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


Today's Headlines - January 7, 2008

How the U.S. Seeks to Avert Nuclear Terror

from the Los Angeles Times (Registration Required)

About every three days, unknown to most Americans, an elite team of
federal
scientists hits the streets in the fight against nuclear terrorism.

The deployments are part of an effort since 2001 to ratchet up the
nation's
defenses. More than two dozen specialized teams have been positioned
across
the nation to respond to threats of nuclear terrorism, and as many as
2,000
scientists and bomb experts participate in the effort. Spending on the
program has more than doubled since it was launched.

And an evolving national policy aims to create a system of nuclear
forensics, in which scientific analysis could quickly identify the
source
of a nuclear attack or attempted attack. A key report on nuclear
forensics
is due next month.

To read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-na-
nuke6jan06,1,4601320.story

Or: http://snipurl.com/1wsf6


Economists Say Movie Violence Might Temper the Real Thing

from the New York Times (Registration Required)

NEW ORLEANS - Are movies like "Hannibal" and the remake of "Halloween,"
which serve up murder and mutilation as routine fare, actually making
the
nation safer?

A paper presented by two researchers over the weekend to the annual
meeting
of the American Economic Association here challenges the conventional
wisdom, concluding that violent films prevent violent crime by
attracting
would-be assailants and keeping them cloistered in darkened,
alcohol-free
environs.

Instead of fueling up at bars and then roaming around looking for
trouble,
potential criminals pass the prime hours for mayhem eating popcorn and
watching celluloid villains slay in their stead.

To read more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/07/business/media/07violence.html

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


Ice Pioneer Eyes Farthest Glaciers

from the San Francisco Examiner

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (Associated Press) - For 5,000 years,
great
tongues of ice have spread over the 3-mile-high slopes of Puncak Jaya,
in
the remotest reaches of this remote tropical island. Now those glaciers
are
melting, and Lonnie Thompson must get there before they're gone.

To the American glaciologist, the ancient ice is a vanishing "archive"
of
the story of El Nino, the equatorial phenomenon driving much of the
world's
climate.

More than that, the little-explored glaciers are a last unknown for a
mountaineering scientist who for three decades has circled the planet
pioneering the deep-drilling of ice cores, both to chronicle the history
of
climate and to bear witness to the death of tropical glaciers from
global
warming.

To read more: http://www.examiner.com/a-
1139922~Ice_Pioneer_Eyes_Farthest_Glaciers.html

Or: http://snipurl.com/1wsg3


Medical Tourists Seek Miracles in China

from the Baltimore Sun

BEIJING (Associated Press) - They're paralyzed from diving accidents and
car crashes, disabled by Parkinson's, or blind. With few options
available
at home in America, they search the Internet for experimental treatments
--
and often land on Web sites promoting stem cell treatments in China.

They mortgage their houses, and their hometowns hold fundraisers as they
scrape together the tens of thousands of dollars needed for travel and
the
hope for a miracle cure.

A number of these medical tourists claim some success when they return
home ... But documentation is mostly lacking, and Western doctors warn
that
patients are serving as guinea pigs in a country that isn't doing the
rigorous lab and human tests that are needed to prove a treatment is
safe
and effective.

To read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/health/bal-
te.medical06jan06,0,6624967.story

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


Gates Hails Age of Digital Senses

from BBC News Online

The way people interact with computers is going to dramatically change
in
the next five years, Microsoft chief Bill Gates has told BBC News. He
predicted that the keyboard and mouse would gradually give way to more
intuitive and natural technologies.

In particular, he said, touch, vision and speech interfaces would become
increasingly important. Mr Gates made his comments whilst answering
questions from BBC News website readers.

"This whole idea of what I call natural user interface is really
redefining
the experience," he said. "We're adding the ability to touch and
directly
manipulate, we're adding vision so the computer can see what you're
doing,
we're adding the pen, we're adding speech..."

To read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7174333.stm

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


C'mon, Get Happy? It's Easier Said Than Done.

from the Washington Post (Registration Required)

It's the start of a new year, so think ahead, if you will, to Dec. 31,
2008. What are your hopes for the next 12 months? Maybe you want to be
richer or slimmer, get married or get divorced, become gainfully
employed
or be thankfully retired. There is a single word that describes the goal
of
all these dreams and aspirations. They are all ways, ultimately, to make
you happy.

Some of us will get the things we want, and others won't. The more
interesting question is: Why do people who get what they want rarely end
up
as happy as they expected, while people who fail to achieve dreams
rarely
end up as unhappy as they feared? Systematic experiments show that as
strongly as we hold onto our dreams and fear setbacks, we are poor
judges
of what will make us happy and unhappy.

Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert has made it his life's work to
understand why people not only make errors in predicting what will make
them happy, but also why they make the same errors over and over again.

To read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2008/01/06/AR2008010601522.html

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


Clues from the Mists of Time

from the Los Angeles Times (Registration Required)

KUELAP, Peru  -- The broken skeletons were scattered like random pottery
shards, rediscovered where they had fallen centuries ago.

Were these ancient people cut down in some long-forgotten battle? Did
European-introduced diseases cause their demise? Were they casualties of
some apocalyptic reckoning at this great walled citadel?

The "cloud warriors" of ancient Peru are slowly offering up their
secrets --
 and more questions. Recent digs at this majestic site, once a
stronghold
of the Chachapoya civilization, have turned up scores of skeletons and
thousands of artifacts, shedding new light on these myth-shrouded early
Americans and one of the most remarkable, if least understood, of Peru's
pre-Columbian cultures.

To read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-fg-
cloud5jan05,1,1181985.story

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


A Different Side of Estrogen

from Science News

The mice in Jan-Ake Gustafsson's lab are obese, their bones are brittle,
and their spleens are unusually big. The female mice produce fewer and
smaller litters than normal mice. They also are more likely to develop
high
blood pressure and a disease that resembles human leukemia. In fact,
problems of one sort or another afflict almost every major organ system
in
their fragile, overweight bodies.

What these mice lack is the gene for an important molecule needed to
fully
respond to the hormone estrogen. Known as estrogen receptor beta (ERb),
this molecule mediates most of the effects of estrogen not traditionally
associated with the hormone.

By genetically engineering both male and female mice without the
receptor,
researchers are digging up clues to its many important roles in people.

To read more: http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20080105/bob10.asp

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


States Eye Stricter Curbs on Great Lakes Water

from the Christian Science Monitor

WAUKESHA, Wis. - New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson created a stir in
October
when, campaigning for president in water-hungry Las Vegas, he called for
a
national water policy and remarked that states like Wisconsin were
"awash
in water."

No one has seriously proposed that parched western states sip from the
Midwest. And Mr. Richardson's office swiftly declared he had no such
intention. But his remark tapped a growing sensitivity here over the
Great
Lakes and has given new urgency to a regional initiative to protect them
from outsiders.

... Several recent trends have heightened the concern of those in the
Great
Lakes Basin: Lake levels fell to near record lows last year, drought
struck
the Southeast, and climate-change studies have cast new uncertainty over
water supplies in the Great Lakes region. Meanwhile, population shifts
are
slowly draining the region of its political power. Great Lakes states
lost
congressional seats after the 2000 census and expect to lose more after
2010.

To read more: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0107/p03s03-uspo.html

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


Airline to Test Anti-Missile System

from the Miami Herald (Registration Required)

DALLAS (Associated Press) -- Up to three American Airlines jets will be
outfitted this spring with laser technology being developed to protect
planes from missiles fired by terrorists.

Officials said Friday the anti-missile systems won't be tested on
passenger
flights. But the tests, which could involve more than 1,000 flights,
will
determine how well the technology holds up under the rigors of flight,
they
said.

The first Boeing 767-200 will be equipped in April or later, American
spokesman Tim Wagner said. American operates that Boeing model mostly
between New York and San Francisco and Los Angeles. American said it
is "not in favor" of putting anti-missile systems on commercial planes
but
agreed to take part in the tests to understand technologies that might
be
available in the future.

To read more:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation/AP/story/367967