IN BRIEF

The Claim in Spain

Paleobiologists from the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid report that 800,000-year-old fossils from the Atapuerca Mountains belong to a new human species, Homo antecessor. The team, led by Jose Maria Bermudez de Castro, notes that the specimens bear some traits resembling those of H. sapiens, such as a relatively flat face. But other features of the braincase, lower jaw and teeth look like those of more primitive hominids. Thus, they guess that H. antecessor may be a common ancestor of both modern humans and Neanderthals. Other scientists contend that, given the range of anatomical variation among Homo specimens of the same age, it is impossible to credit the bones to a new evolutionary clan.


Leaky Electricity

Many household appliances--including cordless telephones, smoke detectors, burglar alarms and fax machines--draw power all the time, even when they are switched off. In fact, a new study from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimates that five billion watts, or the equivalent of five standard power plants, are lost to "leaking" appliances nationwide--about 50 watts per house a year. To limit leaking electricity, the study's authors advise using low-voltage power supplies with three-way on/ready/off switches. For devices that need continuous energizing, such as TVs and VCRs, they have designed a circuit that draws power only when a small rechargeable battery in the appliance requires it.


Believe It's Not Butter

Saturated fats aren't the only no-no in a heart-healthy diet. A new study from Brandeis University, the University of Malaya and the Palm Oil Research Institute of Malaysia has found that substitute trans fatty acids--made from partially hydrogenated unsaturated vegetable oils--are even worse. Not only do trans fatty acids, which are often found in margarine, raise levels of "bad," or LDL, cholesterol in the blood, as do animal fats, they also lower levels of "good," or HDL, cholesterol.


Jurassic Gout

Sue may be the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex fossil ever found, but she is not the most perfect. Bruce Rothschild of the Arthritis Center of Northeast Ohio in Youngstown and his colleagues note that scars on the beast's bones suggest she suffered from gout. The crippling ailment occurs when the body produces too much uric acid, often the result of problem drinking, lead poisoning, kidney malfunction or, in Sue's case, eating a lot of red meat. Gout was most likely far less common among dinosaurs than among port-swilling nobility, the researchers say, but no less painful. Poor Sue is expected to fetch $1 million this fall when she is auctioned off at Sotheby's.


Crazy Glue, Stat

Surgical stitches could become a thing of the past. A recent clinical trial found that a tissue adhesive, called octylcyanoacrylate, provides a faster, less painful way for closing wounds than sutures. Wounds sealed with glue look as good as sewn ones and seem less susceptible to infection, too. What is more, the glue simply wears away as the skin heals. The study's lead author, James Quinn of the University of Michigan, points out that the painless glue is particularly useful for treating children, who are often scared of receiving stitches and sedated for simple repair jobs.


Flashy Mints

One of the fundamental mysteries of the fifth grade has at last been explained: scientists now know why wintergreen mints give off flashes of light when you crunch them. Linda Sweeting of Towson State University and colleagues tested the triboluminescence--the glow from certain crystals, such as the sugar in mints, when they are ground up--in 12 materials. She found that among pure crystals, only those lacking rotational symmetry--be it natural or because of impurities--lit up. The finding confirms an earlier theory: flashes appear when opposite charges on different faces of the fragmented crystal recombine and excite gas molecules. Such charges occur when voltage arises in a crystal under stress--a "piezoelectric" effect seen only in asymmetrical materials.


www.Rx or Not

The World Health Assembly, which governs the World Health Organization in Geneva, has recently set up a committee to study how medicines are offered on-line and delivered by mail. Although it is legal in many countries to sell prescription drugs on-line, provided the customer produces a doctor's writ, public health officials worry that some companies do not always require an Rx. The WHO points out that many of the drugs currently available have serious side effects and should not be taken without continual medical supervision.


Mon Appetit

Gourmand syndrome is not an eating problem Richard Simmons can fix. This newly identified disorder renders patients obsessed with eating, thinking, talking and writing about fine foods. In a study of 723 patients with known or suspected brain lesions, Swiss neurologist Theodor Landis and psychologist Marianne Regard found that 36 suffered gourmandlike symptoms, and 34 had a single lesion in the right anterior region of the brain. Although not all patients with right anterior lesions develop a fancy for haute cuisine, the correlation is strong--demonstrating that compulsive behaviors can have a physical cause.


FOLLOW-UP
Unbuckling the Kuiper Belt

Past Pluto and the rest of the Kuiper belt, which girds the rural reaches of our solar system, but before the misty, comet-filled Oort cloud, Jane Luu and her colleagues have sighted a new object, named 1996TL66M. Besides Pluto and its moon, Charon, 1996TL66 is the brightest bit of mass ever found beyond Neptune--and perhaps the weirdest, too. It has an eccentric orbit, suggesting that the Kuiper belt may be bigger both in area and in mass than scientists thought. Although 1996TL66's origins are unknown, Gerard Kuiper himself speculated in 1951 that the gravity of the outer planets might pluck protocomets from the Oort cloud and send them reeling around the fringes of the solar system. (See the May 1996 issue.)

--Kristin Leutwyler