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


Today's Headlines - March 7, 2008

NASA Wary of Relying on Russia

from the Washington Post (Registration Required)

Tomorrow night, a European spacecraft is scheduled to blast off from
French
Guiana on its maiden voyage to the international space station, giving
NASA
and the world a new way to reach the orbiting laboratory.

For NASA, however, the launch of the Jules Verne Automated Transfer
Vehicle
(ATV) also highlights a stark reality: In 2 1/2 years, just as the
station
gets fully assembled, the United States will no longer have any
spacecraft
of its own capable of carrying astronauts and cargo to the station, in
which roughly $100 billion is being invested.

The three space shuttles will be retired by then ... and NASA will have
nothing ready to replace them until 2015 at the earliest. For five years
or
more, the United States will be dependent on the technology of others to
reach the station, which American taxpayers largely paid for.

To read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2008/03/06/AR2008030604070.html

Or: http://snipurl.com/216hw


Did Researchers Cook Data from the First Test of General Relativity?

from Scientific American

On May 29, 1919, two British expeditions, positioned on opposite sides
of
the planet, aimed telescopes at the sun during a total eclipse. Their
mission: to test a radical theory of gravity dreamed up by a former
patent
clerk, who predicted that passing starlight should bend toward the sun.

Their results, announced that November, vaulted Albert Einstein into the
public consciousness and confirmed one of the most spectacular
experimental
successes in the history of science.

In recent decades, however, some science historians have argued that
astronomer Sir Arthur Eddington, the junior member of the 1919
expedition,
believed so strongly in Einstein's theory of general relativity that he
discounted data that clashed with it.

To read more:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=did-researchers-cook-data-
from-first-general-relativity-test

Or: http://snipurl.com/214vf


The Energy Challenge: Turning Glare Into Watts

from the New York Times (Registration Required)

BOULDER CITY, Nev. - At first, as he adjusted pumps and checked
temperatures, Aaron Boucher looked like any technician in the control
room
of an electrical plant. Then he rushed to the window and scanned the
sky,
to check his fuel supply.

Mr. Boucher was battling clouds, timing the operations of his power
plant
to get the most out of patchy sunshine. It is a skill that may soon be
in
greater demand, for the world appears to be on the verge of a boom in a
little-known but promising type of solar power.

It is not the kind that features shiny panels bolted to the roofs of
houses. This type involves covering acres of desert with mirrors that
focus
intense sunlight on a fluid, heating it enough to make steam. The steam
turns a turbine and generates electricity.

To read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/business/06solar.html

Or: http://snipurl.com/214w8


Antarctic Fish "Hibernate" in Winter

from National Geographic News

Antarctic cod go "on ice" and take a nap during the long winter months,
a
new study shows.

The cod hunker down on the seafloor, reduce their feeding, and slow
their
heart rates - probably as a way to survive Antarctica's dark winters,
when
the fish might have a harder time spotting prey. This is the first time
fish have been seen actively becoming torpid - a state similar to
hibernation in land animals - as part of an annual cycle.

"A lot of freshwater fish go [unexpectedly] dormant in winter because a
drop in temperature lowers their metabolism," said study co-author
Hamish
Campbell, a zoologist at the University of Queensland, Australia. "By
contrast, these Antarctic fish actively reduce their 'cost of living,'"
he
said.

To read more:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/03/080306-fish-
hibernate.html

Or: http://snipurl.com/214ul


Grand Canyon Might Be Older Than Thought

from the Washington Post (Registration Required)

Visitors to the Grand Canyon always want to know: How old is it?

Park rangers are instructed to tell them that the canyon has been carved
by
the Colorado River for the past 5 million or 6 million years.

The National Park Service's Web site, under Frequently Asked Questions,
notes that the rocks exposed by the canyon are up to 2 billion years
old,
and then adds: "The Canyon itself -- an erosional feature -- has formed
only in the past five or six million years. Geologically speaking, Grand
Canyon is very young."

That might need revision. The canyon is more like 17 million years old,
according to a new study published online today by the journal Science.
And
the Colorado River may not be the only river involved in its formation.

To read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2008/03/06/AR2008030601970.html

Or: http://snipurl.com/214x9


Gravity Helps Astronomers See the Unseen

from the Christian Science Monitor

Einstein predicted that the gravity of a massive object such as a galaxy
will bend light like a lens. In some cases, the lensing can image
distant
objects that lie behind the galaxy. Astronomers have studied such
gravitational lenses for decades.

Now they are ready to turn them into a powerful tool to test the latest
theories of the structure and evolution of the universe. Far from being
a
cosmic oddity, gravitational lensing appears to be ubiquitous. New
research
suggests that there may be half a million strongly lensing galaxies
scattered across the sky.

Other research has traced strands of unseen dark matter by the way their
gravity distorts light. These strands wrap the universe in an invisible
web. Some of this research is from the COSMOS Project that aims to
survey
thoroughly a small patch of sky about nine times the area of the full
moon.

To read more: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0306/p14s01-stss.html

Or: http://snipurl.com/214z9


Sea Slug Inspires Brain Implant

from BBC News Online

The response of a startled sea cucumber has inspired a new material that
could one day be used to build brain implants for patients with
Parkinson's
disease. The material can rapidly switch from being rigid to flexible
and
vice versa.

Writing in the journal Science, US researchers describe how species of
the
sea creatures "tense" when threatened. The new material mimics this
ability, and could be used to make advanced brain electrodes which are
stiff when implanted, yet supple inside the body.

Adding water changes the state of the material. "The water acts as a
chemical switch," Dr Christoph Weder, one of the team who developed the
material, told the BBC News website.

To read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7279088.stm

Or: http://snipurl.com/214xo


Saturn Satellite Reveals First Moon Rings

from New Scientist

Rings are not just for planets anymore - astronomers have found them
around
Saturn's moon Rhea, the first ever observed around a moon.

"It is a huge surprise - we didn't have any suspicions at all" that such
rings existed, says Geraint Jones of the Mullard Space Science
Laboratory
at University College London, UK.

The rings revealed their presence by the way they block the flow of
energetic electrons that zip around Saturn, trapped by the planet's
magnetic field. The effect was observed by the Cassini spacecraft as it
passed about 500 kilometres away from Rhea in November 2005.

To read more:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13421-saturn-satellite-
reveals-first-moon-rings.html

Or: http://snipurl.com/214uu


Device Lets Users 'Feel' What's on a Computer Screen

from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Computers are great for the eyes and ears. But it's a 3-D world out
there,
and the only sense of touch one experiences on a computer is the feel of
the keyboard and mouse.

Now a research professor in Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics
Institute
is singing his own laboratory version of "Feelings." Ralph Hollis and
his
research team have created a magnetic levitation haptic technology that
allows one to feel 3-D objects and what's happening to them on the
computer
screen.

With his device, it's possible to feel textures and vibrations as one
drags
a virtual point across virtual surfaces on the screen, be they smooth,
ridged, rough or rumble strips. Or one can lift little blocks, work a
seesaw and roll balls around a playground while feeling the weight of
each
object and the impact as they bump and collide.

To read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08065/862499-115.stm

Or: http://snipurl.com/2151k


Sea Levels to Plunge Long Term, Study of Dino Era Says

from National Geographic News

About 80 million years ago - a time when dinosaurs ruled the Earth -
global
sea levels were roughly 560 feet higher than they are today, according
to a
new study.

If sea levels were that high now, vast regions would be flooded: most of
northern Europe, large sections of South America, the East Coast of
North
America, and parts of Australia.

... The finding stems from more than a decade of effort to virtually
reconstruct ancient ocean basins to understand how their size and depth
have changed since the Cretaceous, which lasted from 145.5 to 65.5
million
years ago.

To read more:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/03/080306-sea-
levels.html

Or: http://snipurl.com/216gx