OCTOBER
2003
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.
MMR
scare scientist warns of impending measles epidemic
A scientist whose research helped to trigger the MMR health
scare has given a warning of a measles epidemic unless parents
overcame their "illogical" fears of the vaccine
31
Oct 2003
Scientists
trace the life story of mummy in ice
More than 5,200 years after he collapsed and died on an Alpine
mountainside, the life story of Otzi the mummified iceman has
been pieced together
31
Oct 2003
Celestial
fireworks as solar storm hits
The third major solar storm in a week was predicted to hit the
Earth, threatening satellite and communications systems but
also raising the chances of another night of spectacular northern
lights
31
Oct 2003
Universe
began not with a bang - but a whistle
The universe may have begun with a whistle rather than a Big
Bang, says a new study of the afterglow of the moment of Creation
30
Oct 2003
Why
women have mercy on men
In a finding that will come as no
surprise to the wives of philandering Cabinet ministers, television
presenters and footballers, researchers have discovered that
women adopt more forgiving attitudes than men
29
Oct 2003
What
does it mean to be me?
It is a riddle that still foxes scientists
Ð where in the brain our sense of self is born. Paul Broks reports
29
Oct 2003
'I
think I'll just pick up a glass of beer...'
An Austrian paralysed from the neck
down after a diving accident has been able to use his own arm
and hand to reach for and drink a beer, and to eat a slice of
toast - just by thinking about it
29
Oct 2003
Cigarettes
'can double danger of getting MS'
Smoking can more than double a person's
chances of developing multiple sclerosis, a study reports
28
Oct 2003
Explorers
on the trail of Lost City of Atlantis
An expedition to the Strait of Gibraltar
may solve one of the world's greatest mysteries, reports Roger
Highfield
27
Oct 2003
Scientists
'are born - not made'
The reason that people are drawn
to the sciences could be genetic rather than cultural
27
Oct 2003
Solar
storms threaten mobiles and power
The Earth was put on solar storm alert
yesterday when astronomers warned that satellites, power systems
and mobile phones were at risk of disruption
25
Oct 2003
Secrets
of the deep
Discoveries during the first three years
of the Census of Marine Life include:
24
Oct 2003
Billion
dollar hunt for 2mspecies under the sea
The total number of species in the world's
oceans could be more than two million, according to scientists
working on a billion-dollar international effort to document
all marine life
24
Oct 2003
Healthy
teenage years 'can delay breast cancer'
Exercise and healthy weight during teenage
years can lead to a significant delay in the development of
breast cancer, even among women with the highest genetic risk,
according to a major study
24
Oct 2003
'It's
a glorified sewing job'
The face contains dozens of nerves, arteries
and veins, and more muscles than any other part of the body.
For the transplant, two teams will perform 10 hours of complex
micro-surgery to shift muscle, lips, ear, nose and skin from
a dead donor to the living recipient
22
Oct 2003
Do
you fancy a new face? Surgeons could transplant one today
Plastic surgeons say they are ready for
the most emotive advance in their repertoire yet – but
is the general public? Roger Highfield reports on the issues
that will be debated at a pioneering new science centre
22
Oct 2003
Too
many questions will need to be answered...
Surgeons, and perhaps more than a few
patients, too, are awaiting the Royal College of Surgeons report
on face transplantation with excitement mixed with trepidation.
Earlier this year, the idea triggered a media frenzy. A nauseating
hunt for the first guinea pig led to one paper even printing
a name - quickly withdrawn after parental protests
22
Oct 2003
The
Dana Centre: a perfect place to get wired
The £10 million Dana Centre is
a world first, a unique venue where the public and researchers
will come together to discuss the hottest issues of contemporary
science
22
Oct 2003
Face/Off
is 'pure fiction'
Would the recipient of a face transplant
end up looking like the donor? Yes, according to the scenario
popularised in the Hollywood thriller Face/Off, where FBI agent
Sean Archer (John Travolta) assumes the identity of Castor Troy
(Nicolas Cage)
22
Oct 2003
Patients
with a history of painful trials and errors
The Falklands veteran Simon Weston needed
70 operations to rebuild his face. In 1982, as a 20-year-old
Welsh Guardsman, nearly half his body was burnt by a blaze aboard
the Sir Galahad. In its wake, Weston endured years of painful
surgery. Only one fifth of his body has been untouched by the
scars left by skin grafts
22
Oct 2003
Unearthed:
a luxury Roman villa with chapel and granny flat
The earliest private chapel from Dark
Age Britain has been unearthed in Roman ruins
20
Oct 2003
The
burning question
Yet another study has shown that the
Atkins Diet works, but even the scientist in charge is baffled
as to why the low-carb regime reduces fat more effectively than
low-calorie eating plans. Robert Matthews reports
19
Oct 2003
The
incredible shrinking mountains
Some of the world's highest mountains
and largest lakes are shrinking, according to the most universally
recognised atlas
16
Oct 2003
The
frog that hopped with dinosaurs
A bloated, purple-black frog, with a
pointy snout and beady eyes, is the last living representative
of frogs that once hopped around the feet of dinosaurs
16
Oct 2003
The
birth of our modern minds...
When did we begin to use symbols to communicate?
Roger Highfield reports on a forthcoming lecture that challenges
prevailing ideas
15
Oct 2003
Unpalatable
but true: cannibalism was routine
The science of cannibalism has just become
respectable, as irrefutable bio-molecular evidence that we have
eaten each other for millennia spurs renewed efforts by archaeologists,
geneticists and anthropologists to find out when we started
to do it, and why
15
Oct 2003
It's
a fact, left-handed batsmen do have the edge
Left-handers have an advantage when it
comes to cricket, according to a study of batting records from
the World Cup earlier this year
15
Oct 2003
Frozen
embryos 'increase ectopic risk'
Doctors who freeze embryos for use in
fertility treatment might be trebling the risk of an ectopic
pregnancy, a study reveals
15
Oct 2003
Crumbs
. . . we now know why biscuits break
The reason the cookie crumbles has been
discovered by scientists with an ultra-sensitive laser scanning
technique normally used in the aerospace and other high-tech
industries
15
Oct 2003
Foetuses
had three genetic parents
An attempt to cure infertility by creating
babies with three genetic parents was halted when twins died
in the womb
14
Oct 2003
Coffee
perks up fertility levels
An early morning mug of coffee doesn't
just raise the spirits, it also makes men more fertile, according
to research
14
Oct 2003
Bee
venom may increase IVF success
Bee sting venom can improve infertile
women's chances of having a test-tube baby, according to a new
study
14
Oct 2003
Maverick
doctor's baby cloning claim
rejected as fantasy
Claims by the maverick doctor Panayiotis
Zavos that he will clone a baby for less than £100,000
have been dismissed as fantasy by some of Europe's leading fertility
experts
14
Oct 2003
News
of scientists' advance replaces fear with hope of happy motherhood
Louise Lockley was 19 when she learnt
that her excruciating back pain was caused by a rare form of
bone cancer - and that treatment could leave her infertile
13
Oct 2003
New
drug hailed as an extra weapon against breast cancer
The drug letrozole was one of the most
important advances in treating breast cancer, experts have said
10
Oct 2003
GM
crop 'almost certain to create plant hybrids'
Genetically modified crops were dealt
another blow by a study showing that cross-breeding between
oilseed rape and its wild relatives was more common than previously
thought
10
Oct 2003
The
pain of social rejection can be as real as a broken leg, reveals
brain study
The heartache of rejection is just as
real as the pain of a stubbed toe or broken leg, according to
a brain study
10
Oct 2003
Research
round-up:
from supercomputers to cave art
From supercomputers to cave art, reports
Roger Highfiled
08
Oct 2003
Making
sense of taste
The look, feel and even sound of your
food can change the way it tastes. David Derbyshire investigates
the strange world of flavour
08
Oct 2003
On
a family mission to Mars
In this the year of Mars, and with World
Space Week upon us, Sarah Bunn transports her family to the
National Space Centre in Leicester for a hands on experience
of the space-ial kind
04
Oct 2003
Doodling
'can draw on powers of thought'
One of Britain's leading mathematicians,
Sir Roger Penrose, is to reveal how doodles help him to wrestle
with highly abstract calculations at the launch of a campaign
to encourage people to draw
03
Oct 2003
Meteor
image makes schoolboy
Nasa's shooting star
A schoolboy has caused excitement at
Nasa, the US space agency, after capturing a picture of a meteor
burning out above his home town
03
Oct 2003
Fame
at last for duck that met an ignoble end
The first scientist to record homosexual
necrophilia in the mallard duck, the inventors of Murphy's law
and a group of Swedes who trained chickens to distinguish men
from women were among the winners of the "Ig Nobel"
prizes
03
Oct 2003
Prehistoric
Long Man is '16th century new boy'
The origins of England's tallest chalk
hill figure, the Long Man of Wilmington, have puzzled historians
and archaeologists for generations
02
Oct 2003
When
brain power counts
The brain power of television's leading
number cruncher is the subject of three Visions of Science lectures
01
Oct 2003
Today,
we'd ignore Einstein
Original thinking is being strangled
by bureaucracy, say top scientists. Roger Highfield reports
01
Oct 2003
HRT
risks outweigh benefits
The dangers of hormone replacement therapy
outweigh any of its bone strengthening health benefits, says
a study
01
Oct 2003
Asthma
'may be linked to antibiotics in infancy'
The "epidemic" of asthma and
allergies sweeping the West may be linked to the overuse of
antibiotics in the first few months of life, new research suggests
01
Oct 2003
