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 the Yuri's Night website.
Human Spaceflight became a reality 50 years ago with the launch of a bell-shaped capsule called “Vostok 1” on April 12th, 1961. The capsule was carrying Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who took his place in history as the first human to leave the bounds of Earth and enter outer space.
Exactly 20 years later, the United States embarked on a new era in spaceflight with the inaugural launch of a new type of spaceship — the Space Shuttle (April 12th, 1981). Designed to carry a larger crew and large volumes of cargo to orbit, the Space Shuttles became synonymous with human spaceflight for an entirely new generation of young people.
When the next 20-year point arrived, that generation (often called “Gen X”) laid a new space milestone by connecting thousands of people around the world to celebrate and honor the past, while building a stairway to the future. That event was Yuri’s Night, and it continues to bring the excitement, passion and promise of space travel closer to people of all ages, nationalities and backgrounds.
This is the fourth Yuri's Night I've covered for Overnight News Digest. Time flies.
In keeping with the theme of the two months, Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday is featuring science and other news from the major public research universities in the midwestern states where Republican governors and legislatures are threatening the collective bargaining rights of public employees.
More science, space, and environment stories after the jump.
Recent Science Diaries and Stories
Watch this space!
The Daily Bucket: Belated edition
by Mark Sumner
Thoughts on Cars and Going Green
by MadIrishWoman
Green diary rescue: Building a movement against the power of the fossil-fuel juggernaut
by Meteor Blades
Uranium Conference Adds Discussion of Japan Accident
by finehelen10
This week in science
by DarkSyde
Slideshows/Videos
Ask Men: Top 10: Archaeology Sites In North America
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for this story.
NASA via Kowch737 on YouTube: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
Our solar system is a rough neighborhood. Pretty much everywhere you look on rocky planets, you can find impact craters. But since craters erode and deform over time, we can't learn much about them until we find a pristine crater that can act as a reference point. Thanks to NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, we have new data on just such a crater--the Linné Crater on the Moon!
Time: Photos: America's Great 1906 Quake, Now in Living Color
Pictures of the epic disaster rendered in an early color process are unearthed at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.
University of Wisconsin: Slide show: All Hands on Science
Touching it with their own hands — and seeing it with their own eyes — made science come alive for those who attended this year’s Science Expeditions, a campuswide open house at UW-Madison, on April 2. Participants learned firsthand from UW scientists as they visited interactive exhibits held at nearly a dozen campus venues. The newly opened Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery served as the event’s hub, hosting more than 50 “exploration stations.”
Astronomy/Space
Purdue University: Grant provides archivist to care for Purdue Libraries' astronaut collections
April 8, 2011
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue Libraries will receive a $2 million grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation to endow an archivist for the Neil Armstrong and Eugene Cernan archives and special collections at the university.
Conrad Hilton's son, Barron Hilton, is the retired chairman, president and CEO of Hilton Hotels Corp. An avid pilot and lifelong supporter of aviation, he said that he realizes the special educational and motivational value of these important collections.
"As someone who has been personally inspired by Neil Armstrong and Eugene Cernan, I am pleased that their personal papers and artifacts are entrusted to Purdue's professional care," Hilton said. "It is gratifying to know that the careers of these remarkable role models will continue to inspire citizens of the world for generations to come, thanks to Purdue Libraries."
Evolution/Paleontology
University of Illinois via physorg.com: Did dinosaurs have lice? Researchers say it's possible
April 6, 2011
A new study louses up a popular theory of animal evolution and opens up the possibility that dinosaurs were early – perhaps even the first – animal hosts of lice.
The study, in Biology Letters, uses fossils and molecular data to track the evolution of lice and their hosts. It offers strong evidence, the researchers said, that the ancestors of lice that today feed on birds and mammals began to diversify before a mass extinction event killed off the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago.
"This study lends support to the idea that major groups of birds and mammals were around before the dinosaurs went extinct," said Kevin Johnson, an ornithologist with the State Natural History Survey at the University of Illinois and a principal investigator on the study. "If the lice were around, we know their hosts were probably around."
Biodiversity
University of Michigan: Biodiversity improves water quality in streams through a division of labor
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Biologically diverse streams are better at cleaning up pollutants than less rich waterways, and a University of Michigan ecologist says he has uncovered the long-sought mechanism that explains why this is so.
Bradley Cardinale used 150 miniature model streams, which use recirculating water in flumes to mimic the variety of flow conditions found in natural streams. He grew between one and eight species of algae in each of the mini-streams, then measured each algae community's ability to soak up nitrate, a nitrogen compound that is a nutrient pollutant of global concern.
He found that nitrate uptake increased linearly with species richness. On average, the eight-species mix removed nitrate 4.5 times faster than a single species of algae grown alone. Cardinale reports his findings in the April 7 edition of the journal Nature.
"The primary implication of this paper is that naturally diverse habitats are pretty good at cleaning up the pollutants we dump into the environment, and loss of biodiversity through species extinctions could be compromising the ability of the planet to clean up after us," said Cardinale, an assistant professor at the U-M School of Natural Resources and Environment.
Why are more diverse streams better pollutant filters? Niche partitioning, Cardinale said.
Indiana University: Algae that live inside the cells of salamanders are the first known vertebrate endosymbionts
April 4, 2011
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A species of algae long known to associate with spotted salamanders has been discovered to live inside the cells of developing embryos, say scientists from the U.S. and Canada, who report their findings in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
This is the first known example of a eukaryotic algae living stably inside the cells of any vertebrate.
"It raises the possibility that more animal/algae symbioses exist that we are not aware of," said Indiana University Bloomington biologist Roger Hangarter, the PNAS report's sole American coauthor. "Since other salamanders and some frog species have similar algae/egg symbioses, it is possible that some of those will also have the type of endosymbioses we have seen in the spotted salamander."
Biotechnology/Health
University of Michigan: U-M creates state's first disease-specific human embryonic stem cell lines
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—University of Michigan researchers have created the state's first human embryonic stem cell lines that carry the genes responsible for inherited disease. The achievement will enable scientists here to study the onset and progression of genetic disorders and to search for new treatments.
With this accomplishment, the U-M joins a small handful of U.S. universities that are creating disease-specific human embryonic stem cell lines.
"All our efforts are finally starting to bear fruit," said Gary Smith, co-director of the U-M Consortium for Stem Cell Therapies and leader of the cell-line derivation project. "Creating disease-specific human embryonic stem cell lines has been a central goal of the consortium since it was formed two years ago, and now we've passed that milestone."
One of the lines carries the genetic defect that causes hemophilia B, a hereditary condition in which the blood does not clot properly. The other carries the gene responsible for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a hereditary neurological disorder characterized by a slowly progressive degeneration of the muscles in the foot, lower leg and hand.
Wayne State University: WSU researcher awarded $900,000 to determine common genetic link among Gulf War Illness patients
DETROIT- For nearly two decades following the 1991 Gulf War, doctors noticed a trend in many of veterans of that conflict: an unexplainable cluster of symptoms including but not limited to chronic fatigue, memory loss, and depression. It wasn't until 2008 that a scientific panel from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs concluded that a third of American troops who served in the Gulf War were suffering from combinations of these symptoms, now recognized collectively as Gulf War Illness (GWI).
Now, Henry Heng, Ph.D., associate professor in WSU's Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, also of the Department of Pathology and Karmanos Cancer Institute in the School of Medicine, intends to discover GWI's mysterious biological cause. Heng was recently awarded a $900,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to study whether GWI stems from genomic instability, which he believes is the common link among GWI patients.
After conducting an experiment for a program about Gulf War Illness broadcast on the Discovery Channel, Heng observed that patients who had GWI symptoms also tended to have extremely high levels of genomic instability, illustrated by increased chromosomal aberrations detected in their blood cells. "To our surprise, we found that all of the GWI patients tested showed extremely high levels of chromosomal abnormality that were as high or higher than some cancer patients," said Heng. The Discovery Channel program has received a great deal of attention from veteran groups.
Wayne State University: Soy increases effectiveness of radiation at killing lung cancer, Wayne State University study shows
DETROIT-A component in soybeans increases radiation's ability to kill lung cancer cells, according to a Wayne State University study published in the April 2011 issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, the official monthly journal of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer.
"To improve radiotherapy for lung cancer, we are studying the potential of natural non-toxic components of soybeans, called soy isoflavones, to augment the effect of radiation against the tumor cells and at the same time protect normal lung cells against radiation injury," said Gilda Hillman, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Wayne State University's School of Medicine and the Karmanos Cancer Institute, who led the team of researchers.
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Hillman and her team demonstrated that soy isoflavones increase killing of cancer cells by radiation via blocking DNA repair mechanisms, which are turned on by the cancer cells to survive the damage caused by radiation.
Wayne State University: Federal research team at WSU finds progesterone gel reduces preterm birth in women with short cervix
A groundbreaking clinical study of a new method for preventing premature birth in millions of women each year, published in the medical journal Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology, shows that the rate of early preterm delivery in women (<33 weeks) can be reduced by 45 percent - simply by treating pregnant women at risk with a low-cost gel of natural progesterone during the midtrimester of pregnancy until term.
The peer-reviewed findings were led by the Perinatology Research Branch of the National Institutes of Health, housed by the Wayne State University School of Medicine at Hutzel Hospital in Detroit. The findings are certain to have substantial impact on the practice of medicine, according to the principal investigator of the three-year clinical trial.
The study is entitled Vaginal progesterone reduces the rate of preterm birth in women with a sonographic short cervix: a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.
University of Wisconsin: New technology could stamp out bacteria in persistent wounds
April 4, 2011
by David Tenenbaum
Using an advanced form of a rubber stamp, researchers have developed a way to adhere an ultra-thin antibacterial coating to a wound.
The active ingredient, silver, "has been used to prevent and treat infections for ages," says first author Ankit Agarwal, a postdoctoral fellow in chemical and biological engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "But silver can also kill skin cells, and therefore we need to develop materials that deliver antibacterial but nontoxic levels of silver to wounds."
In a study just published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, Agarwal, chemical and biological engineering professor Nicholas Abbott, and colleagues described a process for creating a transparent ultra-thin polymer coating carrying precise loads of extremely fine silver nanoparticles.
The coating, just a few molecules thick, was assembled on a flexible piece of rubber and then rubber-stamped onto a piece of cadaver skin that simulated a wound in the experiment.
Indiana University: Leading biochemist explains 'Miraculous Molecules' in 2011 Distinguished Faculty Research Lecture
April 6, 2011
BLOOMINGTON, Ind.-- Diabetes affects nearly 26 million children and adults in the United States -- 8.3 percent of the population. In 2010 alone, nearly two million new cases of diabetes were diagnosed in people aged 20 and older. Clearly, the development of new drugs that help to manage diabetes is a vital pursuit.
Richard DiMarchi, the Linda & Jack Gill Chair in biomolecular sciences and professor of chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences at IU Bloomington, is at the forefront of developing new life-altering medicines for treatment of diabetes. A former group vice president at Eli Lilly and Co., DiMarchi is widely known for his discovery and development of rDNA-derived Humalog® (LisPro-human insulin).
Two years after joining IU Bloomington in 2003, he co-founded the startup company Marcadia Biotech. Located in Carmel, Ind., the company was recently purchased by Roche for an initial $287 million, with the potential for an additional $250 million dependent on developmental milestones. The promising treatments being developed by Marcadia are based in large part on DiMarchi's research.
Purdue University: Nanopolymer shows promise for helping reduce cancer side effects
April 4, 2011
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A Purdue University biochemist has demonstrated a process using nanotechnology to better assess whether cancer drugs hit their targets, which may help reduce drug side effects.
W. Andy Tao, an associate professor of biochemistry analytical chemistry, developed a nanopolymer that can be coated with drugs, enter cells and then removed to determine which proteins in the cells the drug has entered. Since they're water-soluble, Tao believes the nanopolymers also may be a better delivery system for drugs that do not dissolve in water effectively.
"Many cancer drugs are not very specific. They target many different proteins," said Tao, whose findings were published in the early online in the journal Agnewandte Chemie International Edition. "That can have a consequence - what we call side effects."
Ohio State University: BREAST CANCER PATIENTS' PERSISTENT FATIGUE IS REAL, MAY ACTUALLY SPEED UP AGING
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The persistent fatigue that plagues one out of every three breast cancer survivors may be caused by one part of the autonomic nervous system running in overdrive, while the other part fails to slow it down.
That imbalance of a natural system in the body appears linked to the tiredness and exhaustion that can burden cancer patients as much as a decade after their successful treatment.
The effect is so great, researchers say, that it may be a sign of accelerated aging in fatigued patients, causing them to seem as much as 20 years older compared with patients who aren’t fatigued.
Those new research findings, just reported in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology, are the latest from a three-decade-long study of the impact that stress can have on the human body.
University of Wisconsin: Study shows patient’s own cells may hold therapeutic promise after reprogramming, gene correction
April 4, 2011
by Jennifer Sereno
Scientists from the Morgridge Institute for Research, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of California and the WiCell Research Institute moved gene therapy one step closer to clinical reality by determining that the process of correcting a genetic defect does not substantially increase the number of potentially cancer-causing mutations in induced pluripotent stem cells.
Their work, scheduled for publication the week of April 4 in the online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and funded by a Wynn-Gund Translational Award from the Foundation Fighting Blindness, suggests that human induced pluripotent stem cells altered to correct a genetic defect may be cultured into subsequent generations of cells that remain free of the initial disease.
However, although the gene correction itself does not increase the instability or the number of observed mutations in the cells, the study reinforced other recent findings that induced pluripotent stem cells themselves carry a significant number of genetic mutations.
New York Magazine: Scientist Gives Insect-Borne Disease to Wife During Sex, Makes Virological History
Biologist Brian Foy went to Senegal to collect samples from mosquitoes for his study about malaria. Then he came home to Colorado, had a joyous and intimate reunion with his wife, Joy, and weird things started happening. Within five days, both he and his PhD student Kevin Kobylinski, who was also on the trip, had fallen ill with rashes on their torsos, extreme fatigue, headaches, and swollen, painful joints. They didn't have malaria — so what was going on?
A couple weeks later, Joy Foy fell ill with malaise, chills, headaches, hypersensitivity to light, and muscle pains. (But the Foys' four kids were perfectly fine.) Gradually, the symptoms receded, leaving the patients stumped as to exactly what had been the problem.
The CDC suggested they might have had dengue fever. Or, at least, they thought the two guys might have had it. They weren't sure what Joy had experienced.
Climate/Environment
Purdue University: Drought-exposed leaves adversely affect soil nutrients, study shows
April 5, 2011
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Chemical changes in tree leaves subjected to warmer, drier conditions that could result from climate change may reduce the availability of soil nutrients, according to a Purdue University study.
Jeff Dukes, an associate professor of forestry and natural resources, found that red maple leaves accumulate about twice as much tannin when exposed to hot, droughtlike conditions. Those tannins, which defend leaves from herbivores and pathogens, were shown to interfere with the function of common enzymes in soil.
"When the leaves are particularly water-stressed by drought or drought with higher temperatures, we see more protective compounds, more tannins and a change in the chemistry of the tannins," said Dukes, whose findings were published in the early online version of the journal New Phytologist. "This suggests that when these leaves fall, they may slow down soil processes such as decomposition and nutrient cycling. This could, in turn, affect plant growth and nutrient uptake."
University of Michigan: U-M's CCTC named 'Project of the Year'
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—The American Public Works Association Michigan chapter has awarded the University of Michigan/AATA Central Campus Transit Center its "Project of the Year" award in the category of intergovernmental cooperation less than $5 million.
The Project of the Year award promotes excellence in the management and administration of public works projects by recognizing the partnership between the university, Ann Arbor Transportation Authority (AATA/TheRide), the consultant/architect/engineer, and the contractor who, working together, complete public works projects.
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The transit center, located along North University Avenue, was designed to help meet the growing needs for public transportation in the Central Campus area. U-M and AATA buses serve this very vibrant facility.
The project added shelters for bus riders, bicycle lanes along North University, bicycle racks, an improved pedestrian walkway across North University and a new handicapped-accessible entry to the Alexander G. Ruthven Museums Building.
In addition to being a collaborative effort, the $4.5 million project was designed to fit with the university's commitment to sustainability, Dolen said. Porous paving bricks, used in some areas, will help with water drainage, and the translucent roofs on the shelters will reduce daytime lighting needs.
University of Michigan: U-M to sponsor 4th annual e-waste recycling event
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—The University of Michigan's Office of Campus Sustainability and the Ann Arbor Public Schools are sponsoring a free e-waste recycling event designed to help area residents, small businesses and non-profits dispose of electronics in an earth-friendly way.
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E-waste is the fastest-growing type of waste in the country and frequently contains hazardous materials like lead and mercury, which can adversely affect the environment. Everything from laptops and desktops, televisions and telephones are collected at the event. Following the event, equipment is properly disassembled, shredded and recycled into raw materials to be reused to manufacture new items.
Michigan State University: MSU earns ‘bike friendly’ campus award
EAST LANSING, Mich. — With more than half of its roads equipped with bike lanes and more than 20,000 bicycle parking spaces, the campus of Michigan State University has long been “bicycle friendly.”
That status was recently confirmed when the League of American Bicyclists named MSU a Bicycle Friendly University Bronze Award winner.
The honor recognizes colleges and universities that create environments in which bicycling can thrive and provides technical assistance to create great campuses for biking.
“I’m thrilled that we’ve been selected for this award,” said Gus Gosselin, director of building services at the MSU Physical Plant and co-founder of the MSU Bike Project. “MSU has long been a national leader in the promotion of alternative transportation and this award is confirmation of that.”
Geology
Red Orbit: Sand Drift Explained
Posted on: Thursday, 7 April 2011, 16:34 CDT
The sand along the south-western coastal rim of Norway has drifted for more than 9000 calendar years. This was triggered by sea-level changes and human activities, new research has found.
Researchers in countries such as Denmark, the Netherlands and Poland study sand drift, but most of them are focusing on sand dunes along the coastline, not on the plains further inland.
“Sand dunes are dynamic. For all we know, they may have been formed last year. But sand plaines are much older and in periods more stable. Thin organic layers present in sands are interesting, when trying to understand sand drift in pre-historic times,” says botanist Lisbeth Prøsch-Danielsen at the University of Stavanger’s Museum of Archaeology.
Together with her colleague, geologist Lotte Selsing, she studies the transportation of sand to the plains behind the sand dunes on the beaches along the coast of Jæren in the south-western part of Norway: Why and when it first occurred, and in which areas it is most prevalent.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for this story.
Inside Science News Service: Are We Living In An Age Of Giant Quakes?
Searching for patterns in the occurrence of large magnitude earthquakes after a succession of large tremors -- surpassed by the recent magnitude-9.0 quake in Japan -- has researchers wondering if the amount of big quakes is on the rise.
Apr 8, 2011
By Becky Ham
ISNS--The devastating 2004 Indonesian tsunami, with its death toll of as many as 250,000 people, was caused by the first magnitude-9.0 earthquake since 1967. A succession of smaller but still destructive tremors in Haiti, Chile, and New Zealand -- surpassed by this year's magnitude-9.0 quake in Japan -- has some researchers wondering whether the number of large earthquakes is on the rise.
An earthquake represents the abrupt release of seismic strain that has built up over the years as plates of the Earth's crust slowly grind and catch against each other. Giant earthquakes live up to their fearsome name. The biggest ever recorded was the magnitude-9.5 Chile earthquake of 1960. It accounts for about a quarter of the total seismic strain released worldwide since 1900. In just three minutes, the recent quake in Japan unleashed one-twentieth of that global total according to geophysicist Richard Aster at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro.
The Indonesian quake "reinvigorated interest in these giants," said Aster, who is also president of the Seismological Society of America. The Chile and Japan earthquakes -- along with a magnitude-9.2 quake in Alaska in 1964 -- also triggered catastrophic tsunamis.
After a lull in large quakes in the 1980s and 1990s, we may now be in the middle of a new age of large earthquakes, Aster added.
Psychology/Behavior
Cell Press via physorg.com: Political views are reflected in brain structure
April 7, 2011
We all know that people at opposite ends of the political spectrum often really can't see eye to eye. Now, a new report published online on April 7th in Current Biology reveals that those differences in political orientation are tied to differences in the very structures of our brains.
Individuals who call themselves liberal tend to have larger anterior cingulate cortexes, while those who call themselves conservative have larger amygdalas. Based on what is known about the functions of those two brain regions, the structural differences are consistent with reports showing a greater ability of liberals to cope with conflicting information and a greater ability of conservatives to recognize a threat, the researchers say.
"Previously, some psychological traits were known to be predictive of an individual's political orientation," said Ryota Kanai of the University College London. "Our study now links such personality traits with specific brain structure."
Ohio State University: GOT UP ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE BED? YOUR WORK WILL SHOW IT
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study of telephone customer service representatives shows just how important it is for employees to start the workday in a good mood.
Researchers found that employees’ moods when they clocked in tended to affect how they felt the rest of the day. Early mood was linked to their perceptions of customers and to how they reacted to customers’ moods.
And most importantly to managers, employee mood had a clear impact on performance, including both how much work employees did and how well they did it.
“We saw that employees could get into these negative spirals where they started the day in a bad mood and just got worse over the course of the day,” said Steffanie Wilk, associate professor of management and human resources at Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business.
“That’s why it is so important for companies to find ways to help their workers start off the day on the right foot.”
Archeology/Anthropology
Des Moines Register: Human remains found at Des Moines sewer site could be 7,000 years old
11:22 PM, Apr. 5, 2011
Written by JASON CLAYWORTH
Sewer construction workers made an unusual discovery on Des Moines' southeast side in January: remains of a human body archeologists believe could be as old as 7,000 years.
The remains are thought to be from the Middle Archaic period and were found near a site where scientists believe early Iowans harvested, cooked and consumed clams thousands of years ago.
Ancient ash and charcoal remains, apparent signs of a Stone Age clambake, also were uncovered.
Agence France Presse via E Kathimerini (Greece): Europe's oldest readable writing found in Greece, researcher says
A clay tablet over 3,000 years old that is considered Europe’s oldest readable text has been found in an ancient refuse pit in southern Greece, a US-based researcher claimed on Tuesday, April 5.
The tablet, an apparent financial record from a long-lost Mycenaean town, is about a century older than previous discoveries, said Michael Cosmopoulos, an archaeology professor at the University of Missouri-St Louis.
”On one side it has a list of names and numbers, on the other a verb relating to manufacture,” Cosmopoulos told AFP by email.
”It is the oldest tablet from a stratified deposit from the Greek mainland, and consequently from Europe,” he said.
LiveScience: 'Gay Caveman' Story Overblown, Archaeologists Say
Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer
Date: 07 April 2011 Time: 04:34 PM ET
Archaeologists in Prague say they've uncovered a Stone-Age man buried in a position usually reserved for women — but media claims of a "gay caveman" may be exaggerated, according to some researchers.
The skeleton, which dates back to about 2,500 to 2,800 B.C., was found in the outskirts of Prague. The culture the man belonged to (known as the Corded Ware culture for their pottery decorated with the impressions of twisted cord) was very finicky about grave rituals, reported Iranian news network Press TV, which visited the excavation site. According to the Czech news website Ceskapozice.cz, Corded Ware males were usually buried on their right sides with their heads facing east. This man, however, was buried on his left with his head facing west — a traditionally female position.
"We found one very specific grave of a man lying in the position of a woman, without gender specific grave goods, neither jewelry or weapons," lead archaeologist Kamila Remisova Vesinova of the Czech Archaeological Society told Press TV.
For more, see
The "gay caveman" on John Hawks' blog.
BBC: What caused Britain's Bronze Age 'recession'?
A large gap in pre-history could signal that Britain underwent an economic downturn over 2,500 years ago.
In history lessons, the three ages of pre-history - Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age - seem to flow together without a gap.
But there is a 300-year period in British history between around 800 BC and 500 BC where experts still struggle to explain what happened, where bronze is in decline and iron was not widely used.
East Day (Shanghai, China): Ancient Xi'an tomb ready to reveal secrets
2011-04-09 09:40
XI'AN - Chinese archaeologists on Friday prepared to excavate a tomb built more than 2,000 years ago in the ancient capital of Xi'an.
The tomb, discovered in a southern suburb of the city, which is now the capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi province, could help experts study the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 24).
Ding Yan, a research assistant of the Shaanxi provincial institute of archaeology and head of the tomb archaeological excavation site, said the tomb was the only one not robbed among the 14 tombs in the family cemetery of Western Han general Zhang Anshi (? - 62 BC).
"The tomb might be the tomb of Zhang Anshi's daughter-in-law," Ding said.
Leamington Observer (UK): Skeleton sparks DNA interest
05 April. Updated: 08 April 07:53
WARWICKSHIRE'S earliest known African resident, believed to have been living in Stratford some 1,700 years ago, has sparked the interest of boffins over the possible impact on British and European DNA.
Earlier this year Warwickshire County Council’s Archaeology Warwickshire team revealed the skeleton of the African man had been found in a Roman cemetery in Tiddington, which revealed people of African descent had been living in the county for far longer than previously thought.
As a result of the subsequent press coverage Dr Hannes Schroeder read the story and immediately contacted Malin Holst, the archaeologist who first identified the skeleton, hoping for further details.
BBC: Anglo-Saxon 7th Century plough coulter found in Kent
An archaeological discovery by the University of Reading is set to shed new light on the history of farming.
Dr Gabor Thomas and his team have found a 7th Century iron plough coulter during excavations at Lyminge, Kent.
A coulter is a vertical soil slicer mounted like a knife to cut through the soil ahead of a plough share to improve the plough's efficiency.
The coulter, one of the defining features of a 'heavy plough', transformed the landscape of England.
A coulter is a blade that cuts dirt. That makes for a good aptonym.
The Art Newspaper: Race to save Buddhist relics in former Bin Laden camp
Workers are desperately trying to excavate Mes Aynak before a Chinese mining company moves in
By Martin Bailey | From issue 223, April 2010
Published online 7 Apr 11
MES AYNAK. A rescue operation is underway to save as much as possible from ancient Buddhist monasteries in Mes Aynak, Afghanistan, before the mountains become an open-cast mine and the site is destroyed. In what is now the world’s largest archaeological dig, around 1,000 workers are trying to excavate artefacts from the country’s second most important Buddhist site (along with Hadda), after Bamiyan.
The site, a former training camp of Osama bin Laden, has been leased to a Chinese mining company for copper production. Only what can be excavated and removed to safety will be saved.
Despite the impending archaeological loss, Mes Aynak has received scant attention internationally. Moreover, Afghanistan’s heritage has suffered much in recent years from civil war, looting and the vandalism of the Taliban.
Mes Aynak (Little Copper Well) lies 25 miles south-east of Kabul, in a barren region. The Buddhist monasteries date from the third to the seventh centuries, and are located near the remains of ancient copper mines. It is unclear whether the monastery was originally established to serve the miners or if the monks set up there to work the mines themselves.
LiveScience: Bones of Leper Warrior Found in Medieval Cemetery
Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer
Date: 07 April 2011 Time: 11:46 AM ET
The bones of a soldier with leprosy who may have died in battle have been found in a medieval Italian cemetery, along with skeletons of men who survived blows to the head with battle-axes and maces.
Studying ancient leprosy, which is caused by a bacterial infection, may help scientists figure out how the infectious disease evolved.
The find also reveals the warlike ways of the semi-nomadic people who lived in the area between the sixth and eighth centuries, said study researcher Mauro Rubini, an anthropologist at Foggia University in Italy. The war wounds, which showed evidence of surgical intervention, provide a peek into the medical capabilities of medieval inhabitants of Italy.
Sun-News: NMSU researchers look to ancient cultures to find patterns of climate change
By Audry Olmsted For the Sun-News
Posted: 04/03/2011 11:53:00 PM MDT
MONTICELLO - Dennis and Trudy O'Toole, who share interests in history and historic preservation, retired and moved to New Mexico from New York in 1998. But, long before they called the Monticello Box Ranch home, prehistoric people lived and worked on that same land, dating back more than 1,000 years. Those populations may be long gone, but the artifacts and other evidence the people left behind are a virtual time capsule that tells a tale of how they lived.
Now, New Mexico State University researchers are combining forces with the Ca ada Alamosa Project, a joint project of the O'Toole's nonprofit organization, the Ca ada Alamosa Institute; and a Las Cruces nonprofit group, Human Systems Research, Inc., to unearth the pieces left behind that will help shed light on the American Indians who lived on the land, and when and why they left.
Washington Post via South Coast Today: In search of Genghis Khan's tomb
SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON POST
Albert Lin is hunting for Genghis Khan.
Legend has it that Khan, the ruthless conqueror who was the first emperor of the Mongol Empire, was buried in an unmarked tomb in northern Mongolia about 800 years ago.
But finding said tomb is a task that has eluded scientists for years. Mongolia encompasses more than 600,000 square miles of largely uncharted, rural territory, which makes Lin's mission extremely challenging.
Luckily, the explorer and research scientist at the University of California at San Diego has more than 7,000 people around the world helping with his mission, called the Valley of the Khans Project. The idea is to find the tombs of Genghis Khan and his descendants, and other ancient Mongolian artifacts.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Skeletons dug from Bedlam burial ground
Archaeologists have unearthed hundreds of skeletons at a 16th century burial ground in the heart of the city that once served London's most notorious psychiatric hospital, the original Bedlam.
The bones are expected to yield valuable information about mortality, diet and disease in the period.
They were discovered while experts surveyed a site that is destined to become a new ticket hall for the capital's huge Crossrail project at Liverpool Street Station.
Opened in 1247, the Bethlehem Royal Hospital began admitting the mentally ill in the 14th century, eventually becoming known by its middle-English abbreviation Bedlam.
LiveScience: Skulls of Spanish Women Grew Over 300 Years
by Wynne Parry, LiveScience Senior Writer
Like his body, a man's skull and its features are generally larger than a woman's. An analysis of Spanish skulls spanning approximately 300 years showed, however, that the difference between the sexes' cranial features shrank over time.
This conclusion is based on examinations of more than 200 crania — the part of the skull that holds the brain — contained in two collections, one amassed during the 19th century by a doctor, and one from an excavated cemetery dating back to the 16th through 17th centuries. While both sexes' crania got bigger, women's grew more, decreasing the gender gap, the researchers found.
BBC: Mona Lisa mystery could be solved by woman's remains
Researchers will attempt to identify the woman who sat for Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, by digging up the remains of an Italian noblewoman.
Art historian Silvano Vinceti believes that by locating the remains of Lisa Gherardini, he can prove whether she was the artist's model.
A recently discovered death certificate suggests she died in 1542 and is interred in a convent in Florence.
Hastings Observer (UK): Smugglers’ tunnel is discovered by workmen
WORK on a flood protection scheme has unearthed a 20 metre-long hand-built smugglers cave.
A team from Southern Water made the unusual discovery while digging trenches to lay new sewers in Collier Road and nearby Priory Road last week.
Work was immediately stopped and experts from Archaeology South-East were called in and confirmed the find was likely to be a smugglers’ tunnel built in the early 18th Century and used to smuggle goods such as tea, tobacco, alcohol, silk and sugar - usually to avoid paying duty.
University of Otago (New Zealand) via physorg.com: Conservation crisis as historic carved trees die
April 8, 2011
The imminent loss of the internationally-acclaimed Moriori-carved trees on the Chatham Islands National Historic Reserve constitutes a "national conservation crisis" which needs urgent attention, says new University of Otago research.
In an article to be published in the next issue of Archaeology in New Zealand, University of Otago archaeologist Dr. Ian Barber, along with post-graduate student Justin Maxwell, write:
“These living carved trees are a novel Polynesian art form, and in their current number and condition, represent the most intact, extant world example of this indigenous site type.”
Consequently, the imminent loss of most if not all of the kopi trees on the main reserve informally known as Hapupu, which is managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC), represents “a national archaeological crisis”. The trees and their carvings are thought to be hundreds of years old.
Inside Science News Service: Utah Rock Art Provides Glimpse Of Hawaiian Life
Marine sea-life themes permeate the rock carvings near an abandoned Mormon settlement in the southwestern US.
Apr 4, 2011
By Carrie Peyton Dahlberg
(ISNS) -- Halfway up Salt Mountain in Utah, petroglyphs on a limestone rock bear witness to an obscure twist of history: a Hawaiian Mormon settlement that flourished briefly more than a century ago.
A research team from New York has made the first effort to try to tease out possible meanings from this rock art, looking for themes from both Hawaiian petroglyphs and the traditions of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Daily Mail: Nazi bomber comes back from the deep: Dornier shot down in 1940 is found off the coast of Kent
By David Wilkes
Shot down as the Battle of Britain raged, the German bomber disappeared beneath the murky waves never to be seen again – or so it seemed for 70 years.
In fact, the doomed Dornier 17 has weathered the ravages of time and tide far better than it did our fighter pilots’ machine guns.
New underwater images show the plane lying 50ft deep in the English Channel, remarkably well preserved except for damage to the forward cockpit, observation windows and propellers. Some of its undercarriage tyres are still inflated.
Huffington Post: Is It Possible to "Collect" Antiquities These Days?
Posted: 04/ 5/11 05:40 PM ET
Antiquities is "the only area of the art world that deals entirely with stolen goods." Perhaps that is an exaggeration -- certainly, many ancient objects were never looted from historic sites or even dug out of the ground -- but it is a bit of hyperbole that has a growing level of acceptance, to some degree with the public and overwhelmingly with archaeologists. Clemency Coggins, professor of archaeology and art history at Boston University, who made this comment, describes herself as a moderate on this issue because she believes that some antiquities can be legally owned. However, in her ideal world, antiquities dealers would "get out of the business."
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman, who sent in the above articles.
Physics
Agence France Presse via physorg.com: US atom smasher may have found new force of nature (Update 4)
April 6, 2011
Data from a major US atom smasher lab may have revealed a new elementary particle, or potentially a new force of nature that could expand our knowledge of the properties of matter, physicists say.
The science world was abuzz with excitement Wednesday over the findings, which could offer clues to the persistent riddle of mass and how objects obtain it -- one of the most sought-after answers in all of physics.
But experts cautioned that more analysis was needed over the next several months to uncover the true nature of the observation, which comes as part of an ongoing experiment with proton and antiproton collisions to understand the workings of the universe.
"There could be some new force beyond the force that we know," said Giovanni Punzi, a physicist with the international research team that is analyzing the data from the US Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.
Chemistry
Michigan State University: Oxygen sensor invention could benefit fisheries to breweries
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Monitoring oxygen levels in water has applications for oil spills, fish farming, brewing beer and more – and a professor at Michigan State University is poised to help supply that need.
The concept of oxygen sensors isn’t new. The challenge, however, has been manufacturing one that can withstand fluctuations in temperature, salinity, carbon dioxide, phosphates and biological wastes. Ruby Ghosh, associate professor of physics, was able to overcome those obstacles as well as build one that provides real-time data and is relatively inexpensive.
...
Constantly testing dissolved oxygen is critical in industries such as:
- Aquaculture – where fish are raised in oxygen-rich, high-density environments.
- Beverage manufacturing – which constantly monitors dissolved oxygen levels during the fermentation and bottling processes.
- Biomedical research – which could use probes to further cancer research by detecting changes in oxygen dependence in relation to tumor growth.
- Petroleum manufacturing – to monitor ocean oxygen levels and detect/prevent oil leaks in rugged, saltwater environments.
...
To test her prototypes, Ghosh and her students worked with Michigan’s fish farmers to see how they would hold up in a year-round, outdoor environment.
Inside Science News Service: Turning Feathers Into Furniture
A new process turns waste chicken feathers into biodegradable plastic.
Apr 4, 2011
By Katharine Gammon
ISNS--Nearly 3 billion pounds of chicken feathers are plucked each year in the United States -- and most end up in the trash. Now, a new method of processing those feathers could create better types of environmentally-friendly plastics.
"Chicken feathers are one of those materials that is still basically waste," said Yiqi Yang, a researcher at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and one of the authors of the new research. Feathers are mostly made of keratin, the protein that's responsible for the strength of wool, hair, fingernails, and hooves, he added. So they "should be useful as a material."
...
To make the new plastic, the researchers started with chicken and turkey feathers that had been cleaned and pulverized into a fine dust. They then added chemicals that made the keratin molecules join together to form long chains -- a process called polymerization. The team presented their work March 24 at a meeting of the American Chemical Society in Anaheim, California.
The plastic they made was stronger than similar materials made from starch or soy proteins, and it stood up to water. Moreover, high temperature treatment of the feathers at the start of the process would blast out any possible contamination, such as from bird flu, according to Reddy.
Energy
Purdue University: Purdue Solar Racing enters new car in Shell 'Eco-marathon'
April 4, 2011
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A team of Purdue University students has designed and built a new solar car that will compete this month in the 2011 Shell Eco-marathon Americas.
The Shell Eco-marathon Americas, April 14-17 in Houston, is an international contest for college and high school students to design and build the most fuel-efficient vehicles.
The Purdue Solar Racing team has won the Eco-marathon's solar-car category the last three years, achieving the equivalent of 4,913 miles per gallon, the most ever recorded at the event. Purdue's team has driven a car called Pulsar since 2008 and unveiled a new car, Celeritas, during an April 1 banquet.
Science, Space, Environment, and Energy Policy
Wayne State University: University presidents including WSU's Gilmour, senators discuss importance of scientific research to economy
Washington D.C. - University leaders and U.S. senators gathered for a roundtable discussion on March 31, 2011, at the U.S. Capitol on the vital role university-based scientific research plays in fueling innovation and sparking economic growth.
The event was organized by the Senate Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee, chaired by Sen. Mark Begich (Ark.), and included participation by Sens. Daniel Akaka (Hawaii), Benjamin Cardin (Md.), Kay Hagan (N.C.), Bernard Sanders (Vt.) and Debbie Stabenow (Mich.), as well as the following university leaders: Joseph Aoun, president of Northeastern University in Boston; James Clements, president of West Virginia University; Daniel Fogel, president of the University of Vermont; Allan Gilmour, president of Wayne State University; Michael Johns, chancellor of Emory University in Atlanta; Wallace Loh, president of the University of Maryland; Samuel Stanley, president of Stony Brook University in Long Island, N.Y.; and Randy Woodson, chancellor of North Carolina State University. The universities are members of The Science Coalition.
The university leaders discussed the many ways in which their institutions, as centers of federally funded research, help fuel the economy - from being local economic engines to driving industrial innovation to enabling America to compete in the global economy.
Michigan State University: Professor to help shape federal policy on fitness, nutrition
EAST LANSING, Mich. — A Michigan State University professor of kinesiology and national expert on pregnancy and physical activity has been tabbed to help shape federal policy and drive program development on fitness, sports and nutrition.
Jim Pivarnik has been appointed to the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition's science board, formed in 2003 to ensure the messages and programs of the council are scientifically sound. He and colleagues will advise the council on the latest research that affects the health of children and adults nationwide.
Pivarnik, also an epidemiology professor at MSU, was selected due to the significant contributions he has made to the research and science of physical activity, fitness and health, said Shellie Pfohl, executive director of the President's Council. His appointment is for three years.
University of Michigan: Revitalizing Innovation in Michigan for Clean Energy Manufacturing
Continuous innovation in manufacturing is essential for maintaining U.S. economic leadership in an intensively competitive global market. Innovations in the production of advanced batteries, motors, controllers, lighting devices, wind machines, photovoltaic modules, and other clean energy products are critical to meeting U.S. energy and environmental goals.
"Revitalizing Innovation in Michigan for Clean Energy Manufacturing" is a two-day workshop that brings together industry pioneers, political leaders and students to explore the creation of a pilot Innovation Ecosystem throughout the state and discuss ways to revitalize the innovation infrastructure in Michigan to take maximum advantage of new investments.
Keynote speakers include: U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow and Henry Kelly, acting assistant secretary and principal deputy assistant secretary, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy.
This is an Earth Day event to be held April 21st and 22nd in the Michigan League Ballroom.
Science Education
University of Michigan: U-M faculty members awarded Guggenheim Fellowships for research
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Five University of Michigan faculty can add the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship to their list of honors and awards.
...
The U-M fellows are Arun Agrawal, professor and associate dean for research, School of Natural Resources and Environment; Jeffrey Gardner Heath, professor of linguistics; Mark Mizruchi, professor of sociology and business; Endi Poskovic, artist and associate professor of art and design; and Jennifer Ellen Robertson, professor of anthropology.
...
Agrawal's project "Poverty and Adaptation" will focus on how the poor have adapted for many years to climate change, as well as the effects of the reckless extravagance of the rich and the apathy of the powerful.
...
Mizruchi is writing a book, tentatively titled "Power Without Efficacy: The Decline of the American Corporate Elite." He argues that in the post World War II period, American business leaders exhibited a relatively moderate, pragmatic approach to politics that included general acceptance of (if not support for) government regulation and management of the economy, the rights of workers to organize, and the need to address social problems such as poverty and urban blight. The corporate elite of today, however, is either unwilling or unable to act collectively to address any of the pressing economic and social issues of our age, he says.
...
Robertson will conduct research on service robots, focusing on their safety, security, and convenience in relation to the political economy of Japan. Most of her fieldwork, she says, will be based in Kodaira City (Tokyo).
Michigan State University: MSU class building a better popcorn kernel
EAST LANSING, Mich. — A group of Michigan State University students is taking a course this semester that has the official title of “Science of the Foods we Love.” But most everybody knows it as the “popcorn course.”
That’s because in addition to teaching the students the finer points of scientific research, and how the worlds of science and industry come together, another result of the course might be a better kernel of popcorn.
With the help of a gift from ConAgra Foods, the maker of, among other things, Orville Redenbacher popcorn, the class is studying different aspects of popcorn (e.g., explosivity, hull thickness and kernel size distribution) as they relate to the overall quality of a popped bag of microwave popcorn.
Later this month the class will travel to ConAgra headquarters in Omaha, Neb., to present their findings to the company’s scientists.
As I wrote in
one of my early linkspam posts on
Crazy Eddie's Motie News, my personal environmental news blog:
The flip side of Purdue's concern with food is that it's very much in the pocket of industrial agriculture, and this article shows that relationship in unapologetic detail. Honestly, I find Michigan State University, where there is a program in organic agriculture that was created by student demand, to have a more progressive perspective, and MSU is also a land-grant agricultural college.
They may be more progressive, but they are still strongly connected to industrial agriculture. Speaking of Purdue and industrial agriculture...
Purdue University: Purdue, ADM partner in new innovation center
April 8, 2011
INDIANAPOLIS - The Purdue University Board of Trustees on Friday (April 8) approved naming a new College of Agriculture building with enhanced laboratory and classroom space the ADM Agricultural Innovation Center.
Archer Daniels Midland Co. is contributing $1.5 million toward the estimated $4.2 million cost to build the 27,000-square-foot, steel-frame center. The remainder will come from Purdue and other sources.
The project is an extension of a longstanding partnership Purdue and ADM have shared in the education of students as innovators in agricultural and biological engineering, said university President France A. Córdova. ADM over the past three years has recruited more students from Purdue than any other university.
"This facility will provide even greater opportunities for Purdue students to engage in projects that will enhance their education in the design and manufacture of agricultural machinery," Córdova said.
Michigan State University: Nursing graduate program ranked in top 8 percent nationally
EAST LANSING, Mich. — MSU's College of Nursing is now ranked in the top 8 percent of nursing graduate programs by U.S. News and World Report after the school jumped 11 spots in America's Best Graduate Schools rankings, receiving a rating of 36 out of 442 schools.
...
Other nursing schools of nursing sharing a ranking of 36 include: University of Kansas, Georgetown University, University of Nebraska Medical Center, University of Utah, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, Virginia Commonwealth University and University of Texas Health Science Center - San Antonio. The rankings were last completed in 2007.
Wayne State University: Wayne State University students study risk factors of common diseases in rural India
There was no ambulance system in the South Indian village of Chikkamuddavadi when a man lost control and fell off of his motorbike. The impact left him unconscious and his ears bleeding. As he lay injured on the road, his chances of being rushed to the nearest hospital 37 miles away were slim. But the Geetha Ambulance, instituted by Wayne State University students a few days earlier in a nearby village, was able to do just that - ultimately saving the man's life.
Chandramouli Mandalaparty, 19, student in WSU's economics department and resident of Novi, Mich., and Amardeep Dhaliwal, 20, student in WSU's biology department and resident of Seattle, Wash., not only provided the village of Doddamuddavadi with an ambulance service, but also hosted a medical camp there to research the factors contributing to diabetes and high blood pressure in rural India. The pre-med students were mentored by Nelia Afonso, M.D., associate professor of internal medicine at WSU's School of Medicine.
University of Wisconsin: Two faculty members named Guggenheim Fellows
April 7, 2011
by Susannah Brooks
One current and one emerita professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have received 2011 Guggenheim Fellowship Awards, recognizing artists, scholars and scientists based on distinguished past achievement and exceptional future promise.
Deborah Brandt, professor emerita of English, and Lynn K. Nyhart, professor of history of science, are among 180 individuals selected by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation of New York from a pool of nearly 3,000 applicants.
...
Nyhart is an historian of modern biology, currently researching the history of concepts of biological individuality. Her book "Modern Nature: The Rise of the Biological Perspective in Germany," won the 2009 Susan Abrams Prize of the University of Chicago Press. She will serve as president of the History of Science Society in 2012-13. Earlier this year, she also received UW-Madison's Kellett Mid-Career Award as an outstanding faculty member five to 20 years past tenure.
University of Wisconsin: New undergraduate majors build on UW-Madison’s environmental legacy
April 8, 2011
by Jill Sakai
Pursuing environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is certainly not new, but being able to major in it is.
For the first time, UW-Madison students can now earn undergraduate degrees in environmental studies or environmental sciences. The UW System Board of Regents approved the two new majors Friday.
"This is an historic event, coming at a time when issues of energy, climate, water, food, and health are defining problems of the 21st century," says Gregg Mitman, interim director of the UW-Madison Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. "Economic surveys show that environmental fields are where some of the most rapid job growth will occur between now and 2016. Students are energized by the possibilities of a green future and their role in building it. These new majors help provide them with the tools to get there."
University of Wisconsin: The Hacker Within focuses on scientific computing
April 7, 2011
For many University of Wisconsin-Madison students, Python is a snake and C++ is just gibberish.
But for undergraduate and graduate students working with scientific computation, it's a part of daily life. And The Hacker Within is one student organization that works to educate students and staff on the ins and outs of scientific computing.
President Katy Huff, a third-year nuclear engineering graduate student, says scientists must be fluent in computation, but most sciences students are not taught how to work with computer programming.
"If you're training a chemistry undergrad to be a grad student, you learn to use lab equipment. That's not chemistry, it's lab equipment. But you never have a lab where you learn scientific computing," Huff says.
Science Writing and Reporting
Crosscut (Seattle): Dead-end discoveries?
Many archaeological finds are reburied in mounds of dull reports. One way to help: Hire storytellers to help daylight what comes from digs.
By Knute Berger
A common form of mitigation in projects impacting historic sites is to document them fully. The Alaskan Way Viaduct, for example, has been extensively photographed and documented since it will likely be demolished. Archaeological digs at Discovery Park's West Point have a fine Web page. Some artifacts find their way to museums, though often in deep storage. A few journalists cover heritage and preservation issues; Lynda Mapes at The Seattle Times and Peter Callaghan of the The News Tribune in Tacoma are two who come to mind. But no one I know covers the heritage beat full-time.
During a question-answer period at the conference, archaeologists complained that there was a lack of storytelling, of making their discoveries known and compelling to the people. They're not talking about making the information available (like putting everything online) so much as making it understandable in the first place. The value of that is obvious. One, the people pay for much of the work, so they should get something for their money. Two, the knowledge of history, culture, and place can be very enlightening, entertaining, and enriching. Three, it would lead to better management of cultural resources. Four, it would reinforce the importance of the work and the laws that make it possible.
That understanding could lead to better laws or policies down the road, and more support for archaeology, heritage, and culture. Heaven knows it's needed, as the recent budget crisis underscores.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for this story.
University of Wisconsin: ABC News global warming reporter to be science writer in residence
April 6, 2011
by Chris Barncard
Bill Blakemore, who leads coverage of global warming for ABC News, is the spring science writer in residence at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Blakemore will bring decades of international reporting experience to campus the week of April 11 to work closely with students, staff and faculty on news gathering and production, and to share his experiences at the leading edge of climate change science and policymaking.
...
While working on a story about the disappearance of high-altitude amphibians he was introduced to the depth and breadth of data on man-made global warming.
"I was shocked about how much of the science had been established, how well-known this is," he said. "And how we — the journalists who should have known better — had been spun to a fair-thee-well by a campaign of disinformation and intimidation."
Science is Cool
The Reading Post (UK): Reading archaeologists shed light on Roman eagle
By Paul Cassell
April 04, 2011
Archaeologists at The University of Reading have shed new light on the mysterious Roman artefact starring in blockbuster movie "The Eagle."
The film features Channing Tantum as a young Roman soldier in 140AD who endeavours to honour his father’s memory by finding his lost legion’s golden emblem.
Rosemary Sutcliffe, author of "The Eagle Of The Ninth," on which the movie is based, was inspired to write the book, first published in 1954, after seeing the artefact in Reading Museum where it is kept today.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for this story.
University of Michigan: Mobile app crowdsourcing expands U-M resources
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—A computer science student at the University of Michigan, Dhineshkumar Muthu, pulls out his cell phone and uses Arbor Park, a mobile application that he developed with two classmates, any time he has trouble finding a parking spot on campus.
Together, the three students recently won Best Android App in the U-M Mobile Apps Challenge, a contest held each semester to award U-M students, faculty and staff for their most creative and innovative solutions.
Faced with limited budget and staff, the U-M mobile strategy is connecting a widespread community of mobile developers by leveraging the power of crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing is a way of generating new technologies or creative solutions through an open call to the community.