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Mercury Levels In Children With Autism And Those Developing Typically Are The Same, Study FindsIn a large population-based study, researchers report that after adjusting for a number of factors, typically developing children and children with autism have similar levels of mercury in their blood streams.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 20 Oct 2009 | 9:00 am Smart Rat 'Hobbie-J' Produced By Over-expressing A Gene That Helps Brain Cells CommunicateOver-expressing a gene that lets brain cells communicate just a fraction of a second longer makes a smarter rat.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 20 Oct 2009 | 9:00 am Shark Teeth Provide Key To North Sea’s Climatic PastA team of German and British scientists have used fossilised shark teeth to reconstruct the climate of the North Sea during the Palaeogene period, between 40 and 60 million years ago. The results suggest that the North Sea was for a brief period isolated from surrounding oceans, resulting in surface-water freshening and a significant reduction in the diversity of life.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 20 Oct 2009 | 9:00 am Distracted By A Cell Phone? Some Cell Phone Users Fail To See Unicycling Clown Passing ThemEveryone tends to float off into space once in a while and fail to see what is sitting there right in front of them. Recently researchers decided to put the theory of "inattentional blindness" to the test: the unicycling clown test. They documented real-world examples of people who were so distracted by their cell phone use that they failed to see the bizarre occurrence of a unicycling clown passing them on the street.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 20 Oct 2009 | 9:00 am Study Shows How Substance In Grapes May Squeeze Out DiabetesA naturally produced molecule called resveratrol, found in the skin of red grapes, has been shown to lower insulin levels in mice when injected directly into the brain, even when the animals ate a high-fat diet.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 20 Oct 2009 | 9:00 am Detecting The Undetectable In Prostate Cancer ScreeningResearchers, using an extremely sensitive tool based on nanotechnology, have detected previously undetectable levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in patients who have undergone radical prostatectomy. With technology 300 times more sensitive than commercially available PSA tests, the researchers found measureable PSA levels in each post-operative patient in its study. After the removal of the prostate gland, patients typically have PSA levels that are undetectable when measured using conventional diagnostic tools.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 20 Oct 2009 | 9:00 am Checkered History Of Mother And Daughter Cells Explains Cell Cycle DifferencesNew research reveals that regulatory differences between mother and daughter cells during cell division are directly linked to how they prepare for their next split.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 20 Oct 2009 | 6:00 am Added Oxygen During Stroke Reduces Brain Tissue DamageScientists have countered findings of previous clinical trials by showing that giving supplemental oxygen to animals during a stroke can reduce damage to brain tissue surrounding the clot. The timing of the delivery of 100 percent oxygen -- either by mask or in a hyperbaric chamber -- is critical to achieving the benefit, however.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 20 Oct 2009 | 6:00 am Children's Blood Lead Levels Linked To Lower Test ScoresExposure to lead in early childhood significantly contributes to lower performances on end-of-grade reading tests among minority and low-income children, according to researchers.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 20 Oct 2009 | 6:00 am Killer Algae: Key Player In Mass ExtinctionsSupervolcanoes and cosmic impacts get all the terrible glory for causing mass extinctions, but a new theory suggests lowly algae may be the killer behind the world's great species annihilations.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 20 Oct 2009 | 6:00 am The nation's weather (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 20 Oct 2009 | 4:01 am 0° 0' 00"How Greenwich become home to standardised time?Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 20 Oct 2009 | 3:44 am Water wonderHow fog nets are helping Peru's parched capitalSource: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 20 Oct 2009 | 3:43 am Eagles filmed hunting reindeerExtraordinary camera footage taken by a BBC crew proves that golden eagles do hunt and kill reindeer.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 20 Oct 2009 | 3:27 am The inner meMaths professor probes his own consciousnessSource: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 20 Oct 2009 | 3:14 am EU farm ministers refuse to okay new GM maize strains (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 20 Oct 2009 | 2:58 am Leech helps police catch armed robberTasmanian police match DNA to blood extracted from leech that dropped off robber in 2001 A blood-swollen leech found at a crime scene eight years ago has led Australian police to an armed robber. The leech dropped off Peter Cannon as he and an accomplice tied a 71-year-old woman to a chair in her remote home in the Tasmanian woods and stole several hundred dollars in cash in September 2001, police said. Officials extracted blood from the leech that they believed was likely to have come from one of the two suspects. They identified Cannon as that culprit when he was arrested last year on unrelated drug charges and authorities for the first time recorded his DNA profile. Sally Kelty, a forensic science researcher, said the case could be the first in which investigators had used DNA extracted from a bloodsucker such as a leech or a mosquito to solve a crime. "It's certainly unique and shows how the boundaries of DNA technology have been pushed since it was first introduced to Australia 22 years ago," she said. Cannon, now 54, pleaded guilty in the Tasmanian supreme court yesterday to aggravated armed robbery. He will be sentenced on Friday and faces up to 21 years in prison. Detective Inspector Mick Johnston, who was involved in the police investigation, said the leech was the only forensic evidence found at the crime scene. He said he was happy with the guilty plea, especially for the victim, Fay Olson. "She's waited a long time for closure to this matter and it's nice to be able to deliver that," Johnson told ABC radio. Police are still searching for Cannon's accomplice. 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 | 20 Oct 2009 | 2:47 am Toyota pushes into SKorea, home turf of Hyundai (AP)AP - Toyota is making a push into South Korea — the home market of international rival Hyundai Motor Co. — introducing four models including the Camry and Prius while downplaying the move as a direct challenge to domestic automakers.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 20 Oct 2009 | 2:42 am Experts back folic acid in breadFolic acid should be added to bread on a mandatory basis, the Food Standards Agency has advised government.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 20 Oct 2009 | 2:23 am FBI arrests US scientist on spy chargesStewart David Nozette attempted to pass on secrets to an FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer, say charges A scientist credited with helping discover evidence of water on the moon has been arrested on charges of attempting to pass on classified information to an FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer. The US justice department said Stewart David Nozette, 52, was charged with attempting to communicate, deliver and transmit classified information to an individual he believed to be an Israeli intelligence officer. The criminal complaint against Nozette does not allege that Israel's government or anyone acting on its behalf violated US law. In Jerusalem, where the story broke late at night, Israeli government officials had no immediate comment. Nozette, from Maryland, was arrested yesterday by FBI agents. He is expected to appear in federal court in Washington today. In an affidavit supporting the complaint, Leslie Martell, a FBI agent, said that on 3 September, Nozette received a telephone call from an individual purporting to be an Israeli intelligence officer. The caller was an undercover FBI agent. Nozette agreed to meet with the agent later that day at a hotel in Washington. During the meeting the two discussed Nozette's willingness to work for Israeli intelligence. The scientist allegedly said that he had, in the past, held top security clearances and had access to US satellite information, the affidavit said. Nozette also was alleged to have said he would be willing to answer questions about this information in exchange for money. According to the affidavit, the agent explained that the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, would arrange for a communication system so Nozette could pass on information in a post office box. Nozette agreed to provide regular, continuing information and asked for an Israeli passport, the government alleged. The affidavit then alleged the following sequence of events: • 4 September: Nozette and the agent met again in the same hotel. The scientist allegedly said that while he no longer had legal access to any classified information at a US government facility, he could, nonetheless, recall classified information by memory. He allegedly asked when he could expect to receive his first payment, saying he preferred cash amounts "under 10,000" so he would not have to report it. (Anti-money laundering laws require that all transactions of $10,000 (£6,000) or more must be reported to the US tax authorities). Nozette allegedly told the agent, "Well, I should tell you my first need is that they should figure out how to pay me ... They don't expect me to do this for free." • 10 September: Undercover FBI agents left a letter in the designated post office box, asking Nozette to answer a list of questions about US satellite information. The agents provided a $2,000 cash payment. Serial numbers of the bills were recorded. • 16 September: Nozette was captured on videotape leaving a manila envelope in the post office box. The next day, agents retrieved the sealed envelope and found, among other things, a one-page document containing answers to the questions and an encrypted computer thumb drive. One answer contained information, classified as secret, that concerned capabilities of a prototype overhead collection system. • 17 September: Agents left a second letter in the post office box with another list of questions about US satellite information. The FBI also left a cash payment of $9,000. Nozette allegedly retrieved the questions and the money the same day. • 1 October: Nozette was videotaped leaving a manila envelope in the post office box. FBI agents retrieved it and found a second set of answers. The responses contained information classified as top secret and secret, involving US satellites, early warning systems, means of defence or retaliation against large-scale attack, communications intelligence information, and major elements of defence strategy. Nozette had worked in varying jobs for the department of energy, the national aeronautics and space, and in the national space council in the president's office in 1989 and 1990. The scientist developed the Clementine bistatic radar experiment that purportedly discovered water on the south pole of the moon. He worked from approximately 1990 to 1999 at the department of energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, where he designed highly advanced technology. At the department of energy, Nozette held a special security clearance equivalent to the defence department top secret and "critical nuclear weapon design information" clearances. Department of energy clearances apply to access to information specifically relating to atomic or nuclear-related materials. Nozette also held top offices at the Alliance for Competitive Technology, a nonprofit company that he organised in March 1990. Between January 2000 and February 2006, Nozette, through his company, had several agreements to develop advanced technology for the US government. He performed some of the research and development at the US Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency in Arlington, Virginia, and at Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, Maryland. 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 | 20 Oct 2009 | 1:42 am China-EU summit set for November 30 in Nanjing: EU (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 20 Oct 2009 | 1:40 am Kuwait plans to spend 63 bln dls on mega projects (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 20 Oct 2009 | 1:31 am NASA pushes back Atlantis launch date to November 16 (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 20 Oct 2009 | 1:26 am Roll-out for Nasa's test rocketThe US space agency rolls out its Ares 1-X rocket as it tests the design concept of a future astronaut launcher.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 19 Oct 2009 | 11:30 pm Reliance Ind eyeing refineries in U.S., Europe - report (Reuters)Reuters - Indian energy giant Reliance Industries is in preliminary talks with U.S.-based Valero Energy, Sunoco and Flying J to buy refineries, the Business Standard newspaper reported, citing unidentified sources.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 19 Oct 2009 | 10:54 pm Prayers offered as typhoon nears Philippines (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 19 Oct 2009 | 9:42 pm Europeans find 32 new planets outside solar system (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 19 Oct 2009 | 6:46 pm 'Quick test' for airport liquidsScientists say they have come up with a quick technique for detecting liquids that could be used as explosives.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 19 Oct 2009 | 6:13 pm Coming soon: the bionic pensionersGeneration set to live to 100 will benefit from from £50m bio-technology research project Expect not only a ripe old age but a fit old age, scientists said yesterday at the launch of a research initiative on replacing worn-out body parts and allowing everyone to be as active in their second half-century as they were in their first. More than half of all babies born today in rich nations will live to be 100, according to research published recently in the Lancet. But as joints begin to crumble, arteries fur up and teeth fall out, the prospect may not always be a happy one. At the University of Leeds, the country's biggest bioengineering unit and the world leader in artificial joint replacement research is co-ordinating a project that aims to give people 50 active years after the age of 50. The bionic pensioner of the future could have new hip and knee joints that last for 50 years instead of 20, with new cartilage in the knee and a replacement kneecap. He or she might have a new heart valve and patches on their arteries. Crucially, the technology exists or is fast being developed to ensure the body does not reject the parts as they will appear to its immune system as if they are its own. Funding of £50m has come from research councils, charities and industry. The aim is to bring together scientists and engineers from all over the UK and turn their discoveries into real applications. "None of us is getting any younger," said Professor Eileen Ingham, deputy director of Leeds' Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering. "These advanced therapies will be available to help people, but only if we can take these world-class ideas and turn them into tangible products. The UK has had a historical inability to take innovations and translate them into best practices, but we do have some really good science." Among the institute's achievements are heart valves that will not be rejected by the body and could last a lifetime. Donated human heart valves are put through a procedure to strip them of all foreign DNA that could lead to them being rejected. "They go through a series of washes with buffers, detergents and enzymes to gently remove the living cells and remnants of the cell membranes," said Ingham. The surgeon implants the residual scaffold and the patient's body does the rest, populating the valve with cells. The valve works from the start, and colonisation with the patient's cells prevents rejection. In animal studies this took six to nine months. Forty patients in the first clinical trial in Brazil had such heart valves implanted. "Four years down the line they are not being rejected," said Ingham. The technology has been licensed to NHS Blood and Transplant, partners in the initiative, so it will be available on the health service. The same techniques can be used to create new cartilage and skin for burns victims. The transplants are no longer living tissue, and can be stored in the hospital in a bag, ready for surgeons to use. Professor John Fisher, director of the institute, said he believed the programme could deliver 10 new products within five years, and halve the time such innovations take to get to market. "By 2015 we absolutely believe we will be delivering improvements for patients, through the NHS or in commercial products that will be sold throughout the world," he said. 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 | 19 Oct 2009 | 6:12 pm In picturesThe endangered wild apples of KazakhstanSource: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 19 Oct 2009 | 5:56 pm Stem cell transplants stalled blindness in ratsCHICAGO (Reuters) - Nerve stem cell transplants may help slow the progression of macular degeneration, the most common cause of blindness in the developed world, U.S. researchers said on Monday.Source: Reuters: Science News | 19 Oct 2009 | 5:56 pm Stem cell transplants stalled blindness in rats (Reuters)Reuters - Nerve stem cell transplants may help slow the progression of macular degeneration, the most common cause of blindness in the developed world, U.S. researchers said on Monday.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 19 Oct 2009 | 5:56 pm Climate treaty now 'more do-able'Prospects for a global climate treaty advanced during talks in London between big-emitting countries, the UK says.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 19 Oct 2009 | 5:43 pm Growing doubts about HIV vaccineExperts raise concerns about the reliability of the trial of a vaccine which appeared to protect against HIV.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 19 Oct 2009 | 5:03 pm Ex-U.S. government scientist arrested for attempted spyingWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former U.S. government scientist was arrested on Monday for attempted espionage in an undercover operation with FBI agents posing as Israeli intelligence officers, the Justice Department said.Source: Reuters: Science News | 19 Oct 2009 | 4:47 pm Why Pygmies Are Small
The Grim Reaper can cut life short and, under the right circumstances, whittle those still standing down to the size of pygmies. That’s the controversial conclusion of a new study, published in the October Current Anthropology, that found that stature declined as death rates rose in three small-bodied populations over a 115-year period.
Stock and Andrea Migliano, both anthropologists at the University of Cambridge, say that their findings support a scenario in which most females are able to reproduce at relatively young ages, probably in response to high mortality rates, This physical trait then becomes more common from one generation to the next. Early-maturing bodies divert physiological resources away from growth, yielding small bodies as a side effect, the researchers hypothesize. Critics of this argument suspect that environmental challenges, such as nutritional deficiencies or cramped forest quarters, prompted the evolution of short-statured populations. Researchers have traditionally defined pygmies as populations with an average adult male height of no more than 155 centimeters, or about 5 feet, 1 inch. Hunter-gatherer groups classified as pygmies live in various regions, including Africa, Indonesia, the Philippines and the Andaman Islands, which lie southeast of Burma.
Stock and Migliano analyzed data from 11 British government and anthropological studies of Andaman Islanders conducted between 1871 and 1986. Investigations included a range of health and physical measures for 604 individuals from three pygmy groups — the Great Andamanese, the Onge and the Jarawa. Data also included population approximations for each group across time. Despite describing a small number of people who may have been assessed with varying degrees of accuracy, these studies provide the only long-term glimpse of growth changes within different pygmy groups, Stock says. British colonies were first established on the Andaman Islands in 1858 and remained until 1947. Onge and Jarawa pygmies, who lived on separate islands, retreated into forests to avoid the British. Great Andamanese pygmies befriended the newcomers. As a result, Great Andamanese individuals were exposed to infectious diseases against which they had no defense, including influenza, tuberculosis, measles and syphilis. Their approximate numbers dropped from 6,000 in 1858 to 600 in 1900. A low of 19 Great Andamanese individuals was recorded during the 1960s, but the population survives. British historical records show that average heights for the Great Andamanese dropped markedly during the period of increased mortality, Stock and Migliano say. From 1879 to 1927, the average height of men who were measured decreased at a rate equivalent to 4.7 centimeters, or nearly 2 inches, every 100 years. Measured height declines for women were equivalent to 1.8 centimeters, or almost three-quarters of an inch, every 100 years. Data from the 19th century were unavailable for the other two pygmy groups that avoided the British. But Onge men and women displayed average height increases from 1927 to 1962, after British attempts to interact with them had stopped. Onge population numbers declined from 1901 to 1951, although not as steeply as among the Great Andamanese. Jarawa individuals were first measured in 1985. Average heights of 155 centimeters for men and 147 centimeters, or about 4 feet, 10 inches, for women exceeded all average heights recorded for the other two pygmy groups. Population estimates for the Jarawa held stable during the colonial period, the researchers say. A related 2007 study led by Migliano reported that pygmies in Africa and the Philippines tend to stop growing by early adolescence, have low life expectancies and begin reproducing at younger ages than taller hunter-gatherers. That pattern of findings also fits the idea that pygmy-sized bodies occur as a by-product of an evolved tendency for women to become fertile early in life, Stock says. Anthropologist Brian Shea of Northwestern University calls such evidence “interesting but irrelevant to the origin of small body size in human pygmy groups.” Stock and Migliano document short-term, environmentally induced changes in height that would affect the size of any population, Shea contends. This process can’t explain the origin of pygmies, he says. He and a colleague have measured differing limb proportions in East African and West African pygmies. Other researchers have found slowed growth during childhood for Africa’s Mbuti pygmies, apparently due to reduced levels of a key growth hormone. Such data suggest that these groups have evolved small bodies in direct response to as yet unidentified, long-term challenges in distinctive habitats, Shea says. Despite past high mortality rates, Stock and Migliano have no solid evidence that any Andaman Island pygmies mature exceptionally fast, remarks anthropologist Barry Bogin of Loughborough University in England. Historical accounts indicate that Andaman Island females married at ages as young as 11, but those sources don’t indicate whether the girls were sexually mature at marriage, Bogin notes. Stock and Migliano found no evidence of malnutrition, but they can’t rule out that that a lack of one or more essential nutrients in the diets of Andaman Island pygmies impeded growth, he adds. “Longitudinal studies of pygmies and other short-statured people, with detailed nutritional and health information, are the only way to study this issue,” Bogin says. Image: German anthropologist Egon von Eickstedt posed with Onge hunter-gatherers during a trip to the Andaman Islands in 1928./ Haddon Library, University of Cambridge See Also:
Source: Wired: Wired Science | 19 Oct 2009 | 4:14 pm 3 Detroit Marathon Deaths Likely a FlukeThe deaths of three runners at Sunday's Detroit Marathon were tragic, but probably not representative of any increasing danger inherent in the sport.Source: Livescience.com | 19 Oct 2009 | 4:10 pm Hadron collider: A very lucky universeSo ripples from the future are stymying the particle collider? It's more likely to be a multiverse thing In a desperate attempt to explain why Cern's Large Hadron Collider has suffered a series of mishaps preventing it from commencing its search for the elusive Higgs Boson particle, respectable physicists have suggested (apparently in all seriousness) that nature abhors the Higgs so much that ripples from the future are travelling back in time to stop the Switzerland-based particle accelerator working. Reports of the emergence of these theories have prompted renewed contemplation of the "granny paradox", which some think debunks the very idea of time travel. In this scenario, a time traveller goes into the past and inadvertently causes the death of his/her granny, before the traveller's parents are born. So the traveller never goes back in time, so granny doesn't die – and, well, so on. I have a much simpler explanation for the collider's plight. Its failure is related to the existence of other universes, the "parallel worlds" beloved of science-fiction writers. This theory suggests there are many – perhaps infinitely many – universes, some more or less like our own, some very different. This is not an idea confined to science fiction; it is respectable scientific speculation. Such universes are thought to exist in their own sets of space and time dimensions, and include worlds where key turning points in history, such as the Battle of Hastings, turned out differently from the way things happened in our world. The physicist Hugh Everett proved half a century ago that this "many worlds" idea is completely compatible with everything we know about the way the world works, and is a natural feature of quantum physics. In the classic "thought experiment" to demonstrate this, a moggy, known as Schrödinger's cat, is either killed or not killed by what the physicist Erwin Schrödinger called a "diabolical device" operating on quantum principles. After the "experiment" (I should stress that nobody has ever actually subjected a cat to this indignity), according to the quantum rules the universe divides so that there is one universe with a dead cat and one with a live cat. Extrapolating this to cover every event that has ever happened in the universe implies that there are many universes in which experiments equivalent to the one at Cern are being attempted. But there is a problem with such experiments. When the Large Hadron Collider was planned, some scientists speculated that it might destroy the universe we live in. This would happen if the empty space that surrounds us is in a state called the false vacuum. The best analogy to the false vacuum is a large, placid lake of water, behind a dam, high in the mountains. Everything is calm and peaceful – but if the dam breaks, the lake disappears as water rushes to a lower level. Conceivably, if the universe is in a false vacuum state, a collider such as Cern's could punch a hole in the fabric of space, like a hole in the dam, allowing the entire universe to fall out of the false vacuum and settle at a lower level. We would never know if this happened, because the entire universe as we know it would disappear in a split second. But perhaps this has happened – not once, but many times, in the universes next door. If the universe – a universe – can be destroyed by the successful activation of a particle accelerator such as the Large Hadron Collider, the only universes that survive will be the ones in which a series of freak accidents prevent the collider from working. And that is why we are still here to puzzle over the repeated failure of the LHC. Our cousins next door have not been so lucky. 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 | 19 Oct 2009 | 3:30 pm Social InsectsYellow jackets, like honey bees and fire ants, exist in a sophisticated social hierarchy. Unlike other animals that travel in packs, these social insects will literally sacrifice their own survival in support of their hives, nests and colonies.Source: Livescience.com | 19 Oct 2009 | 2:56 pm Bolivia pyramid archaeological makeover disappointsTIWANAKU, Bolivia (Reuters) - Eager to attract more tourists, the town of Tiwanaku in the Bolivian Andes has spruced-up the ancient Akapana pyramid with adobe instead of stone, in what some experts are calling a renovation fiasco.Source: Reuters: Science News | 19 Oct 2009 | 2:18 pm BLOG: Minotaur's Labyrinth Found?A mythical maze that supposedly housed the Minotaur may have been unearthed.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 19 Oct 2009 | 2:00 pm SLIDE SHOW: Fall's Colors ExplainedThe secrets of why leaves of trees change yellow or red in the autumn are slowly being revealed.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 19 Oct 2009 | 2:00 pm The World's Greatest HoaxesAs the Balloon Boy hoax unfolds, we look at some of the other greatest instances of the public being duped.Source: Livescience.com | 19 Oct 2009 | 1:33 pm Young Gamers Get Finger PainEach additional hour of use increased the likelihood of experiencing pain by 50 percent.Source: Livescience.com | 19 Oct 2009 | 1:01 pm Tall Dust Plume Seen in Moon Crash PicsLunar dust is visible in new images showing NASA's intentional crash into the moon.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 19 Oct 2009 | 12:30 pm Exoplanets Galore! 32 Alien Planets Discovered, Including Super-Earths
Thirty-two new alien orbs have just been added to the growing list of exoplanets, including several that qualify as “super-Earths,” meaning they have a mass only a few times that of our planet and could potentially harbor Earth-like environments. In the past five years, the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher, a special exoplanet-hunting device attached to a 3.6-meter telescope in La Silla, Chile, has spotted more than 75 alien planets, including 24 of the 28 known exoplanets with a mass less than 20 times that of Earth. Given the high frequency of low-mass planets discovered by HARPS, the researchers think between 39 and 58 percent of solar-type stars host a planet with a mass of less than 50 Earth-masses. “These findings consolidate the results of simulations of planet formation predicting a large population of super-Earths,” astrophysicist Stephane Udry of Geneva University wrote in an email to Wired.com. “The formation models furthermore predict an even larger population of Earth-mass planets, providing solid scientific justifications for the development of ambitious programs (in space and on the ground) to look for those Earth-type planets.” Udry’s announcement of the HARPS team’s findings Monday at an exoplanet conference in Portugal marks the end of the first phase of HARPS research, and scientists say the project has been even more successful than they originally expected. The HARPS instrument detects hidden exoplanets by looking for stellar “wobble,” or a slight change in the radial velocity of potential host stars. The high-precision spectrograph can pick up even tiny fluctuations in a star’s radial velocity — differences in speed of as little as 2.2 miles per hour — which are caused by the gravitational pull of a nearby planet. The HARPS scientists focused their exoplanet-hunting efforts on certain kinds of stars, including stars similar to our sun and those with low mass (called Mdwarfs) or low metal content. “By targeting M dwarfs and harnessing the precision of HARPS, we have been able to search for exoplanets in the mass and temperature regime of super-Earths,” co-author Xavier Bonfils of the Joseph Fourier University in France said in a press release, “some even close to or inside the habitable zone around the star.” Image: Artist’s impression of Gliese 667C, a six Earth-mass exoplanet that circulates around its low-mass host star at a distance only 1/20th of the Earth-Sun distance. The host star is a companion to two other low-mass stars, which are seen here in the distance. ESO/L. Calçada See Also:
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Source: Wired: Wired Science | 19 Oct 2009 | 12:12 pm Self-Steered Tractors and UAVs: Future Farming Is (Finally) Now
It was 1903 when Robert Blair’s great-grandfather began farming the dry ridge overlooking the Clearwater River near Lewiston, Idaho. In 2001, when Blair took the reins, the farm’s books were still kept by hand. Now, he has deployed a set of Darpa-like technologies, including unmanned aerial vehicles and self-steering tractors. “In six years, I went from just having a cell phone to my tractor driving itself, and having a small airplane flying and landing itself on a farm,” Blair said. The new precision farmers are hacking together a way of making food in which the virtual and physical worlds are so tightly bound that having his tractor steered by GPS-guidance with inch-level accuracy is ho-hum. Autosteering of farm machinery has exploded over the past several years, according to an annual survey by Purdue University’s Center for Food and Agricultural Business. In 2004, just 5 percent of agricultural retail outlets offered autosteering. In 2008, more than half did. In a 2009 issue of Precision Farmer Magazine, Montana wheat farmer Steven Swank described the benefits of a souped-up GPS called “real-time kinematic” (RTK) satellite navigation. “RTK is so much more relaxing. It allows you to multitask, and that (allows) me to spend more time with my family,” Montana wheat farmer told Steven Swank. “I even watched a DVD in the cab with my daughter recently.” Blair, at 40, is a leader of this next generation of farmers who are adapting the precision dreams of the ’90s to the realities of the soil and the history of their acreage. People dreamed of vastly reducing pesticide and fertilizer use by applying just the right amount to each plant, but the variable-rate technologies have been only patchily adopted. Instead, a new crop of younger growers has started to use something like augmented reality. Data draped over their land guides their tractors and their decision-making. “The big story is the generational shift going on right now,” said Joe Russo, president of the agriculture technology company, ZeDX. “The younger people are starting to get ahold of these farms and they have a much different attitude to technology. They Twitter, they got smartphones, they’re always on the computer. Precision ag is gonna ride that wave.”
Farmers have adopted autosteer, especially, because it has made them money. By eliminating the slop-space that even the best farm machinery operators needed, it allows them to put more rows in their fields, effectively increasing their per-acre yields. For high-value crops, it was an obvious technology to adopt. “The payback was so much more than variable rate ever was that it was a no-brainer,” said Paul Schrimpf, who has been covering precision agriculture for the magazine CropLife. Blair wants to push further, though. He’s leading a charge to adapt unmanned aerial vehicles — like the Predator Drones zipping across Afghanistan — to the task of crop surveillance. In true maker fashion, he’s not waiting for the technology to be delivered to him. He has founded a company and built a prototype of his UAV that uses an off-the-shelf digital camera to take photos of his farm. The images it produces aren’t just pretty pictures, they can be converted into data that can be used in water, fertilizer and pesticide decision-making.
Based on the color data captured by the CCD, Blair can obtain a value called the normalized differential vegetative index, which he can use to find patterns in his fields. “Now we have a numeric value and we can write an algorithm to find different things,” Blair explained. “Is a stressed crop showing a different value than one that’s healthy?” Farmers like Blair have antecedents in the farmer-scientists of the Green Revolution, but ever-cheaper information technology has let them map the data to their land with ever greater resolution. Blair is slowly turning the vast, uncontrolled experiment that is his farm into a living laboratory that also happens to make money.
Source: Wired: Wired Science | 19 Oct 2009 | 11:47 am Cell-Phone Users Can't Spot a Clown on a UnicycleChatting on a cell phone while walking can distract individuals from even the most bizarre happenings.Source: Livescience.com | 19 Oct 2009 | 11:38 am First-time Internet Use Alters Activity in Older BrainsAdults with little internet experience show changes in their brain activity after just one week online, a new study has foundSource: Livescience.com | 19 Oct 2009 | 11:14 am Cockroaches Use Earth’s Magnetic Field to Steer
Just as birds guide their migratory journeys by sensing Earth’s magnetic field, so do cockroaches use geomagnetic detection as they scurry across your kitchen floor.
To reveal the mechanisms of cockroach navigation, Czech researchers first placed roaches inside an artificial magnetic field. As they rotated the field, the cockroaches followed. In itself, this wasn’t surprising: Scientists know that cockroaches, like many insects, can detect magnetic fields. But they weren’t sure if cockroaches have “mapping” cells in which minute variations in Earth’s geomagnetic field cause pairs of quantum-entangled electrons to spin in different ways, or “compass” cells in which embedded iron particles respond to geomagnetic tugs. When the researchers flooded the roaches with radio waves known to disrupt electron-paired compass cells, the cockroaches no longer followed the turning field. They apparently use a map to steer. And as cockroaches have been around for 350 million years, the mapping system could be widespread in the insect world. “Insects may be equipped with the same magnetoreception as the birds,” wrote the researchers in a paper published Friday in the Journal of Experimental Biology. As for why cockroaches need such sophisticated magnetoreception, that remains a mystery. But at least one explanation can, unfortunately, be ruled out: They don’t use their map to go south for the winter. Image: Flickr/liangjinjian See Also:
Citation: “Radio frequency magnetic fields disrupt magnetoreception in American cockroach.” By Martin Vácha, Tereza Puzová and Markéta Kvícalová. Journal of Experimental Biology, Vol. 212 Issue 21, November 1, 2009. Brandon Keim’s Twitter stream and reportorial outtakes; Wired Science on Twitter. Brandon is currently working on a book about ecosystem and planetary tipping points.
Source: Wired: Wired Science | 19 Oct 2009 | 10:49 am Ancient Mosaic Reveals Artisans' FootprintsThe foot and sandal prints provide clues into just how craftsmen built this elaborate mosaic.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 19 Oct 2009 | 10:30 am Bevy of Planets Found Outside Solar SystemNew planets found outside our solar system boost theories of extraterrestrial life.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 19 Oct 2009 | 9:15 am Overfarming dries out peat in SpainNational park which was once a 'paradise' now on fire and churning out tonnes of CO2 They are meant to be Spain's most important inland wetlands, but yesterday the lagoons at Las Tablas de Daimiel national park were not just dry, they were burning. Stilted walkways stood on baked earth and rowing boats lay stranded on the ground. Observation huts revealed no birds, just an endless stretch of reeds rooted in cracked mud. Only 1% of the park's surface remains wet, but the real catastrophe is happening underground. "If you see smoke it is because the dried-out peat under the ground has begun to self-combust," a park worker warned visitors. Occasionally, the fire breaks to the surface, sending up puffs of white smoke. Scientists warn the wetlands are losing the lining that once retained water, with deep cracks opening up in the worst areas. Park authorities worry the damage may prove irreversible. Park director Carlos Ruíz believes this is a life-or-death moment for one of Spain's 14 national parks. "We are at a point of no return," he said in a recent report. Spain's environment ministry, which runs the failing park, this week banned Ruiz from talking to the Guardian, but scientists who know the wetlands all agree on what is happening. The aquifer which once fed the lagoons now lies 50ft below them. Farmers near the park have sunk thousands of wells, some 300ft deep, and have spent years pumping out more water than goes in. Furthermore, the Guadiana river, which used to flow into the Tablas de Daimiel, has disappeared. "People have been warning that it was going to dry out for 20 years," said Luís Moreno of Spain's Geological and Mining Institute. As the peat burns, an area that once trapped carbon dioxide has started releasing vast quantities of it. "We saw the first smoke in August but the fires must have been burning for a while," said Moreno. "It is a very difficult thing to control. It could burn for months." Many worry the political will does not exist to save a park where the last few lagoons are still a refuge for egrets, coots and other waterfowl. "Daimiel was once a paradise, with thousands and thousands of birds," said Santos Cirujano, of Spain's Higher Scientific Research Council. "If they want to save it, they can, but that requires a will to conserve it." Environmentalists want Unesco to shame Spain by removing Daimiel and its surrounding area from the list of international biosphere reserves. A plan approved two years ago to revive the aquifer by cutting down on irrigation is not working, environmentalists say, as local officials protect farmers. "Rather than fix the problem here, they use the Tablas [problem] to ask for more money and demand water be pumped in from elsewhere," said José Manuel Hernández, a local environmentalist who sits on the park's consultative board. "There are thousands of families who live off agriculture in the area, and it is going to take time to change the way people farm," said José Luis Martínez, head of agriculture at Castilla La Mancha's regional government. Spain's environment ministry this week pledged to pump water over from the Tagus river basin early next year. But the last time that was attempted, 95% of the water was lost along the way. Furthermore, in a country where water is fought over bitterly, the decision has provoked angry reactions from Tagus farmers. Some scientists have predicted that Spain's thirsty agriculture cannot survive in the next decade, as aquifers are exhausted and global warming cuts rainfall. Last year, Barcelona was forced to import water in tankers to supply the city. But Pepe Jimenéz, head of Spain's national parks, denied the situation in Tablas was irreversible. "We are buying up land around the park and buying water rights too," he explained. "The rate at which the aquifer is declining is slowing down but it will take time before it can provide water to the park." Manuel Martín grows melons and giant pumpkins on a modest plot where the river Guadiana once sprung generously from the ground. Now the barren river bed is pitted with cracks and subsidence holes. Half a dozen water mills remain stranded along the banks. The land around, however, boasts huge, overhead "pivot" sprinklers for cereal crops. "The lagoon here used to be full all year round but I haven't seen water since 1985," Martin said. "Our grandparents managed to irrigate their fields without making the water disappear. They should ban those pivot sprinklers until it comes back." 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 | 19 Oct 2009 | 8:36 am How to Stay Healthy in Retirement: Keep WorkingPeople who transition to part-time work after retiring often experience better health, new research shows.Source: Livescience.com | 19 Oct 2009 | 8:20 am Indian Impact Crater Hints of Another Dino-KillerAn impact crater in India suggests a meteor strike there may have killed off the dinosaurs.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 19 Oct 2009 | 8:05 am Scientists find trawl of 32 new planetsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - European astronomers announced they had found 32 new planets orbiting stars outside our solar system and said on Monday they believe their find means that 40 percent or more of Sun-like stars have such planets.Source: Reuters: Science News | 19 Oct 2009 | 7:55 am Nearly 3 Dozen Planets FoundAstronomers announce 32 new exoplanets, including several new low-mass ones.Source: Livescience.com | 19 Oct 2009 | 7:47 am Science NationScience for the People: Surprising discoveries and fascinating researchers.Source: Livescience.com | 19 Oct 2009 | 7:45 am Tomorrow's Technology Today: Robot HelicoptersClaire Tomlin is pushing the envelope of aerospace design, building a new class of autonomous helicopters. These aircraft don't need a "pilot" steering them remotely because they navigate themselves.Source: Livescience.com | 19 Oct 2009 | 7:44 am BIG PIC: Maldives Govt. Goes UnderwaterAn underwater cabinet meeting seeks to draw attention to climate change.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 19 Oct 2009 | 7:05 am Underground Creatures Shrank Under Climate ChangeSoil-dwelling creatures shrank by up to 50 percent during an ancient warming event.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 19 Oct 2009 | 6:05 am
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