Новости науки и техники в "Scientific American"

STUDY SHOWS MASSIVE MAGMA CHAMBER LIES BENEATH VESUVIUS

Mount Vesuvius, the volcano most famous for blanketing the towns of Pompei and Herculaneum with lava and debris in A.D. 79, may be sitting atop a reservoir of magma that covers more than 400 square kilometers, a new study suggests. The finding, reported in Science by a group of Italian and French scientists, may lead to more accurate monitoring of the area surrounding the volcano.

THE FIRST HUMAN CLONED EMBRYO

Scientific American reports that researchers at Advanced Cell Technology in Worcester, Mass., have created the first human cloned embryo,a feat that puts therapeutic cloning within reach.

SCIENTISTS DISCOVER NEW "NANO-ONION" FORM OF BUCKYBALL SOLID

The difficulty in finding practical applications for buckyballs, those cagey spheres of pure carbon, has frustrated scientists ever since the form of crystalline carbon was first discovered more than a decade ago. Part of the problem is that the bonds that form between individual buckyballs are very weak. Consequently, the solids they form, called fullerides, degrade easily. Now new research describes a fullerenelike material that is at once both strong and elastic.

CYSTIC FIBROSIS STUDY POINTS TO POTENTIAL TREATMENT

Researchers have discovered the mechanism by which the genetic defect underlying cystic fibrosis (CF) leads to fatal bacterial colonization of the lungs. The new findings, published in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that an aerosol treatment aimed at balancing pH in lung cells could be developed to stave off or delay such infections.

SINGLE GENE HELPS DETERMINE QUEEN NUMBER IN FIRE ANTS

If evolution has a top-ten list of nifty innovations, then complex social behavior is sure to be on it. But so far no one has figured out how genes translate into social interaction. A new report may change all that. Entomologists have found that variations in a single gene in fire ants seem to determine whether a colony will have one queen or several. The gene's product enables the insects to respond to phero- mones, suggesting that the number of queens in a colony depends on whether worker ants recognize royalty when they smell it.

NEW BOOK: THE MYTH OF MONOGAMY: FIDELITY AND INFIDELITY IN ANIMALS AND PEOPLE

Monogamists, this husband-wife team says, are going against some of the deepest-seated evolutionary inclinations with which biology has endowed most creatures, Homo sapiens included. The authors note how rare monogamy is in the animal kingdom. One could not have been so sure about humans until the advent of DNA fingerprinting, which makes it possible to "specify, with certainty, whether a particular individual is or is not the parent." And a "key point" is that women as well as men stray from monogamous relationships.

ASK THE EXPERTS: WHY DO SOME DRUGS MAKE THE SKIN MORE SENSITIVE TO SUN?

Christopher McCoy, a clinical specialist and pharmacy professor at Northeastern University's Bouve College of Health Sciences, provides the answer.