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Race Has Little Effect On People's Ability To Spot Family ResemblancesScientists have ample evidence that individuals use a variety of cues to identify their own kin. People can also detect resemblances in families other than their own. A new study shows that their success in doing so is the same, whether or not those families are the same race as themselves.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Sep 2009 | 12:00 pm Alcohol In Bloodstream Associated With Lower Risk Of Death From Head InjuryIndividuals with ethanol in their bloodstreams appear less likely to die following a moderate to severe head injury, according to a new report.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Sep 2009 | 12:00 pm Rare Discovery: Engraved Gemstone Carrying A Portrait Of Alexander The GreatA gemstone engraved with the portrait of Alexander the Great was uncovered during excavations by an archaeological team in Israel.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Sep 2009 | 12:00 pm Insufficient Levels Of Vitamin D Puts Elderly At Increased Risk Of Dying From Heart DiseaseA new study shows vitamin D plays a vital role in reducing the risk of death associated with older age. The just-published research found that older adults with insufficient levels of vitamin D die from heart disease at greater rates that those with adequate levels of the vitamin.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Sep 2009 | 12:00 pm Short-term Stress Enhances Anti-tumor Activity In Mice, Study ShowsResearchers have shown that, at least in laboratory mice, bouts of relatively short-term stress can boost the immune system and protect against one type of cancer. Furthermore, the beneficial effects of this occasional angst seem to last for weeks after the stressful situation has ended. The finding is surprising because chronic stress has the opposite effect -- taxing the immune system and increasing susceptibility to disease.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Sep 2009 | 12:00 pm Zooming To The Center Of The Milky Way: GigaGalaxy Zoom Phase 2The second of three images of ESO's GigaGalaxy Zoom project has just been released online. It is a new and wonderful 340-million-pixel vista of the central parts of our home galaxy as seen from ESO's Paranal Observatory with an amateur telescope.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Sep 2009 | 12:00 pm New Device Could More Effectively Alleviate Menstrual Cramp PainWhile most women experience minor pain during menstruation, for others, the pain can be severe enough to interfere with everyday activities and require medication. New research reveals initial findings of safety surrounding a new device that may more effectively treat menstrual pain.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Sep 2009 | 9:00 am Tanning May Be Associated With Moles In Very Light-skinned ChildrenVery light-skinned children without red hair who tan appear to develop more nevi (birthmarks, moles or other colored spots on the skin) than children who do not tan, according to a new report.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Sep 2009 | 9:00 am Ozone Layer Depletion Leveling Off, Satellite Data ShowBy merging more than a decade of atmospheric data from European satellites, scientists have compiled a homogeneous long-term ozone record that allows them to monitor total ozone trends on a global scale -- and the findings look promising.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Sep 2009 | 9:00 am In Search Of Dark Asteroids (And Other Sneaky Things)To hunt for the "ninjas" of the cosmos -- dim objects that lurk in the vast dark spaces between planets and stars -- scientists are building by far the most sensitive set of wide-angle infrared goggles ever, a space telescope called the Widefield Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE).Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Sep 2009 | 9:00 am Bid to jump-start climate talksWorld leaders are to meet to revitalise talks on climate change, with China expected to make major concessions.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 22 Sep 2009 | 4:35 am Eyes on China at high stakes UN climate meet (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 22 Sep 2009 | 3:59 am Global business chiefs urge 'robust' climate deal (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 22 Sep 2009 | 3:45 am In picturesWildlife haven's 40 years of National Trust ownershipSource: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 22 Sep 2009 | 3:09 am The Nation's weather (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 22 Sep 2009 | 3:09 am Airlines plan 'to cut emissions'The aviation industry is to pledge to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to half the 2005 levels by 2050.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 22 Sep 2009 | 2:37 am UN climate summit puts China, India in spotlight (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 21 Sep 2009 | 11:42 pm SLIDE SHOW: Carnivorous Plants' Evolution ExplainedWhy carnivorous plants evolved to have such an appetite has been something of a mystery.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 21 Sep 2009 | 11:30 pm Fed judge says grizzlies still threatened (AP)AP - Facing the combined pressures of climate change, hunters and lax protections, 600 grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park are going back on the threatened species list under a federal court order issued Monday.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 21 Sep 2009 | 7:40 pm Why Autumn Begins Tuesday (LiveScience.com)LiveScience.com - The first day of autumn - Sept. 22 this year - is no guarantee of fall-like weather, but officially the season's start comes around at the same time each year nonetheless.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 21 Sep 2009 | 6:42 pm Why Autumn Begins TuesdayThis year, fall starts Tuesday, because that is when the so-called autumnal equinox occurs (at 5:18 p.m. EDT).Source: Livescience.com | 21 Sep 2009 | 6:38 pm Psychic Detectives Allow Murderer to Escape Death PenaltyPsychic information failed to recover Brooke Wilberger, a university student missing since May 24, 2004.Source: Livescience.com | 21 Sep 2009 | 5:24 pm UK rivers failing new EU standardThree quarters of rivers in England and Wales fall below a new European environmental standard, according to a report.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 21 Sep 2009 | 5:05 pm Why doing good sometimes turns badResearchers have found that, after doing something ethically sound, people are more - not less - likely to do something immoral, or even illegal Green is good. You think before you print; you buy your organic whatever; you sort-of sympathise with the bumper sticker injunction to "live simply so that others may simply live". It might not be as cheap or as easy – but it's the right thing to do. Isn't it? Well, consider this: a person who makes the decent, green choice is much more likely to behave badly afterwards, according to researchers at the University of Toronto. Nina Mazar and Chen-Bo Zhong split 156 students between two online shops: one a conventional store, the other mainly selling green alternatives. Within both groups, some could actually buy things while others were allowed only to browse. All the students were then handed cash to share with an anonymous person however they chose. The students who had looked around the eco-shop but not bought anything gave most generously; mere exposure to the goods prompted them to behave better. However, those who had actually made green purchases were far stingier than even the conventional shoppers. Next, all the guinea pigs sat a simple computer test to identify repeatedly which side of the screen was showing more dots, with the twist that picking the right-hand side always earned them more money – even if it was incorrect. Finally, the students were told the amount they'd won, and invited to take that exact amount out of an envelope full of money. What happened? The conventional shoppers played it reasonably straight, whereas the green consumers cheated far more and even stole extra cash, pocketing nearly a third more money than they were entitled to. Having done their good deed, the greens apparently felt they'd proved their moral worth – allowing them to behave immorally and illegally. Psychologists call this "the licensing effect". Another recent study from Stanford University showed that white Americans who supported Obama were much more willing than others to express racist opinions. What the findings show is that expecting people to always make the right choices is unrealistic. The fight against climate change could require greater conscription than we are willing to admit. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 21 Sep 2009 | 5:05 pm Surprising, Huge Peaks Discovered in Saturn's Rings (SPACE.com)SPACE.com - Stunning new views of Saturn from a NASA spacecraft have revealed odd formations in the planet's trademark rings, including ripples as tall as the Rocky Mountains.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 21 Sep 2009 | 5:02 pm Organic food firms eyeing revivalSome of the biggest names in the UK's organic food industry are meeting later to find ways to revive flagging sales.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 21 Sep 2009 | 4:53 pm Robot Hops to Military DutyPrecision Urban Hopper robots, designed for urban warfare, can jump onto or over obstacles more than 25 feet.Source: Livescience.com | 21 Sep 2009 | 4:32 pm Cammy: A New Canadian Lake Monster?Move over, Sasquatch: Some say there's a new monster in Canada, living in a small lake on Vancouver Island.Source: Livescience.com | 21 Sep 2009 | 4:00 pm Saturn Equinox Reveals Mountains in Rings
The fortuitous lighting of Saturn’s equinox has revealed the planet’s famously smooth, flat rings are actually corrugated.
During the days immediately after the August 11 equinox, the sun’s rays struck the rings at very low angles, bringing their topography into high-relief. For scientists studying the rings, the event happening once every 15 years provided an unprecedentedly dimensional view of the rings. They were thought to be about 30 feet thick — and they are, generally speaking — but the Cassini spacecraft has revealed regions that are nearly two miles high. “Like the seas of Earth, this wide icy expanse has settled into a mathematically precise cast that, here and there, froths and churns, not by wind but by the convulsive forces of Saturnian moons,” Carolyn Porco, Cassini imaging team leader at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, wrote in her Captain’s Log. “This famous adornment, impressed deep in the human mind for four centuries as a pure, two-dimensional form, has now, as if by trickery, sprung into the third dimension.” There are several different types of clumps and corrugations and walls within the rings. Scientists have different theories about how the structures might form. Some of them, they know, are caused by Saturn’s moons. “It turns out that as the orbits of the moons are a little inclined relative to the ring plane, they pull the particles out of the plane,” said Linda Spilker, Cassini deputy project scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. In the picture above, the ring mountains can be seen at the upper right casting a shadow on the gray ring to the right. They were pulled up out of the ring plane by the moon Daphnis. Other structures seen in the rings are more mysterious. Corrugations across the C and D rings could have been caused by a collision with some kind of space object, but Spilker said the Cassini team isn’t sure about that. In general, the scientists were surprised by the amount of height variation within the rings, most of which they were only able to see because of the good timing of the mission. “It was very lucky that we had Cassini at the rings at the right time,” Spilker said. The image at the top of the post shows Saturn a day and a half after the equinox. It has been enhanced to increase the drama of the view, and Porco provided a wonderfully detailed explanation of how the image was created. “To improve their visibility, the dark (right) half of the rings has been brightened relative to the brighter (left) half by a factor of three, and then the whole ring system has been brightened by a factor of 20 relative to the planet,” Porco wrote. “So the dark half of the rings is 60 times brighter, and the bright half 20 times brighter, than they would have appeared if the entire system, planet included, could have been captured in a single image.” Images: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute. See Also:
WiSci 2.0: Alexis Madrigal’s Twitter, Google Reader feed, and green tech history research site; Wired Science on Twitter and Facebook.
Source: Wired: Wired Science | 21 Sep 2009 | 3:57 pm Opponents ask Salazar to halt offshore drilling (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 21 Sep 2009 | 3:50 pm Smoking bans may reduce heart attacks by more than a thirdThe number of heart attacks has fallen steeply in countries where bans on smoking in public places have been introduced, according to two independent reviews The ban on smoking in public places could reduce heart attacks by more than a third in some parts of the world, say researchers. Two independent health reviews have found that heart attack rates dropped steeply in areas where bans have been introduced, with one reporting 36% fewer cases three years after smoke-free legislation came in. Smoking in pubs, restaurants and other public spaces was banned in England and Wales in July 2007, a year after similar laws were introduced in Scotland. The Scottish ban led to a 14% fall in the number of people being admitted to hospital with a heart attack the following year. A Department of Health study of heart attack rates in England and Wales is not due to report until next year, but experts believe the number of cases in the regions has already fallen by around 10% as a result of the smoking ban. The latest reviews, which draw on published studies from the US, Canada, France, Italy, Ireland and Scotland, suggest heart attacks in Britain will fall even further over the next two years. "While we obviously won't bring heart attack rates to zero, these findings give us evidence that in the short to medium term, smoking bans will prevent a lot of heart attacks," said James Lightwood, a health economist at the University of California in San Francisco and co-author of one of the reviews, published in the US journal Circulation. Dr Lightwood analysed 13 published reports on heart attacks in countries or states where smoking bans have been introduced. A year after the bans were brought in, heart attacks had fallen by an average of 17%. After three years, the number of heart attacks had dropped by 36%. "This study adds to the already strong evidence that secondhand smoke causes heart attacks, and that passing 100% smoke-free laws in all work places and public places is something we can do to protect the public," Dr Lightwood said. Heart attacks may fall more modestly in Britain than other European countries because many workplaces imposed smoking bans before nationwide laws were passed. A second review, by David Meyers at the University of Kansas, drew on 10 studies from the same regions. His report, which is published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, found heart attacks had fallen by 17% on average a year after smoking bans were imposed. Most of the benefit was seen among young people and non-smokers. Smoking doubles the risk of heart attack by making blood clots form more easily and, in the longer term, by hardening the arteries. Passive smokers, who regularly inhale tobacco fumes from others, have around a 30% greater risk of heart attack. Nearly 10m people in Britain smoke and around 114,000 die each year of smoking-related diseases. According to figures released by the Department of Health today, the NHS has saved 70,000 lives by supporting those who want to quit. "The public smoking ban is the single most important and cost-effective health policy we have. The amount of money it will save the NHS is enormous," said John Britton, director of the UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies at Nottingham University. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 21 Sep 2009 | 3:00 pm Tyrannosaur Found Mauled by KinThe excavated jaw bone of a tyrannosaur reveals that it was attacked by its own kind.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 21 Sep 2009 | 2:45 pm U.S. scientists net giant squid in Gulf of MexicoWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. scientists in the Gulf of Mexico unexpectedly netted a 19.5-foot (5.9-meter) giant squid off the coast of Louisiana, the Interior Department said on Monday, showing how little is known about life in the deep waters of the Gulf.Source: Reuters: Science News | 21 Sep 2009 | 2:28 pm U.S. scientists net giant squid in Gulf of Mexico (Reuters)Reuters - U.S. scientists in the Gulf of Mexico unexpectedly netted a 19.5-foot (5.9-meter) giant squid off the coast of Louisiana, the Interior Department said on Monday, showing how little is known about life in the deep waters of the Gulf.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 21 Sep 2009 | 2:28 pm Space shuttle Discovery back home in Florida (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 21 Sep 2009 | 1:23 pm Why Odd Egg-Laying Mammals Still ExistSome mammals still reap a survival benefit from laying eggs.Source: Livescience.com | 21 Sep 2009 | 1:06 pm Wow! This Robot Can HopThe Precision Urban Hopper robot, designed for urban combat situations, can hop 25 feet to clear fences and other object.Source: Livescience.com | 21 Sep 2009 | 12:26 pm Recession Causes Steep Fall in CO2 EmissionsGlobal recession causes largest decline in emissions in last 40 years.Source: Livescience.com | 21 Sep 2009 | 12:15 pm Wave firm generates investmentThe company behind the Oyster wave-powered generator raises £10m of investment from its first round of fund-raising.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 21 Sep 2009 | 12:14 pm New View of the Center of the Galaxy
With a simple digital camera attached to a 10-centimeter telescope in Chile’s Atacama Desert, an astrophotographer has produced a stunning image of the center of the Milky Way.
The mosaic is part of the European Southern Observatory’s GigaGalaxy Zoom project, which released its first image, a human-eye view of the sky, on September 14 (SN Online: 9/14/09). The ESO developed the project, which features this and other images by Stéphane Guisard to celebrate the 400th aniversary of Galileo’s first use of the telescope to view the heavens. Image: European Southern Observatory See Also:
Source: Wired: Wired Science | 21 Sep 2009 | 12:12 pm Private Firms Preparing for Moon FlightsFirms aren't waiting on NASA -- they're building spaceships to land on the moon.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 21 Sep 2009 | 11:50 am BLOG: The Mars of H.G. WellsOn H.G. Wells' 143rd birthday, the scenario of a Mars invasion remains riveting.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 21 Sep 2009 | 11:20 am WATCH: Is It Future Yet?: MoonbaseThe next time NASA sends astronauts to the moon, they may be there to stay.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 21 Sep 2009 | 11:00 am New Worm Species Discovered on Dead WhalesNew worm species were discovered on whale carcasses.Source: Livescience.com | 21 Sep 2009 | 10:48 am Have We Become a Nation of Narcissists?What rapper Kanye West, tennis star Serena Williams, and Congressman Joe Wilson have in common.Source: Livescience.com | 21 Sep 2009 | 10:14 am Waterboarding Doesn’t Work, Scientists Say
Severe interrogation techniques like waterboarding, sleep deprivation, stress positions and the exploitation of phobias aren’t just morally reprehensible, they’re based on bad science, destroying the very memories they’re supposed to recover. “There is a vast literature on the effects of extreme stress on motivation, mood and memory, using both animals and humans,” writes Shane O’Mara, a stress researcher at Ireland’s Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience. “These techniques cause severe, repeated and prolonged stress, which compromises brain tissue supporting memory and executive function.” So-called “enhanced interrogation” was used on suspected terrorists during the Bush administration, and sparked a bitter argument over the nature of torture and its use by the United States. Enhanced interrogation was officially banned by President Obama, but almost certainly continues as part of Obama’s ongoing rendition program, which sends suspects to torture-practicing countries. Some intelligence officials, from former Vice President Dick Cheney to current intelligence chief Dennis Blair, defend enhanced interrogation as an useful tool in pulling information from terrorists who refuse to talk. But many intelligence officers say that such information has little value, because people being tortured will say anything to make it stop. A report published by the Intelligence Science Board in 2007 found that no research existed to support the use of enhanced interrogation. And O’Mara’s review, published Monday in Trends in Cognitive Science, describes a wealth of science that supports ending the practice. O’Mara derides the belief that extreme stress produces reliable memory as “folk neurobiology” that “is utterly unsupported by scientific evidence.” The hippocampus and prefrontal cortex — the brain’s centers of memory processing, storage and retrieval — are profoundly altered by stress hormones. Keep the stress up long enough, and it will “result in compromised cognitive function and even tissue loss,” warping the minds that interrogators want to read. What’s more, tortured suspects might not even realize when they’re lying. Frontal lobe damage can produce false memories: As torture is maintained for weeks or months or years, suspects may incorporate their captors’ allegations into their own version of reality. The “ticking time bomb” argument has been used to justify torture in situations where the information it retrieves could immediately save lives. But it will be “difficult or impossible to determine during interrogation whether the information a suspect reveals is true,” writes O’Mara — and the bomb will continue to tick. See Also:
Citation: “Torturing the Brain: On the Folk Psychology and Folk Neurobiology Motivating ‘Enhanced and Coercive Interrogation Techniques.’” By Shane O’Mara. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Vol. 13, Issue 10, Sept. 21, 2009. Image: A waterboarding device used by the Khmer Rouge/Courtesy Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and Wikimedia Commons. Brandon Keim’s Twitter stream and reportorial outtakes, Wired Science on Twitter.
Source: Wired: Wired Science | 21 Sep 2009 | 10:07 am Recession and policies cut carbonThe global recession has brought a significant drop in greenhouse gas emissions, says the International Energy Agency.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 21 Sep 2009 | 10:03 am How Mars Turned Red: Surprising New TheoryMars' red hue could result from a different process than previously thought, scientists found.Source: Livescience.com | 21 Sep 2009 | 9:56 am Paralyzed Rats Regain Their FootingParalyzed rats were made to walk again with a technique that may work for people.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 21 Sep 2009 | 9:30 am Scorched earthKenya drought takes its toll on people and wildlifeSource: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 21 Sep 2009 | 9:07 am Protected birds killed in MaltaThe bodies of 150 protected birds are found stashed on the Mediterranean island of Malta as activists search what they call a "major crime scene".Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 21 Sep 2009 | 7:42 am SLIDE SHOW: Top 10 Volcanic BlastsTake a tour of 10 of the top super eruptions of the past.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 21 Sep 2009 | 7:40 am An atheist sings the praises of CreationThe Charles Darwin biopic Creation contains one of the most robust defences of atheism and agnosticism ever to appear in a mainstream film, says Ariane Sherine From the Book of Genesis to Haydn's great oratorio, the concept of "creation" is inextricably linked to the whole "built-world-in-six-days-then- The film is based on the biography Annie's Box by conservationist Randal Keynes, one of Darwin's great-great-grandsons. It spans the years between 1841, just after the birth of his beloved daughter Annie, and 1859 – as he submits the only manuscript for On the Origin of Species, worryingly placing the most revolutionary idea in the history of thought on the back of a rickety old cart. The intervening portrayal, sketched by a brilliant and beardless Paul Bettany, is that of a diffident, tortured and conflicted genius who propagates a scientific revolution despite the grumpiness of his devoutly religious wife Emma (played by Bettany's real-life spouse, Jennifer Connelly). Inevitably, Darwin's story has been narrativised, tightened and passed through a dullness filter to Hollywoodify it (no reference to his work The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms here). Purists will grumble at the melodramatic sequences between Emma and Charles, laden with poetic licence at its most inventive, while several minor details are historically inaccurate, such as locations (and the science stuff wouldn't stymie a nine-year-old). However, even Darwin pedants should see this as a timely, compelling and essential reminder of his brain-boggling contribution to our understanding of the world. It also contains one of the most robust defences of atheism and agnosticism ever to appear in a mainstream film. A kind, funny and humble family man, Darwin is as endearing as they come, and yet he refuses to sing or pray in church, walks abruptly out of a service and takes issue with the cruel local vicar. He can't accept the idea of a God who would knowingly create parasitic, tortuous creatures, or sculpt a system featuring so much natural wastage. The guileless candour of his winsome and fiercely bright daughter also encourages Darwin to pursue his scientific endeavours. Evolution and doubt are equated with truth and courage throughout the film, and the adverse consequences of blind faith and superstition are amply demonstrated. The film is nuanced and intelligent enough, however, not to cast all its religious characters as merely backward. Emma is a complex yet ultimately sympathetic God-botherer; in the end, paradoxically, she is redeemed in the eyes of the viewer by a faithless yet utterly faithful gesture. Conversely, the god-free Thomas Huxley, best known as "Darwin's bulldog", cuts a rather bullying and mocking figure. When he jibes: "You've killed God, sir", Darwin's sense of alarm is both palpable and understandable, given the prevailing Victorian attitudes towards faith. Creation has a rare emotional pull, and several moments are deeply sobering. At the end of one of the film's finest pieces of dialogue, Darwin's closest friend Joseph Hooker pleads with him, "All of us [scientists] are fighting the same battle – you could win it for us." And yet, 150 years later, between 40% and 50% of Americans still believe in the literal truth of the Biblical account of the universe's origins, and the largely creationist religious right still has the power to influence US law-making. The battle may be easier now, but it is far from won. Let's hope (but never pray) that one stateside distributor sees sense and risks the inevitable opprobrium to screen this film where it is most needed. It could help Genesis literalists evolve. Creation, like the 13.7-billion-year-old universe itself, is truly glorious. Ariane Sherine is a television comedy writer and journalist from London. A blog she wrote for the Guardian last year kickstarted the Atheist Bus Campaign guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 21 Sep 2009 | 7:02 am Cursive Writing a Fading SkillWhat used to be called "penmanship" is being shunted aside at schools.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 21 Sep 2009 | 6:57 am 'Millions at risk' as deltas sinkMost of the world's major river deltas are sinking due to dams and the extraction of gas and groundwater, a study shows.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 21 Sep 2009 | 6:25 am
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