MARCH 2002

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

How her brain does the shopping
Scientists have used a scanner to show which part of our grey matter makes brand choices. Roger Highfield reports.

20 Mar 2002

Select a box of cornflakes and put your
finger on free will
THERE is more to deciding to reach for a box of cornflakes than you may think. Our experience of controlling any event, such as grasping for a box of cereal, involves an illusion created by the brain to preserve our sense of free will, according to a study published this week.

20 Mar 2002

Isaac the roaming pike homes in on a
marvel of nature
THE summer wanderings of a fish called Isaac have produced the first hard evidence that pike have a finely tuned homing instinct.

19 Mar 2002

Relative failure
Beautiful thoughts marred by Einstein's ugly miscalculation, reckons Robert Matthews.

17 Mar 2002

Love online 'can be stronger'
ROMANCES that begin on the internet are more likely to be successful than those that begin in pubs or nightclubs, psychologists claimed yesterday.

16 Mar 2002

Footballers pay penalty for a bad reputation
British Psychological Society Special.

16 Mar 2002

Sex hormone is key to winning home matches
SCIENTISTS may have discovered the key to the "home advantage" in football: testosterone. They found that levels of the sex hormone surged by more than 50 per cent in players of a Premiership junior squad before they played a match on their own turf.

16 Mar 2002

Satellites offer in-depth look at oceans
A PAIR of satellites is due to be launched this morning that can weigh ice sheets and peer beneath the oceans by measuring tiny changes in gravity.

16 Mar 2002

Myth of the male menopause
THE male menopause, with stories of poor sexual performance that frighten men, is untrue, according to a new study presented yesterday.

16 Mar 2002

Men can be bitchy too
YOUNG men are just as likely as women to be "bitchy" gossips and to ignore former friends, a study into aggression has shown.

15 Mar 2002

Great wisdom 'wasted'
THE experience and wisdom of the oldest generation are being thrown away because there is no clear role for great-grandparents in family life, a psychologist said yesterday.

15 Mar 2002

New ecstasy warning
TAKING ecstasy once a month is enough to cause serious memory loss and poor concentration long after the euphoria has worn off, says the largest study of its kind.

15 Mar 2002

'Food dudes' persuade children to eat greens
A MODERN day version of Popeye, the spinach-guzzling cartoon character dating from 1929, is persuading children to eat up their greens.

15 Mar 2002

When the pressure is on, narcissists shine
HE is reviled in workplaces across Britain: the obnoxious, self-important employee who is more interested in impressing the boss than knuckling down.

15 Mar 2002

Paralysed people to use power of thought
THE power of thought can now be harnessed to move a cursor across a screen, marking another step towards enabling paralysed people to control a computer.

14 Mar 2002

Blood test may spot early signs of lung cancer
SCIENTISTS have made an important step towards a blood test for the early stages of lung cancer.

13 Mar 2002

Butterfly adverts waiting in the wings
THE ability to write designs, logos and messages on the wings of butterflies could emerge from research to create the first GM butterfly, a scientist said yesterday.

13 Mar 2002

Laughter? It's a funny business
We laugh more frequently than we eat, sing or have sex. So why do we know so little about it? David Derbyshire investigates.

13 Mar 2002

Science shorts
The rest of the week's science stories.

13 Mar 2002

New comet to make star appearance
A NEWLY discovered comet will be bright enough to see with the naked eye when it passes Earth later this month.

11 Mar 2002

Beijing backs scientists in race to mass produce cloned organs
CHINESE scientists are to receive state backing for the mass production of human organs from sacrificial embryos, using controversial technology involving the fusion of human tissue with animal egg cells.

10 Mar 2002

Fundamentalists re-create Eden, with dinosaurs
AMERICAN scientists are outraged over plans for a multi-million-dollar museum dedicated to telling the nation's schoolchildren that God made the world in seven days and that Darwin is a fraud.

10 Mar 2002

The M-word
Is the wearing of floral shirts too high a price for peace of mind? Robert Matthews ponders the question.

10 Mar 2002

Computer hitch made universe turn green
SCIENTISTS made the astonishing revelation in January that the true colour of the universe is half way between turquoise and aquamarine.

08 Mar 2002

Ancient ice holds clues to climate
SCIENTISTS are examining the oldest ice in the world for evidence of long-term climate change.

07 Mar 2002

Cannabis linked to memory problems
LONG-TERM users of cannabis are risking serious problems with their memory and concentration, a new study reveals.

06 Mar 2002

Which one do you trust?
David Derbyshire speaks to Nobel prize-winner Sir Paul Nurse about the MMR, dumbed down TV and the public's perception of scientists.

06 Mar 2002

Mud, mud, glorious mud
Nothing quite like it for breeding a bug, says Roger Highfield.

06 Mar 2002

Pollution 'as dangerous as passive smoking'
TRAFFIC fumes and city smog significantly increase the risks of dying from lung cancer and heart disease, according to one of the most detailed studies into the dangers of air pollution.

06 Mar 2002

50pc believe big business runs science
ONE in two people believes that scientists are in the pockets of big business and that scientific research has become too commercialised.

06 Mar 2002

Where you can live for ever
Controversial plans for an embryo cell bank, reported first in this newspaper, could give Britain a significant advantage, reports Roger Highfield.

06 Mar 2002

First giant squid to be caught alive is just a tiddler
THE giant squid, the monster of seafarers' mythology, has been seen alive for the first time in recorded history - and it measured less than half an inch.

05 Mar 2002

Quest for 'alcohol gene' sets monkeys on binge
JUST like humans, small primates can acquire a taste for alcohol - and behave in a similar fashion when under its influence, scientists have discovered.

03 Mar 2002

Mission to Mars from Milton Keynes
THE man most likely to answer the question "Is there life on Mars?" is not a Nasa scientist in a Houston laboratory but a 58-year-old, wild-haired professor who keeps cows on a farm in Cambridgeshire.

03 Mar 2002

Pro-lifers will ask court to halt embryo experiments
PRO-LIFE groups are planning legal action to block embryonic stem cell research by scientists in Edinburgh and London.

03 Mar 2002

Big hopes for little pigs
THREE little pigs could help overcome concerns about unleashing new diseases when transplanting pig organs into humans.

02 Mar 2002

Embryo cell research licences granted
STUDIES of how to use human embryo cells to develop new treatments for a vast range of diseases, from Parkinson's to diabetes, began in earnest in Britain yesterday.

02 Mar 2002