Scientific American - News

News Bytes of the Week--Could Coastal Trees Have Saved Lives in Myanmar? [News]

Fri, 09 May 2008 15:00:00 EST

Felled mangrove trees may have doomed the coast of Myanmar [More]

Are Backyard Ethanol Brewers an Answer to High-Priced Gas? [News]

Fri, 09 May 2008 15:00:00 EST

A company banking on drivers' weariness of skyrocketing gasoline prices unveiled a home refinery device on Thursday offering another option: ethanol. E-Fuel Corporation says its EFuel100 MicroFueler can produce up to 35 gallons (132 liters) of ethanol a week that consumers can pump directly into their cars and trucks. There is no combustion inside the device, which runs on a standard household 110- to 220-volt AC power supply (consuming about 150 watts per day) and uses a membrane system to distill the sugar, yeast and water solution required to make ethanol rather than combustion heating elements, as commercial ethanol producers do. [More]

From Bountiful to Barren: Rainfall Decrease Left the Sahara Out to Dry [News]

Fri, 09 May 2008 14:10:00 EST

In a finding that may help scientists better predict the pace of climate change, research published in Science shows how the Sahara Desert, a region as big as the U.S. that stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea across northern Africa, went from bountiful to bone-dry over a period of several thousand years.

Scientists peered into the Sahara's verdant past by analyzing sediment samples drilled out of the bottom of one of the desert's last living lakes. The samples revealed long-held secrets of how desert-friendly species replaced tropical plants and animals as monsoon rains retreated farther south into the continent.

[More]

Legislation Introduced to Spur Treatments for Brain Ailments [News]

Thu, 08 May 2008 17:00:00 EST

Lawmakers yesterday introduced legislation designed to speed the development of new, safer therapies for brain and nervous system disorders and injuries, which affect an estimated 100 million Americans and costs an estimated $1.3 trillion annually to treat. [More]

Scientists Build Nano Hot Rods [News]

Thu, 08 May 2008 16:00:00 EST

Like a team of laboratory gearheads, Arizona State University (A.S.U.) researchers have found a way to soup up microscopic "nanomachines" that may someday be used to deliver lifesaving medications or test the quality of drinking water in remote regions of the world. In place of turbochargers and high-octane gas, the scientists tweaked their engine design and used an additive to speed the oxidation of hydrogen peroxide into fuel to create nanomachines 350 times more powerful than any previously built. [More]

To Catch a Plutonium Thief, Try Antineutrinos [News]

Thu, 08 May 2008 13:35:00 EST

A new more secure technology for guarding against theft from nuclear reactors has passed its first test.

Researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, Calif., successfully monitored the power output of a relatively small nuclear power reactor by measuring the number of antineutrinos--ghostly particles generated by nuclear fission--that struck a refrigerator-size tank of liquid.

[More]

What's Our Connection to the Platypus? [News]

Thu, 08 May 2008 13:00:00 EST

The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is an odd-looking creature whose features combine the furry torso and wide, flat tail of a beaver with the rubbery bill and webbed feet of a duck. But its looks are not all that is strange about it. A new study indicates that the distinctive mammal's genetic code is an eclectic brew of bird, reptile and mammal. [More]

Quake Shakes Tokyo [News]

Wed, 07 May 2008 18:00:00 EST

Japan was rocked by a series of earthquakes today about 100 miles (160 kilometers) from Tokyo that injured two, cut off power to some 2,100 homes, and left the country on high alert for possible aftershocks. The largest quake hit at 1:45 a.m. local time in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of the Ibaraki Prefecture and measured 6.8 on the Richter scale, but Japan's meteorological agency told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) that it does not expect the tremors to result in a tsunami. [More]

Toasted Bugs? Tropical Insects May Not Thrive in Warming World [News]

Tue, 06 May 2008 16:20:00 EST

Global warming may prove worse for insects--and other cold-blooded critters--living in the steamy tropics than for their counterparts living closer to the frigid polar regions, according to a new study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. Even though climate change is likely to affect areas near the poles, tropical insects are already living in conditions that verge on being too hot for them, which means they could be teetering on the edge of extinction.

Take the shield bug--also known as the stinkbug for the nasty smelling liquid it spews when attacked. There are varieties of the insect in both the U.K. and Kenya. But although the shield bugs in the former may prosper as a result of a warmer climate in their region, their counterparts in Kenya (and other parts of Africa) may find themselves unable to cope with the heat, according to the research--and, if they cannot adapt or move, they may perish. "The current climate is at its optimum temperature," says study co-author and biogeochemist Curtis Deutsch of the University of California, Los Angeles. "Any warming was going to push them towards reduced fitness."

[More]

Chile Volcano Eruption Sends Residents Fleeing, Causes One Death [News]

Tue, 06 May 2008 12:45:00 EST

Lava began to flow today from Chile's Chaitén volcano, chasing remaining residents out of a nearby town and putting the government of the affected Palena Province on high alert. The country had already been on edge following the volcano's initial eruption this past weekend, spewing hot ash, gas and smoke into the air for several days, forcing the evacuation of more than 4,200 residents and leading to the death of a 92-year-old woman who suffered a heart attack aboard a navy boat as she was being taken to Puerto Montt, about 125 miles (200 kilometers) north of the volcano. No lava flow, however, had been reported until Tuesday. [More]

How Boys Become Boys (and Sometimes Girls) [News]

Tue, 06 May 2008 12:00:00 EST

In research that could give doctors a way to reassign sex in cases of unclear gender, scientists report this week that they have figured out why some children with genes that should make them boys are instead born as girls. [More]

A Dump Truck for the 21st Century [News]

Tue, 06 May 2008 11:00:00 EST

Slideshow: View the "super tipper" [More]

More than 22,000 Dead, 40,000 Missing from Myanmar Cyclone [News]

Mon, 05 May 2008 16:00:00 EST

More than 22,000 people were reported dead and 41,000 more were missing after a cyclone tore through the Southeast Asian country of Myanmar late Friday night and early Saturday morning. Over 10 hours, winds traveling up to 150 miles per hour struck Yangon, Myanmar's largest city, and dumped 20 inches of rain on the harbortown, formerly known as Rangoon. According to published reports, the country's foreign minister fears the final death toll may rise as high as 50,000. That would make the storm -- Tropical Cyclone Nargis -- one of Myanmar's most deadly natural disasters and the second largest in the region after the tsunami of 2004, which took nearly 200,000 lives. [More]

Hard Drive Recovered from Columbia Shuttle Solves Physics Problem [News]

Mon, 05 May 2008 13:33:00 EST

Researchers have finally published the results of data recovered from a cracked and singed hard drive that fell to Earth in the debris from the Space Shuttle Columbia, which broke up during reentry on February 1, 2003, killing all seven crew members.

The hard drive contained data from the CVX-2 (Critical Viscosity of Xenon) experiment, designed to study the way xenon gas flows in microgravity. The findings, published this April in the journal Physical Review E, confirmed that when stirred vigorously, xenon exhibits a sudden change in viscosity known as shear thinning. The same effect allows whipped cream and ketchup to go from flowing smoothly like liquids to holding their shapes like solids.

[More]

Are There Missing Pieces to the Human Genome Project? [News]

Mon, 05 May 2008 13:00:00 EST

If you ask the scientists at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) when the Human Genome Project wrapped up, they'll tell you it was finished in 2003. However, a new study indicates that the composite reference genome cobbled together from parts of the genetic codes of multiple people, is definitely a work in progress. [More]

Fishing for Oxygen in Warming Oceans [News]

Fri, 02 May 2008 18:00:00 EST

Records stretching back to 1960 prove what climate models had predicted: warmer oceans contain less oxygen. Oceanographer Lothar Stramma of the University of Kiel in Germany and his colleagues report in Science that an analysis of historical records and recent samples show that as the globe has warmed, waters with low oxygen content have expanded in the tropical Atlantic and equatorial Pacific oceans. [More]

News Bytes of the Week--Was the Red Baron Just Lucky? [News]

Fri, 02 May 2008 17:00:00 EST

Was the Red Baron just lucky?Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, better known as the Red Baron, was the most feared German flying ace of World War I. He racked up 80 official air combat victories--the biggest winning streak on either side--before being shot down on April 21, 1918, over northern France. We're inclined to interpret the Baron's record as proof that he was the best of the best. But a study published in the Journal of Mathematical Sociology claims that much of Richthofen's success could be chalked up to plain old luck. German records list 2,894 WWI fighter pilots, who together scored 6,759 victories (planes shot down) and only 810 defeats. Although the win ratio seems suspiciously high, electrical engineers Mikhail Simkin and Vwani Roychowdhury of the University of California, Los Angeles, contend they can still use the numbers to analyze the pilots' defeat rate--their total chances of being shot down after each flight. That rate started off high--25 percent for the first flight--but fell sharply; by the 10th flight it had leveled off below 5 percent, consistent with the weaker pilots getting picked off and the remaining aces having similar skills in the air. At that rate, the researchers conclude that the odds of one in 2,894 pilots racking up an 80-win streak are about 30 percent--not so remarkable after all.

[More]

A Silver Coating in the Fight Against Microbes [News]

Fri, 02 May 2008 10:50:00 EST

A new technique in paint making could soon make almost any surface germfree. Researchers have made paint that is embedded with silver nanoparticles known for their ability to kill bacteria and other microbes, in the hope that hospitals will coat their walls and countertops to fight infection.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than one million people a year contract bacterial infections in hospitals. Silver itself is an excellent bacteria fighter, and in nanoparticle form it is even more potent at killing microorganisms. So far it has not shown any adverse effects in humans.

[More]

Congress Passes Bill Barring Genetic Discrimination [News]

Thu, 01 May 2008 19:00:00 EST

The House today passed a measure by a whopping 414-to-1 margin that would prohibit health insurers from canceling or denying coverage or hiking premiums based on a genetic predisposition to a specific disease. The legislation, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), also bars employers from using genetic information to hire, fire, promote or make any other employment-related decisions. [More]

Charcoal in Burned Forests No Way to Store Carbon [News]

Thu, 01 May 2008 19:00:00 EST

The boreal forests in the north of Canada, Russia and other countries that ring the Arctic burn every summer after lightning strikes their towering trees, releasing tons of carbon dioxide into the air as they turn to ash and charcoal in the flames. Some scientists have argued, however, that this climate-changing natural disaster might not be all bad from a global warming perspective: Charcoal is a stable way to store carbon in the ground, where the carbon-rich charcoal can safely stay for hundreds if not thousands of years. Or at least that's the theory of so-called biochar. A new study published today in Science shows that such charcoal may not keep as much carbon in the soil as previously believed. [More]