirin to people at risk of heart attacks and strokes could save thousands of lives every year. Yet the drug is still "massively underused", doctors say today.

11 Jan 2002

Cave find dates dawn of creativity
THE safety of ultrasound scans on pregnant women is to be reviewed by an international medical panel following evidence that the process may damage babies' brains.

16 Dec 2001

Old elixir can still make the Spanish fly
A SPANISH writer has revived and patented a medieval sexual elixir centuries after it was banned by the Inquisition.

11 Jan 2002

It's space, but not as we know it
SPACE is not black, but an elegant shade of pale green, a team of astronomers announced last night.

11 Jan 2002

Kitchen appliances linked to miscarriage
STRONG magnetic fields produced by trains and household appliances such as vacuum cleaners and food mixers increase the risk of miscarriage by up to three times, according to a new study.

10 Jan 2002

Snoring linked to round heads
IF your home resonates to nightly snoring, it could be because your family inherited a round-shaped head.

07 Jan 2002

Scientists aim to keep the crunch in cornflakes
MONSANTO, the controversial biotechnology company, is embarking on a multi-million-pound research and breeding programme to create a strain of maize that resists moisture.

07 Jan 2002

Good news: Doomsday has been postponed
THE end is not as nigh as we thought. Scientists have found a mistake in the standard account of the future fate of the solar system and now believe that the Earth will not be destroyed when the Sun runs out of fuel.

06 Jan 2002

Mystery of monster waves solved
GERMAN scientists claim to have explained the mystery behind so-called monster waves - the term given by oceanographers for near-vertical breaking seas up to 120ft high.

06 Jan 2002

Clone experts puzzled as Dolly grows old too soon
DOLLY the sheep suffers from an unusual form of arthritis rarely found in ewes her age, raising concerns that cloning could trigger premature ageing.

05 Jan 2002

GM pig organ transplants 'years away'
ORGANS from genetically modified pigs are unlikely to be transplanted into human patients for many years to come, the Department of Health said yesterday.

04 Jan 2002

Tests begin for cancer virus
BRITISH doctors are about to start start clinical trials of a new genetically modified virus that destroys cancers without the unpleasant side-effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy..

04 Jan 2002

Who's a pretty boy then?
THE secret of parrots' sex appeal has been discovered by scientists in a study of the birds' sexual radiance published today.

04 Jan 2002

Diabetes link to pregnant smokers
WOMEN who smoke during pregnancy put their babies at a significantly increased risk of developing diabetes in later life and of becoming obese as young adults, researchers claim today.

04 Jan 2002

Satellite tracks secret migration of the great white
A CHIEF scientific adviser has been appointed at the Department of Environment Food and Rural affairs, marking an attempt by the Government to correct Defra's persistent failure to make the most of available scientific wisdom.

03 Jan 2002

Science briefs
A CHIEF scientific adviser has been appointed at the Department of Environment Food and Rural affairs, marking an attempt by the Government to correct Defra's persistent failure to make the most of available scientific wisdom.

02 Jan 2002

Foxes scare ducklings shock
A fine tradition of bizarre research continued last year with some scientific gems. David Derbyshire presents a round-up of the best stories.

02 Jan 2002