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- Biggest Bacterium Found
- New Solar System
- Days For Computer Caution
- Study: Estrogen May Improve Memory
- 1998 Russian Alcohol Deaths: 23,986
- Indonesian Volcano Has Explosions
- Wind delays launch of rocket

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- Greatest Y2K Danger May Be Panic
- Brain Wave Device Spells Messages
- BP Amoco's Medical Mystery
- Cancer Drug May Fight Heart Disease
- Wake-up call to a sleepy nation
- Kosovo Conflict On The Web
- Mars Probe Deploys Antenna

They look like a string of tiny pearls, but actually they're huge bacteria--the size of poppy seeds. NPR's Ivan Amato reports on the startling discovery of the world's largest bacteria found in sediments off the coast of Namibia in Africa. They're doubly unusual because they eat sulfur compounds.

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It's the stuff of planet hunters' dreams: Astronomers at San Francisco State University on Thursday announced the discovery of three planets orbiting a star, in other words, the first known solar system outside our own. The star, Upsilon Andromedae, is "only" 44 light-years away and resembles our sun. Astronomers have been observing Upsilon and others for evidence of wobbling, indicating an orbiting planet whose gravity is tugging on the star. Thursday's discovery is unique for its multiple planets, and for the possibility that the solar system might be able to sustain life. Listen as NPR's David Kestenbaum reports for All Things Considered.

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Are you concerned about Y2K? While the date January 1, 2000, is getting all the hype, there are other dates keeping programmers up all night. Take Friday for instance. Computer systems people are being cautious about April 9, 1999 -- because it's the 99th day of the year 1999. Analysts say some programs may be automatically triggered to roll that over into all zeros, crashing the computer. The next big date for concern is September 9, 1999 -- which can be coded into some programs as 9999. Listen as NPR'S Madeleine Brand reports for All Things Considered.

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CHICAGO (AP), Post-menopausal women undergoing estrogen treatment may also be improving their memories, researchers reported today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.   The study at the Yale University School of Medicine of 46 post-menopausal women found that estrogen increased activity in regions of the brain associated with memory.   Although the study did not find memories had improved, researchers said estrogen may stimulate the brain to make the type of neural connections typically seen in younger people.  They believe that the increased brain activity should mean an accompanying improvement in memory.  ``It suggests that the neural circuitry in memory for mature individuals ... can be changed'' by estrogen, said Dr. Sally Shaywitz, one of the study's authors. ``It is a very hopeful sign.''

Production of estrogen, a female hormone, drops sharply after women reach menopause. Previous research has found that estrogen protects against heart disease, fights brittle bones, decreases the risk of colon cancer and may help women live longer.   Studies have also suggested that estrogen may reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease. The ability to establish new connections in the brain is what is lost with the onset of Alzheimer's.  An expert not involved in the study said the research was significant as another demonstration that estrogens have positive effects on certain aspects of mental function.  ``What this study suggests is that what estrogen can do is rewire the central nervous system,'' said Dr. Stanley Birge, a professor of geriatrics and gerontology at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. ``Perhaps even in the 70- or 80-year-old individual we have the potential'' for such regeneration.

Estrogen replacement therapy, however, also carries risks.  Studies show it can increase the risk of breast cancer and endometrial cancer.

Shaywitz said estrogen ``is not some magic pill,'' and further study is needed on its benefits and potential side effects.  The researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure brain activity as the women conducted tasks involving verbal and visual memory. The women, who ranged in age from 33 to 61, were treated with either estrogen or a placebo in a random trial from 1996 through 1998.

Researchers cautioned that while they observed increased brain activity in women given estrogen, there was no subsequent improvement in verbal and nonverbal memory tasks.  Shaywitz said the lack of quantifiable evidence pointing to improved memory function was probably because the tasks were simple and almost all were performed correctly. If a participant was asked something she did not know, the MRI would measure her effort rather than her memory function, she said.

``This is one step ... but this a good step in that it does show a physiological change in areas of the brain related to memory,'' said Dr. Rodrigo Kuljis, a neurologist at the University of Miami School of Medicine who was not involved in the study.

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MOSCOW (AP), Alcohol poisoning killed 23,986 Russians last year, the highest figure in a decade, a news report said Wednesday.  The chief epidemiological inspectorate of the Health Ministry compiled the numbers of deaths from alcohol poisoning, or drinking a lethal amount in one sitting.

The inspectorate said the figure was the highest in 10 years, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. The report did not speculate on reasons for the rise or give specific figures from previous years.  The Health Ministry estimates up to 10 million of Russia's 148 million people are alcoholics.

Vodka is hugely popular and sold cheaply on most street corners, affordable even for impoverished Russians. Russians also often resort to brewing cheap but often lethal alcoholic concoctions, and many die every year from drinking the mixtures.

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JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP), Indonesia's Mount Anak Krakatoa exploded repeatedly over the weekend, spewing volcanic gases and rocks into the air, a report said Monday.

The explosions occurred every three to 15 minutes on Saturday and Sunday, the official Antara news agency quoted a 20-member survey team as saying. Hot rocks rolled down the slope of the volcano, located 115 miles west of Jakarta, the capital.  The report did not say whether the volcano was still exploding Monday.

Anak Krakatoa, ``Krakatoa's Child'', is a small volcanic island that formed earlier this century adjacent to the 5,905-foot Krakatoa, whose 1883 eruption was one of the most destructive in history, killing 36,000 people. Anak Krakatoa, located between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra, has become a major attraction for tourists and for researchers studying rare plant species.

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - Boeing called off the launch of its new Delta III rocket Monday because the wind was blowing inland. Launch controllers feared that in the event of an accident, clouds of toxic rocket fuel and chunks of rocket might endanger populated areas. They said they would try again Tuesday. The inaugural launch of the Delta III, last August, ended in a fireball 70 seconds into the flight. The rocket tilted, broke apart and exploded over the Atlantic. Boeing officials said they have changed the computer program for the Delta III's flight control and double-checked all systems. The rocket holds a communication satellite intended to serve Asia and the Pacific region.

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BOSTON (AP), The experimental drug that caused a sensation when it was found to wipe out cancer in mice by choking off the tumors' blood supply is also showing promise against heart disease.  The treatment involves the Harvard-developed drug endostatin, which has been shown to be remarkably potent against cancer but has not been tested yet on people.

Now, the same team that discovered endostatin found that in mice, at least, the drug may also greatly slow the development of atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries. Atherosclerosis is a buildup of fatty deposits. The research raises the possibility that a new category of drugs, the blood vessel inhibitors, may be useful weapons against both heart disease and cancer, the two most important diseases of the industrialized world.

A team led by Dr. Judah Folkman of Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital in Boston reported the development in Tuesday's issue of the American Heart Association journal Circulation. Folkman pioneered the study of angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels. Endostatin is a natural protein that blocks blood vessel formation. Without a blood supply, cancer in lab animals often stops growing and disappears.

Heart disease also involves unwanted tissue growth, the accumulation of cholesterol, blood cells and smooth muscle cells in lumps known as plaque. Plaque growing in the heart arteries is the chief cause of heart attacks and angina pain. Experts have long noticed that plaque often has its own network of tiny blood vessels called capillaries. ``By blocking them, perhaps we can alter the progression of the disease,'' said Dr. Karen Moulton, who conducted the experiment in Folkman's lab.

In the 16-week experiment involving 73 mice, the researchers tested endostatin on animals that were fed a high-cholesterol diet.  They found that those on the drug averaged 85 percent less plaque buildup in their hearts' aortas than did untreated animals. ``It's a very exciting concept,'' said Dr. Stephen Epstein of Washington Hospital Center in Washington. ``If the data can be validated by other labs, it represents a whole new paradigm for strategies to prevent atherosclerosis and its complications.'' However, Epstein acknowledged that the discovery also presents ``a very important conundrum,'' because drugs that promote blood vessel growth, rather than block it, are already one of the hottest areas of heart disease research.

Epstein and others are testing the use of growth proteins that trigger the body to sprout new blood vessels. When injected into the heart, these proteins induce the growth of a new blood supply.  This nourishes heart muscle that is starved by clogged arteries.  Some human testing suggests this treatment can relieve the effects of atherosclerosis. But Epstein said the latest work raises the possibility that it could also make the underlying disease worse by promoting the growth of plaque.

However, Dr. Jeffrey Isner of St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Boston said his own animal experiments show no evidence that stimulating the growth of blood vessels will speed up atherosclerosis or do anything else bad. Moulton speculated that both treatments could eventually find a place in controlling heart disease. Blood vessel inhibitors like endostatin might be given at a relatively early stage of disease, just as cholesterol-lowering statins are now used to keep blood vessels healthy. The blood vessel stimulators would be reserved for relieving arteries that are already badly clogged. At EntreMed Inc. in Rockville, Md., which is developing endostatin, spokeswoman Mary P. Sundeed said the company is concentrating on the cancer uses of the drug and has no plans to test it against heart disease.  She said initial safety testing of endostatin in cancer patients should begin this summer at the University of Wisconsin and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

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April 2 — Just when we are about to lose an hour’s sleep due to Daylight Savings Time comes the wake-up call: Most Americans are so tired during the day that it interferes with work or other activities. Find out what you can do to get a better night’s rest and how to cope with the time change.

IN A NEW survey, 40 percent of American adults reported feeling so sleepy during the day that it interfered with their daily activities. For kids, it’s even worse: 60 percent of children complained of feeling tired during the day, with 15 percent admitting to falling asleep in school.  And when it comes to hitting the roads, Americans are really placing their well-being at risk: 62 percent of adults said they have driven while drowsy, and 27 percent admitted to falling asleep behind the wheel, according to the poll, conducted by the National Sleep Foundation. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration blames 100,000 crashes each year on falling asleep while driving. “Losing an additional hour of sleep this Saturday night will cause even more fatigue and can create real dangers for people who drive,” said Richard Gelula, the foundation’s executive director.

SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES
“Daytime sleepiness can have serious consequences — at home, on the job, in school and on our highways,” Gelula said in a statement. “Research studies show that functions and abilities such as memory, mood, reaction time and alertness are all diminished when we are sleep deprived.”  The survey was conducted in late 1998 and early 1999 through telephone interviews with 1,014 Americans.  Other findings:

• Americans average fewer than seven hours of sleep during the work week.
• Three in 10 Americans sleep fewer than 6.5 hours.
• The sleep foundation recommends the following plan to help cope with the time change this weekend:
• Plan to get at least 8 hours of sleep Saturday night, more if you are already feeling tired.
• To adjust your sleep pattern to the time change, go to bed an hour earlier than your normal weekday bedtime on Saturday night. And sleep at least an hour later on Sunday morning.
• If you still feel tired, take a nap in the middle of the afternoon. A cool, dark room is best.
• Avoid caffeinated beverages and foods after noon.
• Avoid alcohol and eating a heavy meal prior to bedtime.
• On Sunday night, go to bed early enough to get at least 8 hours of sleep.
• For people who drive and feel sleepy, drinking a caffeinated beverage can sometime help people to overcome drowsiness temporarily, but it may take 30 minutes to take effect. Much better is to quickly find a place to get off the road and either switch drivers or take a nap.

NEW RESOURCE
If you are concerned in general about getting too little sleep, check out the foundation’s toll-free Telephone Screening for Daytime Sleepiness. By calling 1-877-BE-AWAKE, you will be able to take a test to assess your level of daytime sleepiness and learn when you should consult a doctor about the results. In addition, callers may obtain a list of sleep specialists in their area.

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The war in Kosovo is getting extensive coverage on the Web. Some sites fill in an information gap left by the expulsion of Western journalists from Yugoslavia. Radio B92, a private radio station in Belgrade, has been broadcasting over the Internet since being banned when NATO began air strikes against Yugoslavia. Other Web sites are based around a specific political or cultural view, be it pro-ethnic Albanians or anti-NATO, while some include all perspectives. The Web has also enabled Serbs and ethnic Albanians to communicate their experiences, adding a human aspect to the conflict. Listen as NPR's Margot Adler reports for All Things Considered.

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PASADENA, Calif. (AP),  The Mars Global Surveyor has successfully unfolded its high-gain antenna that had been retracted against the spacecraft's body since it was launched in November 1996.

``The antenna is deployed and we just got telemetry,'' Mary Hardin, a spokeswoman for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said Sunday evening. ``Everything looks like it's working perfectly.'' In the deployed position, the dish-shaped antenna can move on gimbals to transmit data to Earth and receive commands while the spacecraft's instruments continuously map the planet. The antenna had been kept folded after Mars Global Surveyor began mapping the red planet earlier this month because of the possibility that a mechanism to dampen the force of the boom's deployment would not work.

Mission managers decided to get about three weeks of mapping data during a so-called contingency mission before deploying the 6.6-foot boom with its all-important communications antenna.  That required stopping mapping operations of Mars at intervals and turning the entire spacecraft so the antenna would point toward Earth.

Mars Global Surveyor has a camera to make wide- and narrow-angle images of Mars, and a laser altimeter to measure height and depth of surface features by bouncing pulses of light off the planet.  It also carries a thermal emission spectrometer to scan for heat being transferred from the planet to the atmosphere and to map mineral composition, and a magnetometer to gather data that can be used to understand the interior of Mars.

Mars Global Surveyor was to have begun mapping in mid-March 1998 but a problem with one of its two solar panels forced mission officials to ease the craft into the right orbit much more slowly than planned.

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WASHINGTON (AP), Preparation, not panic, is the way to respond to the Year 2000 computer problems and the relatively minor inconveniences they will cause, emergency experts say. ``There's so much disinformation and hype about Y2K,'' Mike Walker of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said at a House hearing Monday. ``But there's no need to head for the hills. The national structures are in good shape.''

Walker and other emergency planning experts said that while many local emergency networks, such as 911 telephone emergency services and fire departments, need some upgrading, the more serious threat on Jan. 1, 2000, is that people will overreact to fears of social chaos. ``There is a vast publicity machine out there, including the Internet, being fed by alarmists,'' said Phyllis Mann, president-elect of the International Association of Emergency Managers.

Her group is recommending that people prepare just as they would for a storm, with food and water for about seven days. It said people should have a 30-day supply of medication, make copies of car, rent and credit card statements, have alternate lighting and keep a full tank of gas.

``There are those who will panic,'' said Rep. Jim Turner of Texas, the top Democrat on the Government Reform subcommittee on government management. He said his own father was talking about spending more than $2,000 for an electric generator.   The subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Stephen Horn, R-Calif., has been monitoring efforts by federal agencies and others to fix computers that, because they only read two digits for dates, might mistake the year 2000, or ``00,'' for 1900. That could cause serious breakdowns in computer systems if not repaired.  The federal government and large industries are spending billions of dollars on the problem, and there is general confidence that on a national level, communication and power systems will be intact, air travel will be safe and food supplies will not be interrupted.

There are more concerns about disruptions at the local level where communities may not have the money or expertise to deal with the problem. FEMA has published a manual to help local emergency managers avoid Y2K problems and handle any problems that do occur. Among the many areas of concern cited: 911 services could go down, street lights and railroad crossing signals might fail, and jails or prisons might have problems that lead to escapes. Separately, the heads of the Senate's special panel on the Y2K problem, Sens. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, and Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., wrote to Vice President Al Gore asking him to take up Russia's serious Y2K issues when he meets this week with Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov. ``Russian failure to address Y2K will only worsen its economic woes, further degrade its aging defense systems and possibly lead to humanitarian and environmental problems for its citizens and neighbors,'' they wrote.

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Scientists have developed a way to let paralyzed people use their brain waves to maneuver a ball on a computer screen and spell out messages. Electrodes and wires were attached to the scalp of two patients with advanced Lou Gehrig's disease. They learned to maneuver the ball by varying the strength of a specific kind of brain wave. It took five steps to choose each letter. The process is slow: a proficient speed is about two letters per minute. But ``it is reliable and precise enough to allow the patient to communicate,'' scientists from the University of Tuebingen in Germany, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and elsewhere wrote in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature. The technique differs from one reported last October, which uses a tiny brain implant rather than electrodes to pick up signals that control a cursor.

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Several long-term employees at BP Amoco's chemical research center near Chicago have developed malignant brain tumors during the past ten years. Earlier this month, a fifth employee died of the disease known as glioma. The company has closed an entire floor in one of 500 buildings at the complex and has brought in a team of experts in an attempt to determine the cause of the brain tumors. Hear more as Jackie Northam of member station WBEZ in Chicago reports for Morning Edition.

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Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere fluctuated after the Ice Age, helping to heat up Earth's climate and trigger the spread of deserts thousands of years ago, a study suggests. Scientists say the findings, which were based on an analysis of ice cores drilled from glaciers in Antarctica, could serve as a warning of what global warming could do to the Earth in the 21st century.

Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is called a ``greenhouse gas'' because it traps the sun's heat. Levels of carbon dioxide fell and rose by small but persistent amounts between 11,000 and 1,000 years ago, according to the Swiss and American scientists who examined the ice cores. They also found that the fluctuations correlate with droughts and the spread of deserts in Africa and Asia during the prehistoric period known as Holocene. These ancient carbon dioxide levels, while significant, were far lower than the rising concentrations in today's atmosphere that are blamed on industry and motor vehicles.

As a result, the findings raise questions about whether the Earth is headed for rapid and drastic climate changes in the 21st century. ``The carbon dioxide changes over the last few thousand years have been tiny and slow compared to what humans are doing,'' said glaciologist Richard Alley of Pennsylvania State University, who did not participate in the study. ``We are moving into uncharted waters.'' The study was published in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.

Researchers from the University of Bern in Switzerland and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif., examined 400 samples drilled from the upper layers of the Taylor Dome glacier in Antarctica. From 11,000 to 8,000 years ago, carbon dioxide levels overall dipped by 8 parts per million, the scientists reported. During the next 7,000 years, carbon dioxide rose by 25 ppm. The increase probably came from carbon that was released as plants burned or deteriorated in a drying climate, they said. The researchers reached their conclusions by analyzing different forms, or isotopes, of carbon dioxide in the layers of ice.

The findings challenge the assumption that Earth's climate has been stable since the glaciers retreated. ``We have tended to view the last 10,000 years as being constant,'' said ice core expert James White of the University of Colorado. ``But carbon levels really haven't stabilized. Humans have continuity built into their thinking, and this study will shock people.''

The Holocene's climate swings were a natural phenomenon. But during the past 200 years, the burning of coal, gasoline and other fossil fuels has added more than 80 ppm of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. The total amount is now above 370 ppm and is expected to double in the 21st century. The 1990s are the warmest decade on record. Many scientists fear that human activity is the driving force behind the warming. White and other scientists said the group's analysis is plausible, but suspect it is too neat to be precisely accurate. It does not adequately reflect the complex interactions of oceans, forests and other ecological features in the carbon cycle, White said.

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