SCIENCE News Summaries, Volume 331, Issue 6023
dated March 18 2011, is now available at: - http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol331/issue6023/news-summaries.dtl
A copy of the "SCIENCE News This Week" section has been appended below.
SCIENCE News This Week
March 18 2011, 331 (6023)
NEWS OF THE WEEK
This Week's Section Follow the links below for a roundup of the week's top stories in science, or download a PDF of the entire section.
Around the World In science news around the world this week, the U.S. has approved the first new lupus drug in 50 years, astronomers in South Africa are converting old telecommunications dishes into radio telescopes, a European court has ruled that cells derived from human embryonic stem cells are not patentable, a British museum has agreed to return human remains to Australian Aborigines, archaeologists are criticizing the ethics of a planned Smithsonian Institution exhibit, WHO has gotten mixed reviews for its H1N1 response, the U.S. Congress is moving toward a new patent standard that most of the world uses already, and earthquake-shattered Japan is confronting a nuclear crisis. Full story at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/331/6023/1370-b?sa_campaign=Email/sntw/18-March-2011/10.1126/science.331.6023.1370-b
Random Sample Five years ago, Australian screenwriter Eron Sheean spent several months at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics as an artist in residence; now he's back with a film crew and actors to shoot a feature film there that he says is "a little science fiction and a little science fact." And this week's numbers quantify surface freshwater in Canada's boreal forest, the contribution of insect pollinators to global food production, and "hot papers" penned by genomicist Eric Lander. Full story at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/331/6023/1371?sa_campaign=Email/sntw/18-March-2011/10.1126/science.331.6023.1371
Newsmakers This week's Newsmakers are Mohamed ElBaradei, former chief of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency, who has announced his bid for the presidency of Egypt, and Boston pediatrician Howard Bauchner, who will be the next editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Full story at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/331/6023/1372-a?sa_campaign=Email/sntw/18-March-2011/10.1126/science.331.6023.1372-a
FINDINGS
Getting to the Guts of Malnutrition Full story at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/331/6023/1372-b?sa_campaign=Email/sntw/18-March-2011/10.1126/science.331.6023.1372-b
Microbes Give Mice Intestinal Fortitude Full story at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/331/6023/1372-c?sa_campaign=Email/sntw/18-March-2011/10.1126/science.331.6023.1372-c
High-Tech Hat for Brain-Scanning Rats Full story at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/331/6023/1373-a?sa_campaign=Email/sntw/18-March-2011/10.1126/science.331.6023.1373-a
New Doping Test Means Cyclists Can't Pull a Fast One Full story at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/331/6023/1373-b?sa_campaign=Email/sntw/18-March-2011/10.1126/science.331.6023.1373-b
NEWS & ANALYSIS
Devastating Earthquake Defied Expectations Dennis Normile* Even for a nation inured to temblors and bracing for the Big One, last week's devastating earthquake and tsunami were beyond imagination. Experts, too, were caught off-guard. The earthquake's astonishing power and unexpected location also expose the futility of forecasting where and when the next Big One will hit, geophysicists say. Even in a country as extensively instrumented and thoroughly studied as Japan, major quakes always seem to be the ones that were not expected. * With reporting by Richard A. Kerr and Sara Reardon. * With reporting by Richard A. Kerr and Sara Reardon. Full story at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/331/6023/1375?sa_campaign=Email/sntw/18-March-2011/10.1126/science.331.6023.1375
Waves of Destruction Dennis Normile Minutes after a powerful earthquake struck off the coast of Japan at 2:46 p.m. local time on 11 March, the Japan Meteorological Agency issued tsunami warnings that were broadcast on TV and radio. Augmenting the warnings were local sirens and announcements. Still, most deaths and much destruction were the handiwork of the tsunami: Many victims knew the waves were coming but could not escape or didn't try until it was too late. Full story at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/331/6023/1376?sa_campaign=Email/sntw/18-March-2011/10.1126/science.331.6023.1376
Cold Almost-Stars May Herald Hordes of Unseen Lurkers Yudhijit Bhattacharjee Astrophysicists have discovered the coldest brown dwarf ever seen, with a temperature of 300 kelvin, they report in the 20 March Astrophysical Journal Letters. That's about as warm as a bright summer day on Earth. Meanwhile, other astronomers have found another very cold brown dwarf whose estimated temperature is about 370 K, they report in an upcoming paper in The Astrophysical Journal. The first dwarf is 200 K cooler than the previous record-holder. Full story at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/331/6023/1377?sa_campaign=Email/sntw/18-March-2011/10.1126/science.331.6023.1377
Attack on Climate Studies Would Shutter Entire DOE Biology Program Jeffrey Mervis Scientists were caught by surprise when they found out that the Department of Energy's office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER) would be shut down if a 2011 spending bill passed last month by the House of Representatives holds sway. The new Republican House majority has pledged to trim the federal deficit by cutting spending—and to be sure, House leaders are not fans of government-funded climate change research. But researchers also say the assault on BER—one of several agencies that support climate research—reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the office's role in generating data for the global climate models that many Republicans love to hate. Full story at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/331/6023/1378?sa_campaign=Email/sntw/18-March-2011/10.1126/science.331.6023.1378
A Strong Defense of Science—and a Stiff Upper Lip Jeffrey Mervis Last week, Science sat down with several members of the advisory council for the Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research to discuss the massive cuts being proposed for the program (see main text). Although they were angered and saddened by the recent turn of events, none viewed the attack on BER as a rejection of the value of basic research by policymakers. Full story at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/331/6023/1379?sa_campaign=Email/sntw/18-March-2011/10.1126/science.331.6023.1379
NEWS FOCUS
Quantum Mechanics Braces for the Ultimate Test Zeeya Merali* Physicists are on a quest to build the ultimate quantum cryptography system: one that users could trust implicitly, even if they had bought it from their worst enemy. First, however, they have to plug a few stubborn holes in one of the bedrocks of modern physics: quantum mechanics. The microscopic world that quantum mechanics describes is a bizarre place where nothing is certain and the act of observation changes things. Over the past 40 years, that description has been put to the test in a series of elegant experiments that have shown it to be true. Although most physicists find the results convincing, these experiments did skirt around a few tiny loopholes by which reality could have fooled physicists into thinking that quantum mechanics paints a complete picture. It's these loopholes that groups around the world are competing to close. The winners will have the satisfaction of settling one of the most stubborn problems in physics. As a bonus, they will also hold the key to the perfect quantum security system. * Zeeya Merali is a freelance writer based in London * Zeeya Merali is a freelance writer based in London Full story at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/331/6023/1380?sa_campaign=Email/sntw/18-March-2011/10.1126/science.331.6023.1380
Embracing Invasives Gaia Vince* Much of the fauna and flora of the Galápagos islands is unique, but introduced species are taking over. Conservationists have spent the past 50 years attempting to remove introduced species and restore the islands' flora and fauna to prehuman days. There have been some successes: Goats have been eliminated from several islands. But the effort to eradicate blackberry, guava, and 34 other invasive plant species has cost more than $1 million and succeeded in eliminating just four. The most invasive and problematic of these aliens—blackberry and guava—have developed into forests where nothing else grows, birds cannot nest, and even insects are rare. The main reason for this failure is that invasive plants are far more competitive than native plants. Seeds of invasive species, such as blackberries, are long-lived and accumulate in high numbers in the soil, and restoration activities can have the paradoxical effect of stimulating them to germinate. Now, a group of maverick ecologists is promoting the idea that the addition of nonnative species to natives in a region leads to "novel" or "hybrid" ecosystems that have ecological value and may be worthy of conservation. * Gaia Vince writes on environmental issues in the developing world at wanderinggaia.com. * Gaia Vince writes on environmental issues in the developing world at wanderinggaia.com. Full story at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/331/6023/1383?sa_campaign=Email/sntw/18-March-2011/10.1126/science.331.6023.1383
Lost Causes Get New Hope Winifred Bird* On a small round island in the Sea of Japan lives the Oki salamander (Hynobius okiensis), a critically endangered species found nowhere else on Earth. Nobody knows how many Oki salamanders are left. Saving the palm-sized forest dweller from extinction could require habitat restoration, stricter conservation laws, and a revolution in how island residents approach development. Proponents of conservation triage might question the cost—but a new global commitment to zero extinction should give a major boost to the Oki salamander and other species in need of a lifeline. * Winifred Bird is a writer in Japan. * Winifred Bird is a writer in Japan. Full story at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/331/6023/1385?sa_campaign=Email/sntw/18-March-2011/10.1126/science.331.6023.1385
Unsubscribe or edit your subscriptions for this service at: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/alerts/main Written requests to unsubscribe may be sent to:
AAAS / Science, 1200 New York Avenue NW, Washington DC 20005, U.S.A. | 
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar