Scientific American - News

Don't Let the Bedbugs Bite: Pest Management Proves More Effective than Pesticides

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:04:00 EST

In a large apartment building, it’s impossible to avoid the neighbors. You can hear the Bruce Springsteen that the tenant in 7B cranks while vacuuming, the kids in 8A directly above tromping around, and if someone decides to paint, the fumes reach everyone on the floor. So when a building supervisor notified owners in a sixty-unit co-op building in Brooklyn that one of the apartments had a bedbug infestation, Eddie Rosenthal feared that it was only a matter of time until the bugs spread to his home. [More]

Hot Spot Hot Rod: The Internet Invades the Automobile

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:00:00 EST

With U.S. commuters spending an estimated 500 million hours per week in their vehicles , carmakers, software companies and content providers are trying to figure out how to take advantage of new high-speed wireless network technologies to help drivers have better Internet access during this often idle time. [More]

Can Closing the Ozone Hole Also Help Combat Climate Change?

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:31:00 EST

Carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse culprit in human-generated global warming , most scientists agree, but CO 2 itself, and a handful of other substances, are now being promoted as good alternatives to commonly used refrigerants that threaten Earth's atmosphere and climate. [More]

Being Green: 10 Earth-Friendly Habits You Can Adopt

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:27:00 EST

A Bus with Legs Remember the good ol’ days when kids walked to school? Those treks weren’t as rough as some people recall them--five miles through the snow, uphill both ways!--but they did burn calories instead of fossil fuels. Today kids need more opportunities for exercise, but many parents feel it’s not safe for them to walk alone. One simple solution is to organize a “walking school bus” or “bicycle train” for your neighborhood, with one or more adults supervising a group of children traveling together. It’s a good way to build muscles and communities. For details on how to get started, see www.walkingschoolbus.org . [More]

Tweak Gravity: What If There Is No Dark Matter?

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:01:00 EST

Theorists and observational astronomers are hot on the trail of dark matter , the invisible material thought to account for puzzling mass disparities in large-scale astronomical structures. For instance, galaxies and galactic clusters behave as if they were far more massive than would be expected if they comprised only atoms and molecules, spinning faster than their observable mass would explain. What is more, the very presence of assemblages such as our Milky Way Galaxy speaks to the influence of more mass than we can see. If the mass of the universe were confined to atoms, the clumping of matter that allowed galaxies to take shape would never have transpired. [More]

Jurassic Start: Fossil Pushes Tyrannosaurs' Origin Back 10 Million Years

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:00:00 EST

Tyrannosaurus rex and its relatives were North America's dominant predators in the late Cretaceous period, about 99 million to 65 million years ago, but a new analysis of a toothy fossil skull suggests that the early history of this group includes smaller meat-eating ancestors that date as far back as 170 million years ago. [More]

El Niño Cycles Threaten Some New World Monkey Populations

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:00:00 EST

El Niño conditions in the Pacific Ocean wreak havoc on monkey populations, either in the midst of the periodic hot and dry spells or in their chilly aftermath, according to the results of a new study. [More]

An Elemental Solution: Using Zinc to Stave Off Childhood Diarrhea in Developing Countries

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:53:00 EST

Childhood diarrhea can be a tricky public health issue. Not only is it an unpleasant subject to discuss, but eradicating it, especially in poorer nations, can often mean expensive infrastructure projects and bigger battles than many strapped governments can take on. [More]

Emission Impossible?: Is Dark Matter Behind the Hazy Radiation at the Milky Way's Center?

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:00:00 EST

A haze of radiation at the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy that appears in sky maps taken by two spacecraft at two different wavelengths likely results from a population of high-energy electrons, according to a new analysis of gamma rays in the galaxy. Curiously, some researchers maintain, those electrons are not readily explained by known astrophysical processes--and work is under way to determine if dark matter particles might be responsible. [More]

Could Eating Too Much Soy Be Bad for You?

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

Seeking healthful foods, Americans are eating more soy than ever. But recent research with animals shows that consuming large amounts could have harmful effects on female fertility and reproductive development. [More]

Idle Moments Turn into Tons of Air Pollutants at Schools

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:30:00 EST

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Slip-Sliding Away: Myrtle Beach Erosion Could Explain Sand Loss along the U.S. East Coast

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:50:00 EST

Myrtle Beach's popular oceanfront is retreating at a rate of up to 30 centimeters per year. But visitors who flock to that part of South Carolina's Atlantic coast continue to enjoy its wide, sandy stretches, because the state refills them every seven years or so with sediment dredged from the sea bottom. [More]

U.S. Lags Behind World with Its Patchwork Approach to Curbing E-Waste

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:20:00 EST

Lurking behind the introduction of each new touch-screen computer, high-definition television and digital music player is the stark reality that some once-prized electronic gadgets from a previous techno-generation will get kicked to the curb, ending up in a toxic trash heap thousands of miles from its former owner. The reasons for this digital dumping are many, including ignorance of recycling options and indifference to the environmental impact. The remedy is straightforward--stricter governmental oversight, by the U.S. federal government in particular, of what goes into making these devices and how and where they are discarded, a team of University of California researchers posit in a study to be published Friday in Science . [More]

Astronomical Artifact: Most Distant Object Yet Detected Carries Clues from Early Universe

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:01:00 EST

A violent explosion picked up by a NASA satellite earlier this year is the oldest object ever seen by astronomers, its light having been emitted some 13 billion years ago. At that time the universe was roughly 5 percent of its present age and the big bang was a fairly recent occurrence, having taken place just 600 million years earlier. [More]

Polarized Peepers: Crustacean's Eyes Surpass Man-Made Optical Devices in Manipulating Light

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:59:00 EST

A fierce crustacean known as the peacock mantis shrimp has eyes so refined they can perceive polarized light, including information that is invisible to nearly every other member of the animal kingdom. Not only can the ocean dweller extract polarization information from light, it can do so when the light is circularly polarized--an ability unknown outside a few species of the order of stomatopods to which the peacock mantis belongs. [More]

Sustainability in Daily Life

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:15:00 EST

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Climate Change Begins at Home: Small Steps to Cut Greenhouse Emissions Can Lead to Big Results

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:01:00 EST

American homes and their energy consumption account for nearly 40 percent of U.S. emissions, 626 million metric tons of carbon in 2005 alone. But 33 simple actions--ranging from improving the insulation to carpooling--could cut those annual carbon emissions by 123 million metric tons. That savings would more than entirely offset emissions from petroleum refineries, iron and steel works, and aluminum smelters combined. [More]

Polar Perspective: NASA DC-8 Monitors Antarctica's Meltdown from the Skies

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:01:00 EST

A DC-8 rumbles down the runway in Punta Arenas, Chile, bound once again for the fickle weather of Antarctica. Chock full of scientific equipment, the nearly 48-meter-long plane--the core of NASA's Operation ICE Bridge--will fly as low as 300 meters above the glaciers and valleys of West Antarctica as well as the ice just off shore. Employing gravimeters, laser altimeters, even radar, the plane will attempt to get a handle on the rapid thinning of the Antarctic ice sheet --as well as fill in for the aging ICESat 1 satellite that is soon to be defunct. [More]

What Are the Dangers of Drilling for Natural Gas?

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:35:00 EST

New York's recently released review of the environmental risks (PDF) posed by natural gas production in the Marcellus shale offers the clearest picture yet of the chemicals used in the drilling process called hydraulic fracturing.

The document makes public the names of 260 chemicals, more than eight times as many as Pennsylvania state regulators have compiled. The list is the most complete released by any state or federal agency and could help answer concerns about hydraulic fracturing in Congress and in states where gas drilling has increased in recent years.

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Can a Number Solve the Climate Change Conundrum?

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:30:00 EST

Author Bill McKibben never saw this coming. Founder of 350.org, an environmental campaign aimed at holding atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations below 350 parts per million, McKibben sent word that this Saturday would be the day to take to the streets.

The call went viral in ways far beyond anything McKibben and fellow organizers imagined: As of Thursday morning some 4,317 actions and rallies are planned in 171 countries, with 300 events in China, 1500 across the United States, 500-plus in Central and South America.

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