Welcome to Science Saturday, where the Overnight News Digest crew informs and entertains you with this week's news about science, space, and the environment.
This week's featured story comes from Meteor Watch on YouTube and Discovery News.
The official Meteorwatch 2011 trailer for the Perseid Meteor Shower.
Join in, Look Up and share your shooting star experiences and images using twitter, facebook and Google+
Look Up! The Perseids Are Here: Video
Analysis by Ian O'Neill
Fri Aug 12, 2011 01:28 PM ET
Every year, at around this time, the Earth barrels through a cloud of interplanetary dust -- the trail left behind by a comet named Swift-Tuttle. As these tiny specks of comet dust rain through our atmosphere, a meteor shower results. This particular mid-summer shower is called the Perseids.
Right now you can get the best out of your Perseids experience by participating in #MeteorWatch -- an international social media effort to create, what I like to see it as, a worldwide virtual observatory.
More after the jump.
Recent Science Diaries and Stories
This week in science
By DarkSyde
More coming.
Rabid Vampire Bats Expanding North Take First Victim in US: Climate Change a Cause
by FishOutofWater
The Daily Bucket - frogs
by bwren
Slideshows/Videos
From: NASAtelevision | Aug 12, 2011
NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity has reached its next destination. Three years after climbing out of Victoria crater, Opportunity has completed an eleven-mile trek to the rim of Endeavour crater at a spot informally named "Spirit Point" after the rover's decommissioned twin.
At 14 miles in diameter, Endeavour has ridges along its western rim that expose rock outcrops older than any Opportunity has seen so far. Also, Future Forum; shuttles nose-to-nose; hydro basin; women of WISH; STEM forum; and engineering interns. Plus, NASA Art!
Astronomy/Space
Agence France Presse via Discovery News: Oddball Exoplanet is Darker than Coal
An alien world reflects less than one percent of the starlight that falls on it, making it the blackest exoplanet known.
Thu Aug 11, 2011 12:48 PM ET
A planet orbiting a distant star is darker than coal, reflecting less than one percent of the starlight falling on it, according to a paper published on Thursday.
The strange world, TrES-2b, is a gas giant the size of Jupiter, rather than a solid, rocky body like Earth or Mars, astronomers said.
It closely orbits the star GSC 03549-02811, located about 750 light years away in the direction of the constellation of Draco the Dragon.
"TrES-2b is considerably less reflective than black acrylic paint, so it's truly an alien world," David Kipping of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said in a press release issued by Britain's Royal Astronomical Society (RAS).
Discovery News: Mars Rover Opportunity Arrives at Endeavour Crater
Analysis by Ian O'Neill
Thu Aug 11, 2011 02:02 AM ET
We may be getting excited for the launch of NASA's nuclear-powered Mars Science Laboratory this Fall, but don't forget we still have a warrior amongst robots currently dominating the Red Planet's surface.
I am, of course, referring to Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, and she's just achieved an incredible feat.
After an epic trek over the Martian plains, the six-wheeled Opportunity has reached the rim of the vast Endeavour crater, a crater some 22 kilometers (14 miles) wide -- 25-times wider than the famous Victoria crater that the rover explored in 2008 (see below for crater-size comparison).
Three years and 21 kilometers (13 miles) later, Opportunity has completed this latest marathon, ready to begin some ground-breaking science on a terrain no Mars mission has ever seen before.
Discovery News: Smidgen of Antimatter Surrounds Earth
Analysis by Jennifer Ouellette
Thu Aug 11, 2011 03:57 PM ET
Astrophysicists studying cosmic rays have spotted "the most abundant source of antiprotons near the Earth" -- i.e., antimatter -- according to a new paper in Astrophysical Journal Letters by scientists on NASA's PAMELA project.
PAMELA stands for Payload for Antimatter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics, and the satellite-based experiment was launched in 2006 for the purpose of studying cosmic rays, high-energy subatomic particles that are slamming into the Earth's atmosphere constantly, creating showers of "daughter" particles in the process. That's right, Nature is running her very own particle accelerator experiment at the edge of Earth's atmosphere.
Antiproton belt
That means that the showers of daughter particles should include small amounts of antiprotons, just like in manmade particle accelerators. Most of those would annihilate the moment they came into contact with their ordinary matter counterparts, but astrophysicists have long hypothesized that a few remaining antiprotons could become trapped within the Earth's magnetic field, resulting in "an antiproton radiation belt" similar to the Van Allen radiation belts that already exist.
Reuters: Donors helping to reboot California listening post for aliens
By Alex Dobuzinskis
LOS ANGELES
Sat Aug 13, 2011 6:51pm EDT
A California institute plans to reboot its listening post for intelligent life in space, with private donations to replace government cutbacks.
Back in April, due to a lack of funding, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute was forced to shut down its $30 million radio telescope array designed to hear potential signals from aliens -- if they exist.
But officials with the nonprofit institute in northern California's Mountain View appealed for donations. This week they said the total raised had slightly surpassed their $200,000 goal.
That was due to generosity from more than 2,400 donors, including actress Jodie Foster and Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders, they said.
Evolution/Paleontology
PhysOrg.com: Scientists identify oldest wood specimens
by Bob Yirka
August 12, 2011
Researchers studying two fossilized plants, one from New Brunswick, Canada, the other from France have been identified as being 397 and 407 million years old respectively. Both are believed to be the oldest known examples of wood, predating previously found specimens by ten million years. Lead researcher Philippe Gerrienne, of Belgium, and his team have published the results of their research in Science.
The New Brunswick sample was found by co-author Patricia Gensel, who brought it back to the University of North Carolina where she is a professor of paleobotany. The fossil remained on the shelf apparently for several years before it was included in a study being led by Gerrienne, (research associate and lecturer at the University of Liege) of the plant specimen found in France.
The two specimens are believed to be not just the earliest examples of wood found, but actual samples of wood in its earliest form of existence. Both plants were very small, just 20 centimeters tall (with stems just 12 centimeters tall and 3 to 5 centimeters wide) and were a type of herb.
Agence France Presse via PhysOrg.com: Peru researchers make rare ancient insect find
August 10, 2011
Researchers in Peru said Tuesday they have discovered the remains of ancient insects and sunflower seeds trapped inside amber dating from the Miocene epoch, some 23 million years ago.
The rare find was made in the remote mountainous jungle region near Peru's northern border with Ecuador, paleontologist Klaus Honninger told AFP.
"These new discoveries are very important, because the insects and sunflower seeds confirm the type of climate that existed during the Miocene period," Honninger said in a telephone interview from the northern city of Chiclayo.
Emory University via PhysOrg.com: Polar dinosaur tracks open new trail to past
August 9, 2011
Paleontologists have discovered a group of more than 20 polar dinosaur tracks on the coast of Victoria, Australia, offering a rare glimpse into animal behavior during the last period of pronounced global warming, about 105 million years ago.
The discovery, reported in the journal Alcheringa, is the largest and best collection of polar dinosaur tracks ever found in the Southern Hemisphere.
"These tracks provide us with a direct indicator of how these dinosaurs were interacting with the polar ecosystems, during an important time in geological history," says Emory University paleontologist Anthony Martin, who led the research. Martin is an expert in trace fossils, which include tracks, trails, burrows, cocoons and nests.
Eastern Daily Press (UK): A fossil mystery to get your teeth into
Emily Dennis
Thursday, August 11, 2011
11:28 AM
Kathie Read made an unusual find among the flower pots and cobwebs as she cleaned out her garden shed – a box of fossilised mammoth teeth.
Mrs Read, from Broome, near Bungay, was tidying up when she came across a wooden box belonging to her late husband, John.
Inside she found what she thought were bones, but on closer inspection they appeared to be huge teeth.
Mr Read, who died in 2008, aged 82, had never spoken in detail to his wife about the find, only once making a vague passing reference to it.
The newspaper the teeth were wrapped in was dated November 16, 1950, eight years before the couple married.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
BBC: Giant fossil shows huge birds lived among dinosaurs
August 10, 2011
An enormous jawbone found in Kazakhstan is further evidence that giant birds roamed - or flew above - the Earth at the same time as the dinosaurs.
Writing in Biology Letters, researchers say the new species, Samrukia nessovi, had a skull some 30cm long.
If flightless, the bird would have been 2-3m tall; if it flew, it may have had a wingspan of 4m.
The find is only the second bird of such a size in the Cretaceous geologic period, and the first in Asia.
Biodiversity
Reuters: Orange goo washing ashore in Alaska is egg mass, scientists say
By Yereth Rosen
ANCHORAGE, Alaska
Mon Aug 8, 2011 5:10pm EDT
A mysterious orange goo that washed ashore in an Alaska village last week and sparked pollution concerns turns out to be a mass of crustacean eggs or embryos, government scientists said on Monday.
Tests of a sample sent by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation produced the results, officials at a laboratory belonging to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Alaska Fisheries Service Center said.
"We now think these are some sort of small crustacean egg or embryo, with the lipid oil droplet in the middle causing the orange color," Jeep Rice, a lead scientist at the Juneau laboratory, said in a news release.
"So this is natural. It is not chemical pollution; it is not a man-made substance," Rice said.
Reuters: Spermless mosquitoes could help halt malaria spread
By Kate Kelland
LONDON
Mon Aug 8, 2011 3:27pm EDT
Releasing genetically modified, spermless male mosquitoes into the wild could in future help to prevent malaria transmission and reduce the chances of large outbreaks of the killer disease, British scientists said on Monday.
Researchers from Imperial College London sterilized male mosquitoes by genetically modifying them to neutralize a gene required for sperm production.
In a study to see how these mosquitoes would fare when trying to get a mate, they found that female mosquitoes cannot tell if the males they mate with are fertile, or spermless and therefore unable to fertilize the females' eggs.
Biotechnology/Health
Reuters: Chest pain severity not a heart attack indicator
By Allison Bond
NEW YORK
Thu Aug 11, 2011 10:50pm EDT
A high degree of pain does not make it any more likely that someone coming into the emergency room with chest pains is having a heart attack, researchers found in a study of more than 3,000 patients.
The most severe chest pain was not a good predictor of which patients were actually having a myocardial infarction, or heart attack, nor of which patients were most prone to having one within the next month.
Conversely, "If chest pain isn't severe, that doesn't mean it's not a heart attack," said Dr. Anna Marie Chang, an author of the study and an emergency physician at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
Reuters: Women smokers have more heart risk than men: study
By Andrew Seaman
WASHINGTON
Thu Aug 11, 2011 9:50pm EDT
Women who smoke cigarettes are more likely to develop heart disease than men, says new research released on Wednesday.
After reviewing data on 2.4 million people and 44,000 cardiac events, the article's authors found female smokers have a 25 percent greater risk for coronary heart disease than males who smoke cigarettes.
The researchers, published in The Lancet medical journal, also found the difference in risk for male and female smokers increased by two percent for every year they smoke.
Reuters: Woman mauled by chimp shows new face in first photo
By Lauren Keiper
BOSTON
Thu Aug 11, 2011 2:22pm EDT
A woman who underwent a full face transplant in May after being mauled by a chimpanzee in 2009 revealed her new face in a photo released on Thursday.
Charla Nash, 57, who was photographed in her hospital bed at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, appears dramatically different with a new nose, lips and facial skin.
"I will now be able to do things I once took for granted," Nash said in a statement.
"I will be able to smell. I will be able to eat normally. I will no longer be disfigured. I will have lips and will speak clearly once again. I will be able to kiss and hug loved ones."
Reuters: Scientists unravel genetic clues to multiple sclerosis
By Kate Kelland
LONDON
Wed Aug 10, 2011 3:55pm EDT
Scientists have found 29 new genetic variants linked to multiple sclerosis (MS) and say the findings should help drugmakers focus treatment research on precise areas of the immune system.
In a study published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, researchers said the newly-found links point to the idea that T-cells -- a type of white blood cell responsible for mounting an immune response -- and chemicals called interleukins play a key role in the development of the debilitating disease.
Drugs in development that target the immune system include rituximab, sold under the brand name Rituxan by Roche and Biogen to fight leukemia, Tysabri from Biogen and Elan, Lemtrada, sold as Campath by Sanofi's unit Genzyme for cancer, and Abbott and Biogen's Zenapax or daclizumab.
Reuters: Gene therapy shown to destroy leukemia tumors
By Deena Beasley
LOS ANGELE
Wed Aug 10, 2011 2:40pm EDT
Scientists for the first time have used gene therapy to successfully destroy cancer tumors in patients with advanced disease -- a goal that has taken 20 years to achieve.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania engineered patients' own pathogen-fighting T-cells to target a molecule found on the surface of leukemia cells.
The altered T-cells were grown outside of the body and infused back into patients suffering from late-stage chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), which affects the blood and bone marrow and is the most common form of leukemia.
Reuters: Scientists find new ovarian cancer gene
By Kate Kelland
LONDON
Mon Aug 8, 2011 12:50pm EDT
Women who carry a faulty copy of a gene called RAD51D have an almost one in 11 chance of developing ovarian cancer, scientists said on Sunday in a finding they called the most significant ovarian cancer gene discovery for more than 10 years.
Tests to identify those at highest risk are expected to be available within a few years, according to Cancer Research UK, and may lead some women to decide to have their ovaries removed in order to beat the disease.
The finding should also speed the search for new drugs.
Climate/Environment
Asian News International via New Kerala: Village in Nepal on brink of losing ancient monastery in hands of glacial lake floods
London, August 8 : Nepal's Halji village, best known for its 1000-year-old monastery, a potential World Heritage Site, is facing a huge threat from frequent glacial lake outpour floods, which mysteriously occur annually on the same day every summer since 2006.
This year proved no exception, and on June 30th, after a glacial lake burst in the mountains some 1,700 meters above Halji, a flash flood rushed through the village destroying buildings, farmlands and infrastructure.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for this story.
Reuters: Roundup herbicide research shows plant, soil problems
By Carey Gillam
KANSAS CITY, Missouri
Fri Aug 12, 2011 3:32pm EDT
The heavy use of Monsanto's Roundup herbicide appears to be causing harmful changes in soil and potentially hindering yields of the genetically modified crops that farmers are cultivating, a government scientist said on Friday.
Repeated use of the chemical glyphosate, the key ingredient in Roundup herbicide, impacts the root structure of plants, and 15 years of research indicates that the chemical could be causing fungal root disease, said Bob Kremer, a microbiologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service.
Roundup is the world's best-selling herbicide and its use has increased as Monsanto, the world's biggest seed company, continues to roll out herbicide-tolerant "Roundup Ready" crops.
Reuters: Rains bring only brief relief to drought-stricken Texas
By Jim Forsyth
SAN ANTONIO
Fri Aug 12, 2011 3:05pm EDT
Scattered heavy rains brought badly needed relief to parched north and west Texas overnight, but forecasters said on Friday that the storms quickly passed and were not enough to break the devastating drought that has gripped the state.
Hardest hit was the town of Del Rio, which received nearly four and a half inches of rain in two hours, according to the National Weather Service. Scattered rain in the Dallas area prevented the region from hitting 100 degrees for the first time in forty days, two days shy of the record.
...
Heat advisories remained in effect in the south central part of the state, where heat indexes were expected to reach as high as 109 degrees, according to the Weather Service.
July was the hottest month ever recorded in Texas, said state climatologist John Nielson-Gammon, and the 12 months ending July 31 were the driest since records started being kept in 1895.
And Rick Perry will count this as a victory. "See, I prayed for rain, and it came." There ain't nothing under that good hair, folks.
There's more.
Reuters: Drought deepens in South; Texas driest in century
By Carey Gillam
KANSAS CITY, Missouri
Thu Aug 11, 2011 11:09am EDT
A devastating drought deepened over the last week in many areas, spreading through more of the Plains and going into the Midwest as triple-digit temperatures baked already thirsty crops and livestock.
The Corn Belt states of South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana saw drought develop quickly as the important corn-growing region got only spotty rainfall amid the high heat, according to the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor, produced by a consortium of national climate experts.
Abnormal dryness intensified to moderate drought over the last week, according to the report.
Texas remained the epicenter of unprecedented drought, with climate data showing the state suffering its driest 10 months ever in over a century of data.
Reuters: Scientists to track acidification in Arctic Ocean
By Yereth Rosen
ANCHORAGE, Alaska
Thu Aug 11, 2011 11:30am EDT
Scientists from the Geological Survey will embark next week on an expedition to monitor acidification trends in the Arctic Ocean linked to carbon emissions, the agency said.
The USGS scientists will spend seven weeks on a Coast Guard icebreaker, getting as close to the North Pole as possible to take water samples and test for chemical indicators of acidification, officials said.
Carbon emissions are blamed for altering the chemistry of the world's oceans by making them more acidic, which makes it more difficult for fish and other sea life to grow and live.
The Arctic Ocean is considered especially vulnerable to acidification because of the cold temperatures and already-low level of calcium saturation, Lisa Robbins, a USGS oceanographer going on the trip, said in an interview.
Reuters: Climate scientists shine new light on methane mystery
By David Fogarty
SINGAPORE
Thu Aug 11, 2011 7:25am EDT
Atmospheric levels of methane, 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide (CO2) at trapping heat, stayed steady for two decades to 2006 on wider fertilizer use to grow rice or a surge in natural gas demand, according to two separate studies in the journal Nature.
Climate researcher Fuu Ming Kai from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Singapore research center said in one study that methane output from rice fields in the Northern Hemisphere dropped during the period as fertilizers replaced manure and because of reduced water use.
In the second study, Murat Aydin at the University of California, Irvine, concluded that a drop in methane emissions from more efficient burning of fossil fuels and a surge in natural gas demand.
The studies aim to solve a puzzle that has confounded climate scientists for years: why did methane levels in the atmosphere, after rising steadily for many years, taper off in the mid-1980s in a dip lasting two decades?
Reuters: Special Report: Bad weather a boon for private forecasters
By Jane Sutton
MIAMI
Wed Aug 10, 2011 1:21am EDT
Heat and drought are parching the southern U.S. plains, floods and tornadoes have shattered long-standing records, and the tropical Atlantic is steaming into the traditionally busiest part of the hurricane season.
With commodity markets across the globe in the thrall of extreme weather, private-sector meteorologists are increasingly providing custom-tailored weather intelligence to the financial world. This time of year their services are in high demand.
"It grows quiet down here from 11 to 12 and it's because they're waiting for the midday weather update, waiting for the next piece of information," said Matt Pierce, analyst for GrainAnalyst.com who has been on the trading floor at the Chicago Board of Trade for more than 10 years.
Geology
Reuters: Alaska volcano erupting with lava streams from crater
By Yereth Rosen
ANCHORAGE, Alaska
Thu Aug 11, 2011 11:39am EDT
A volcano that has been erupting for several days in Alaska's Aleutian Islands may be preparing for a more explosive event, scientists said on Wednesday.
Cleveland Volcano, a 5,676-foot peak located on Chuginadak Island, about 940 miles southwest of Anchorage, has been in low-level eruption since the end of July, the Alaska Volcano Observatory said.
"An eruption for us is any time that magma is coming up from the surface in the ground," said John Power, scientist in charge at the observatory, a joint federal-state operation. "This is very much happening here."
Psychology/Behavior
Reuters: Riots, wild markets: Did space storms drive us mad?
By Rosalba O'Brien
LONDON
Fri Aug 12, 2011 11:02am EDT
Rollercoaster financial markets and the worst riots Britain has seen in decades have made it quite a week for a time of year that is usually so dead the newspapers are filled with "silly season" tales of amusing pet antics.
Everyone is pointing fingers -- at blundering politicians, hooded thugs, disaffected youths, bumbling police and greedy bankers -- but could the cause for all the madness really be the star at the center of our solar system?
There isn't a lot of evidence pointing to little green men involving themselves in Earthly affairs, but the sun has been throwing bursts of highly charged particles into space in a phenomenon known as coronal mass ejections or CMEs.
There is actually some evidence for this, as weird as it is. Just the same, note that I placed it under behavior, not astronomy.
Reuters: Heart failure in elderly linked to memory problems
By Genevra Pittman at Reuters Health
NEW YORK
Thu Aug 11, 2011 12:36pm EDT
Older patients with heart failure had more memory problems when their heart ailments were advanced, but the same was not true with younger patients who suffered from a similar type of heart failure, according to a study.
The findings, published in Archives of Neurology, tell cardiologists they need to be aware their patients may be at higher risk of memory problems, problems that could come into play in their treatment, said study author Joanne Festa from St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in new York.
"As you get older, there's more atrophy (in the brain). It could be that particularly in heart failure, the brain atrophies at a quicker rate," Festa Said.
Archeology/Anthropology
E Kathirmerini (Greece): A neglected treasure once fit for a king
The seaside fortress of Asine near Nafplio is one of the country’s most intriguing archaeological sites
By John Leonard
At the end of a narrow road in the Peloponnesian countryside southeast of Nafplio, traveled largely by beachgoers and campers in the know, lies one of the most picturesque coves and intriguing archaeological sites in Greece, the seaside fortress of Asine.
The ancient site covers two hills overlooking a natural inlet: the steep-sided, rocky acropolis of Asine proper (also called Kastraki) and a more gently sloping rise to the northwest, named Barbouna Hill. The blue Argolic Gulf dotted with islands spreads out below Asine’s heights, while to the west the busy town of Tolo occupies the adjacent coastal landscape.
On the opposite, eastern side of Kastraki, a long, sandy beach backed by thick trees stretches into the distance. Ancient Asine’s naturally defensible citadel long held strategic importance for prehistoric and later peoples, since it afforded both ready security and a well-positioned port.
Western Mail (UK) via Wales Online: New excavation at Caerleon 'could change understanding of Roman history in Wales'
by Graham Henry, Western Mail
Aug 5 2011
AN EXCAVATION of a newly-discovered network of ancient buildings could potentially change our understanding of Roman history in Wales, archaeologists believe.
Staff, students and volunteers from Cardiff University have begun a month-long project to excavate the “Lost City of the Legion” at Caerleon, near Newport.
Archaeologists from Cardiff University have started a dig which will last until September 1 – which they hope will unravel the biggest secrets yet to come out of the historic village, and said it may confirm that it was intended as a major seat of power.
University of Exeter (UK) via PhysOrg.com: Roman civilization travelled further than history books tell us
August 5, 2011
A University of Exeter archaeologist’s research has uncovered the largest Roman settlement ever found in Devon. The discovery could force us to rewrite the history of the Romans in Britain.
The discovery of a large Roman Settlement in Devon was the result of a chance metal detecting coin find. Danielle Wootton, the Finds Liaison Officer for the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) and archaeologist at the University of Exeter was called on to investigate further.
Two metal detectorists discovered nearly a hundred Roman coins in a series of fields a several miles west of Exeter. This would not be unusual in other parts of Britain but it has always been thought that Roman influence never made it this far into Devon as there is little evidence of Romans in the South West Peninsula of Britain.
BBC: Roman dead baby 'brothel' mystery deepens
By Louise Ord
Assistant Producer, Digging For Britain
August 8, 2011
New research has cast doubt on the theory that 97 infants were killed at a Roman brothel in Buckinghamshire.
In 2008, the remains of the newborn babies were rediscovered packed in cigarette cases in a dusty museum storeroom by Dr Jill Eyers from Chiltern Archaeology.
They were excavated from the remains of a lavish Roman villa complex in Buckinghamshire almost 100 years earlier, but had remained hidden ever since.
BBC: Oxford Viking massacre revealed by skeleton find
Evidence suggests the men were running away from their attackers
By Louise Ord
Assistant Producer, Digging For Britain
12 August 2011 Last updated at 03:44 ET
Evidence of a brutal massacre of Vikings in Oxford 1100 years ago has been uncovered by archaeologists.
At least 35 skeletons, all males aged 16 to 25 were discovered in 2008 at St John's College, Oxford.
Analysis of wound marks on the bones now suggests they had been subjected to violence.
Archaeologists analysing the find believe it dates from 1002 AD when King Ethelred the Unready ordered a massacre of all Danes (Vikings) in England.
Sidney Morning Herald: Marco Polo's exploration may have pulled up short
Nick Squires
August 11, 2011
A team of archaeologists believe the famed figure picked up his travel stories second-hand from Persian merchants.
HIS journeys across mountain ranges and deserts opened the eyes of mediaeval Europe to the exotic wonders of China and the Silk Road, establishing him as one of history's greatest explorers.
But a team of archaeologists believe Marco Polo never even reached the Middle Kingdom, much less introduced pasta to Italy after bringing it back from his travels, as legend has it.
Instead they think it more likely that the Venetian merchant adventurer picked up second-hand stories of China, Japan and the Mongol Empire from Persian merchants he met on the shores of the Black Sea, thousands of kilometres short of the Orient. He then cobbled them together with other scraps of information for what became a best-selling account, A Description of the World, one of the first travel books.
The College of William and Mary: Archaeologists discover brick foundations near Wren Building
Building likely associated with slaves.
by Joseph McClain
August 9, 2011
A set of undocumented brick building foundations—“a little island of preservation” hidden for centuries beneath William & Mary’s Historic Campus—will provide a glimpse back into the College’s time-shrouded early years.
“It is wonderful that our colonial campus, about which so much is known, still can surprise us after all these centuries,” said Louise Kale, director of William & Mary’s Historic Campus.
College archaeologists say the partially unearthed foundation looks to be the remains of “a fairly massive outbuilding,” a structure that was almost certainly associated with slaves who worked at William & Mary in the early 18th century. The foundation runs 20 feet east-west and more than 16 feet north-south. The remains extend underneath a sidewalk south of the Wren Building. Their discovery prompted postponement of scheduled repairs to the sidewalk.
Salem News: Suit accuses treasure hunters of trying to swindle lobsterman
By Julie Manganis Staff writer
SALEM — On a June day in 1975, lobsterman Michael Zdanowicz Sr. was pulling up a trawl line in Salem Harbor when he stumbled across something unexpected.
The artifacts he found that day touched off a 35-year quest for treasure buried centuries ago when a ship called Margaret smashed into a shoal and sank with her cargo of porcelain from China, Spanish silver and Dutch gold.
The Margaret sank in 1797, and since then, treasure hunters have hoped to find her and the riches onboard, likely worth millions.
Wilmington Star News: State works to preserve artifacts from sunken blockade runners
By Ben Steelman
Ben.Steelman@StarNewsOnline.com
Published: Sunday, August 7, 2011 at 4:32 p.m.
Their career began 150 years ago and lasted just a few seasons, but for a while they made Wilmington, in the words of Civil War writer Clint Johnson, “the most important city in the Confederacy.”
They were the blockade runners, merchant ships that sped past Union warships in the dark to bring much-wanted supplies into Southern ports.
After the U.S. Navy and ground forces effectively sealed off Charleston, S.C., in 1863, that meant Wilmington.
The Maui News: ‘Quite the Maui story’: Research of wrecks reveals wartime history
Detailed sketches of sites to provide new insights into isle’s role in WWII
August 10, 2011
By ILIMA LOOMIS - Staff Writer (iloomis@mauinews.com)
The Maui News
WAILUKU - Information gathered during a survey of 1940s-era wrecks submerged off South Maui will be used on a website to tell people about Maui's important role in the training of U.S. troops during World War II.
Maritime archaeologist Hans VanTilburg said the detailed sketches of the sites, combined with additional document-based research, would provide new insights into Maui's wartime history. He noted that many original photographs and documents from the era are unavailable because of the U.S. government's strict censorship of information on military operations during the war.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman, who sent in the above articles.
Physics
Discovery News: Help Hunt the Higgs with LHC@home 2.0
Analysis by Ian O'Neill
Thu Aug 11, 2011 05:12 PM ET
We've hunted for intelligent extraterrestrial signals, searched for cancer cures and even looked for cosmic gravitational waves... all from the comfort of our homes. This is all thanks to "citizen science" projects that use the idle time of home computers to solve some of the most complex problems facing science.
And now, CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has re-entered the distributed computing world with LHC@home 2.0 -- an updated version of the 2004 effort to simulate particle collisions on home computers.
The main aim, of course, is to help track down the most elusive subatomic particles theorized to exist -- the Higgs boson -- but the effort will ultimately allow physicists to tap into a huge amount of computing power to simulate how our Universe came into existence.
Discovery News: Looking for the Thumbprints of Parallel Universes
Analysis by Ray Villard
Thu Aug 11, 2011 05:33 AM ET
Sixty years ago there was a rip-roaring debate over whether the universe actually had a beginning.
Was there really a creation moment dubbed the "Big Bang," where the universe spontaneously arose out of nothing -- not even from ashes like the legendary Phoenix?
Or was the universe eternal, as Einstein himself imagined and worked into his concept of a cosmological constant that kept the universe forever in equilibrium?
It looks like cosmologists today might be able to have their cake, and eat it too.
Chemistry
Science News: Sparing the rare earths
Potential shortages of useful metals inspire scientists to seek alternatives for magnet technologies
By Devin Powell
August 27th, 2011; Vol.180 #5 (p. 18)
The Toyota Prius isn’t exactly a muscle car. But the magnets under the hood certainly pack a punch.
Pound for pound, these permanent magnets are some of the most powerful on the planet. They generate fields 10 times stronger than those of typical refrigerator magnets, helping the hybrid car’s motor and generator to turn the wheels and charge the battery. The secret to the magnets’ intense fields? About three pounds of alloy made with rare earth elements.
Rare earths, 17 chemical elements found mostly in an appendage to the periodic table, have long been the darlings of solid-state physics and the electronics industry. Without these materials, hard drives wouldn’t be able to store so much information and smartphones wouldn’t be so pocket-friendly.
Science News: Meteorites contain chemicals linked to life
Space rocks could have delivered DNA building blocks to Earth
By Alexandra Witze
Web edition : Wednesday, August 10th, 2011
Scientists have discovered life-related chemicals in nearly a dozen meteorites, the strongest evidence yet that space rocks contain the building blocks of DNA and could have delivered them to Earth.
Several of the chemicals are extremely rare on Earth, suggesting they really are from outer space instead of being just local contamination. “Everything points to these being indigenous to the meteorites,” says Michael Callahan, an analytical chemist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
He and his colleagues published the findings online the week of August 8 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Energy
Reuters: China to double solar capacity by year end: report
By Fayen Wong and Ruby Lian
SHANGHAI | Fri Aug 12, 2011 11:42pm EDT
China will double its solar capacity to around 2 gigawatts (GW) by the end of the year as the world's largest solar-panel maker ramps up domestic installation, a local paper said on Saturday citing a government-linked think tank.
The solar feed-in tariff, the price of solar-generated electricity, could drop below 0.80 yuan (12.5 cents) for each kilowatt-hour (kWh) by 2015, which would be on par with conventional coal-fired power tariffs by that time, according to s report by the Energy Research Institute, led by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
The report also said China was expected to produce 90,000 tonnes of polysilicon this year, representing 80 percent of its domestic demand.
Reuters: Obama to set fuel standards for heavy vehicles
By Lily Kuo
WASHINGTON
Tue Aug 9, 2011 10:56am EDT
The Obama administration on Tuesday will finalize the first ever fuel efficiency and emissions standards for commercial trucks, vans and buses, which is expected to save owners $50 billion in fuel costs over four years.
The standards are expected to save the United States some 530 million barrels of oil over the same period beginning in 2014, according to senior administration officials.
"Increasing efficiency standards over the last 30 years has not been something that our country has particularly excelled at, but it has been a priority of the Obama administration to move forward with aggressive new standards," said an official in a telephone news conference.
Science, Space, Environment, and Energy Policy
Reuters: Conservationists ask court to stop Idaho, Montana wolf hunts
By Laura Zuckerman
SALMON, Idaho
Sat Aug 13, 2011 7:58pm EDT
Conservation groups on Saturday asked a federal appellate court to stop upcoming hunts in Montana and Idaho that target more than 1,000 wolves.
In the request for an emergency injunction, filed electronically to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, environmentalists argued that the planned hunting and trapping will cause irreparable harm to a wolf population slated to be reduced by 69 percent, dropping to 496 from 1,566.
The petition by Alliance for the Wild Rockies and others comes as Montana is reporting brisk sales to hunters of wolf permits and Idaho on August 30 opens a wolf season that sanctions neck snares, foothold traps and luring wolves with electronic calls that imitate other wolves and injured prey.
Reuters: Panel seeks more disclosure on natural gas drilling
By Ayesha Rascoe
WASHINGTON
Thu Aug 11, 2011 2:07pm EDT
A federal panel sketched out its first vision of a regulatory roadmap for the booming shale natural gas industry on Thursday, urging more transparency on the use of chemicals and more careful treatment of waste water.
In a report closely watched by leading energy companies who fear higher costs from more government oversight, the panel acknowledged that the risk of the chemical fluids used to crack open shale fissures leaking into drinking water was "remote", but offered a host of ways the industry could win greater public trust for the controversial process of "fracking".
The interim report, to be followed by a final set of recommendations in November, appeared to walk a fine line between shoring up regulations in an industry that barely existed three years ago and stepping lightly enough to ensure that the United States has decades worth of cheap domestic gas.
Reuters: EPA halts sale of DuPont's Imprelis herbicide
By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK
Thu Aug 11, 2011 2:29pm EDT
DuPont was ordered by the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday to stop selling and recall its Imprelis herbicide, following thousands of complaints that the treatment kills trees.
The order came after the EPA in June began getting reports from state agencies of damage to evergreens linked to Imprelis, which DuPont had marketed to control weeds in recreational areas such as golf courses and commercial properties such as sod farms.
According to the agency, DuPont has submitted more than 7,000 reports of damage or death to such trees as Norway spruce and white pine, as well as test data confirming a link between Imprelis and tree damage. The EPA said it approved Imprelis for use last August.
Reuters: U.S. nuclear regulator tied up by process: chairman
By Roberta Rampton
WASHINGTON
Wed Aug 10, 2011 4:27pm EDT
The chairman of the U.S. nuclear regulator said his own commission is hamstrung by an inefficient, "flawed voting system" which distracts from its job of ensuring safety at the country's power plants.
Gregory Jaczko chided his colleagues on the five-member Nuclear Regulatory Commission for their approach to recommended changes in the wake of Japan's nuclear disaster -- an approach he said reflects "the current commission's preoccupation with process at the expense of nuclear safety policy."
The focus "is a result of a flawed voting system that encourages the commission to sidestep the actual substantive policy issues presented, and this current situation is just one more example," Jaczko said.
Now, a special section on health care policy.
Reuters: Appeals court rules against Obama healthcare law
By Jeremy Pelofsky and James Vicini
WASHINGTON
Fri Aug 12, 2011 9:50pm EDT
President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law suffered a setback on Friday when an appeals court ruled that it was unconstitutional to require all Americans to buy insurance or face a penalty.
The U.S. Appeals Court for the 11th Circuit, based in Atlanta, ruled 2 to 1 that Congress exceeded its authority by requiring Americans to buy coverage, but it unanimously reversed a lower court decision that threw out the entire law.
The legality of the individual mandate, a cornerstone of the healthcare law, is widely expected to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. Opponents have argued that without the mandate, which goes into effect in 2014, the entire law falls.
Reuters: Government lays out health insurance exchange details
By Alina Selyukh and Anna Yukhananov
WASHINGTON | Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:45pm EDT
The government on Friday laid out incentives for states and people to participate in health insurance exchanges, including tax credits and funding grants for the states.
Health regulators also clarified how they expect states to determine who is eligible to join this program under President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul.
The exchanges are envisioned as open marketplaces of competing insurance plans that allow uninsured people and small businesses to band together to negotiate cheaper rates.
Reuters: Health and defense lobby groups ready for super fight
By Anna Yukhananov and Jim Wolf
WASHINGTON
Thu Aug 11, 2011 5:21pm EDT
With as much as $1.5 trillion in federal funds hanging in the balance, the mammoth healthcare and defense industries are scrambling to lobby a special congressional committee tasked with slashing the deficit -- but in markedly different ways.
The 12-member bipartisan joint "super committee" is expected to focus heavily on both pricey government health insurance programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, and the Pentagon budget, which accounts for about half of non-mandated federal spending.
But the similarities end there.
Reuters: Health spending more complex than Medicare shows
By Andrew Seaman
WASHINGTON
Wed Aug 10, 2011 10:42am EDT
Communities known for paying the most on healthcare may not be spending as much as once thought, according to new data released on Wednesday.
A Thomson Reuters study, touted as the first of its kind, examined private insurance claims for 23.5 million Americans across the U.S. in 2009. The findings identified "metropolitan statistical areas" throughout the country that spent the most and least on healthcare across demographics.
The study's researchers said the findings challenge the established literature that has traditionally used data from the Medicare program for the elderly to determine geographic spending variations for people of all ages.
...
As Congress considers how to further cut federal spending ahead of a November deadline, including spiraling healthcare costs, the study shows that there may be better ways to project how healthcare cuts affect a community.
Reuters: Kansas returns health insurance exchange grant
By Alina Selyukh
WASHINGTON
Tue Aug 9, 2011 7:46pm EDT
Kansas became on Tuesday the second U.S. state to return a large federal grant meant to help it create a prototype health insurance exchange as part of the Obama administration's healthcare overhaul.
Republican Governor Sam Brownback said the state would give back the $31.5 million it received from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to become an early leader, along with six other states, in establishing health insurance exchanges that other local government could use as a model.
Exchanges are meant to provide an open marketplace of competing insurance plans that allow uninsured people and small businesses to band together to negotiate cheaper rates.
Kansas's move brings the total amount of the returned exchange-related federal grants to almost $90 million as Republican governors seek to block implementation of the healthcare law supported largely by Democratic lawmakers.
Reuters: Junk food still stars in TV ads seen by kids
By Amy Norton
NEW YORK
Tue Aug 9, 2011 9:57pm EDT
Children are seeing fewer sugary, fatty foods advertised on TV, but unhealthy fare still makes up the bulk of food commercials they see, a new study suggests.
What's more, researchers found, children were actually seeing more fast-food commercials in 2009 compared with six years earlier.
The study, reported in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, was aimed at gauging the effects of a voluntary food industry program called the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI).
The initiative began in 2006, in response to calls from the Federal Trade Commission and the Institute of Medicine for greater self-regulation of food advertising to children.
Reuters: New York City schools to make sex education mandatory
By Ray Sanchez
NEW YORK
Wed Aug 10, 2011 5:17pm EDT
New York City public schools will teach mandatory sex education classes to all middle- and high school students, part of a citywide initiative to help reduce teenage pregnancies, officials said on Wednesday.
The required classes, the first mandated sex education in nearly two decades, will be taught to children as young as 11 years old and tackle such topics as the proper use of condoms and ways to resist unwelcome sexual advances.
Public schools will be required to teach a semester of sex education to sixth or seventh grade classes and again to ninth and tenth graders, Chancellor Dennis Walcott said in a letter announcing the plans.
Science Education
See Science is Cool.
Science Writing and Reporting
Science News: BOOK REVIEW: The New Universe and the Human Future: How a Shared Cosmology Could Transform the World
By Nancy Ellen Abrams and Joel R. Primack
Review by Ron Cowen
August 27th, 2011; Vol.180 #5 (p. 30)
Living only for the present, using up natural resources, polluting the environment without considering future generations — can humans ever change? Lawyer and popular-culture lecturer Abrams and her husband Primack, an astrophysicist noted for his work on dark matter, argue that people might, if only they learned a little cosmology.
Echoing the words of Joseph Campbell, who studied the myths of ancient and modern peoples, the authors argue that the world needs a modern understanding of human beginnings — a common story. The origin of the universe — with concepts such as the Big Bang, cosmic inflation, dark matter and dark energy — could become this overarching story for all humankind.
Science is Cool
Brand, Retail, & Design on WordPress: The predecessor of IKEA opened its doors again….
By plfhoen
Do you want to decorate your house like a real roman family in 100 AD did? It is now possible at IXEA, the roman equivalent of the Swedish furniture giant. The store recently opened its doors in the Limburg museum in the Dutch town of Venlo. The museum sells handmade furniture modelled after pieces excavated from roman rubble.
But don’t expect IKEA prices and quality, these pieces are handmade with equal prices and superiority. But not all you can find here is a replica, they also show authentic roman artefacts found in the region. And if all the inspiration makes you hungry, after your visit to the store you can always eat some roman meatballs at their restaurant.
The store/exhibition is open from 26 march 2011 till 6 januari 2012 in Limburgs museum Venlo, Venlo, The Netherlands.
To see the wares, click on the following links:
http://www.limburgsmuseum.nl/...
http://www.limburgsmuseum.nl/... (furniture)
http://www.limburgsmuseum.nl/... (misc stuff – oil lamps, etc)
Wired: Indiana Jones and the Adventure of Archaeology: A Museum Exhibit That Merges Reality and Illusion
By Kathy Ceceri
I saw the Ark of the Covenant and lived!
Of course, I didn’t open it. I couldn’t have if I’d wanted to. The Ark of the Covenant, together with the most memorable props from the four Indiana Jones movies, were on display behind Plexiglas at the Montréal Science Centre, part of an exhibit entitled “Indiana Jones and the Adventure of Archaeology.”
The exhibit is a marvel, featuring props, costumes, concept art, film clips and behind the scenes video on loan from the Lucasfilm Archives. There was Indy’s hat and whip, the golden idol he tries to steal in the opening scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark (inspired by a “real” archeological artifact of a female god giving birth — which, it turns out was a fake!), a side view sketch of path of the famous rolling boulder triggered when Indy tried to switch the idol with a bag of sand and much more. And I got a real appreciation for how much detail goes into each little element of a scene. Even up close, Shia LaBeouf’s 1940s motorcycle from The Crystal Skull, the books and maps seen in Indy’s office, the mummified remains of Francisco de Orellana, all looked (to this untrained eye) completely authentic, even though I knew they were an illusion.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.