Brief Points, April 2007

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▪ Thirteen of 19 smokers, including a two-pack-a-day fiend, suddenly and easily kicked the habit after they suffered stroke damage to their insulas—a part of the brain linked with emotion and feeling. The results suggest a new target for addiction therapy.

Science, January 26

▪ A nanomachine version of Maxwell's demon, a 19th-century thought-experiment protagonist who sorts faster gas molecules from slower ones, confirms that the second law of thermodynamics holds up.

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Nature, February 1

▪ Camera shudder: the Hubble Space Telescope's main camera has stopped working and may be damaged beyond repair; about two thirds of astronomers' observing programs requested to use that device.

NASA announcement, January 29

▪ The mere smell of food undoes the long life attainable from a calorie-restricted diet in fruit flies. Insects genetically engineered to lack a sense of smell did not lose the longevity benefit.

Science online, February 1

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