SCIENCE IN THE NEWS
from Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society


Today's Headlines - January 3, 2008

Top 25 Science Stories of 2007

from Scientific American

The past year has been both tempestuous and exciting - from pet food, E.
coli and toy poisoning scares to political fireworks over embryonic stem
cell research to forest fires ravaging California.

A controversial Nobel scientist (James Watson) went down in a blaze of
infamy, tumbling from grace after putting his foot in his mouth one time
too many, whereas a former vice president and defeated presidential
candidate (Al Gore) rose from the ashes to become a Nobel Peace prize
(and
Oscar) winner for raising awareness on the urgency of global warming.

The honor came on the heels of official worldwide recognition that
climate
change is not only a pressing problem, but one that was almost
completely
caused by humans - and one, too, that humans must fix. On a related
note,
we discovered that the North Pole is melting, beloved freshwater
dolphins
are practically extinct and nuclear power ... has become the
clean-energy
alternative du jour that even has the backing of some enviros.

To read more:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=top-25-science-stories-of

Or: http://snipurl.com/1we02


Mirror Therapy Eases Ache of Missing Limb

from the Baltimore Sun

On the morning of July 2, 2006, Sgt. Nick Paupore was driving the lead
Humvee in a convoy near Kirkuk, in northern Iraq, when a roadside bomb
blew
off his right leg below the knee.

Within 48 hours, he was at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in
Washington,
where he has spent the past 18 months recovering. Soon after arriving,
Paupore began to feel excruciating pain - in his missing leg.

...He tried several painkillers, including methadone, but the pain
didn't
let up. Then a Navy neurologist, Dr. Jack W. Tsao, asked him to try a
new
approach that requires patients to move the intact limb while watching
the
action in a mirror. Not surprisingly, Paupore was skeptical, and said no
thanks. Tsao eventually persuaded Paupore to try the therapy. He's not
skeptical now. After several weeks the [pain] had almost disappeared.

To read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/health/bal-
te.mirrors02jan02,0,7257377.story

Or: http://snipurl.com/1we0s


Birders Answer the Holiday Call

from the Philadelphia Inquirer

His eyes focused on a flock of purple finches feeding along the
roadside,
ecologist Steven Allison barely caught a glimpse of the bird that
swooped
low above them. But it was big and it was fast.

Allison's mother, Diane, saw it, too. "Buteo!" she called out, noting
its
fat wings. Within seconds, the pair had trained their binoculars on the
bird, now poised atop a pine tree just off rural Mount Airy Road in
Tinicum
Township, Bucks County. "Red-shouldered hawk!" she cried, and grabbed
her
Nikon to document the bird's presence for posterity - and the record
books.

...The Allisons were taking part Sunday in the annual Christmas Bird
Count,
a National Audubon Society event that sends thousands of birders into
fields and forests, mountains and seas during a three-week period around
Christmas.

To read more:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/health_science/daily/20080101_Birders_ans
wer_
the_holiday_call.html

Or: http://snipurl.com/1we1c


Mixed Results in Testosterone Study

from the Chicago Tribune (Registration Required)

In a study that may be reassuring to older men taking testosterone in
hopes
of combating the aging process, Dutch researchers reported Tuesday that
the
hormone supplements did not cause any ill effects in healthy men.

Tens of thousands of American men are on testosterone despite
long-standing
concerns about long-term use, with some experts fearing it could fuel
the
growth of prostate cancer and possibly raise the risk of stroke and
heart
attack. Scientific evidence on testosterone's ability to preserve or
restore age-related losses of sex drive, muscle mass and memory also has
been mixed.

The study, published in this week's Journal of the American Medical
Association, was among the first in a series of trials to determine the
safety and benefits of testosterone in older men. Critics, however, said
it
didn't really answer the questions, arguing the dose didn't appear big
enough to make much difference.

To read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-
testosterone_02jan02,1,1716944.story

Or: http://snipurl.com/1we2j


Astronomers Discover Youngest Ever Planet

from the Times (London)

An infant planet estimated to have been born less than 10 million years
ago
has been identified by astronomers. The planet is the youngest ever
discovered and is in a solar system that is still being formed from
cosmic
dust and gas.

Despite being a baby in terms of age, it is enormous in comparison to
Earth
and has been classified as a giant planet. Astronomers studying the
infant
planet have calculated that it has a mass 3,115 times that of Earth and
9.8
times that of Jupiter.

Until its discovery, the youngest planet to have been identified was an
estimated 100 million years old. Earth's age has been calculated at more
than 4.5 billion years old. The new planet orbits an infant star called
TW
Hydrae (TW Hya), which is thought to have formed eight to ten million
years
ago.

To read more:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article3123427.ece

Or: http://snipurl.com/1we78


Inside the UK's Fastest Machine

from the Guardian (UK)

To the untrained eye, it looks like a sports hall half filled with
neatly
arranged burgundy Ikea storage units. But the series of heavy, clunking
security doors that must be navigated to get inside, and the staff's
insistence on secrecy about its precise location, indicate that this is
a
place of national importance.

Meet the University of Edinburgh's HECToR, Britain's newest and faster
supercomputer, which scientists and engineers plan to use for modelling
everything from climate change to financial markets. The 113 million
pound
publicly funded project, the full name of which is High-End Computing
Terascale Resource, will be opened officially later this month by the
chancellor, Alistair Darling.

HECToR's computing power is astonishing. Its calculation speed is
equivalent to every person on the planet performing 10,000 calculations
every second - in computing terms that is the same as 12,000 standard
desktop computers operating at full tilt. HECToR's memory is also
impressive. It is 3,200 times larger than that of a top-of-the-range
iPod
160GB.

To read more:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jan/02/computing.climatechange

Or: http://snipurl.com/1we7m


Wielding a Cost-Cutting Ax, and Often, at NASA

from the New York Times (Registration Required)

WASHINGTON - In Washington, it almost seems radical - completing
government
projects at their original budgeted cost. Yet at NASA, the new director
of
the space science division appears to be making headway at doing just
that,
creating some anguish among researchers and contractors along the way.

In his eight months on the job, the director, S. Alan Stern, has turned
back almost a half-dozen requests for more money from projects
experiencing
cost overruns, he said. That has forced mission leaders to trim parts of
their projects, streamline procedures or find other sources of
financing.

Dr. Stern, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist, became associate
administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in April. In an
appearance before Congress the next month, he outlined a tough plan for
keeping missions on budget and holding leaders responsible ...

To read more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/01/science/space/01stern.html

Or: http://snipurl.com/1we8b


His Parasite Theory Stirs a Revolution

from the Boston Globe (Registration Required)

"What if I told you," Joel Weinstock said, "there were countries where
the
doctors had never seen hay fever?" It is another piece of evidence,
another "aha" moment in the global medical mystery that Weinstock - the
chief of gastroenterology and hepatology at Tufts-New England Medical
Center - has narrowed down to one chief suspect: the worms.

Weinstock, 59, specializes in studying why immunological diseases ...
are
on the rise in developed countries but remain relatively uncommon in
undeveloped countries. He believes these diseases, many of which were
almost unheard of 100 years ago, are because of changes in our
environment,
a lack of exposure to something. And he thinks that something may be the
worms.

"We realized that one thing people always had was intestinal worms," he
said. "But in the mid-20th century we started deworming children in
developed countries. So we've developed a theory that perhaps deworming
was
helping these diseases."

To read more:
http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2007/12/31/his_parasite_theo
ry_s
tirs_a_revolution/

Or: http://snipurl.com/1we8p


Data Breaches, Thefts on the Rise

from the Washington Post (Registration Required)

Companies, government agencies, schools and other institutions are
spending
more to protect ever-increasing volumes of personal data such as credit
card and Social Security numbers with more sophisticated firewalls and
encryption, but the investment often is too little, too late.

"More of them are experiencing data breaches, and they're responding to
them in a reactive way, rather than proactively looking at the company's
security and seeing where the holes might be," said Linda Foley, an
identity theft victim who founded the Identity Theft Resource Center.

Foley's group lists more than 79 million records reported compromised in
the United States through Dec. 18. That compares with nearly 20 million
records reported in all of 2006. Another group, Attrition.org, estimates
that more than 162 million records were compromised worldwide through
Dec.
21. Attrition reported 49 million last year.

To read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2008/01/01/AR2008010101714.html

Or: http://snipurl.com/1we94


Study Finds Tardy Use of Defibrillators

from the Chicago Tribune (Registration Required)

In nearly a third of the cases of sudden cardiac arrest in hospitals,
the
staff takes too long to respond, increasing the patient's risk of brain
damage and death, a new study has found.

Researchers estimate that delays contribute to thousands of deaths a
year
in the United States.

The study was based on the records of 6,789 patients at 369 hospitals
whose
hearts stopped because of conditions that could be reversed with an
electrical shock from a defibrillator -- a favorite device in TV
hospital
dramas when a "code blue" is called and doctors and nurses come running
with a crash cart and paddles to shock the victim back to life.

To read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-
cardiacjan03,1,7739273.story

Or: http://snipurl.com/1wg8e