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Student-Built Satellite in Trouble
Computer Virus Hunters
AIDS Is Top Infectious Killer
Bubonic Plague Confirmed in Namibia
Brain Shocks Trigger Depression
Military satellite declared dead
Air Force to review failed launches

Scientists Spot Possible Moon Bases
Frogs!
New Obesity Drug Released
Genes Don't Predict Destiny
DoE Announces New Hypersonic Design
"Web MD" Fascinating source for medical information

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A $6.1 million satellite built by Boston University students to create 3-D images of the outer atmosphere likely ran out of power today after failing to point its solar panels fully toward the sun. The Terriers satellite, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, was relying on batteries that have an eight-hour lifespan without recharging.

The time had elapsed by Tuesday night. The satellite was commanded to reorient itself to the sun, the source of the energy that feeds the batteries. But the results of the order were not expected to be determined until later today, said university spokeswoman Shauna LaFauci. ``We haven't heard from the spacecraft since yesterday (Tuesday), which leads us to believe the batteries are probably depleted,'' said Dan Cotton, assistant research professor of astronomy at the university and an investigator for the satellite project.

Terriers and an unrelated small defense communications satellite were launched late Monday on an Orbital Sciences Corp. Pegasus rocket dropped from a jumbo jet flying off the California coast. All seemed well when the 274-pound Terriers made its first pass over the Boston University ground station early Tuesday. On the second pass about 1 hours later controllers noticed it was not properly oriented to the sun. During the third pass controllers sent commands to reorient the spacecraft.

Terriers was developed under a NASA program to increase students' access to space. Much of the work on the satellite was done at Boston University and a ground station was established there so students could control the craft as it gathered data on the ionosphere, the region of electrically charged gases in the upper atmosphere.

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A once-obscure group of computer scientists in Pittsburgh has been getting lots of international attention lately. The 20 members of the Computer Emergency Response Team, or CERT, are responsible for investigating computer viruses -- including Chernobyl and Melissa -- tracking down their source, and finding the hackers responsible. Established by the federal government, CERT now handles some 40 cases a day, but leaves the anti-virus effort to commercial software companies. Listen as Mark Nootbaar of member station WDUQ in Pittsburgh reports for Morning Edition.

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GENEVA (AP) - AIDS has become the world's most deadly infectious disease in the last year, overtaking tuberculosis and moving up to fourth place among all causes of death worldwide, the World Health Organization said today.

A decline in deaths attributed to TB accounted for AIDS moving up from last year's seventh-place ranking. The estimated number of deaths caused by AIDS in 1998 remained comparable to the previous year's death count, about 2.28 million worldwide.

The WHO's list is topped by heart disease, which killed almost 7.38 million people last year - 13.7 percent of deaths worldwide. Strokes and acute respiratory infections accounted for 5.1 million and 3.45 million deaths respectively, the agency said.

WHO said noncommunicable ailments would probably continue to account for a majority of global disease because of aging populations, a lack of exercise, and tobacco and alcohol abuse.  Tuberculosis, which last year was the world's most deadly transmittable disease, fell from fourth to eighth place overall. It killed just under 1.5 million people in 1998.

Experts arrived at that figure - which compares with 2.9 million in the 1997 report - after a long-term effort to improve estimates, said Mario Raviglione, coordinator of WHO's epidemiology research team. HIV-related deaths from tuberculosis were removed.

``AIDS has been with us for just 20 years and already it is killing more people than any other infectious disease,'' said Peter Piot, executive director of the specialized UNAIDS agency.  ``It is the most formidable pathogen to confront modern medicine.''

In Africa, it was the leading cause of death, accounting for 19 percent of fatalities - some 2 million people.  Heart disease led the rankings in the Americas, Europe and Southeast Asia.

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WINDHOEK, Namibia (AP) - Local medical authorities confirmed Monday an outbreak of bubonic plague in Namibia's populous north-central region that has killed three of the 73 people with the disease.

Dr. Naftali Hamata of the Namibian health ministry said tests done at the South African Institute for Medical Research last week showed that six of 11 samples sent for analysis proved positive for bubonic plague.  He said the other five cases may also still prove positive, but more testing must be done. ``Even though not all of them are confirmed to have the disease, we are taking no chances and testing everyone,'' he said.

Bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death, killed an estimated 25 million people in Europe between 1346 and 1351, wiping out nearly one-third of the population. The disease is transmitted by fleas infecting rats which in turn infect humans. If left untreated, it can kill within three to five days.

Today, it is easily treatable by powerful modern antibiotics. Hamata said his ministry suspected the outbreak was caused by young cattle herders who came into contact with rats carrying the virus while hunting them for food. Outbreaks of the disease in the area have been reported since the early 1960s, Hamata said. ``We are having all the affected homesteads in the area sprayed (with pesticide) at the moment, but you have to catch every rat to be sure it is gone,'' he said.

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BOSTON (AP) - Accidental electrical stimulation of the brain during medical treatment can trigger bouts of deep depression that come and go almost instantly.

French doctors made the discovery while treating a woman with Parkinson's disease. They implanted electrodes deep in her brain in an attempt to stimulate the parts that malfunction in her disease.  To their surprise, they found that turning on one of these electrodes made the woman profoundly sad.  She leaned to the right, started to cry and told of feeling of sad, guilty and useless.

``I no longer wish to live, to see anything, hear anything, feel anything,'' she told doctors.  Asked if she felt pain, she replied, ``No, I'm fed up with life.  I've had enough.''  Ninety seconds after the doctors stopped the electrical stimulation, the woman's depression disappeared.  Stimulating another electrode implanted nearby dramatically relieved the woman's Parkinson's disease, enabling her to give up taking her medicine.

Intrigued by their chance discovery, the doctors asked if they could repeat their stimulation of the depression electrode while they videotaped her. The woman agreed, and twice more they triggered profound sadness.

Dr. Boulos-Paul Bejjani and others from INSERM, the French research organization, published a report on the case in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Stuart C. Yudofsky of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston wrote that the report ``raises fundamental and far-reaching questions about depression'' and the use of electrical treatments. Among them:

- Is depression hard-wired into the brain?

- Does depression carry some evolutionary advantage, such as intensifying grief in a way that helps hold families together?

- Can brain stimulation also trigger symtoms of mania, and would this be a possible treatment for depression?

- Could stimulation of other parts of the brain treat such disorders as alcoholism, drug abuse, aggression and violence?

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - Nearly two weeks after its botched launch, an $800 million military satellite has been declared dead. The Air Force said Wednesday that the Milstar communication satellite will never reach its intended 22,300-mile-high orbit or serve any purpose. The satellite poses no threat to other spacecraft in its lopsided orbit, said Air Force spokesman Aaron Renenger. It could remain in orbit for hundreds of years. The Milstar was launched into the wrong orbit April 30 by a Titan IV rocket. It was the third consecutive failure for the program. The trade journal Aviation Week & Space Technology reported this week the problem may have been inaccurate computer software loaded into the rocket's upper stage.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - The Air Force Thursday said it will convene a special review of the recent string of failed Titan IV rocket launches that have set back its space satellite programs. Acting Air Force Secretary F. Whitten Peters said the review will be done jointly with the National Reconnaissance Office, which operates the government's military and intelligence satellite programs, and will recommend changes in practices and procedures to "assure continued access to space for the Defense Department." Last Friday, a Titan IV rocket left a military communications satellite in an orbit thousands of miles too low. And on April 9, a missile-warning satellite ended up in a useless orbit following its launch aboard a Titan IV, which is built by Lockheed Martin Corp. A Titan IV also failed in August 1998.

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WASHINGTON (AP), On Earth, the south pole may well be the worst place to live, but that region of the Moon could be the best choice for future bases. Three sites, located near the Moon's south pole, provide nearly constant sunlight, the researchers report in the May 1 edition of Geophysical Research Letters.

Having nearly constant light means the bases could use solar energy, reducing or eliminating the need for other energy sources, according to the team lead by D. Ben J. Bussey of the European Space Agency in Noordwijk, Netherlands. They used data collected by the Clementine spacecraft. In addition to the energy potential of the sites in the sun, there are nearby sites that are in constant darkness, the researchers added. There is the possibility that water ice could be hidden in such locations, they reported.

While the location of any Moon base would depend to a great extent on the purpose of the base, the researchers found three strong candidates. Site A is on the rim of Shakleton crater, and B is about six miles away on a ridge originating from that rim. Site C is on the rim of another nearby crater. During the Moon's 708-hour day, A is in sunlight 80 percent of the time, B is lighted 70 percent of the time and C about 65 percent of the time. ``There is only a period of 10 hours when neither A nor B are in sunlight,'' the researchers added. ``Therefore if solar arrays were placed in both areas and connected by a link (either microwave or cable) then a base at either site would receive near constant solar energy.''

The temperature at the suggested sites is relatively constant because of the steady light and was estimated at about -64 degrees Fahrenheit. Engineers say it is easier to deal with a constant extreme temperature than one that is changing regularly, as would happen elsewhere on the moon with the regular changes from daylight to darkness. In addition to Bussey the research team included Paul D. Spudis of the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas, and Mark S. Robinson of Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.

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NPR's Richard Harris reports that scientists have discovered why some North American frogs have been suffering from disturbing deformities, such as extra legs or missing legs. Students at Stanford University discovered that a parasite in the water caused these problems in California. The finding, reported in Science magazine, may explain some of the most alarming kinds of frog deformities, but scientists believe other factors are probably at work in other frog populations.

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Pharmaceutical companies are in a fierce race to develop a product that will safely and effectively combat obesity. They say such a product would be a sure best-seller. Orlistat -- the latest anti-obesity drug to hit the market -- prevents the body from absorbing fat. That makes for an effective drug, but some obesity researchers remain concerned about its long-term effects.  Listen as NPR's Joanne Silberner reports for Morning Edition that the new drug is likely to help some people, but it's no miracle cure.