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"We never stop investigating. We are never satisifed that we know enough to get by. Every question we answer leads on to another question. This has become the greatest survival trick of our species." - Desmond Morris




OCTOBER 2001:

Attention free learning - Many people think learning requires intense study and focus. But a study in the journal Nature seems to show that's not true. Experts say you don't have to focus to learn. This can make it harder to eliminate unwanted information.

Could the nation's food supply and industry be a target of terrorists? Even before Sept. 11, experts were assessing whether America's food supply might be vulnerable to terrorism. A terrorist strike at the nation's farming and livestock industry, even if uncovered, could mean huge financial losses because infected animals or crops might have to be destroyed. There also could be shortages of some food items.

Study Finds Furtive Glances Trigger Happy Brain Waves - When we make eye contact with an attractive person, the brain area that predicts reward starts firing. If we see an attractive person but cannot make eye contact with that person, the activity in this region goes down, signalling disappointment. The sparks start firing in an area of the brain called the ventral striatum. In animal studies, researchers have shown the same region lights up and predicts rewards in terms of food and water.

Genetic engineering could be used to make new deadly weapons. And, experts say, it's not hard.

A leading fertility clinic will let couples choose their baby's sex, but ethicists warn it could lead to discrimination.

How long will a steel pillar support a bridge before rust eats deep enough to let it snap? How long will a container of corrosive acid hold before it springs a leak? A group of scientists at the University of Rochester has found a mathematical basis for predicting when a single point on a surface will erode to a critical depth.

Drug Hoarding and 'Prisoner's Dilemma' - Understanding the rash urge to stockpile antibiotics.

Race won't predict how drugs will work - Race is a poor predictor of drug performance, geneticists say, challenging the common practice of noting the ethnic origins of participants in drug studies.

Health officials warn of buying Cipro online - Cipro is the most widely used antibiotic for anthrax treatment, but it can have severe side effects, and doctors warn against taking it unless really necessary or without proper medical supervision.

A new poll says more than a third of Americans feel their mental health has worsened because of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Anthrax Vaccine: Why You Can't Have It - At least five U.S. companies are attempting a vaccine for the anthrax bacteria. But only one is able to produce it right now. So why - when the country's fears about the virus are heightened - is BioPort Corporation not making one drop?

Bioterrorism a real threat; are we ready?

Doctors report a widespread increase in health problems among their patients after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and offer some tips in how to lessen them.

It sounds like science fiction - surgically moving a patient's organs around and getting them to work in different parts of the body. That, in fact, is what doctors at Weill Medical College of Cornell University have now successfully done. They report having successfully relocated pieces of ovary from the abdomens to the forearms of two women.

Gas masks sell out, but may not fully protect buyers - Across the country, emergency survival, military surplus and spy technology stores are running out of gas masks as some Americans prepare for a future that suddenly seems uncertain after last week's terrorist attacks. It is not clear what chemical and biological agents the masks could filter out. Experts say that in some cases biological and chemical agents may be just as harmful if they come in contact with the skin.

SEPTEMBER 2001:

Post traumatic stress disorder - will Americans suffer from it?

The Sept. 11 terrorist attack has taken a toll on the nation's psyche, leaving millions of Americans sad, uncertain and fearful - emotions that can easily steamroll into depression.

ROBOT-ASSISTED SURGEONS REMOVE GALL BLADDER AN
OCEAN AWAY - Surgeons have successfully performed a trans-Atlantic
operation using robots and computer technology to do the snipping.

Just as Britain confirmed its 2,000th case of foot and mouth disease, a leading scientist said the government had not learned the lessons of an earlier farming crisis - mad cow disease. Professor Malcolm Ferguson-Smith of Cambridge University told journalists that despite a two-year, $38 million inquiry into mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), important findings were not being followed.

TINKERING WITH ONE GENE CAN MAKE FLU VIRUS DEADLY - A tiny change to one of the genes in the influenza virus could be responsible for turning it into a killer strain.

We appear to be edging towards an era of "mind control" - a time when human brains might be manipulated routinely by highly sophisticated technology. "On the bright side, the powers of this science could be used to mend broken and diseased brains. On the dark side, there would be plenty of opportunity to tinker with consciousness and control human behavior in menacing fashion."

The Vatican says that experimentation on human embryos could spawn a new form of slavery by creating a "sub-category" of human beings: unborn children manipulated to serve the purposes of others.

You don't need a crystal ball to see when your marriage is most likely to founder, says Diane Sollee, director of the Coalition for Marriage, Family and Couples Education, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that promotes marriage preservation through education. Research has shown that certain events or periods are danger zones.

A Canadian researcher says air travellers risk contracting diseases such as tuberculosis because of the poor quality of air inside airplanes.

Car trips for newborns, especially those born prematurely, should be minimized because they can develop breathing problems sitting in car seats, according to a new study released. Pre-term and term newborns also should not remain in car seats for extended periods of time when they are not traveling .

West Nile Virus - Scientists have been scrambling to determine where the West Nile virus may strike next. But they may be looking in the wrong place. The potential importance of polluted and unhealthy environments in which West Nile virus outbreaks often occur is being ignored due to lack of funding and scientific indifference. Some studies seem to show that toxic air pollution could potentially enhance the activity of a virus and make it churn out more copies of itself.

Doctors say the age at which women enter menopause is almost entirely predicted by genetics. And they say this discovery could serve as an 'early warning' system for those who may be prone to premature menopause.


AUGUST 2001:

A primitive sea creature called a brittlestar is coated by an all-seeing eye that even has built-in biological sunglasses. The creature's visual system could help researchers advance optical technologies.

In a combative hearing, scientists argued over whether or not we're ready to clone people. Despite opposition, at least two fertility specialists say they plan to impregnate up to 200 women with cloned embryos by November.

Despite the fact that most of the Earth is covered with water, we probably know less about the oceans than we do about the surface of the moon. But scientists are turning to high technology to probe the mysterious land beneath the seas, and within a few years the textbooks will have to be rewritten. Many projects that are now in advanced planning stages couldn't have been done just a few years ago.

World Population to Stop Growing - For years, demographers have predicted the global population will only get bigger and bigger. But a new study predicts an end to the unchecked growth is near.

Mysterious disease plaguing bald eagles - A little-understood disease wracking eagle brains has made them fly into cliffs, fall off their roosts, stumble and die. And it's killing other birds, as well.

Helen Faith Reichert smokes a half a pack a day, eats whatever she wants, and hardly exercises. This fall, she will turn 100 years old. What is the secret to her longevity? A new study suggests it may be in the genes.

Are your silver dental fillings toxic? A growing number of consumers, scientists, and others are warning the public about what they believe is a serious health hazard.

One-third of all the young men in China today will be dead from smoking within the next few decades unless habits there change, new research forecasts.

Research tracing the gradual decline of memory says that the process begins at the ripe age of 20. A preliminary study released looked at 150 20- to 35-year-olds in Japan and found that more than one in 10 were suffering from severe memory problems.The memory dysfunction was enough to further study the possible connection between reliance on computer gadgets, organizers and automatic car navigation systems. "They're losing the ability to remember new things, to pull out old data or to distinguish between important and unimportant information. It's a type of brain dysfunction," said Toshiyuki Sawaguchi, the university's professor of neurobiology. "Young people today are becoming stupid."

'VIDEO PILL' - It comes in a capsule. This camera takes pictures of what's inside you.

Researchers say more women may be vulnerable to depression during pregnancy than in the widely acknowledged condition known as postpartum depression.

To eliminate the inconveniences associated with multi-focal lenses, a company called eVision - a subsidiary of the Roanoke, Va.-based Egg Factory - is developing electronic glasses that could enable wearers to focus perfectly when looking out of any region of the lens.


JULY 2001:

The West Nile virus has spread down the East Coast, and there's no reason it couldn't start to head West. Federal health experts say to take precautions.

It may one day be possible to have a baby without involving men. Researchers in Australia have devised a way to fertilize human eggs using genetic material from any cell in the body.

Dolly the cloned sheep turned 5, but scientists still don't understand why she is abnormally obese. A new study hints to the causes of clones' hidden flaws and sounds a word of caution against cloning humans.

Salmon wetlands slipping away - They're wet, muddy, briny and disappearing fast.

Beetle from China threatening U. S. hardwoods. Asian long-horned beetles may be the single biggest threat facing the nation's hardwood forests. Asian long-horned beetles could be the 21st century's gypsy moths. Should the beetle spread across the country, estimates predict nearly $138 billion in damage to the U.S. economy.

Suicide in the Words - Clues to Impending Doom in Poets' Language - The writings of poets of various nationalities who committed suicide contain words and language patterns that give clues about their eventual fate, researchers said.

. Positive Thinking, Faster Recovery - It's always been an assumption, but now a study backs the idea that a positive attitude can actually help you live a healthy life. Researchers are urging employers and physicians to acknowledge this mind-body connection.

European scientists have begun trials of a male contraceptive implant that could completely block sperm production and have very few long-term side effects. If all goes well, researchers believe this could be on the market by 2005.

Americans have stopped growing taller - Since data on Americans' average height was first collected in the early 20th century, children and adolescents grew about an inch and a half taller every 20 years. But recent measurements suggest Americans' average height has more or less hit the ceiling. Data collected from the federal Centers for Disease Control show that average height for Americans has stabilized in the past 50 years to about 5 feet 9 inches for men and 5 feet 4 inches for women.


JUNE 2001:

Study Featuring Bugs Bunny Shows It's Easy to Alter Memory - it may be possible for outsiders to "implant" memories of phony events in our brains. Research suggests it doesn't take much, maybe just the right advertisement.

By stirring in a special powder with sloshing water, scientists created buckets of water beads that won't leak. The dry water beads could provide a leak-free method for transporting water. Coated water beads could provide wear-free lubrication for tiny machines or could lead to pipes that remain totally dry (and rust-free) while transporting gallons of beaded water.

Genetically modified wheat is becoming a weed - Western Canadian farmers are struggling with a new pest in their fields - a crop that was supposed to make their lives easier.

Canada's top court has granted an application to hear arguments on whether a genetically-modified mouse can be patented.

S. Africa HIV forecast: Bad and getting worse - Nobody believed Peter Doyle when he warned more than 10 years ago that AIDS would ravage South Africa. He used his own painstakingly gathered information to predict with uncanny accuracy the coming devastation. By 2010, 22.5 percent of South Africa's workforce will be HIV-positive. The population of AIDS orphans, now estimated at 200,000, will grow tenfold to nearly two million by 2010. And the number of HIV-positive adults will top six million.

Recent Mars Orbiter photos appear to show images of vegetation on Mars, and even possible structures. Now noted writer Arthur C. Clarke, in a speech on June 6, has stated that he believes that new images of Mars clearly show the red planet dotted with patches of vegetation, including trees. He said, "The recent discovery of life in the most improbable places, especially far down inside the Earth's crust, has now convinced me that we have been equally short-sighted. Some of the amazing images from the Mars Surveyor…make me ninety-five percent sure that there are extensive areas of vegetation - or its equivalent - on Mars."

"A new exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History, "The Genomic Revolution," predicts that we may routinely live to 130, cancer may become extinct, and surgery may vanish into the barbaric past...but step into the show and you confront some other, more horrifying possibilities: affluent parents could order their babies out of a genetic catalog, creating a race of uber-yuppies; corporate behemoths such as Monsanto could blanket the planet with uniformly engineered corn that would feed the starving for a while and then all fall victim to a mutant pest, creating a global famine; insurance companies could demand newborns' genetic records, then refuse to cover those with expensive diseases in their futures; individuals could face the devastating certainty of developing untreatable diseases."

Survival of the human species itself may be dependent on the time-honored and sometimes nasty behavior of gossiping, psychologists say. The more you know, the better you can move up, down, sideways or away from the social and even the corporate ladder. Such knowledge lays the groundwork for knowing how to act and respond in a complicated social world.

Many people have dreams of melting the fat in their body away. So far the closest anyone has come to literally ridding the body of fat in a day is liposuction. But for many the ordeal doesn't seem worth it. Now that scientists have found a substance that melts away the fat in mice, many are hoping it will do the same for humans.

A test of neck movement can predict which people with whiplash injuries will be disabled a year later.

Dust from the Sahara Desert might be making people sick thousands of miles away in southern Florida. "Tiny microbes - bacteria, viruses, fungi - are hitching a ride on those specks of dust, spreading for thousands of miles - with potentially worldwide implications for human health and the environment as well. It typically takes five to seven days for the dust clouds to reach North America and Caribbean. Most of the dust ends up in south Florida, where it has spawned red-tinged sunsets for years."

It's common knowledge that high cholesterol can lead to heart disease, and uncontrolled high blood pressure can lead to stroke. But researchers are now linking these conditions to Alzheimer's disease as well.

Since the first cases surfaced 20 years ago, more than 22 million people have died of AIDS. But the chief of the UN agency on AIDS says the world has seen only the beginning of the epidemic.


MAY 2001:

"Welcome to a preview of the health issues awaiting us in the 21st century. Indeed, we're already living at a time when vast social and biological forces are interacting in complex ways -- and with unpredictable impacts. War, famine, and ecological damage have caused great human disruptions, which in turn have transformed tuberculosis, AIDS, and other modern plagues into global pandemics."

A paper clip-sized furry animal that munched on insects and scurried in the shadow of dinosaurs 195 million years ago could well be the ancestor of all mammals, scientists say.

Destruction of the Amazon jungle hits a 5 year high - Plus a study published this year warned that an economic development program by the government could destroy up to 42 percent of the Amazon if it goes ahead.

Warning that war, destruction of habitat and poaching have pushed the world's Great Apes to the brink of extinction, UN environment officials on Monday announced a major international effort to save mankind's closest relative. "The clock is now standing at one minute to midnight for the Great Apes," said Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program. "Some experts estimate that in as little as five to ten years they will be extinct across most of their range."

A group of scientists and politicians is asking the government to go slow with approving a bio-engineered salmon that grows 10 times as fast as its natural cousins.

Could The Environment Trigger Mad Cow? What if Mad Cow disease were triggered by the environment and not by an infectious agent? Some controversial research suggests heavy metals may be hurting cow and human brains.

The cash in your pocket may be contaminated with so much bacteria that it could make you sick.

New way of catching mad cow disease - The government's top adviser on mad cow disease, Professor Peter Smith, has warned that people drinking water from areas close to burial sites for cattle culled in the foot-and-mouth outbreak are at risk of developing the human form of mad cow disease.

Intimacy Is Good for Your Heart - A new study reports that when people were with their spouses or partners their blood pressure lowered slightly. It didn't matter if the relationship was a loving or positive one, either. Even if the relationship was not a particularly happy one, blood pressure still dropped a bit.

British and U.S. farm leaders claim "lunatic" eco-terrorists may be behind recent devastating outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease in Britain and Europe. U.S. farm leaders are also considering the possibility that bio-terrorists may try to infiltrate the disease into U.S. farmlands.

Scientists warn vCJD epidemic not over - The human form of mad cow disease, variant CJD, has been found in 99 people so far. And a group of researchers is warning they may be just the tip of the iceberg.

Breast Scope Technology May Help in Finding Cancer - An experimental technique that uses a special tube to examine milk ducts in the breast may help detect breast cancers by looking for the disease where it most often starts: in the milk duct.

An experimental cancer vaccine is hitting the medical community. In the long quest for a cure, scientists and doctors have become increasingly interested in the body's own capacity to fight cancer.

Testing women for heart disease and stroke risk factors before menopause can help predict who has the greatest likelihood of developing these life-threatening conditions later on in life. The risk of such illnesses tend to rise after menopause, according to a new report.

In a feat worthy of Dr. Frankenstein, researchers say they have been able to coax human brain tissue back to life after death. Scientists say the cells grew after they extracted brain tissue from human cadavers and surgery biopsies and put it in petri dishes with chemical nourishment. Scientists say further research will show whether these recovered cells, like organs, could one day be taken from the dead and transplanted in the living. The study used brain tissue harvested from 23 individuals ranging in age from 11 weeks to 72 years old within 20 hours after death.


APRIL 2001:

Smalltooth sawfish wield long snouts studded by rows of sharp teeth. Despite its equipment, the fish is in sudden decline and biologists worry all marine life may be at risk. Populations of the smalltooth sawfish have declined by as much as 99 percent in the last 50 years in U.S. waters

The epic search for the Loch Ness monster turned ugly, as a witch cast spells on an angry team of Swedish scientists.

President George W. Bush's top environmental official said that the highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease could strike in the United States, but said the administration was taking every precaution to avert its spread from Europe.

It's hard to know if a marriage will last, but a long-term study suggests the body knows from the start if a marriage is bound for failure. It's all in the hormones.

The higher your IQ as a child, the longer you are likely to live, according to a new study.

Some scientists are concerned that a widespread bacteria debilitating to dairy cattle could get into our milk - and maybe even ground beef or water. This one, called Johne's disease, causes diarrhea, wasting and death. There has been accumulating evidence in recent years that the bacterium causing the disease has some association with Crohn's disease and may play some role in its development. Johne's disease, which also affects sheep, goats, deer, antelope and llamas, is on the rise, and infected cattle continue to be used for milk production and are then slaughtered, mainly for ground beef.

The mad cow scare in Europe has the Canadian Blood Services agency worried about a possible world shortage of blood plasma, a component used to make a variety of crucial medical supplies.

The man suspected of contracting foot-and-mouth disease in Britain has been declared free of the disease. Tests on others suspected of having the disease have also turned up negative.

A simple genetic test can help doctors accurately predict whether people with common white patches inside their mouths are likely to develop deadly oral cancer.

Asia risks an AIDS epidemic of African proportions unless it prevents the spread of the disease while transmission rates are still low, delegates to a United Nations conference said.

Exposure to cats may reduce risk of asthma.

While there is no magic bullet yet, there is a new artillery of treatments for obesity.

What Will You Weigh in 2002? Will that number on the scale grow or shrink over the next year? Take Prevention's quiz to see what your eating habits, lifestyle and knowledge reveal about your future weight.

An estimated 70 percent of processed foods lining our supermarket shelves may contain genetically-engineered ingredients.

Forgiveness reduces stress - Forgiveness is more than a kind gesture to someone else - it can be good for your own health. Mounting research shows that the stress hormone cortisol that fuels your anger can literally tear your blood vessels.

Cleveland Clinic Foundation researchers are currently developing a test to measure cholesterol levels in the skin. In a trial of 380 people with heart problems, the procedure was more accurate than blood tests at predicting disease risk. Three minutes after a few drops of chemical solution are placed on a patient's palm, a monitor detects changes in the color of the solution — changes that correspond to different cholesterol levels. Look for the test — called Cholesterol 1,2,3 — in doctors' offices by midyear. A home version may follow in early 2002.

Some scientists are concerned that a widespread bacteria debilitating to dairy cattle could get into our milk - and maybe even ground beef or water. This one, called Johne's disease, causes diarrhea, wasting and death. There has been accumulating evidence in recent years that the bacterium causing the disease has some association with Crohn's disease and may play some role in its development. Johne's disease, which also affects sheep, goats, deer, antelope and llamas, is on the rise, and infected cattle continue to be used for milk production and are then slaughtered, mainly for ground beef.


MARCH 2001 -

"Take a walk in the park and call me in the morning." That could be the prescription of future doctors if Emory University physician Dr. Howard Frumkin gets his message out. Trees, pets and gardens can help sick people. Seems simple. But it's taken until now for a doctor to call for more serious study of nature's healing effects.

Don't Worry, Be Happy - You Might Live Longer. According to a new study an optimistic outlook in one's later years could offer protection against stroke. Elderly folks who often feel depresed tend to have more strokes than those who are not depressed, according to the study.

People with vision problems may get a taste of what it's like to see - literally. A device being developed in the U.S. allows users to see with their tongues.

Nearly two-thirds of medical students have seen a doctor behave unethically, finds a new study. And that, says one expert, bodes ill for the future of medicine.

Mystery Of The Monkey Virus - It is a mystery with enormous implications that has stumped some of the smartest minds in cancer research: How did a cancer-causing monkey virus end up in human tumors? How Could SV40 Have Infected Humans, And What Are The Potential Consequences?

Caution over predictions that we'll be living longer lives - "Promises of greater longevity via the many vitamins, pills, hormones, diets and exercise regimens currently on the market aren't likely to pan out in the 21st century... A new study forecasts that even countries that have made the greatest lifespan improvements to date - France and Japan - will not reach a life expectancy at birth of 100 years until the 22nd century. The 100-year benchmark won't be hit in the United States until the 26th century.

Expert sees global polio eradication by 2005.

The first cloned children - work will start within weeks but the scientists would not say where they will set up their cloning laboratory for security reasons. Hundreds of couples have volunteered for an experiment to create the first cloned children despite strong religious and scientific opposition. U.S. doctor Panayiotis Zavos said, "Now that we have crossed into the third millennium, we have the technology to break the rules of nature." Opponents of the procedure have warned that 97 percent of animal cloning attempts have been unsuccessful and that those embryos which survive to birth are often deformed. Dr Ian Wilmut, who created Dolly, the world's first cloned sheep, said it had taken 277 attempts to get it right.

Scientists say growing evidence that cloning a healthy animal is difficult should give pause to anyone thinking of cloning humans. Clones often have serious developmental problems that usually kill them before birth. Animal clones that have been produced often have severe problems such as developmental delays, heart defects and malfunctioning immune systems. Fewer than 3 percent of all animal cloning efforts have succeeded. With current techniques, human cloning is inadvisable because of the possibility of life-threatening genetic abnormalities that could be subtle. Dr. Rudolph Jaenisch, a professor of biology at the Whitehead Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said, "It would be reckless and irresponsible," adding, "What do you do with humans who are born with half a kidney or no immune system?"

Forget about Mad Cow and Foot and Mouth diseases for a moment - a horrendous disease, at one point called "swine mystery disease," "blue abortion," and "swine infertility," and now referred to as PRRS, has infected some pigs in about 75 percent of American pig herds, according to experts. Vaccines have only partially been effective. The disease also has been creating a nightmare for many other nations since at least the mid-1980s. The disease is the most economically devastating swine disease there is and the "problem is getting bigger. This disease in pigs is in many ways like AIDS. The PRRS virus is said to primarily attack a pig's immune system, leaving the body open to a host of other infections, particularly in the lungs. The PRRS virus is capable of changing and this creates difficulty for vaccine strategies against the virus. To date, there is no evidence that the virus can infect humans from any source, including via food. But will PRRS be capable of unleashing some previously undetected microbe in pigs that could potentially be transmitted to humans?

U.N. SAYS FOOT-AND-MOUTH A GLOBAL THREAT - The UN food agency said that no country is safe from foot-and-mouth disease, which is now affecting livestock outside of Europe. It also called for stricter controls on exports, immigration and tourism.

The British government's chief scientist said that in "a worst case scenario" foot-and-mouth disease could result in the loss of half the country's 62 million livestock. The epidemic is currently out-of-control.

Testing the 'Terminator' - This summer scientists plan to introduce genetically altered insects into outside experiments. The researchers say the project could ultimately reduce moth infestations in cotton crops. But is it safe? "Terminator" is the name some farmers have adopted to describe a genetically modified pink bollworm moth that scientists hope will sterilize populations of the insect whose worm-like larva gnaw away on cotton blossoms, lint and seeds. In the wild, the moth affects about 500,000 acres of cotton in the Southwest and can eradicate up to 50 percent of the crops they infest.

Foot and mouth disease is panicing Europe - Foot and mouth disease has devastated British livestock, and now Europe and the rest of the world are taking extraordinary precautions in an attempt to keep the virus from spreading further. It spreads more quickly than almost any other virus known. It can be carried on clothes or in the air, and even the United States is only a plane ride away.


FEBRUARY 2001 -

Foot-and-mouth disease spreads in United Kingdom, panics Europe - The highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease has spread from England to Scotland and Northern Ireland, prompting other European countries to tighten steps to disinfect travellers and vehicles from the British Isles. UK officials have killed and burned about 15,000 cattle, sheep and pigs, while France said it planned to destroy more than three times that number. The disease is so infectious it can spread on the wind, on clothing and on vehicle tires.

The European Parliament approved rules on the marketing and production of genetically modified food that may end the EU's 3-year-old moratorium on the licensing of new biotech products as early as next year.

"Health food is anything you eat before the expiration date!"

Would you like to know that you are prone to obesity years before putting on the pounds? A simple blood test may predict obesity - High blood levels of fats known as triglycerides are a telltale sign.

Medical research indicates that the average life span at some time in the future will exceed 100, perhaps even 200. Predicted for the future:
Replacing diseased or worn-out body parts will be as routine as replacing automobile parts today.
Hospitals will fade away. A surgeon in New York will do your hip replacement at your home anywhere in the world via virtual reality. The doctor will view the surgical site on a screen and remotely manipulate surgical instruments inserted by a technician.
Nanobots -- minuscule robots -- will deliver medications to affected cells to prevent or treat disease. They also will clear clogged arteries and repair damaged tissue.
Implanted biochips will monitor your vital signs, alerting you or your doctor to any impending health crisis.
You'll be able to get a checkup anywhere, anytime. You can have your vital signs tested at abundant checkup facilities (at a drugstore or an ATM- like facility, for instance), and send the results to your doctor via the Internet for analysis.

While most first-love relationships end, the nature behind the breakup contributes to how positive or negative you feel about yourself and your partner. Those feelings can predict how you feel in subsequent relationships and whether or not you feel lovable or worth being in a relationship.

Faults buried deep beneath the streets of California could produce larger earthquakes than previously thought, say researchers who studied India's recent 7.7-magnitude quake. The type of fault that produced the deadly Jan. 26 quake — a blind thrust fault — is also found in California, including at least one running directly beneath the skyscrapers of downtown Los Angeles.

Biologists at the University of California, San Diego have discovered how to genetically convert leaves into petals, an achievement that may be the botanical equivalent of the medieval alchemists' dream of transmuting iron into gold.

Experts say cloned babies are inevitable. A fertility expert says he and a team of doctors will produce the first cloned baby in two and a half years.

Our future may not lie in our genes, after all. It is proteins that matter -- much more so than genes.

JANUARY 2001:

"I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me."

New fears about the extent of the human form of mad cow disease emerged as British health officials scrambled to contact haemophiliacs who may have received blood products from an infected donor. Although Britain banned the use of British plasma in blood products in 1998, a health minister has acknowledged that haemophiliacs may have been given a clotting agent made from the blood of the man who later died of new variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (vCJD). The news sent shock waves through Britain and sparked renewed concern in Europe and beyond as the number of cases of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), mounted. ded. So far more than 80 people in Britain and two in France have died from vCJD, which was first identified in 1996 and has been linked with eating meat from BSE-infected cattle. There is no cure and no treatment for this disease. The United States and other countries have barred blood donations from people who have lived in Britain for six months or more from 1980 to 1996 as a precautionary measure against the spread of vCJD.
PUBLIC SERIOUSLY MISLED - As the government was reeling from the revelation, one of its vCJD advisers described its handling of the disease as a shambles. Professor Michael Banner, a member of an expert panel on vCJD, said the government was seriously misleading the public about the risk of the vCJD because the incubation could be as long as 20 years. He was particularly concerned about the risk of contracting the disease through surgery and suggested operations should be performed with disposable instruments. Sterilising surgical instruments could actually spread the disease because increased temperatures make it harder to destroy the rogue prion brain proteins that are the infectious agents. Growing fears about the scale of mad cow disease have sparked a consumer crisis that European Union ministers warned could break its farm budget. Last week the United Nations warned that countries in eastern Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and India had a high risk of harbouring BSE. The disease was first identified in 1986 and is believe to have been spread by feeding carcasses of sheep that died of a related brain disease to cattle. Some researchers believe it could have occurred spontaneously.

The main ingredient in a German fruit chew, Mamba, for sale in and around New York City, may be infected with mad cow disease.

Will you live to be 100? Attitudes, Habits, and Genetics All Help

New concerns about mad cow disease in Canada. The federal government is studying the possibility that mad cow disease could exist in beef by-products that are used in vaccines and cosmetics. Experts say hundreds of products contain ingredients made from bovine by-products, including some common childhood vaccines such as tetanus, polio and diphtheria.

The spread of mad cow disease across Europe is already having a damaging effect on the U.S. blood supply and the worst may be yet to come. Three flocks of "mad sheep" were diagnosed in Vermont six months ago. A fatal "mad deer" disease is occurring at epidemic levels in deer and elk across the Western states. Both of these diseases are closely related to mad cow disease, or BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) — a chronic wasting disease spreading across Europe and linked to a deadly human variation called CJD. The wasting disease attacks the brain, slowly eating it away. Early symptoms include depression and unusual sensory sensations like a sticky feeling to the skin. Victims, young and old, fall ill and over a matter of months, slowly lose their sight, their hearing, and their minds. By the time of death they can't move or speak. Since October 1996, variant CJD has killed more than 90 people in Europe, more each successive year.

Many of us are used to buying beef with bar codes on the packaging, but farmers in Canada have started putting similar labels on the cows themselves in an effort to battle mad cow disease.

As an Alberta family demands an inquiry into the death of their only son, some nurses predict more tragedies at Canadian hospitals unless something is done to reduce long lineups in emergency wards.

Mad cow disease is so terrifying and perplexing that some researchers have begun to believe it could have alien origins. Two astronomy and mathematics professors in England announced last month that cows in England and Wales may have picked up the disease after eating grass laced with a sprinkling of interstellar dust. The dust, the scientists proposed, fell as the Earth was bombarded by comets which hosted infectious, extraterrestrial matter. The notion may seem outlandish (and many scientists think it is), but research shows the disease, itself, is outlandish.

A $45 billion federal government program to build highways, hydroelectric dams, railroads and other huge projects in the Amazon River Basin could leave as little as 5 percent of the world's greatest tropical rain forest in its pristine state by the year 2020, a U.S.-Brazilian study concluded.

Australia has extended its tests for any evidence of mad cow disease to dairy and other products as part of efforts to remain free of the disease. Scientists in Britain warned on that Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan and Sri Lanka may become the next victims of mad cow disease after buying potentially tainted animal feed from Britain at the height of the UK epidemic. The warnings heightened worldwide concern over how far the disease could spread.

Between bans of blood donations from Europe, some sloppy livestock feed processing in the U.S., and concerns about vaccines and nutritional supplements "using" European cow proteins, is America safe from mad cow disease?

Veteran Swedish monster hunter Jan Sundberg was given permission to trawl Loch Ness with a giant net to try and end the centuries-old monster mystery once and for all. Sundberg, who has spent 25 years scouring murky waters across the world, first tested his cylinder-shaped trap, the Labyrinth Net, in a Norwegian lake last year in search of Selma, a fabled creature said to be a distant cousin of Nessie. The Selma search drew a disappointing blank, and Sundberg is now hoping to bring his net -- a mesh cylinder five metres in diamanter and seven metres long -- to Scotland on his quest for the ultimate in monster catches. Reports of a strange creature in the dark, peaty waters of the loch date back to 565 AD and St Columba, the holy man who is credited with two firsts -- bringing Christianity to Scotland and spotting the fearsome, lake-dwelling beastie. Since then, thousands have claimed varied Nessie sightings, most often as a multi-coiled sea serpent or long-necked aquatic dinosaur.

DECEMBER 2000:

It's a doomsday scenario even more chilling than the Y2K bug, but the world is just waking up to the looming threat posed by a predicted global flu pandemic that could hit one in every three working adults. The pandemic, which health experts say is inevitable, is expected to hit North America any time in the next 10 years.

Try the quick Kid's Height Predictor - Predict how tall your child will be when he/she is done growing.

The year 2000 saw amazing and sometimes controversial developments in medicine, including a rough blueprint of the human genome, government approval of an abortion pill and progress in cloning mammals. ABC News medical editor Dr. Tim Johnson picks his top five breakthroughs of the year and how they impact patients.

While babies have been conceived from frozen sperm and fresh eggs, and vice versa, doctors in Singapore report the birth of the first babies — a pair of twins — born from both a frozen egg and frozen sperm.

Nobody knows how it started. Nobody knows how it will end. Nobody knows how many people eventually will die from it. Those are among the frightening mysteries scientists are discovering as they try to unravel the mystery of mad cow disease.

There has been another outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus, this time in the east African nation of Uganda. 150 has died so far and there is no cure for the disease.

Modern Shamans - "The shaman is the part of the physician that uses mystical and intuitive tools to heal."

Vice presidential nominee Dick Cheney's recent heart attack has only intensified concerns about his health. ABCNEWS' John Yang spoke with a cardiologist who has been consulted on Cheney's condition, and he says there is reason to worry.

A fluorescent green potato plant may seem like a biotechnology nightmare come true, but scientists claim it could save agricultural costs and tackle dire water shortage problems in the future. Rather than relying on uncertain soil tests and weather forecasts to gauge when their crops need water, farmers instead could read the fluorescence of the specially engineered potatoes.

For women who want a truly personalized cell phone, how about one that predicts your ovulation cycle?

They host such diverse life that they're known as the rain forests of the sea. But more than a quarter of the world's coral reefs has been destroyed and the remaining communities may die within the next 20 years. While environmentalists work to protect remaining reefs, at least one company is trying another solution: Growing them.
Whether the battlefield was pond water filled with algae-eating zooplankton or London during a measles epidemic, life's struggles for survival once seemed so complex that only a highly sophisticated model running on a supercomputer could predict the outcome. But a new study has found that Simple Rules Predict The Outcome Of Predator-Prey Struggles.

Environmentalists Warn of Collapse in Caviar Market - Poaching and illegal trade, mostly controlled by the Russian mafia, threatens the sturgeon"s very survival and could herald the collapse of the international caviar market.

NOVEMBER 2000:

Big news is breaking this week in the "nanoworld," the tiny but fast- growing scientific realm of such oddities as "dancing tin," molecule-sized "helicopters" and incredible shrunken computer parts. Biological and engineered components can be linked together with amazing precision.

Scientists Developing "Artificial" Plants - Australian researchers are developing novel technology that may help to combat the Greenhouse Effect and create food and an alternative source of fuel at the same time.

"Science may have caught up with the Bible, which says that Adam and Eve are the ancestors of all humans alive today. But in the scientists' version, based on DNA analysis, "Adam," the genetic ancestor of all men living today, and "Eve," the genetic ancestor of all living women, seem to have lived tens of thousands of years apart..."

Fish in the United Kingdom are getting sunburned, according to recent research from the Plymouth Marine Laboratory. Due to a thin ozone layer, fish are plagued with blisters that clog their skin and stunt their growth, scientists say. Their skin thickens and peels, as it would do in humans. These fish have no protection against the rays because they have never needed to evolve one until man began to influence the atmosphere.

Pigs in a Dutch high-rise: Animal cruelty or farm of the future?

Britain is under siege from an emerging breed of rat that is not vulnerable to any present day poisons.

Central Burundi is experiencing what some say is its 'worst' malaria outbreak in living memory. The disease has claimed some 300 lives in the last two weeks.

"Scientists are close to deciphering the makeup of the Y chromosome, that essential core of maleness that's saddled with a bad reputation, a weird past and an uncertain future. It's true, guys: Millions of years from now, your descendants might not have a Y chromosome at all."

Lab stumbles upon immortal human skin. During a routine experiment a pathologist noticed something peculiar in her petri dish — human skin cells that would not die.

Scientists have wired monkeys' brains so they are able to control a robotic arm simply by thinking. The device holds great promise for amputees and paralyzed people.

Experts are predicting a nasty cold and flu season this year and a shortage of flu vaccine.

Most health authorities in England and Wales believe pressures this winter will be at least as bad as last year, when a flu epidemic brought hospitals to their knees.

OCTOBER 2000:

Claiming to be "the first consumer-focused genetics company", DNA Sciences wants visitors to register at DNA.com and participate in more than 20 studies of diseases. The Gene Trust project hopes to sign up at least 100,000 people. After providing general health info, respondents will be invited to give a blood sample. A representative will meet them in a convenient location and draw the blood sample.

Dr. Tang's patch vaccine - "if, like most people, you associate vaccinations with the painful prick of a needle, you may be cheered by the work of a scientist who believes he's found an alternative to the shot. "The procedure is so simple," says Tang, "most people could immunize themselves." And if it works on humans, it would be revolutionary in many parts of the world. For one thing, the patch vaccines need no refrigeration. And patches can't be used twice, so the risk of contamination from a used needle disappears."

"Just as the buzz about West Nile virus has begun to recede in the Northeastern U.S. , infected birds are being reported in Maryland and the District of Columbia, and there is news of an Israeli outbreak that has claimed at least 19 lives. Beyond the obvious lessons to be drawn from these scares, there is a link that has not been recognized: The conditions underlying outbreaks of this sometimes deadly virus can be traced to global environmental change.

Sardines in the Pacific Ocean are back in numbers not seen since the fishing heydays of the 1930s and 1940s. The future of the oily dark blue, green and silver fish is anybody's guess. Many are optimistic the massive die-offs that decimated the sardine industry 60 years ago can be predicted and prevented. The theory to explain the resurgence of the sardine is that the fish react to long-term ocean cycles. Called regime shifts, the cycles are related to changes in ocean temperature and may last as long as 60 years.


SEPTEMBER 2000:

Ecologists have recently noticed that aspens seem to be disappearing - fewer wolves and fewer wildfires may be the problem. In forest after forest, the aspen is simply not regenerating, or sending up young shoots to replace the older trees that are nearing the end of their lifespan. The decline of the aspen has reached crisis proportions, according to foresters.

A baby, born from two dads? It's possible, says a leading British scientist. Borrowing from techniques used to clone Dolly the sheep, male couples could someday conceive their own children.

You may be allergic to your computer - Swedish scientists say the chemical used to make computer screens give off emissions may affect your health.

Odd heart beat during exercise may predict disease.

How well your lungs function may predict how long you live. Why is it impossible to tickle yourself? The secret lies in the cerebellum, a region at the back of the brain which predicts the sensory consequences of movements and sends signals to the rest of the brain instructing it to ignore the resulting sensation.

This week a red monkey from the forests of West Africa was officially declared extinct — wiped off the planet as the first documented primate extinction since the 1700s. A swelling tidal wave of primate extinctions lies in the future. In fact, research indicates at least one-fifth of the 608 species of primates that have evolved over millions of years could soon disappear. "If we care at all, it is a cause for immense alarm."

The Elixir of Life - "Normally the microscopic nematode worm lives 20 days but, using anti-oxidant drugs, scientists have found a way to double its life span. Could the same treatment work for people?

The soybean aphid was detected this July in soybean fields in the midwestern U. S. So far the tiny, sap-sucking insect hasn't caused great damage but scientists predict it soon will cause vast damage as it spreads throughout crop fields in coming seasons. Aphids are hard to control because about half of the 4,500 species of aphids come equipped with their own bodyguards - ants . The ants "basically run a protection racket" for the aphids.


AUGUST 2000:
Munching chocolate could one day fend off tooth cavities and thwart dental decay, according to researchers in Japan. They found that parts of the cocoa bean, the main ingredient of chocolate, fights mouth bacteria.

The incidence of diabetes increased markedly in the United States from 1990 to 1998, including a 76 percent rise in cases among people in their 30s, researchers reported , warning that the disease will take a harsh toll in disability, death and medical expenses in decades to come. Doctors blame much of the rise on obesity, which is also increasing steadily, with more than half of Americans now overweight.

Predicting who is in danger of committing suicide. Those at most risk had a hollow tone of voice, "the voice of the grave." Two key warning signs: a higher pitch and a reduced range of frequencies when pronouncing vowels. Stephen Silverman, a psychiatrist at Yale University, first noticed that patients' voices changed when they were feeling suicidal, "The goal is to have a diagnostic device for emergency rooms or that could be linked up to helplines."

Human cloning - misguided hype or imminent certainty?

Can obesity be caused by exposure to a virus? As far-fetched as it sounds, scientists are making that proposition. Some scientists are already imagining a trim future, one with children lining up for vaccinations against a fat bug.

Jellyfish Invasion - "Scientists fear millions of Australian spotted jellyfish invading the Gulf of Mexico will threaten coastal sea life from Florida to Louisiana. "I can't remember seeing any marine organism in concentration like that," said Vernon Asper, a marine science professor from Biloxi, Miss., after seeing hundreds of thousands — maybe millions — of the jellyfish while flying over the Mississippi Sound. "I've never seen a school of fish that was that big that had that much biomass. Anything. That's a large number of anything for the ocean," he says. "

A giant honey mushroom found in eastern Oregon is the size of 1,665 football fields, making it the biggest living organism ever found. But the mushroom is killing trees as it slowly grows beneath the forest's surface. It started from a single spore too small to see without a microscope and has been weaving its black shoestring filaments through the forest for an estimated 2,400 years, killing trees as it grows.

JULY 2000:

Til Death Do Us Part? Predicting The Odds - "Forget your psychic, your astrologer, and your wise Aunt Hattie. Marriage counselors trained in conducting specialized interviews can evidently gauge a new marriage's odds of survival with a high rate of accuracy."

Dietary supplements, used by almost half of all Americans, often contain raw animal products that may be contaminated with mad cow disease, due to lack of federal oversight, says a Maryland doctor.

Scientists expressed optimism that an AIDS vaccine - key to controlling an epidemic that strikes 5 million people worldwide each year - can be developed within 7 years.

The first male contraceptive pill could be on the market within five years, British scientists say.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest is urging the Food and Drug Administration to halt the sale of dozens of so-called functional foods that it claims are unsafe. "Food companies are spiking fruit drinks, breakfast cereals and snack foods with illegal ingredients, such as kava kava, ginseng and guarana, and then misleading consumers about their health benefits...It is unknown how much of these supplements are in the foods and what happens when they are heated and even if consumers understand the alleged health claims on the product packaging." Is something you're eating on the list?

Families of the victims of last year's Columbine massacre say school officials should have predicted the actions of killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. And they're now suing the school principal, teachers and other officials.

The deaths of heroin addicts have sparked an anthrax scare. Anthrax spores have killed one heroin addict in Norway and British tests have found signs of anthrax infection in two Scottish victims, with nine more Scots ill. Ten addicts in Glasgow and Aberdeen have already died from a mysterious infection. Anthrax is endemic in Asian countries, where most of Europe's heroin originates. Doctors fear that because deaths in heroin addicts are sometimes not investigated, anthrax may have been killing drug abusers without anyone noticing.

A birth control pill being dreamed up by a Canadian researcher may someday let working women push the "snooze button" on their biological clocks.

By 2010, the total orphan population in Africa, Asia and Latin America will reach 44 million, creating a child-care crisis never seen in a war, famine or tragedy of any kind. Two-thirds of those children (about 29 million) will have lost either one or both parents to AIDS, says a report, sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The orphan population is projected to keep growing for another 30 years.

Time Magazine, July 17 - The cover story says scientists are close to discovering the cause of Alzheimer's disease. Sufferers develop two types of brain lesions—plaques of a protein called beta amyloid and tangles of tau molecules—and scientists split into two nasty camps about which is the real culprit. But experiments will soon show whether the Baptists (beta amyloid protein) or the Tauists (tau molecules) are right, and an effective treatment will follow.

BEWARE OF THE BIRDS - West Nile virus is carried by birds and spread by mosquitoes to people. In 1997 it killed 527 people in Bucharest, Romania. Last summer it killed 7 New Yorkers. By now the virus "is probably in every corner of North America" and experts think the next outbreak will be along the Gulf coast.

Marketed to fix cracked ceramics or torn leather and plastic, dermatologists are now recommending the high-powered adhesive, Krazy Glue, for tears in human skin.

An afternoon nap may increase your risk of heart attack

JUNE 2000:

Earthquakes and other natural disasters may grab the donations and headlines, but preventable diseases claimed 160 times more lives last year — 13 million people. An estimated 150 million people have died from AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria alone since 1945, compared to 23 million in wars. "We need only to look at the death toll from infectious disease to see the results of this dangerous trend. We need to make treating infectious disease a priority."

Within 10 years, tests for genetic predisposition to 25 major causes of illness and death in this country will be widely available if the predictions of Dr. Francis S. Collins, head of the Human Genome Project of the National Institutes of Health, prove correct.

Scientists say the announcement that researchers have nearly completed mapping the human genetic code is a "watershed event in science." Cracking the code of life - Find out why they consider it the biological equivalent of landing on the moon..

Having the sequence of the human genome will revolutionize healthcare in the next couple of decades, allowing doctors to care for an individual's subtype of a disease. Current medicine treats a "typical patient," based on large population data.

Predisposed to Violence?

A pioneering "green" apartment building is on the New York City horizon — 26 floors of energy-efficient, anti-allergy technology designed as an oasis of fresh air in the city. The privately financed $95 million building will rise over the Hudson River, facing the Statue of Liberty. The 250-unit luxury high-rise should be ready for tenants to move in by the end of 2002.

Experts say Indian elephants are on the brink of extinction, as poachers hunt down males for their tusks. There are only an estimated 800 mature males left in India, not enough to go around for the mating females.

MAY 2000:
Researchers warn of lurking epidemic - a small but alarming percentage of people worldwide have a form of tuberculosis that is resistant to the usual treatments and must be fought with stronger, more expensive drugs to prevent a health crisis comparable to AIDS.

The world's great apes are hurtling toward extinction at a rate that is alarming scientists. New estimates of the populations of chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans are far lower than they were even a year or two ago, with some species down to a few thousand or even a few hundred. Even more alarming is the expansion of hunting and habitat destruction in some of the most politically unstable nations in Africa and Asia. In 10 or even five years there will be no more chimpanzees at this rate. Ten percent of the world's 608 primate species and subspecies on three continents are critically imperiled, meaning they could vanish at any time. Another ten percent are endangered, meaning they would probably go extinct in the next 20 years without intervention.

Scientists have analyzed fossils and calculated it takes about 10 million years after a plant or animal becomes extinct before anything resembling it reappears. This is worrisome because biologists estimate that up to half of the known animal and plant species in the world could be wiped out within a century. The kind of organisms that will persist are weeds, rats and insects. At the rate of recovery calculated, humans themselves could become extinct before Earth recovers.

Chemicals in Kids - Household Products Could Cause Damage

Optimistic predictions on the future of medicine are based on the progress of the Human Genome project, which will probably be complete by the end of the year.

Exposure to acute, high doses of radiation can cause genetic changes that are passed on to future generations.

APRIL 2000:
The first complete artificial eye is due to be implanted into a blind woman within the next four months. The implant taps directly into the optic nerve and it is hoped that devices like it could one day restore vision to many blind people whose retinas have been damaged or destroyed.

Laser eye surgery is a booming business, but is not without risks. Have discount prices and mall-surgeries coddled customers into thinking that fixing bad eyesight is risk free? Critics say buyer beware.

Drug wars of the future - By 2006, almost 200 patents covering $36 billion in U.S. drug sales will expire. When the dust settles, the pharmaceutical industry could be changed beyond recognition.

India's tigers could be extinct within 10 years.

Which is the less painful way of getting a drug into your body - having an injection or being cut open by a thousand titanium-foil blades? Strangely, the answer is the latter. That's because the blades in question are microscopic and give no sensation when pressed against the skin, though they make holes big enough for drug molecules to pass through. Early trials suggest the new method works well.

MARCH 2000:

A new environmental threat lies ahead as the first generation of air bag-equipped motor vehicles heads for the scrap heap. Air-bag inflators contain a chemical, sodium azide, that is almost as poisonous as cyanide.

Do a person's fingers reveal their sexual orientation? In women, the index finger, called the second digit or 2D, is about the same length as the ring finger, 4D. In men, the ring finger is often considerably longer, leading to a lower 2D:4D ratio. In gay women: their index to ring finger ratios resembled those of heterosexual men. This suggests that at least some lesbian women were exposed to higher than average levels of male hormones before birth. What they found in men is less clear-cut.

Women who have large babies may be at less risk of developing heart disease

Without protection, 70 percent of the world's reefs could be gone by the year 2050. Two-thirds of the world's reefs may be dying right now. The United States government has devised a plan to save coral reefs along the nation's coast. In the plan, 20 percent of all coral reefs in American waters will be designated as ecological preserves by the year 2010, putting an end to fishing, pollution and other harmful activity in the reef's waters. The United States has 6,500 miles of coral reefs, mostly located near Florida, Texas, Hawaii and American Caribbean territories.

Evidence that the brain is physically able to change according to the way it is used could have important implications for people with brain damage or brain diseases such as Alzheimer's, experts say. The implication down the line would be that an inactive brain may well eventually lead to loss of brain function.

Vitamin pills that millions of Americans are taking to ward off disease do no good, say experts in the field, and in some cases even increase the risk of illness. A look at the latest studies shows people might be better off eating Easy new cancer tests - Scientists have been able to detect early signs of cancer in bodily fluids such as saliva and urine, making for new, non-invasive cancer tests. The technology for use in the general population could take six months to a year.

Elderly people wanting to retain their memory and fend off dementia should chew. "That's the message from Japanese researchers, who say that chewing helps prevent memory loss as we grow old," New Scientist magazine said.

New test can help doctors predict which adolescents are smokers

FEBRUARY 2000:

Linking a living cell to a microchip, scientists in California have invented a device that acts like a remote control to a cell's door. The cellular portal could potentially lead to breakthroughs in pharmaceutical research and genetic engineering. The door to the living cell has been very important but very difficult for us to open reliably until now without causing any damage to the tissue.

NEW LOTION PREVENTS -- AND FIXES -- SUN DAMAGE. German scientists say a light-sensitive enzyme in algae offers significant protection against skin cancer by reversing the cell damage caused by ultraviolet radiation.

Johnson and Johnson has unveiled its newest bandage that you can wear for several days and that is designed to eliminate the formation of scabs that can cause scars. Particles in the bandage absorb fluid from the wound and form a white gel that provides extra cushioning form bumping and reinjury - and you can wear it in the shower or bath. It sells for $3.79 for a box of ten - at least eight times more expensive than typical bandages.

Central American forests that used to throb with the grunts, clicks, trills and chirrs of frogs have fallen eerily silent. Similar change is happening in North America and Western Australia. It is quietly alarming, and no one can explain the cause.

Cloning your beloved calico or collie could someday be a reality, if a Texas-based company has its way. Genetic Savings and Clone has started offering to freeze pet DNA for owners. The company says that the cost to store a pet's DNA right now is $1,000 to $3,000 to freeze the gene, plus $100 a year in storage fees. And if dog or cat cloning is achieved, customers would initially pay the company $200,000 for the cloning. That could drop down to $20,000 several years afterwards.

In only 20 percent of cases were doctors' predictions for their patients accurate. When an accurate prediction was defined as anywhere between one-third less to one-third more than actual survival, 63 percent of prognoses were overestimates, 20 percent were correct, and 17 percent were underestimates. Doctors who have less personal attachment to a patient tend to make more accurate prognoses and more experienced doctors make less prognostic errors.

Cancer specialists meeting in Paris have warned that the world could be facing 20 million deaths a year by 2020. Delegates also heard that the number of cancer sufferers in the developing world was likely to rise dramatically over the next decade.

A government report suggests as many as 5000 Americans might have suffered longer-lasting food poisoning last year because they caught an antibiotic-resistant strain from chicken. Many public health experts say on-the-farm drugs worsen the already serious problem of antibiotics losing their power to fight infections. This report is the first attempt to predict human health risk if antibiotic use in animals results in drug-resistant germs in meat people eat. Concern is that more dangerous food-borne infections, such as salmonella, could develop similar resistances.

U.S. News & World Report, Feb. 7 - predicts that 2000 will be "the year of the clone." So far this year, the Japanese have produced the first clone-of-a-clone, and the British granted an American company the first patent for cloning humans.

New York Times Magazine, Jan. 30 - The cover story anticipates how biotechnology might revolutionize aging. Embryonic stem cells, which contain "the genetic blueprint and biological know-how" to produce any organ, are being engineered to "serve as a warehouse of spare human parts" that could be transplanted into the sick and elderly. The feds have banned stem-cell research because of ethical concerns, but research continues in the private sector, unguided by public debate.

Frito-Lay Snacks Will Not Use Biotech Corn. No genetically altered corn for Doritos and Fritos. That's the mandate from snack maker Frito-Lay. Farmers and environmentalists react to the latest development surrounding so-called "Frankenfood."

JANUARY 2000:

Study Finds One Out of Three ICU Patients May Be Starving. Current practices of estimating nutritional requirements resulted in caloric deficits of more than 10,000 calories in one third of patients during their ICU care. According to Dr. James Mault, a surgeon at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, the best efforts of caregivers amount to little more than educated guesswork. "Unfortunately, tables and formulas intended for everybody cannot reliably predict the needs of an individual patient. As a result, without us realizing it, many of our critically ill patients are subjected to circumstances equal to you and I not eating for five straight days. It's not hard to understand why it may take longer for these patients to recover from their illnesses.

"Alien creatures with seemingly supernatural powers. Strange, smoke-filled landscapes stretching for miles. Glistening gold nuggets strewn about. Welcome to the ink-black depths of the Atlantic Ocean, where cracks in Earth's crust spew toxins and superheated water, a combination that fuels an odd menagerie of life. Such creatures not only may hold the key to future medical breakthroughs, but they could allow us to explore the limits of life as we know it — information that can be applied even to extraterrestrial research."

Researches Say Flu Bugs Rain Down From Outer Space. It could be that increasingly frequent sunspots are driving the virus out of the stratosphere and into your body. Data shows that previous periods of high sunspot activity coincided with flu pandemics (large-scale epidemics). A roughly 11-year cycle of solar activity is increasing now and is expected to peak soon.

A Miracle Virus Cure? The designer drug Pleconaril could stop colds, flu, meningitis and more. If large-scale testing turns out well, it could be in drugstores within a year.

Biotech 2000 -- Expert predict the concoctions and controversies that will transform biomedicine

Traditional knowledge of potentially powerful healing plants could disappear in the next millennium, a leading botanist is warning. Paul Alan Cox, director of the national tropical botanical garden in Hawaii and Florida, calculates that more than 50 drugs in worldwide use were "discovered" because of the knowledge of the shamans, tribal healers and witchdoctors of indigenous peoples in deserts, forests and tropical islands. Yet the languages and cultures of such peoples are disappearing fast. In the next century more than half of the world's 6,000 languages will vanish, and with them important skills and knowledge.

Japanese researchers have grown frog eyes and ears in a lab using the animal's own embryo cells, technology a scientist said could eventually help doctors replace lost or damaged human sensory organs using cells from the patients' bodies.

Prior Health and Biology Predictions