New Scientist Highlights
New ScientistHighlights of New Scientist for Nov 6, 1997.
Highlights of New Scientist for Nov 6, 1997.
The National Science Board (NSB) will meet on Wednesday, November 12 through Friday, November 14, 1997 at National Science Foundation headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. Sessions open to the public include: Thursday, November 13, from 2:20 p.m.-5:45 p.m. and Friday, November 14 from 8:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
The number of Atlantic salmon in American rivers has dropped dramatically in recent years. UC Santa Cruz ecologist Marc Mangel is probing the biological and environmental factors that trigger the salmon's patterns of migration and spawning.
A supercomputer is ushering in a new era of high-precision weather forecasting. The University of Washington has switched on the latest version of its MM5 weather forecasting system, the world's first to diagnose and forecast local weather on a scale of a few thousand yards. The four-kilometer system can follow a region's topography so accurately that it can "see" rain showers on one side of a mountain and the rain shadow on the other.
Unusually warm temperatures can wreak havoc on the world's climate, but these warming periods also have an upside that may help researchers better understand global climate change. In a study published in "Science" magazine, University of New Hampshire scientists describe how a warm anomaly helps temporarily brake the ongoing rise in atmospheric CO2 attributed to human activity.
Dave A. Berque, DePauw University associate professor of computer science, and his students have developed an electronic blackboard that enables the professor to write lecture notes on a laser board on the wall, and the professor's handwritten lecture notes are automatically transferred to PCs at the students' desks. Students can use a light pen to annotate the notes on their PC screens and then save the notes for future review and study.
Microorganisms require a different way of thinking in terms of diversity. Cultivated soils, for example, often have more microbial diversity than do native grassland soils. Whereas in undisturbed soil, microbes tend to develop pockets and communities, in tilled soils they become evenly distributed. When we till soil, we think we're doing the right thing, says Kennedy. But what's happening is the community is going berserk.
Minority psychologists in academic settings are generally less satisfied than their White counterparts. That's according to a new study co-authored by John D. Dovidio, professor of psychology at Colgate University which examines how perceptions of racial distinctivess relate to job satisfaction of White and ethnic/racial minority American Psychological Association members working in psychology departments in academia.
Washington, DC -- Thousands of school children and American Chemical Society volunteers across the country will celebrate the 10th Anniversary of National Chemistry Week in their communities through exhibits in local museums, malls and parks, and in displays organized to demonstrate the wonders of chemistry and its impact on our lives.
Chemists graduating in 1998 should find a favorable job market that will offer the most opportunities since the late 1980s, according to the annual employment outlook published in the Nov. 3 issue of Chemical & Engineering News, the weekly news magazine of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society. "Only four years ago," says C&EN editor Madeleine Jacobs, "the job market was being described as the bleakest in 20 years." But now "there are more recruiters with more job openings coming out sooner to get the jump on their competition," notes Paul A. Bartlett, chemistry department chair at the University of California, Berkeley.
Chemists from the University of California, San Diego will measure and analyze the oxygen content of winds flowing from the Sun as part of a $216 million international space mission scheduled for launch in 2001.
Astronomers using the 5-meter Hale telescope on California's Mount Palomar report the discovery of two "new" moons orbiting the planet Uranus. The objects -- first observed Sept. 6 and 7 and photographed again by the astronomers in late October -- bring to 17 the number of satellites known to orbit Uranus.
1) Medicine -- Targeting Tumors, 2) Military -- M.A.S.H. Of Tomorrow, 3) Energy -- Partners In Fusion, 4) Oak Ridge G-Men
Buckyballs, the soccer ball-shaped molecules touted as revolutionary when they were discovered over a decade ago, may not have lived up to their promise yet, but Boston College Chemistry Professor Larry Scott is hoping to change that by creating pieces of them in his laboratory.
1) NSF, Singapore To Link High Performance Networks, 2) Harmful Algal Blooms Linked to Eutrophication, 3) New Technique Allows Visualization of Events in Living Cells
New York, N.Y.--Mutations in the gene P-TEN can increase a woman's risk of breast cancer, according to scientists at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons. The findings identify the third breast cancer susceptibility gene; the other two such genes are BRCA1 and BRCA2.
While regulators, environmentalists and industry debate whether there's enough evidence to warrant restrictions on mercury emissions from coal-burning power plants, researchers say that questions remain on how to accurately measure such emissions and control them in a cost-effective manner.
Droughts, severe winters and air pollution may not cause obvious harm to trees until decades after these environmental stresses occur. That's according to new research by Brian S. Pedersen, visiting assistant professor of biology at Roanoke Colelge in Salem, VA, that punches holes in the theory that environmental events like droughts immediately lead to tree death.
A University of Missouri-Rolla student's design is helping small-engine maker Briggs & Stratton realize big savings in its die-casting operations.
The great formal gardens at Versailles, with their geometrically precise parterres and topiry-lined allees, are usually noted for teir restrained classicism and elegance, not for their politics.
This season's prime-time television lineup of angels, space aliens, witches and other oddities may influence people to believe in such creatures, according to a survey by a Purdue University communication expert.
Although El Nino events or volcanic eruptions can boost or depress global temperatures within months, their strongest impacts on the earth's biosphere may not occur until years later, according to a study published in the October 31 issue of Science and conducted at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
A new study examining verbal ability and socioeconomic success casts doubt on theories advanced in the controversial 1994 book The Bell Curve.
Heavy metal ions are toxic but nevertheless required by cells in tiny amounts. A special "chaperone" protein encases one of these hazardous materials, copper, to safely escort it through the cell to the specific site where needed. Other essential metals, such as zinc and iron, may have their own chaperones.
Highlights of New Scientist for Oct 30, 1997.
El Nino events or volcanic eruptions can boost or depress global temperatures within months, but their strongest impacts on the earth's biosphere may not occur until one to three years later, according to a paper published in the October 31st issue of Science.
Stumps of cedar trees are revealing details of a huge earthquake along North America's west coast more than 100 years before the arrival of the first European occupants. University of Washington researchers are reporting in Nature that evidence in the dead wood confirms that a great earthquake struck the Pacific Northwest coast in 1700 and set off a tsunami, a train of massive ocean waves, that flooded coastal Japan.
A little-known brain wave thought to be found in only small percentage of people is instead sitting inside most of our heads and could one day become a key for understanding connections between movement and vision.
A decade ago, classes in the paranormal were seen as unscholarly by the psychological community. Now, with a generation of believers rasied on movies and shows like The X-Files that make the paranormal seem ordinary , universities and colleges like Texas Christian University are adding courses dealing with the paranormal.
Despite dramatic losses in wild honeybees and in colonies maintained by hobbyist beekeepers, Cornell University apiculturists say the pollination needs of commercial agriculture in the United States are being met -- for now -- by commercial beekeepers, although their supplies are precarious.
Los Alamos scientists are building three key instruments and providing other scientific input to NASA's Genesis spacecraft, which will be the first to return extraterrestrial material to Earth for study since the days of Apollo.
ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMISTRY TIP SHEET Summaries of papers which will appear in the November issue of Environmental Science & Technology, a monthly peer-reviewed journal published by the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.
Science tips include 1.) Noise reduction technology applied to fast robots 2.) Virtual reality creates museum pieces 3.) New magnetic refrigeration materials 4.) Thin is in for electronic circuits
New tool used on six producing U.S. oil wells reveals stresses along sucker rod strings used to extract crude from approximately 80 percent of domestic wells. CR-ROM available free to members of petroleum industry.
Geological-sciences professors have discovered a fact about the San Andreas fault that may help in our understanding of earthquake hazards in California and other areas. Seismic reflection and refraction surveys of the deep crust show that the San Andreas fault goes straight through the crust and cuts through the Moho, the boundary between the crust and mantle of the Earth, instead of turning in the crust to connect with two other parallel faults in the area.
Environmental funding on northern ecosystems was awarded to the Natural Resources Research Institute University of Minnesota Duluth today. Seven separate grants totalling $3.9 million will fund research into the 21st century.
A missile or spaceship, spinning like a football or Olympic diver as it reenters Earth's atmosphere, can be stabilized simply by moving weights within the vehicle. The technique, like balancing an out-of-round tire, may work for satellites too.
Concern over the health of our oceans has grown, in the past two decades, from worry to alarm. Coastal waters are crucial links in the food chain of the seas, and numerous disasters, many of them man-made, have threatened these waters.
The government of the Brazilian State of Amazonas has created a new reserve in the Amazon, thus establishing the world's largest contiguous block of protected rainforest, the Wildlife Conservation Society, headquartered at the Bronx Zoo, announced today.
A roundup of NC State University Web or Internet-based research and outreach activities. For use by the media as briefs or as background for stories.
A new study indicating that portions of bird brains enlarge in response to social factors adds to the mounting evidence that the brains of higher animals change over time. A University of Washington researcher reported that parts of the brains of male sparrows housed with females enlarged 15 to 20 percent larger than brains of other birds housed with males or in isolation
A patent disclosure filed Oct. 27 by University of Delaware scientists describes a technique that uses soybean oil--rather than petroleum-derived resins--to produce inexpensive, lightweight and potentially biodegradable composites for tractors, supercars, bridges and military vehicles.
The Comet Nucleus (CONTOUR) mission to study comets -- a joint project between The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and Cornell University -- has been selected by NASA as one of two new Discovery Program flights.
Young couples are more likely to end up in a "make-out" session if they see a scary movie than if they go to a Mozart concert. That's according to Dr. Galdino F. Pranzarone, a psychology professor at Roanoke College in Salem, VA.
New climatological research by University of Michigan engineers suggests that peaks in the El Nino cycle correspond with surges in storm strength, water levels and destruction on the shores of the Great Lakes. Their findings show the region could get one of the most destructive storm seasons on record.
Each year, U.S. homeowners pay $3 billion to power appliances that have been turned off. Such electricity "leaks" needn't remain the rule, however. New technologies and initiatives will soon be unveiled to highlight the problem and plug these burgeoning leaks.
When the ice creaks, groans, and finally breaks up on Lake Superior next spring, a team of limnologists and oceanographers will launch a five-year study of a dramatic near-shore current in the lake. The current is called the Keweenaw Current because of its proximity to Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula, and is considered the strongest current of its kind in the world.
President Clinton today named 20 young National Science Foundation (NSF)-supported researchers, nine of whom are women, and eight of whom are engineers, to receive the second annual Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers. The presidential honor is the highest bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding young scientists and engineers who are in the early stages of their independent research careers.
Red tide, a costly and sometimes life-threatening problem for the shellfish industry and consumers, will come under the scrutiny of faculty and graduate students in the University of Maine School of Marine Sciences in a 5-year research program scheduled to start in 1998.
Michael Latham, M.D., professor of international nutritional sciences at Cornell University writes new text on international nutrition, "Human Nutrition in the Developing World" (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1997)