Science Tuesday - Schrodinger's Cat, Lice, Peanut Allergies, Babies, Depression and AIDS

Quantum Trickery: Testing Einstein's Strangest Theory
By DENNIS OVERBYE, The New York Times, December 27, 2005


Einstein said there would be days like this.

This fall scientists announced that they had put a half dozen beryllium atoms into a "cat state."

No, they were not sprawled along a sunny windowsill. To a physicist, a "cat state" is the condition of being two diametrically opposed conditions at once, like black and white, up and down, or dead and alive.
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Observatory: Napoleon's Flaw: Lousy Army
By HENRY FOUNTAIN, The New York Times, December 27, 2005


The 1812 invasion of Russia by Napoleon's Grand Army ranks as one of the worst military fiascoes of all time. Of half a million soldiers sent toward Moscow, only about 5 percent made it back.

While some were killed at Borodino and other battles, many died of hunger, disease and exposure, especially in the cold and snow of the retreat.

Because many soldiers died of fever, and because they were known to be infested with body lice (as described by Tolstoy in "War and Peace," among other sources) it has long been suggested that the troops suffered from lice-borne diseases like trench fever and typhus.

Now, researchers at the University of the Mediterranean in Marseille, France, have produced solid evidence that lice were the culprits. Analyzing soil and the remains of dental tissue from a mass grave of Napoleon's troops uncovered several years ago in Vilnius, Lithuania, the researchers found both remnants of body lice and DNA of the disease-causing bacteria they carry.
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Q & A: The Fatal Peanut
By C. CLAIBORNE RAY, The New York Times, December 27, 2005


Q. I never used to hear about peanut allergies, especially fatal ones. Is the number increasing?

A. Experts differ on whether more people are becoming allergic to peanuts or more cases are being recognized and reported. Allergies over all were poorly understood until recent decades, and sudden deaths from anaphylactic shock owing to extreme peanut sensitivity might easily have been ascribed to other causes.

Reasons that have been suggested for an actual increase in cases include changes in diet and changes in manufacturing techniques for processed foods, which could expose and sensitize more and more people.
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Vital Signs: Patterns: If It Takes a Long Time, It May Be a Boy
By NICHOLAS BAKALAR, The New York Times, December 27, 2005


The longer a woman takes to get pregnant, the greater her chance of having a boy, new research says.

An investigation of 5,283 Dutch women revealed that 57.6 percent of those who took longer than 12 months to become pregnant had boys, compared with 51.1 percent boys among those who became pregnant in less than a year.

Although human semen has equal numbers of Y-bearing male sperm and X-bearing female sperm, the males may be better swimmers in viscous cervical mucus, the authors speculate. That mucus makes impregnation more difficult.
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Really? The Claim: Depression Rates Rise During the Holidays
By ANAHAD O'CONNOR, The New York Times, December 27, 2005


THE FACTS Despite the notion that the holiday season is filled with joy, psychiatrists have long argued that the time can also be fraught with stress, expectations that go unfulfilled, depression and, for some, loneliness.

But for all the talk, studies over the years have found little evidence that depression rates actually climb around Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year's Eve. Researchers have looked at patterns of suicide rates and psychiatric emergency room visits.
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In India, Barbers Provide AIDS Awareness
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, The New York Times, December 27, 2005


NEW DELHI (AP) -- Along with the usual hair lotions and creams, Ganga Ram, a barber who does business in the shade of banyan tree, also has the latest tools of his trade -- a small pile of condoms and booklets on AIDS prevention.

When men settle into Ram's barber chair in New Delhi's Lajpat Nagar market they become captive to what Ram calls his ''real mission'' -- to help them avoid the deadly virus that has infected 5.13 million people in this country of a billion people.

India may be the birthplace of Kama Sutra, the 6th century sex manual, but it is also a deeply conservative society, and discussing sexual matters is usually taboo. That makes India's chatty, itinerant barbers a valuable means of spreading the AIDS message.

A unique prevention program has trained Ram and more than 10,000 barbers in sterilizing their razors and scissors, and has also tutored them to promote condom use, recognize the symptoms of AIDS and answer commonly asked questions about the illness.
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