Sulfates

A new model of global warming that includes sulfates--byproducts of power plants that reflect sunlight and counteract warming--shows that the Earth's climate will continue to heat up until the entire world is warmer in 2050, British meteorologists report in the journal Nature. "We predict a future global mean warming of 0.54 degrees Fahrenheit per decade for greenhouse gases alone, or 0.36 degrees Fahrenheit per decade with sulfate aerosol forcing included," the report said. Critics of global warming theory have said current models do not successfully reflect what has happened in the past, and thus should not be used to predict weather patterns.

They wade into cold streams with color-wheel gauges to test phosphate, nitrate and sulfate levels. They scoop sediment from stream beds, noting its color and smell. Citizen scientists, they call themselves, volunteers who keep watch over Pennsylvania's waterways. Men like Jim Haney, a 67-year-old retired environmental engineer from New Cumberland, and Bud Bankert, a 73-year-old retired biology teacher.

Mysteriously high salt concentrations in the exposed soils of Antarctica's dry valleys--areas perennially devoid of snow and ice cover--are caused by sulfur-emitting marine algae, UC San Diego researchers report in today's Nature. In a discovery important for future Martian exploration, the scientists also found that digging more deeply into the soil of the dry valleys yielded higher concentrations of biologically produced sulfates.

Mysteriously high salt concentrations in the exposed soils of Antarctica's dry valleys--areas perennially devoid of snow and ice cover--are caused by sulfur-emitting marine algae, UC San Diego researchers report in today's Nature. In a discovery important for future Martian exploration, the scientists also found that digging more deeply into the soil of the dry valleys yielded higher concentrations of biologically produced sulfates.

A beauty queen with no hair ? that turns expectations upside down. At the 90th Miss America competition in Las Vegas last weekend, Miss Delaware, Kayla Martell, was that girl. Martell usually ? but not always ? competes for titles wearing a wig, but far from trying to hide her baldness, she uses her beauty queen status to raise awareness about alopecia areata, the autoimmune disease that caused her to lose her hair as a child. FOR THE RECORD: Women's hair loss: An article in the Image section elsewhere in this edition, about thinning hair in women, identified Dr. Monte O. Harris as being affiliated with Cultura cosmetic medical spa in Washington D.C. Harris is with the Center for Aesthetic Modernism in Chevy Chase, Md. The error was discovered after the section went to press.

That longtime staple of medicine cabinets, acetaminophen, appears to be under fire. Used to treat headaches, muscle aches and seemingly every other ache Americans have, the drug -- found most notably in the brand name pain reliever Tylenol -- has recently been called a potential danger to the millions of people who take it. But the drug itself hasn't changed. Nor have the number of problems associated with it. The only new element is public attention to its risks.

Fishermen never know what will start the fish biting--warmer weather, dark of the moon--but Lake Perris marina manager Charlie Lamkin notes that a surge in largemouth bass catches coincided when the Riverside County reservoir received a dose of copper sulfate to reduce algae the past week. "Maybe it was just a coincidence," Lamkin said, "but the bass really turned on."

They wade into cold streams with color-wheel gauges to test phosphate, nitrate and sulfate levels. They scoop sediment from stream beds, noting its color and smell. Citizen scientists, they call themselves, volunteers who keep watch over Pennsylvania's waterways. Men like Jim Haney, a 67-year-old retired environmental engineer from New Cumberland, and Bud Bankert, a 73-year-old retired biology teacher.

Thad and Sharon Brown and their children spend a lot of time upstairs in their $600,000 view home in the hills here. The view isn't necessarily any better, but downstairs, Brown says, is where a cancer is eating away at the very foundation of the house. Water seeping in through too-porous concrete has soaked the carpet in a guest room and the slab and foundation walls are chipping and flaking away.

A U.S. pharmaceutical company has agreed to produce an important tuberculosis drug that has been in critically short supply in this country for the last two years, federal health officials announced Monday. The drug, streptomycin sulfate, which is given by injection, will be manufactured by Pfizer Inc., of New York, under a special application recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Production should end a shortage that began in mid-1991 after the last U.S.

Thad and Sharon Brown and their children spend a lot of time upstairs in their $600,000 view home in the hills here. The view isn't necessarily any better, but downstairs, Brown says, is where a cancer is eating away at the very foundation of the house. Water seeping in through too-porous concrete has soaked the carpet in a guest room and the slab and foundation walls are chipping and flaking away.

A new model of global warming that includes sulfates--byproducts of power plants that reflect sunlight and counteract warming--shows that the Earth's climate will continue to heat up until the entire world is warmer in 2050, British meteorologists report in the journal Nature. "We predict a future global mean warming of 0.54 degrees Fahrenheit per decade for greenhouse gases alone, or 0.36 degrees Fahrenheit per decade with sulfate aerosol forcing included," the report said. Critics of global warming theory have said current models do not successfully reflect what has happened in the past, and thus should not be used to predict weather patterns.

A U.S. pharmaceutical company has agreed to produce an important tuberculosis drug that has been in critically short supply in this country for the last two years, federal health officials announced Monday. The drug, streptomycin sulfate, which is given by injection, will be manufactured by Pfizer Inc., of New York, under a special application recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Production should end a shortage that began in mid-1991 after the last U.S.

Fishermen never know what will start the fish biting--warmer weather, dark of the moon--but Lake Perris marina manager Charlie Lamkin notes that a surge in largemouth bass catches coincided when the Riverside County reservoir received a dose of copper sulfate to reduce algae the past week. "Maybe it was just a coincidence," Lamkin said, "but the bass really turned on."

Don't count on sulfur dioxide to bridle climate change. The ability of that pollutant to reflect the sun is not quite what it was assumed to be, according to new research. Sulfur dioxide -- a common pollutant from burning fossil fuels, contributes to the formation of aerosol particles in the atmosphere, which reflect sunlight. Figuring out just how much this can counteract greenhouse effects of carbon dioxide and other gases has remained one of the bigger uncertainties in climate modeling.

A new model of global warming that includes sulfates--byproducts of power plants that reflect sunlight and counteract warming--shows that the Earth's climate will continue to heat up until the entire world is warmer in 2050, British meteorologists report in the journal Nature. "We predict a future global mean warming of 0.54 degrees Fahrenheit per decade for greenhouse gases alone, or 0.36 degrees Fahrenheit per decade with sulfate aerosol forcing included," the report said.