From time to time, Kossack
SeattleLiberal has posted a "Nerd Network News" diary (examples
here and
here). I loved those diaries, but it's been a while, so I thought a science/nerd news open thread might be a nice break from the usual specific subject "Science Friday".
Only nerds think this is fun, but I know there are a lot of you out there...
... so, without further delay, join me below the fold.
Update [2005-6-10 22:27:17 by Plutonium Page]: Just noticed a really cool and unusual cat blogging diary - and yes, it's science. DarkSyde also has another great diary on creationism. Finally, Boppy posted a diary on climate change that you should check out. Feel free to pimp your nerd diaries as well.
Environment
Rocky Flats cleanup
Rocky Flats was a nuclear weapons facility from 1952 to 1989; work there consisted of plutonium and uranium metalworking, as well as making other components for nuclear weapons. The DOE has an ongoing cleanup program, and the June 7, 2005 New York Times has an article about the progress of the DOE program. It generally looks like things are going well:
Decontaminating, demolishing and disposing of Rocky Flats - a $6.8 billion task expected to be finished in October - has involved what Steve Gunderson, coordinator of the cleanup for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, calls a series of "unbelievable" technological feats. More than 39,500 containers with about 20,000 cubic yards of highly radioactive transuranic waste have gone to their final resting place at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, N.M.
Excavators are razing the last remaining buildings as huge water jets help contain the dust. On the site of the building once known as the most dangerous in America, where liquid plutonium often leaked from faulty pipes and valves, there is only a large patch of replanted land covered by coconut matting to prevent erosion.
I definitely recommend reading our resident hydrogeologist Ernest T. Bass's diary on the subject.
Space
The Martian aurora
This is really cool:
The impressive display known as the northern lights is one example of Earth's auroras, which occur around the planet's poles. Now scientists have discovered that the Red Planet puts on its own dazzling light show--one that is powered in a unique manner.
[snip]
Unlike the other large planets' celestial shows, which occur near the poles, the light show above the Red Planet manifests around areas of magnetized rock in the planet's crust. "Mars has no internally generated, planetary-scale magnetic field," explains study co-author Bill Sandel of the University of Arizona. "It has what are called 'crustal magnetic anomalies' scattered around the Martian surface, remnants of what presumably was Mars's planetary-scale magnetic field that was active when the planet was younger."
Medicine
West Nile Virus
It looks like West Nile Virus can spread in a number of ways, including by nonviremic transmission:
Scientists have documented a new way in which the West Nile virus can propagate. The findings indicate that the virus can pass from one mosquito to another while they feed on previously uninfected animals.
This mode of transmission is significantly faster than the assumed cycle of infection for the disease, which may help to explain why West Nile has spread so rapidly across North America.
[snip]
"Direct transfer of virus from the infected mosquitoes that initially feed on them to others that feed on them afterwards could significantly accelerate the spread of the disease," Higgs says. "Instead of only birds infecting mosquitoes, all sorts of animals may be involved, and transmission could be happening much faster because you don't have to wait for a high viremia [high levels of the virus in the bloodstream]."
(You can read the abstract of the study here.)
I just found out that the city of Albuquerque has a mosquito complaint form, for reporting areas with high numbers of mosquitos. One of the questions: "how many mosquitos land on you in 1 minute?" Given that we have a problem with West Nile Virus here, that's one question I wouldn't want to answer "20+" to. WNV is scary shit.
Biodefense research
Speaking of interesting, but scary shit, here's more news from Albuquerque. It looks like a UNM professor is going to do some very interesting research:
Scientists and doctors have little experience or information to guide them in protecting people from bioweapons. But a new, $15 million, five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to the University of New Mexico and Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute could change that, said Rick Lyons, a UNM Health Sciences Center professor.
The grant will let the two organizations study how agents like anthrax, plague and smallpox affect the lungs, Lyons said.
"Basically all these bugs are out there in the wild right now - most of them here in New Mexico," Lyons said. "We get plague and tularemia (bacteria) cases every year. What we don't know now, though, is what these things will do if they attack us in a different way. We never thought in the past they'd be aimed at our lungs, but in biological weapons they are. We just want to understand it more."
Now, what's lame about this article is that it implies that they'll be working with smallpox. The only two places in the world that are supposed to work with smallpox are the labs at the CDC, as well as Vector labs in Russia.
I e-mailed Dr. Lyons to tell him that I thought the Albuquerque Tribune article was inaccurate, and he confirmed that it is. He said they'd be working with various poxviruses, but definitely not smallpox.
Biology
Bullshit Pseudo-science in the classroom
It took 15 years before someone reported this?!?
For 15 years, in defiance of a Supreme Court ruling, Larry Booher taught creationism in his high school biology class. He even compiled a textbook of sorts and passed out copies in three-ring binders.
The school superintendent didn't know what was going on. Neither did the school board president. Then, they got an anonymous tip.
Booher has agreed to revise his lesson plan, though he maintained that he handed out the book, titled "Creation Battles Evolution," to his Biology 2 students only as a voluntary, extra-credit option.
[snip]
The Supreme Court ruled in 1987 that creationism, the belief that God created the universe as explained in the Bible, is a religious belief -- not science -- and may not be taught in public schools along with evolution.
Now, I went to Catholic school, and had nuns and priests as science teachers. They never taught creationism in the classroom, not once.
As for the creationism vs. evolution issue, it looks like students might be losing interest in science (evolution) thanks to intelligent design movement.
Ok, nerds, have at it. Post your science news in the comments.
Note: if you're going to post an image, preview is your friend! In other words, don't post images that are too big.