Faster Than a Hyena? Running May Make Humans Special, Science 
Excerpts: To identify adaptations for running, the researchers have put people and animals on treadmills and measured the activity of various muscles and ligaments, along with the forces a running body generates. (...) "It's an elastic band that has repeatedly evolved in animals that run. Apes don't have it," says Bramble. He and Lieberman hypothesize that the nuchal ligament helps keep an endurance runner's head from bobbing violently. "Every time your heel hits the ground, your head wants to topple forward," says Lieberman.
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Excerpts: Adaptations designed to make humans better runners were crucial in differentiating humans from other primates.
Their work is so original because most researchers had assumed that humans were relatively bad runners and focused on walking, (...).
"Humans are really poor sprinters, and when people think of running, they think of sprinting," Lieberman said. "A beagle could probably out-sprint a human."
(...) many distinguishing features of the human anatomy, such as our large rear ends (...), were designed for running and have little bearing on walking ability.
Distance Running 'Shaped Human Evolution', Nature News
Excerpts:  Humans may have spent millions of years honing their distance running. c Punchstock |
Long-distance running was crucial in creating our current upright body form (...).
Our poor sprinting prowess has given rise to the idea that our bodies are adapted for walking, not running, says Lieberman. Even the fastest sprinters reach speeds of only about 10 metres per second, compared with the 30 metres per second of a cheetah. But over longer distances our performance is much more respectable: horses galloping long distances average about 6 metres per second, which is slower than a top-class human runner.
The Evolution of Endurance, Science Now
Excerpts: Physiologic adaptations may have made humans better runners
Last week's New York City Marathon may have been a demonstration of athletic excellence, but according to a report this week in Nature, it was also a display of a key innovation in human evolution. New research suggests that the ability to run long distances emerged 2 million years ago, possibly enabling our ancestors to become better scavengers. The findings may also help explain why our bodies are so different from those of other primates.
Evolution Made Humans Marathon Runners, New Scientist
Excerpts: We are born to run. According to new research, our bodies are highly evolved for running long distances, an ability that allowed our ancestors to conquer the African savannahs.
Proponents of the theory say that long-distance running may be an even more significant evolutionary adaptation than bipedal walking, an ability which may have emerged with the appearance of the first hominids some 6 million years ago.(...)
"Our legs are full of tendons that are not present in other primates," says Lieberman. "You don't use your Achilles tendon when you walk,"(...).
Anthropology Update: Spanish Scientists Discover Ape Fossil, NPR TOTN
Excerpts: Researchers in Spain say they've made a fossil find that could be close to the last common ancestor of all great apes and humans. We'll find out about the new member of the family tree.
Spanish Fossil Sheds New Light on the Oldest Great Apes, Science
Excerpts: (...), paleoanthropologists tracing the human lineage back through time have uncovered a series of increasingly apelike ancestors that date to 4 million to 6 million years ago. Even further back, however, the ancestors of humans and our ape cousins remain mysterious, hidden by a patchy fossil record. Now a Spanish team reports on page 1339 that it has found an exceptionally complete 13-million-year-old fossil that it says is closely related to the earliest members of the great ape family--the large-bodied, long-lived, intelligent clan that includes chimpanzees, orangutans, and humans.
'Original' Great Ape Discovered, BBC News
Excerpts:  Could this be the last common ancestor of humans and great apes? |
Great apes are thought - on the basis of genetic and other evidence - to have separated from another primate group known as the lesser apes some time between 11 and 16 million years ago (...).
It is fascinating, therefore, for a specimen like Pierolapithecus to turn up right in this window.
Scientists think the creature lived after the lesser apes went their own evolutionary way, but before the great apes began their own diversification into different forms such as orang-utans, gorillas, chimps and, of course, humans.
Oldest Great Ape Kin Uncovered in Spain, Science Now
Excerpts: The resulting creature, named Pierolapithecus catalaunicus after the nearby village of Els Hostalets de Pierola in Catalonia, reveals a mix of apelike and monkeylike traits. Compared to earlier Miocene apes, for example, the face has a much-reduced muzzle resembling the living great apes. The wide and shallow rib cage and details of the vertebrae show that the roughly 30-kilogram creature stood upright, as great apes do. But not on the ground: Pierolapithecus was a tree dweller, eating fruits and vegetation in a tropical forest.
Not All Great Apes Were Swingers, New Scientist
Excerpts:  ierolapithecus catalaunicus lived during the Middle Miocene period, alongside a wide variety of now extinct mammal species (Image: Meike Kohler) |
The oldest common ancestor of humans and other living great apes reveals that vertical climbing evolved separately from swinging
Teaching Evolution, NPR TOTN
Excerpts: A Pennsylvania school district has mandated that a theory called "intelligent design" be taught along with evolution in public schools. We take a look at that and other recent challenges to teaching evolution in public schools.
Richard Dawkins, 'Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution', NPR TOTN
Excerpts: We have a conversation with biologist Richard Dawkins, and make a pilgrimage back in time.
Evolutionary Biology: Butterfly Mimics Of Ants, Nature
Excerpts: (...), the caterpillar settles beneath its food plant to await discovery by red ants (Myrmica). By secreting hydrocarbons that mimic those made by Myrmica, the caterpillar tricks a foraging worker into taking it into the nest, where it is placed among the ant grubs. In most species - the 'predatory' large blues - the caterpillar then moves to safer chambers, returning periodically to binge-feed on ant grubs. But in two 'cuckoo' species (...), the caterpillars remain among the brood and become increasingly integrated with their society.
Science Counts Species On Brink, BBC News
Excerpts:  The Red List is a snapshot of global biodiversity |
The scale of the extinction threat facing animals and plants is made clear in the latest Red List from the IUCN-The World Conservation Union.
The leading environmental information network says 15,589 species are now known to be in a perilous position.
Science has understood for some years that an eighth of all birds and a quarter of all mammals are in jeopardy.
But the latest Red List shows a third of amphibians and almost 50% of turtles and tortoises are on the brink, too.
New Measurements Reveal How Water-Running Lizards Avoid Tripping, Science Now
Excerpts: When sprinting across water, the basilisk lizard slaps its large hind feet through the surface and then strokes the water back, generating an upward force (...). Now, new measurements show that the basilisks also generate large sideways forces that keep them from tripping over the liquid.
To keep from sinking, a basilisk must work hard. In 1996, biologists (...), videotaped basilisks and measured the forces on a model basilisk foot dropped into water to figure out the relative contributions of the slapping and paddling that keep the lizard's head above water.
Scientists Debate Blending Of Human, Animal Forms, Washington Post
Excerpts: In Minnesota, pigs are being born with human blood in their veins.
In Nevada, there are sheep whose livers and hearts are largely human.
In California, mice peer from their cages with human brain cells firing inside their skulls.
These are not outcasts from "The Island of Dr. Moreau," the 1896 novel by H.G. Wells in which a rogue doctor develops creatures that are part animal and part human. They are real creations of real scientists, stretching the boundaries of stem cell research.
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Excerpts: A wave of research on the social lives of bacteria offers insights into the evolution of cooperation and may lead to medical breakthroughs that neutralize virulent bacterial strains.
Top Scientist Asks: Is Life All Just A Dream?, Times Online
Excerpts: The idea that life, the universe and everything in it could be an illusion dates back more than 2,000 years. (...)
The idea was resurrected last century, notably by Bertrand Russell, who suggested that humans could simply be "brains in a jar" being stimulated by chemicals or electrical currents - (...).
However, some academics pour cold water on the notion of a machine-created universe. Seth Lloyd, professor of quantum mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said such a computer would have to be unimaginably large.
Editor's Note: Imagination is certainly in the eye of the beholder, but one also has to keep in mind that
"Space is big - really big - you just won't believe how vastly, hugely mind-bogglingly big it is. You may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space."
Douglas Adams
What's Behind Edward C. Prescott's Nobel Prize?
Excerpts: "I love creating models and coming up with explicit structures I can play with,"(...). (...),hammered the final couple of nails in the coffin of Keynesian macroeconomic theory by changing the way economists think about the design of economic policy and the causes of business cycles.(...)
Prescott and Kydland have long been respected for successfully combining theory and applied economics. Their work together has focused on the interaction between theory and a society's aggregate statistics such as the level of unemployment, inflation and productivity.
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Excerpts: Although the pursuit of opportunity promises outsized rewards to entrepreneurs and established enterprises, it also entails great uncertainty. The critical task of entrepreneurship lies in effectively managing the uncertainty inherent in trying something new. Some entrepreneurs foolishly try to ignore uncertainty; others go to the opposite extreme of attempting to avoid it altogether. Rather than ignore uncertainty or attempt to avoid it in the naive belief that every contingency can be anticipated, entrepreneurs should instead manage uncertainty by taking a disciplined approach.
Scientists Get Their Own Google, Nature News
Excerpts:
Imagine searching the Internet and being able to restrict your results to academic texts. Today Google launched a free search engine that aims to do just that. Google Scholar searches only journal articles, theses, books, preprints, and technical reports across any area of research.
The tool is based on principles similar to those of Google's web search. The original search manages to make the most useful references appear at the top of the page using algorithms that exploit the structure of the links between web pages.
Citation Analysis Of Research: The Decline And Fall Of The 'Anglo-American Empire'?, Alphagalileo
Excerpts: Citation analysis, which is based on the number of citations that are obtained by scientific papers which are included in the database of the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), is an accepted tool for monitoring research progress. An analysis (...) has disclosed some surprising findings for research in clinical medicine. While in the eighties there was a clear-cut superiority in terms of impact (...) of the USA, UK and other English speaking countries, this predominance appears to be challenged in the nineties. The US is no longer the top country for impact and is preceded by Netherlands. British research is 9th, (...).
Benoit Mandelbrot: Father Of Fractals, Nature
Excerpts: Benoit Mandelbrot is one of the twentieth century's best known mathematicians. So why, in the twilight of an extraordinary academic career, is he still angry with many of his colleagues? Jim Giles investigates.
Self-Organization and the City [Book Review], Political Geography
Excerpt: The author is one of those brave souls who studies the evolution of cites by attempting to span the conceptual and methodological divide between qualitative sociotheoretic approaches and quantitative analysis stemming from regional science. The author contends that this gap may be bridged by treating the spatial evolution of cities as an example of self-organization. He invests a mathematic theory of self-organization in computational methods-agent-based modeling and cellular modeling-and draws on sociocultural theories as a conceptual backdrop. This volume of five parts combines new research with reflections on previously published work dating back a decade.
- Source: Self-Organization and the City [Book Review] J. Portugali; Springer-Verlag, Berlin. Foreword by Hermann Haken. Chapters with I. Benenson, I. Omer and N. Alfasi. Two special chapters on "Synergetic Cities" with Hermann Haken, 2001, 120 figures, 352 pages, ISBN 3-540-65483-6, Steven M. Manson, DOI: 10.1016/j.polgeo.2004.05.006, Political Geography 23(8):1063-1065, 2004/11
New Models for Epileptogenesis, The Scientist
Excerpts:  When Positive Feedback Is A Bad Thing: In a normal neuron (top), action potentials progress down the axon and there is a less robust dendritic echo. In a person with sprouted axons (middle), action potentials are rerouted back to neighboring dendrites. But action potential reverberation can occur without sprouting (bottom). Blocked A-type K+ channels reduce inhibitory A currents allowing larger echoes. (From: K. Staley, Science, 305:482-3, July 23, 2004.) |
A generally held theory suggests that something upsets the balance of excitatory and inhibitory signals in the brain, leading to overall hyperexcitability. This theory rests on observations that inhibitory cells become less active while excitatory pathways multiply, implying "a simple balance of inhibition and excitation," according to John Duncan of the Institute of Neurology in London. He says that this theory is probably wrong, or at least incomplete. "The reality is clearly more complicated, as neurons form intricate networks and interconnections."
Virus's Plan of Attack Identified, Science Now
Excerpts:  Invader. By infiltrating and killing brain cells, the JC virus (shown here in the nucleus of an oligodendrocyte) strips insulation from neurons, causing PML. Credit: Kamel Khalili/Temple University |
AIDS patients live longer and better than ever before thanks to improved drug therapy, but an unlucky few still have their brains damaged by a devastating and fatal neurological disease called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). Now, researchers have traced the path by which the virus that causes PML invades brain cells. (...) psychiatric drugs may prolong the lives of AIDS patients with the disease.(...)
(...), the team added one of several drugs or chemicals that bound to either dopamine or serotonin receptors to cultured cells. Then they added virus.
Brains and Genes in Perfect Clarity, The Scientist
Excerpts:  Genes In Action: Using BOLD fMRI, researchers demonstrate that carriers of the serotonin transporter gene s (short) allele, which presumably have higher synaptic serotonin levels, exhibit greater neuronal activity in the amygdala than individuals homozygous for the l (long) allele when confronted with threatening stimuli. The difference may account for increased fear and anxiety associated with the s allele. (Reprinted from A.R. Hariri et al., Science, 297:400-3, 2002.) |
Functional MRI shows genetic effects on the human brain more clearly
Deciphering genetic relationships in cognitive function takes serious effort. (...) found that a diminished ability to focus could be linked to two specific mutations. The study involved a battery of genetic and cognitive tests given to more than 200 people. A year later, in 2003, Posner added clarity to the finding using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The researchers linked the mutations to differing activity in the anterior cingulate cortex. This study required only 16 subjects.
Clear Pictures of How We Think, Wired News
Excerpts: Thanks to an innovation that has transformed the study of the mind, scientists are now able to see precisely what happens in the brain in situations like this. For the first time in history we are getting close to answering the question of whether the heart rules the head.
The progress is due to functional magnetic-resonance imaging, or fMRI.
This technique allows the measurement of the level of oxygen in the blood, and tells scientists which parts of the brain are most active.
Tone Language Translates To Perfect Pitch: Mandarin Speakers More Likely To Acquire Rare Musical Ability, ScienceDaily
Excerpts: (...) found a strong link between speaking a tone language - such as Mandarin - and having perfect pitch, the ability once thought to be the rare province of super-talented musicians. (...) found that native tone language speakers are almost nine times more likely to have the ability. (...) Tone languages - Mandarin and Vietnamese, among many others - are those in which words take on entirely different meanings depending on the tones in which they are enunciated. In Mandarin, for example, the word "ma" means "mother" when spoken in the first tone, "hemp" when spoken in the second tone, "horse" in the third (...).
Cognitive Consonance: Complex Brain Functions In The Fruit Fly And Its Relatives, Trends in Neurosc.
Excerpt: The fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, has become a model for the study of a growing number of human characteristics because of the power of its genetics. Higher cognitive functions, however, might be assumed to be out of reach for the little fly. But the cumulative history of cognitive studies in insects and some of their arachnid relatives, as well as specific probing of the capabilities of fruit flies, suggests that even in this ethereal realm these creatures have much to contribute. What are the degrees of sophistication in cognitive behavior displayed by these organisms, how have they been demonstrated (...)?
Effects Of Exercise On Pavlovian Fear Conditioning, Behav. Neurosc.
Except: Exercise promotes multiple changes in hippocampal morphology and should, as a result, alter behavioral function. The present experiment investigated the effect of exercise on learning using contextual and auditory Pavlovian fear conditioning. Rats remained inactive or voluntarily exercised (VX) for 30 days (...). No differences in freezing behavior to the discrete auditory cue were observed during the training or testing sessions. However, VX rats did freeze significantly more compared to controls when tested in the training context 24 hr after exposure to shock. The enhancement of contextual fear conditioning provides further evidence that exercise alters hippocampal function and learning.
- Source: Effects Of Exercise On Pavlovian Fear Conditioning, D. E. Baruch, R. A. Swain - rswain
uwm.edu, F. J. Helmstetter, DOI: 10.1016/j.eiar.2004.06.006, Behavioral Neuroscience, Oct. 2004, online 2004/11/04 - Contributed by Pritha Das - prithadas01yahoo.com
A Theory Of Epineuronal Memory, Neural Networks
Excerpt: How can a brain maintain stable memories and behaviors when its underlying electrical and chemical structures are constantly changing? We investigate this stability problem thinking that the state variables (e.g. voltages, ionic currents, etc.) are governed by a complex system that itself is closely regulated. Regulation of the network is through its operating environment, which is described by parameters. We study a standard neural network model, but one whose parameters are governed by a mnemonic landscape function. Parameter configurations are attracted to local maxima of this landscape, which represent memorized parameter configurations. The operating environment changes slowly (...).
- Source: A Theory Of Epineuronal Memory, R. Borisyuk, F. Hoppensteadt - frank.hoppensteadtnyu.edu, DOI: 10.1016/j.neunet.2004.07.006, Neural Networks, Dec. 2004, online 2004/10/07
- Contributed by Atin Das - dasatinyahoo.co.in
Computer Grid To Help The World, BBC News
Excerpts:  The first WCG project will try to unveil the secrets of proteins |
Your computer can now help solve the world's most difficult health and social problems.
Launched this week, the World Community Grid will use idle computer time to test solutions to these problems.
The donated processor cycles will help the WCG create virtual supercomputers via the net.
The idea follows the success of other similar projects that have used the untapped processing power of millions of desktop PCs.
One of the most successful collaboration projects was Seti@home, run by the Search for Extra Terrestrial Life project, (...).
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Excerpts: The Semantic Web lacks support for explaining answers from web applications. When applications return answers, many users do not know what information sources were used, when they were updated, how reliable the source was (...). Many users also do not know how implicit answers were derived. The Inference Web (IW) aims to take opaque query answers and make the answers more transparent by providing infrastructure for presenting and managing explanations. The explanations include information concerning where answers came from (knowledge provenance) and how they were derived (or retrieved). In this article we describe an infrastructure for IW explanations. (...)
Nanotechnology Seen as a Solution to Many of the World's Problems, PRNewswire
Excerpts: While nanotech may have trouble getting venture capital funding, there's adequate government funding available. Taiwan, for example, has budgeted $640 million over six years for its nanotechnology initiative.(...)
Nanotechnology has the potential to provide an energy storage capability so that alternative energy sources can be widely adopted. "We need new technology to solve the energy problem,"(...).
"Nanotechnology is not about being smaller, it's about being different as a result of being smaller,"(...).
"We can bring together two or more different materials into a single nanostructure, so now these nanostructures are no longer materials, they are [active] devices,(...).
Key to Cheaper, Better Nanotubes Comes Out in the Wash, Science
Excerpts: (...) by simply adding a little water vapor to a standard nanotube production scheme, they've hit upon a new, highly efficient way to grow nanotubes. If the approach can be scaled up, it could significantly drop the price of nanotubes, opening the door to new commercial applications. The team also reports that the technique makes it straightforward to create macroscale sheets, pillars, and other shapes out of nanotubes, which could become the starting materials for novel types of electronic devices. "The results are quite remarkable (...).
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Excerpts:
 Water grown. Water vapors help carbon nanotubes grow better. Credit: Tim Smith |
Researchers report that by simply adding a little water vapor to a standard recipe, they've hit upon a new, highly efficient way to grow carbon nanotubes. (...)
Since their discovery 13 years ago, carbon nanotubes have been nanotechnology's poster child. The tiny straw-shaped molecules are stronger than steel, flexible, and conductive and have been touted as the right stuff for everything from chemical sensors to wires for nanoscale computer circuitry. But their exorbitant cost (more than 30 times the price of gold) has limited their payoff so far.
Multifunctional Carbon Nanotube Yarns by Downsizing an Ancient Technology, Science
Excerpts: By introducing twist during spinning of multiwalled carbon nanotubes from nanotube forests to make multi-ply, torque-stabilized yarns, we achieve yarn strengths greater than 460 megapascals. (...) are nearly as tough as fibers used for bulletproof vests. Unlike ordinary fibers and yarns, these nanotube yarns are not degraded in strength by overhand knotting. They also retain their strength and flexibility after heating in air at 450°C for an hour or when immersed in liquid nitrogen. High creep resistance and high electrical conductivity are observed and are retained after polymer infiltration, which substantially increases yarn strength.
Nano Fabric May Make Computers Thinner, Sci-Tech Today
Excerpts:
Electrons in graphene travel without any scattering over submicron distances -- an important quality for ultra-fast-switching transistors, researchers have found. Smaller transistors mean shorter paths for electrons to travel to switch devices on and off, and faster computers. (...)
The fabric may represent a new class of materials -- so thin they are only two-dimensional -- and may lead to computers made from a single molecule.(...)
The new nano-fabric is the first two-dimensional fullerene -- a class of carbon-based compounds (...) that resemble round cages, including the well-known buckyballs (...).
New Vehicles Will Make Own Decisions Based on Commands, ABC News
Excerpts: The next war could be fought partly by unmanned aircraft that respond to spoken commands in plain English and then figure out on their own how to get the job done, even dodging enemy aircraft (...).
This isn't just robotics, in which someone has to be on hand to issue commands to an unmanned vehicle all along the way. This is autonomy at its best, with vehicles that can make decisions similar to the way a human pilot figures out how to accomplish a task and then carries it out.
Shape-Shifting Robot Shows Off Its Moves, New Scientist
Excerpts:  ATRON's many modules move themselves into position before latching onto one another (Image: Henrik Hautop Lund) |
A shape-shifting robot comprised of many independently moving components has been demonstrated walking, rolling and slithering for the first time.
The prototype robot - called ATRON - demonstrated its various metamorphoses (...). For example, reconfiguring its many individual modules allows the robot to change its mode of locomotion on command.(...)
ATRON is constructed from many identical, broadly spherical modules, (...). Each module is split down the middle and can rotate one hemisphere using an onboard motor. The cells can also latch onto each using connectors placed at either end.
Simple Wire Picks Up Terahertz Waves, Nature News
Excerpts:  This terahertz imager is being used to probe the internal structure of a tooth. c SPL |
'Coat-hanger' probes could boost airport security.
After years of fiddling around with plastic ribbons and exotic fibres, physicists have found that a simple metal wire is all they need to pick up terahertz radiation. The discovery could speed the development of new medical and security imaging.
Terahertz waves, (...), are able to penetrate materials such as plastic and cardboard, which are opaque to other wavelengths. But technology using them has been slow to take off because it is difficult to guide the waves from one place to another.
Simple Technology May Help Harness Terahertz Rays, Science Now
Excerpts: In their instrument, terahertz waves travel down one wire and back up the other, conveying information about targets in the body much as ultrasonic pulses do in echolocation.
"The simplicity of the whole idea, and the fact that no one has really demonstrated this before, is remarkable," says semiconductor physicist David Citrin of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. He expects many further studies into how the wires can be optimized.
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Excerpts: Applications like search engines that group similar documents do so using topic-based categories. Sentiment analysis techniques add another dimension by determining the author's attitude about a topic rather than just identifying a topic.
Existing techniques tend to concentrate on finding words, phrases and patterns that indicate sentiment. This has proven difficult, however. "This laptop is a great deal", for instance, shows strong sentiment, but contains the same words as the neutral sentence "The release of this new laptop drew a great deal of media attention."
Induced Innovations And Climate Change Policy, Ener. Econ.
Abstract: With the recent progress in Bonn and Marrakech on the details required for implementing the Kyoto Protocol, entry into force in 2003 is now a possibility. This paper assesses the potential macroeconomic impacts of the Kyoto Protocol, given the recent negotiated developments. In addition, given the recent attempts in the literature to model endogenous technical change in general equilibrium models, a new methodology for incorporating the induced innovations hypothesis into a general equilibrium model is described and implemented. In line with previous work, it is found that incorporation of the hypothesis reduces abatement costs.
- Source: Induced Innovations And Climate Change Policy, G. Jakeman, K. Hanslow, M. Hinchy, B. S. Fisher - bfisherabareconomics.com, K. Woffenden, DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2004.09.002, Energy Economics, Nov. 2004, online 2004/10/18
- Contributed by Pritha Das - prithadas01yahoo.com
Director James Cameron's Deep Obsessions, NPR TOTN
Excerpts: James Cameron's new project combines two of his longstanding pursuits: deep-sea diving and alien life. The successful director says the fact that the animals in question live deep in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean doesn't make them any less foreign. Hear Cameron and NPR's Neal Conan.
Climate Change Sceptics 'Wrong', BBC News
Excerpts: This argument maintains that much recorded climate data is inherently unreliable because of where weather instruments are situated.
(...)warming measured over the last century could be just a record of urbanisation.
(...) He used data for the last 50 years (...). One plots temperatures observed on calm nights, the other on windy nights.
If the urban heat island hypothesis is correct, he says, instruments should have recorded a bigger temperature rise for calm nights than for windy ones - (...).
But there is no difference between the curves.
Climate: Large-Scale Warming Is Not Urban, Nature
Excerpts: This argument maintains that much recorded climate data is inherently unreliable because of where weather instruments are situated.
(...)warming measured over the last century could be just a record of urbanisation.
(...) He used data for the last 50 years (...). One plots temperatures observed on calm nights, the other on windy nights.
If the urban heat island hypothesis is correct, he says, instruments should have recorded a bigger temperature rise for calm nights than for windy ones - (...).
But there is no difference between the curves.
Emissions Trading: The Carbon Game, Nature
Excerpts: Companies are already swapping money for the right to emit more pollution, and cashing in on projects designed to suck up greenhouse gases. As this market booms, will it actually help to cut down on emissions?
Sunspot Activity Impacts On Crop Success, New Scientist
Excerpts: The mysterious sunspot cycle had a measurable affect on the price of US wheat in the 20th century, researchers discover
A Titan Of A Mission Parachuting Through Smog To Saturn's Moon, Science News
Excerpts:  BAM, SPLAT, PLOP. When the Huygens probe plunges through Titan's atmosphere, it may land (top to bottom) on an icy surface, in an organic goo, or on a sea of hydrocarbons. J. Garry/Fastlight Illustration |
Titan has fascinated researchers for 6 decades, ever since astronomer Gerard Kuiper analyzed sunlight reflecting off the moon and discovered methane in its atmosphere. But interest escalated in 1980, when the Voyager 1 spacecraft revealed that methane is a small but key component of a nitrogen-rich atmosphere too thick to see through. The craft also confirmed the presence of ethane, acetylene, propane, and other hydrocarbons. Bombarded by energetic charged particles from Saturn as well as by ultraviolet light from the sun, methane breaks down in Titan's upper atmosphere to form this complex array of organic compounds.
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Excerpts: This artist's rendition shows the Huygens probe floating in a methane/ethane lake on Titan. Hydrocarbons produced in the atmosphere eventually condense and rain down on the surface. So, Titan may have lakes of ethane and methane. Mountains of rock and ice are visible in the distance. In this night view, long after the probe mission is over, the surface of Titan is illuminated by sunlight reflected by Saturn and passing through Titan's thick atmosphere. To the human eye, the atmosphere is opaque, but in the infrared there are "windows" (or wavelengths) where the atmosphere is more transparent, as indicated in this artwork.
Credit: Gregor Kervina, Ljubljana, Slovenia
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Excerpts:
 There's a story there, written in starlight: The deepest portrait of the universe ever recorded, by a Hubble camera. (Nasa Via Reuters) |
(...) our universe may be just one of two universes, or "branes," that periodically collide. These two branes, Steinhardt hypothesizes, have been bouncing off one another for untold billions of years. The next time the invisible brane comes crashing back into our universe, we'll see the laws of physics start to change.
Physical "constants" will cease being constant. Gravity will strengthen (...). The universe will collapse, as in the Linde scenario -- "Unless we found a way of protecting ourselves, we would be evaporated in the crash between these branes,"(...).
Standards of Time and Frequency at the Outset of the 21st Century, Science
Abstract: on cesium have achieved fractional uncertainties below 1 part in 1015, a level unequaled in all of metrology. The past 5 years have seen the accelerated development of optical atomic clocks, which may enable even greater improvements in timekeeping. Time and frequency standards with various levels of performance are ubiquitous in our society, with applications in many technological fields as well as in the continued exploration of the frontiers of basic science. We review state-of-the-art atomic time and frequency standards and discuss some of their uses in science and technology.
Metrology And The State: Science, Revenue, And Commerce, Science
Excerpts: "Natural measures of quantity, such as fathoms, cubits, inches, taken from the proportion of the human body, were once in use with every nation," taught Adam Smith in his lecture (...). "But by a little observation," he continued, "they found that one man's arm was longer or shorter than another's, and that one was not to be compared with the other; (...), that equal quantities might be of equal values. Their method became absolutely necessary when people came to deal in many commodities, and in great quantities of them."
Quantum-Enhanced Measurements: Beating the Standard Quantum Limit, Science
Excerpts: Quantum mechanics, through the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, imposes limits on the precision of measurement. Conventional measurement techniques typically fail to reach these limits. Conventional bounds to the precision of measurements such as the shot noise limit or the standard quantum limit are not as fundamental as the Heisenberg limits and can be beaten using quantum strategies that employ "quantum tricks" such as squeezing and entanglement.
Lighthearted Transistor: Electronic Workhorse Moonlights As Laser, Science News
Excerpts:  Lighting The Way. Magnified view of transistor laser (left) shows infrared laser's glow. Diagram (right) shows that laser light (wavy arrows) radiates from just one region of the transistor, while triangular probes monitor properties. Walter, et al. / Applied Physics Letters |
Transistors have long served as the building blocks of microelectronics. More recently, microchip lasers have been emerging as cornerstones of light-based circuitry, or photonics. Now, engineers have melded the two types of components into one miniature device that both amplifies electric current and emits a narrow beam of single-wavelength light. (...)
The transistor laser is "a major technology breakthrough in high-speed optoelectronics,"(...).
By easing integration of electronic and photonic elements, the new device may also bring about enhanced performance of consumer products and industrial equipment.
Afghan Poppy Growing Reaches Record Level, U.N. Says, NY Times
Excerpts: Poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, the source of most of the opium and heroin on Europe's streets, was up sharply this year, reaching the highest levels in the country's history and in the world, the United Nations announced on Thursday.
"In Afghanistan, drugs are now a clear and present danger," said Antonio Maria Costa, director of the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, on the release of the 2004 Afghanistan opium survey. "The fear that Afghanistan might degenerate into a narco-state is becoming a reality.
US To Tackle Afghan Drugs Trade, BBC News
Excerpts: Asked why international initiatives had so far failed to arrest its growth, he highlighted the lack of basic legal infrastructure and the lack of people trained to destroy poppy fields.
Now the US, with the UK and Afghan governments, is launching an accelerated programme to target next year's crop.
Aggressive eradication would be backed up, Mr Charles said, by a public information campaign, better law enforcement and, perhaps most crucial, real alternatives for farmers.
"You don't go in and eradicate in an area without making provision... (...).
Rolling Back the Fog of War, The Scientist
Excerpts: Information technology distinguishes what we are learning from war today compared to yesterday. "When Vietnam ended, we hadn't entered the automated age yet, and in the Gulf War we were just into it. We were not prepared for the need to have automated baseline health data on all troops," (...). In 1991, with the world interconnecting, the obsolescence of paper military records suddenly loomed. "(...) we need to have ways to automate databases on the health experience of each serviceperson deployed and follow up after they return to see how their health changes.
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Excerpts: A full arsenal of diplomatic tricks has been tried on behalf of Darfur, the western province of Sudan where the government is orchestrating genocide. A number of A-list statesmen -- Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan -- have journeyed to Sudan to demand an end to the killing; still the genocide continues. Cease-fires, undertakings and protocols have been negotiated and signed; still the genocide continues.(...)
Sudan's pragmatic dictatorship has bowed in the past to determined external pressure.
Politics and the C.I.A., NY Times
Excerpts: No one who has read the 9/11 commission's report or the Senate Intelligence Committee's report on the prewar intelligence on Iraq could doubt the need to shake things up in the intelligence apparatus. It's also important to allow the head of a major government agency to make changes without undue second-guessing. But what Mr. Goss is doing at the Central Intelligence Agency is starting to seem less like reform and more like a political purge.
Many of them feel trampled by Mr. Goss's inner circle of political operatives (...).
Complex Challenges: Global Terroist Networks
Chirac Says War in Iraq Spreads Terrorism, NY Times
Excerpts: "To a certain extent Saddam Hussein's departure was a positive thing," Mr. Chirac said in an interview broadcast on the BBC Newsnight television program. "But it also provoked reactions, such as the mobilization in a number of countries of men and women of Islam, which has made the world more dangerous."
Ensuring that his country's relations with the United States and Britain will remain cool, he said, "There is no doubt" that terrorism around the world has increased because of the war in Iraq.
Iraq at the Tipping Point, NY Times
Excerpts: The insurgents will go to any lengths to intimidate Iraqis away from joining the new government. Too many people, from cleaning women to deputy ministers, are being shot. The insurgents' strategy is intimidation. The U.S. strategy is Iraqification. This is the struggle - and the intimidators are doing way too well. Without a secure environment in which its new leadership can be elected and comfortably operate, Iraq will never be able to breathe on its own, and U.S. troops will have to be here forever.
Links & Snippets
Other Publications
- Minimum Length from Quantum Mechanics and Classical General Relativity, Xavier Calmet, Michael Graesser, Stephen D. H Hsu, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 211101 (2004)
- Entangled-Photon Imaging of a Pure Phase Object, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 213903 (2004)
- Stabilizing Near-Nonhyperbolic Chaotic Systems with Applications, Debin Huang, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 214101 (2004)
- Rod-Climbing Effect in Newtonian Fluids, Daniel Bonn, Mathias Kobylko, Steffen Bohn, Jacques Meunier, Alexander Morozov, Wim van Saarloos - ref_date, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 214503 (2004)
- Aharonov-Bohm Interference and Beating in Single-Walled Carbon-Nanotube Interferometers, Jien Cao, Qian Wang, Marco Rolandi, Hongjie Dai, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 216803 (2004)
- Experimental Studies of Pattern Formation in a Reaction-Advection-Diffusion System, C. R. Nugent, W. M. Quarles, T. H. Solomon,, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 218301 (2004)
- Detecting Fuzzy Community Structures in Complex Networks with a Potts Model, Jorg Reichardt, Stefan Bornholdt, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 218701 (2004)
- Disrupted Sleep Causes Worker 'Burnout', Emma Young, 04/11/16, New Scientist, The breakdowns are triggered by a drastic re-setting of sleep patterns and not just by high levels of stress, researchers say
- Dinosaurs' 'Bulletproof' Armour Revealed, Anna Gosline, 04/11/16, New Scientist, Some dinosaurs' protective plates had a similar arrangement of fibres as seen in bulletproof fabrics, making them extremely tough
- Genetic Variation Gives A Taste For Alcohol, Anna Gosline, 04/11/16, New Scientist, People with taste buds genetically dulled to bitter flavours drink twice as much alcohol as those with more sensitive palates
- Dolphins Identified By Their Curves, Roxanne Khamsi, 04/11/16,
 Sample image of a gray whale fluke and its extracted edge (shown in white). c C. Gope |
Fin recognition system helps animals to be tracked without tags. Nature News - World's Strongest Acid Created, Michael Hopkin, 04/11/16, Nature News, Powerful yet gentle compound excels at delicate reactions.
- 2D Holograms Make 3D Color Display, 04/11/17, Technology Research News
- Camera Phones Threat To Privacy, 04/11/18, BBC News
- Chemistry: Towards Tomorrow's Catalysts, Charles T. Campbell, 04/11/18, Nature 432, 282 - 283, DOI: 10.1038/432282a
- Evolutionary Biology: Butterfly Mimics Of Ants, Jeremy A. Thomas, Josef Settele, 04/11/18, Nature 432, 283 - 284, DOI: 10.1038/432283a
- Nonlinear Optics: Disorder Is The New Order, Sergey E. Skipetrov, 04/11/18, Nature 432, 285 - 286 Pure, perfectly regular crystals were believed to be essential for the efficient operation of nonlinear optical devices. Surprisingly, it now seems that disordered materials might actually perform better., DOI: 10.1038/432285a
- A Plague of Toadies, Maureen Dowd, 04/11/18, NYTimes
- Nuclear Disclosures on Iran Unverified, Dafna Linzer, 04/11/19, Washington Post
- Psychologists Probe Perfect Pitch, Nadja Geipert, 04/11/19, Science Now
- Bush's Echo Chamber, Bob Herbert, 04/11/19, NYTimes, History will show that the Bush crowd of incompetents brought tremendous amounts of suffering to enormous numbers of people
- Following In Pioneer's Footsteps, Philip Ball, 04/11/19,
 Something seems to be slowing the Pioneer spacecraft down. c NASA |
Calls grow for a mission to find out why old space probes are slowing down. Nature News - Shaping Crystals with Biomolecules, James J. De Yoreo, Patricia M. Dove, 04/11/19, Science : 1301-1302
- Ural Farmers Got Milk Gene First?, Jocelyn Kaiser, 04/11/19, Science : 1284-1285
- No More Sham Elections, Nicholas D. Kristof, 04/11/20, NYTimes
- Profiles In Melancholy, Resilience: Abused Kids React To Genetics, Adult Support, 04/11/20, Science News, Abused and neglected children who possess two copies of a gene that affects brain chemistry develop depression at an elevated rate only if they also lack support from at least one adult.
- Busy Beads: Magnetic Dust Takes Droplets For A Ride, 04/11/20, Science News, With a bit of dust and a magnet, chemists can shuttle drops around on a surface, an advance that could lead to chemistry labs on a chip.
- Unhealthy Change: Diversity In A Bacterial Colony Can Prolong Infections, 04/11/20, Science News, Bacteria that live in biofilms can diversify into several different types, making infections harder to treat.
- Middle-Aged Scientists are Most Potent - Dispelling myths about young scientists, K. Brad Wray, 04/11/22, The Scientist
- Metacreation: Art and Artificial Life, Mitchell Whitelaw, 2004/03, MIT Press, 296 pp., 34 illus.
- Killing Thinking: The Death Of The Universities by E. Mary et al, Continuum, 2004/09/01, K. Baxter - mediaofficekent.ac.uk, 2004/09/27, Alphagalileo & University of Kent
- City Limits: Crime, Consumer Culture And The Urban Experience, by H. Keith et al, 2004/08/02, K. Baxter - mediaofficekent.ac.uk, 2004/10/26, Alphagalileo & University of Kent
- Predicting Genetic Regulatory Response Using Classification, Manuel Middendorf, Anshul Kundaje, Chris Wiggins, Yoav Freund, Christina Leslie, 2004/11/12, arXiv, DOI: q-bio.QM/0411028
- An Information-Theoretic Approach to Network Modularity, Etay Ziv, Manuel Middendorf, Chris Wiggins, 2004/11/16, arXiv, DOI: q-bio.QM/0411033
- Deployment in Dynamic Environments, Jose L. Ruiz, Juan C. Duenas, Fernando Usero, Cristina Diaz, 2004/11/17, arXiv, DOI: cs.NI/0411058
- Smoking Is In The Genes, S. K.-Jacobs - newsnwo.nl, 2004/11/17, Alphagalileo & Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research
- Dinosaurs In Bullet-proof Vests, J. Bealing - j.a.bealingsussex.ac.uk, 2004/11/17, ScienceDaily & University Of Bonn
- Malnutrition In Early Years Leads To Low IQ And Later Antisocial Behavior, USC Study Finds, 2004/11/19, ScienceDaily & University Of Southern California
- Designing An Ultrasensitive 'Optical Nose' For Chemicals, 2004/11/19, ScienceDaily & National Institute Of Standards And Technology
- Method In Macroecology, T. M. Blackburn - t.blackburnbham.ac.uk, 2004/11/23, online 2004/10/08, Basic and Applied Ecology, DOI: 10.1016/j.baae.2004.08.002
- Surface Modelling Of Human Population Distribution In China, J. A. Amegashie, 2005/02/10, online 2004/08/20, Ecological Modelling, DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2004.06.042
- Self-Insurance And Inequality, Y. Algan - yanalganuniv-paris1.fr, A. Chéron, J.-O. Hairault, F. Langot, Dec. 2004, online 2004/08/11, Energy Economics, DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2004.04.018
- Dopamine: The Salient Issue, M. A. Ungless - mark.unglesszoo.ox.ac.uk, Dec. 2004, online 2004/10/13, Trends in Neurosciences, DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2004.10.001
- The Bayesian Brain: The Role Of Uncertainty In Neural Coding And Computation, D. C. Knill - knillcvs.rochester.edu, A. Pouget, Dec. 2004, online 2004/11/12, Trends in Neurosciences, DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2004.10.007
- Neural Correlates Of Individual Differences In Spatial Learning Strategies, A. L. Shelton - asheltonjhu.edu, J. D. E. Gabrieli, Jul. 2004, online 2004/08/04, Neuropsychology
- Does Organic Farming Benefit Biodiversity?, D.G. Hole - david.holelinacre.ox.ac.uk, A. J. Perkins, J. D. Wilson, I. H. Alexander, P. V. Gricee, A. D. Evans, Mar. 2005, online 2004/08/25, Biological Conservation, DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2004.07.018
- Digit Representation Is More Than Just Hand Waving, J. C. Thompson, D. F. Abbott, K. J. Wheaton, A. Syngeniotis, A. Puce - apucehsc.wvu.edu, Nov. 2004, online 2004/08/07, Cognitive Brain Research, DOI: 10.1016/j.cogbrainres.2004.07.001
- Neural Foundations Of Emerging Route Knowledge In Complex Spatial Environments, T. Wolbers - wolbersuke.uni-hamburg.de, C. Weiller, C. Büchel, Nov. 2004, online 2004/08/08, Cognitive Brain Research, DOI: 10.1016/j.cogbrainres.2004.06.013
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