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. In keeping with the theme of the past four 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.
This week's featured story comes from the University of Michigan.
University of Michigan School of Public Health researcher Rachel Snow and Eve Mokotoff, an adjunct lecturer at SPH, and HIV patient Michael Jonas look back at the last 30 years and focus on the future priorities going forward.
HIV/AIDS: Progress and concerns three decades later
June 10, 2011
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—When Michael Jonas learned he was HIV positive, he returned from Florida to his home in Jackson, Mich., to die.
A decade later Jonas, 47, lives with HIV as one would any chronic disease: he takes his antiviral drugs and plans his future—a future Jonas expects to be long and productive, including earning his degree in social work and counseling other HIV patients.
Such is the case for many HIV patients now. This month marks 30 years since the disease was discovered, and science has reduced HIV/AIDS from a death sentence to a chronic disease, but there's still no cure.
More science, space, environment, and energy stories after the jump.
Recent Science Diaries and Stories
Watch this space!
Green diary rescue: Is the current bout of extreme weather an expression of climate change?
by Meteor Blades
Independent Experts Give Grave Assessment of Situation Three Months into the Fukushima Crisis
by LeftOfYou
The Daily Bucket - berries
by bwren
This week in science
by DarkSyde
How to Save Your Humanity From the Bots
by Larry Nocella
Slideshows/Videos
University of Delaware: Secrets of Egypt
'Spectacular' archaeological site provides details of ancient life
11:44 a.m., June 7, 2011
For almost two decades, archaeologist Steven Sidebotham has been uncovering—literally, layer by layer—the secrets of an ancient, multicultural Egyptian city that reveals a new chapter of its story each time he visits.
This year, for example, the UD history professor's archaeological dig at the Red Sea port city of Berenike found a pet cemetery containing the remains of 17 dogs and cats, ship timbers and other sailing artifacts from the harbor area and a trove of objects from an early Roman trash dump.
"This is an amazing, huge site with excellent preservation" because of the desert climate, Sidebotham said. "We've probably covered about 2 percent of the surface, so there are still several lifetimes' worth of work to be done. We'll never be finished with it."
BBC: Calverton man builds Romano-British home in his garden
A Nottinghamshire farmer is building a Romano-British dwelling in his back garden in Calverton. Grahame Watson said he had started the project because he wanted to learn more from experimental archaeology.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
NASA astronaut Mike Fossum and Satoshi Furukawa of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency joined cosmonaut Sergei Volkov aboard the Soyuz spacecraft he commanded and lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome for the International Space Station. A little more than two days later, the trio joined Commander Andrey Borisenko, and flight engineers Ron Garan and Alexander Samokutyaev aboard the ISS. Also sent aloft was the Aquarius/SAC-D spacecraft to orbit the Earth and analyze the oceans for their comparative levels of salinity, a major factor in the flow of currents that, ultimately, affect climate.
Plus, magnetic bubbles; final flight's update; unique "portrait"; solar blast; "Wheels" rolls in; Stennis 50th; Balloonsat; Homerama; and Kelly on U2 Tour.
Discovery News: Madagascar Home to 615 Newly Discovered Species: Photos
June 7, 2011 -- More than 600 new species of animals and plants have been discovered in Madagascar in the past decade, according to a new report by the World Wildlife Fund.
The discoveries include 385 plants, 42 invertebrates, 17 fish, 69 amphibians, 61 reptiles and 41 mammals. Although all of these species are new to science, many are believed to be endangered due to threats ranging from deforestation to illegal wildlife trading.
Explore some of the most fascinating animals discovered in past decade in this slide show.
http://www.ted.com Renowned paleontologist Jack Horner has spent his career trying to reconstruct a dinosaur. He's found fossils with extraordinarily well-preserved blood vessels and soft tissues, but never intact DNA. So, in a new approach, he's taking living descendants of the dinosaur (chickens) and genetically engineering them to reactivate ancestral traits — including teeth, tails, and even hands — to make a "Chickenosaurus".
The International Center of Automotive Medicine marries the exceptional medical, engineering, and educational resources of the University of Michigan with the unmatched automotive technical and industrial resources of southeast Michigan. The center's mission is to foster synergistic research between medical specialties, and biomedical and automotive engineering—efforts that translate quickly into new technologies, medical treatments, education, and policies that prevent injuries and improve care.
Accompanying story from the University of Michigan:
U-M International Center for Automotive Medicine enters new era
Ribbon-cutting event for new facility marks new capabilities and research emphasis
June 7, 2011
The University of Michigan International Center for Automotive medicine this week marked the beginning of new capabilities and new collaborative research combining trauma medicine, state-of-the-art computer analysis and automotive engineering.
In remarks before a ribbon-cutting ceremony June 6, James O. Woolliscroft, M.D., dean of the U-M Medical School and Lyle C. Roll Professor of Medicine, praised the “incredible community of experts” from across many disciplines who have been working together toward a single purpose – to reduce the number of deaths and injuries caused by motor vehicle crashes.
Dr. Jeffrey Loeb, associate professor of neurology, member of the WSU/DMC Comprehensive Epilepsy Program and associate director of the Center for Molecular Medicine & Genetics at Wayne State University's School of Medicine, describes an exclusive approach to solving the mysteries of epilepsy.
Dr. Carol Miller, chair and professor of the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Wayne State University is developing a cutting-edge software package designed to ultimately improve the health of the Great Lakes and beyond.
Jeff Grabill, professor in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric and American Cultures and co-director at the Writing in Digital Environments Research Center, talks about how writing and rhetoric are changing because of today's communication technologies.
Accompanying story from Michigan State University:
Faculty conversations: Jeff Grabill
“As communication technologies have become more pervasive and smaller and more ubiquitous in our lives, that area of study has gotten more exciting,” said Jeff Grabill, a professor in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric and American Cultures.
In the ancient origins of Western education, rhetoric – the study of the art of persuasion – was one of the things that was taught to all students who were privileged enough to be educated, Grabill said.
Today, “we understand language to mean lots of things — not just words, but also sound and video image,” he said. “The rhetorical study of how to communicate effectively has exploded as reasons and situations for using rhetoric have exploded and expanded, and the technologies that we can use to communicate have changed.”
So this isn't exactly a science story. It is a technology story. In addition, Daily Kos is community of people dedicated to using online communication to persuade and motivate. This story is very much on-topic for us.
A miniature mass spectrometer invented by Purdue scientists can almost immediately detect contaminants in the field including E. coli, pesticides and other chemicals. Using the mobile device is faster than sending specimens to labs for testing.
Accompanying story from Purdue University:
Comparing apples and oranges: Purdue handheld technology detects chemicals on store produce
June 8, 2011
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University researchers recently took their miniature mass spectrometer grocery shopping to test for traces of chemicals on standard and organic produce.
In the technology's first venture out of the lab, it successfully identified specific chemical residues on apples and oranges in a matter of minutes right in the produce section without having to peel or otherwise prepare a sample of the fruit.
R. Graham Cooks, the Henry Bohn Hass Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, and Zheng Ouyang, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering, led the team that used the miniature mass spectrometer - that some have likened to Star Trek's "tricorder" - to test for a fungicide on oranges and a scald inhibitor on apples.
Astronomy/Space
Agence France Presse via Discovery News: Voyager: Solar System Edge is Bubbly and 'Frothy'
The twin Voyager probes are entering interstellar space, but they're experiencing some surprises along the way.
Fri Jun 10, 2011 03:31 AM ET
Artist's rendering of Voyager 2 in the outer regions of the heliosphere, the magnetic bubble around the solar system generated by the solar wind.
Discovery News: Epic Solar Flare Pops Sun's Magnetic Cork
Analysis by Ian O'Neill
Wed Jun 8, 2011 03:34 AM ET
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, our nearest star put on a show that won't be forgotten for a long, long time. Under the ever-watchful eyes of an armada of solar observatories, the sun unleashed an M2-class solar flare.
Keep in mind that an M2 flare, although powerful, is still only classed as a "medium" explosion. But there was nothing medium about this event.
Agence France Presse via Discovery News: The Aquarius satellite will measure the salinity of the world's oceans to see how changes may be linked to future climate.
The Aquarius satellite will measure the salinity of the world's oceans to see how changes may be linked to future climate.
Fri Jun 10, 2011 04:09 PM ET
The US space agency on Friday launched a satellite to observe levels of salt on the surface of the world's oceans and measure how changes in salinity may be linked to future climate.
The $400 million Aquarius/SAC-D spacecraft, a partnership with Argentina, launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 7:20 am Pacific time (1420 GMT).
The orbiting science instrument will aim to map the entire open ocean every seven days from its position 408 miles (657 kilometers) above Earth, producing monthly estimates that show how salt levels change over time and location.
Evolution/Paleontology
Discovery News: New Dino May Be World's Smallest
By Jennifer Viegas
Fri Jun 10, 2011 11:39 AM ET
A new species of carnivorous non-avian dinosaur, described in the latest issue of Cretaceous Research, could be the world’s smallest known dinosaur.
The tiny dinosaur, dubbed the "Ashdown maniraptoran," measures about a foot in length and was unearthed in the United Kingdom. It lived during the Lower Cretaceous, a period lasting from 145 to 100 million years ago.
"It perhaps weighed as little as 200 grams (seven ounces)," co-author Darren Naish told Discovery News. "Like other maniraptoran theropods, this would have been a small, feathered, bird-like bipedal dinosaur with a fairly short tail, long neck, long slim hind legs, and feathered clawed forelimbs."
Make that the smallest non-avian dinosaur. There are many species of birds that are smaller.
Biodiversity
Purdue University: Scientists gain insight on how plants bend toward light
June 8, 2011
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A Purdue University-led study may change how scientists think about how some plants bend toward light.
Angus Murphy, a professor of horticulture, said the process, called phototropism, is well-documented in grasses, but has been difficult to resolve in dicots, a large group of flowering plants that includes many agricultural crops. Research in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana now shows that the hormones that cause phototropism are distributed from the tip of the plant rather than where the plant's stem bends as had been thought.
Charles Darwin and his son, Francis, described phototropic bending in the late 19th century based on experiments in which they were able to block light from reaching the tips of plant shoots and keep the plants from bending toward the light. Their work led to the discovery of auxin, a plant hormone that controls growth functions.
Science News: Go deep, small worm
Discovery in South African mine suggests life can thrive in unexpected places
By Alexandra Witze
Web edition : Wednesday, June 1st, 2011
Tiny worms can live in solid rock up to 3.6 kilometers underground, researchers have found, far deeper than anyone has encountered complex organisms before. The discovery of nematode worms in three South African gold mines underscores that Earth’s biosphere reaches well into subterranean realms. It also suggests habitable environments may exist buried way down on other planets, such as Mars.
Worm specialist Gaetan Borgonie and his colleagues present their findings, which include a new nematode species named after Faust’s devil Mephistopheles, in the June 2 Nature. Nematodes are an incredibly diverse group encompassing numerous intestinal parasites and the widely studied laboratory roundworm C. elegans.
Purdue University: Record number of cutworms chew through control technologies
June 7, 2011
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Multiple species of cutworms are abundant in Indiana cornfields right now, and a Purdue Extension entomologist says Bt traits and seed-applied insecticides are providing only suppression of the insects - not control.
John Obermeyer has received numerous reports of emerging corn that has been damaged by cutworms and he says growers need to be scouting their fields - especially the newly emerging corn - to determine if rescue foliar insecticides are necessary.
"Black cutworm is not the only species of cutworm present and damaging fields," Obermeyer said. "We've received many reports of claybacked cutworm, as well. This species overwinters as a partially grown larva, so it is larger when corn is emerging, as compared with black cutworms, which begin their annual Indiana cycle as eggs in the spring."
Biotechnology/Health
University of Michigan: U-M researchers find potential new way to fight sepsis
MicroRNAs show promise for targeting inflammatory diseases
June 10, 2011
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — By digging a little deeper, researchers may have found a potential target for reversing the deadly blood infection sepsis.
Scientists at the University of Michigan Health System looked at microRNA, a type of RNA that does not code for a protein itself but that can regulate the expression of other genes and proteins. They found that by attacking the right microRNA they could influence a key trigger of inflammatory diseases such as sepsis.
raditionally, researchers have gone after a bigger target, attempting to find compounds that directly control inflammatory triggers such as interleukin 6, or IL-6.
“If you can connect all the dots, you can target a single microRNA and impact an inflammatory process like sepsis. But given the role of IL-6 in other diseases, we think this might have broader implications than sepsis for diseases where IL-6 plays a role,” says study author Pavan Reddy, M.D., associate professor of hematology/oncology at the U-M Medical School.
University of Michigan: Drug shows promise in prostate cancer spread to bone
Bone scans show tumor shrinkage after Cabozantinib; bone pain reduced
June 7, 2011
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A new drug to treat prostate cancer shows early promise, particularly against tumors that have spread to the bone, a multi-site study shows.
The drug Cabozantinib is designed to target mainly two important pathways linked to the growth and spread of prostate cancer. The drug had the most effect on tumors that had spread to the bone.
“Not only did three-quarters of bone scans have partial or complete resolution, but this was accompanied by improvement in bone pain and decreased need for narcotic use,” says lead study author Maha Hussain, M.D., FACP, professor of internal medicine and urology and associate director of clinical research at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Hussain presented the findings at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting.
Michigan State University: Researcher tests drug’s impact on neurological disease
June 7, 2011
EAST LANSING, Mich. — A rare but increasingly more common disease striking overweight, younger women is the focus of a clinical trial at Michigan State University, where an osteopathic physician is testing the effectiveness of a certain drug against a potentially blindness-causing ailment.
Idiopathic intracranial hypertension, known as IIH or pseudo-tumor cerebri, is a neurological disease resulting in increased pressure around the brain, specifically in the absence of a tumor. Symptoms include severe headaches, nausea and double vision, and if left untreated, IIH can lead to vision loss and blindness.
Eric Eggenberger, professor and associate chairperson in MSU's Department of Neurology and Ophthalmology, is leading a clinical trial to test the ability of a commonly used diuretic known as acetazolamide in reducing or reversing vision loss in patients with IIH. Diuretics are drugs that increase the rate of urination.
"While weight loss is always recommended for women suffering from IIH, many other treatments are used to battle the disease by decreasing pressure around the brain," said Eggenberger, a member of MSU's HealthTeam.
University of Wisconsin: UW-Madison scientists create low-acrylamide potato lines
by Nicole Miller
June 9, 2011
What do Americans love more than French fries and potato chips? Not much-but perhaps we love them more than we ought to. Fat and calories aside, both foods contain high levels of a compound called acrylamide, a potential carcinogen.
First discovered in foods in 2002, acrylamide is produced whenever starchy foods are fried, roasted or baked, meaning it's found in everything from doughnuts to coffee beans. But fries and chips are relatively high in acrylamide compared to most starch-based snacks, and potato processors are eager to change that.
University of Wisconsin-Madison plant geneticist Jiming Jiang, a professor of horticulture, has a solution. As described in the current issue of Crop Science, his lab has developed a promising new kind of potato that helps cut acrylamide, an innovation he created with support from USDA-ARS plant physiologist Paul Bethke, an assistant professor of horticulture. As a bonus, those potatoes also could help producers significantly reduce food waste.
University of Wisconsin: Researchers solve membrane protein mystery
by Dian Land
June 8, 2011
A University of Wisconsin-Madison research team has solved a 25-year mystery that may lead to better treatments for people with learning deficits and mental retardation.
Synaptophysin is the first protein and most abundant ever found on the membranes surrounding the tiny sacs that carry chemical messengers to synapses, the gaps where communication between nerve cells occurs. But even though the loss of synaptophysin has recently been linked to learning deficits and mental retardation, scientists have been unable for more than a quarter-century to explain what it actually does.
Now UW-Madison researchers have shown that synaptophysin controls the replacement of the constantly needed sacs, also known as vesicles. The study, appearing in the current issue of the journal Neuron, may lead to future drugs that could restore normalcy when vesicles are not utilized efficiently.
University of Wisconsin: Center for Health Enhancement Systems Studies receives $9.5 million grant to help older adults
June 8, 2011
A five-year, $9.5 million grant has been awarded to a collaborative research program led by the Center for Health Enhancement Systems Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The purpose of the grant is to develop innovations that help older adults remain in their homes as long as possible. The grant comes from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), whose mission is to improve the quality, safety, efficiency and effectiveness of health care for all Americans.
The grant will bring the center's research team together with engineers from two other research centers based in the UW-Madison Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering: the Driving Simulation Laboratory and the RFID Laboratory. Experts from UW-Madison's Mass Communication Research Center, geriatricians, specialists from Wisconsin's State Bureau of Aging and Disability Resources and community advocates from around the state will also participate in the collaborative. The Wisconsin Institute for Healthy Aging and some of the state's Aging and Disability Resource Centers will be implementing and demonstrating new approaches. All will work together as an Active Aging Research Center to solve the problems that often cause older adults to leave their homes: falls, unreliable home care, difficulty managing a chronic disease, and declining driving skills.
Purdue University: New imaging tech promising for diagnosing cardiovascular disease, diabetes
June 9, 2011
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Researchers have developed a new type of imaging technology to diagnose cardiovascular disease and other disorders by measuring ultrasound signals from molecules exposed to a fast-pulsing laser.
The new method could be used to take precise three-dimensional images of plaques lining arteries, said Ji-Xin Cheng, an associate professor of biomedical engineering and chemistry at Purdue University.
Other imaging methods that provide molecular information are unable to penetrate tissue deep enough to reveal the three-dimensional structure of the plaques, but being able to do so would make better diagnoses possible, he said.
"You would have to cut a cross section of an artery to really see the three-dimensional structure of the plaque," Cheng said. "Obviously, that can't be used for living patients."
Purdue University: Purdue takes prostate cancer treatment from concept to clinical trial
June 8, 2011
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A clinical trial for a new technology to diagnose and treat prostate cancer marks the first time Purdue University has directed the entire pathway of a therapeutic product from early research to patient treatment.
Therapeutics developed from research at the university are typically licensed to a pharmaceutical company that takes it through the pipeline of preclinical studies, manufacturing and then clinical trials, said Timothy Ratliff, the Robert Wallace Miller Director of the Purdue University Center for Cancer Research who is leading the project.
"Purdue has a long history of research that has been the basis of life-saving treatments, and now we've shown that we can take a therapeutic drug or technology through every step from concept to clinical trial," Ratliff said. "By managing the process all the way through to a clinical trial, the scientists behind the advancement maintain control of its development as it goes through the trials and get the satisfaction of seeing their discovery impact patients and improve lives."
Indiana University: IU researchers discuss barefoot running, stroke and yoga, virtual worlds and more at ACSM
June 6, 2011
Studies involving dozens of Indiana University researchers were displayed and discussed during the American College of Sports Medicine's 58th annual meeting May 31-June 4 in Denver. Below is just a sampling of the research.
- Barefoot running: When to ditch the shoes
- Weight loss success in a 3D virtual world
- Older adults who had strokes give yoga a try
- Health disparities involving physical fitness
- Stronger hips improved running mechanics, lessened knee pain
Climate/Environment
Science News: News in Brief: Earth & Environment
June 11, 2011
Climate change brings a thirstier West and thinner polar bears, plus parsing the sun and moon's effects in this week's news
Geology/Geophysics
Ohio State University: GPS STATIONS CAN DETECT CLANDESTINE NUCLEAR TESTS
June 7, 2011
VIENNA, Austria – At the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) meeting this week, American researchers are unveiling a new tool for detecting illegal nuclear explosions: the Earth’s global positioning system (GPS).
Even underground nuclear tests leave their mark on the part of the upper atmosphere known as the ionosphere, the researchers discovered, when they examined GPS data recorded the same day as a North Korean nuclear test in 2009. Within minutes on that day, GPS stations in nearby countries registered a change in ionospheric electron density, as a bubble of disturbed particles spread out from the test site and across the planet.
“Its as if the shockwave from the underground explosion caused the earth to ‘punch up’ into the atmosphere, creating another shockwave that pushed the air away from ground zero,” said Ralph von Frese, professor of earth sciences at Ohio State University and senior author on the study.
Psychology/Behavior
University of Michigan: Demographic factors linked to mental health in black men
June 7, 2011
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Demographic factors significantly affect mental health concerns among black men, according to a study by the University of Michigan and University of Southern California that provides the first-ever national estimates of several mental disorders for black men.
Advanced age was linked to better mental health status, the research showed. Older men had fewer depressive symptoms, lower levels of psychological distress and lower odds of having 12-month major depressive disorder than their younger counterparts.
However, the study found that lower socioeconomic position—lower levels of education, being unemployed or out of the labor market and being in poverty—was associated with poorer mental health status.
Ohio State University: PEOPLE JUDGE THERAPISTS BY THEIR OFFICES, STUDY SHOWS
June 6, 2011
COLUMBUS, Ohio – People may judge the quality and qualifications of psychotherapists simply by what their offices look like, a new study suggests.
After only viewing photos of offices, study participants gave higher marks to psychotherapists whose offices were neat and orderly, decorated with soft touches like pillows and throw rugs, and which featured personal touches like diplomas and framed photos.
“People seem to agree on what the office of a good therapist would look like and, especially, what it wouldn’t look like,” said Jack Nasar, co-author of the study and professor of city and regional planning at Ohio State University.
“Whether it is through cultural learning or something else, people think they can judge therapists just based on their office environment.”
Ohio State University: WHAT, ME WORRY? YOUNG ADULTS GET SELF-ESTEEM BOOST FROM DEBT
June 6, 2011
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Instead of feeling stressed by the money they owe, many young adults actually feel empowered by their credit card and education debts, according to a new nationwide study.
Researchers found that the more credit card and college loan debt held by young adults aged 18 to 27, the higher their self-esteem and the more they felt like they were in control of their lives. The effect was strongest among those in the lowest economic class.
Only the oldest of those studied – those aged 28 to 34 – began showing signs of stress about the money they owed.
“Debt can be a good thing for young people – it can help them achieve goals that they couldn’t otherwise, like a college education,” said Rachel Dwyer, lead author of the study and assistant professor of sociology at Ohio State University.
But the results offer some worrying signs about how many young people view debt, she added.
Ohio State University: KINDER, GENTLER VIDEO GAMES MAY ACTUALLY BE GOOD FOR PLAYERS
June 6, 2011
COLUMBUS, Ohio – While violent video games may lead to more aggression and anger in players, a new study shows that the opposite is also true: relaxing video games can make people happier and more kind.
“With all the evidence about the dangers of violent video games, it’s good to know that game players can choose games that will provide a positive experience,” said Brad Bushman, co-author of the study and professor of communication and psychology at Ohio State University.
Bushman has conducted many studies showing the bad effects of violent games, especially on teens and young people. But this is the first to show the effects of relaxing video games.
Archeology/Anthropology
The News-Tribune: Scientists love their prehistoric garbage in northwest Alaska
Posted by frontierscientists
Posted: June 1, 2011 - 8:57 am
This summer, archaeologists are continuing work at a 12,000-year-old prehistoric site which is yielding evidence of generations of wandering hunters who camped on a bluff overlooking the Kivalina River. What they have found is contributing new insights -- and contrary new evidence -- into the thinking on how humans spread throughout North America at the close of the Pleistocene.
The Raven Bluff site was discovered in 2007 by BLM archaeologist Bill Hedman and a crew conducting an archaeological site survey in the far northwest corner of Alaska. The Bering Land Bridge between Russia and North America may have still existed -- or had just submerged for the last time -- when hunters first frequented Raven Bluff.
The Guardian (UK): Archaeology dating technique uncovers 'property boom' of 3700 BC
English monuments, including Maiden Castle and Windmill Hill, found to have been built, used and abandoned in single lifetime
A new scientific dating technique has revealed there was a building spree more than 5,500 years ago, when many of the most spectacular monuments in the English landscape, such as Maiden Castle in Dorset and Windmill Hill in Wiltshire, were built, used and abandoned in a single lifetime.
The fashion for the monuments, hilltops enclosed by rings of ditches, known to archaeologists as causewayed enclosures, instead of being the ritual work of generations as had been believed, began on the continent centuries earlier but spread from Kent to Cornwall within 50 years in about 3700 BC.
Alex Bayliss, an archaeologist and dating expert at English Heritage, said: "The dates were not what we expected when we began this project but prehistorians are just going to have to get their heads around it, a lot of what we have been taught in the past is complete bollocks."
More in the next article.
Cardiff University (UK) via physorg.com: New computer dating technology changing the history of Britain
June 7, 2011 by Deborah Braconnier
(PhysOrg.com) -- In a new study called Gathering Time published this month, archaeologists from English Heritage and Cardiff University have been able to create an accurate timeline of the first 700 years of settlement in Britain. Using a newly refined computer and dating system, the researchers have been able to accurately date battle, migrations and construction. This new dating system has changed what was originally believed to have taken place over a time span of 700 years and narrowed it down to less than 100 years.
An example of the new dating technique can be seen with Windmill Hill. Originally it was believed to have been built between 3,700BC and 3,100BC. The new dating technique has narrowed down that time frame to between 3,700BC and 3,640BC.
BBC: Newport firm stabilises Egypt's earthquake-hit pyramid
By Neil Prior BBC News, Wales
Giant inflatable air bags are being used to make the 4,700 year old pyramid safe
A south Wales engineering company is using 21st Century technology, including air bags, to help preserve one of Egypt's most imposing landmarks, dating back to 2,700 BC.
The Pyramid of Djoser is Egypt's oldest step-built pyramid. But it was at risk of collapse after an earthquake in 1992.
Newport specialist engineers Cintec, who have previously provided solutions to structural problems at landmarks such as the White House and Windsor Castle, were set the task of helping it last another 4,700 years.
LiveScience: Egyptian Mummies Hold Clues of Ancient Air Pollution
Owen Jarus, LiveScience Contributor
Date: 03 June 2011 Time: 08:45 AM ET
Ancient Egyptians may have been exposed to air pollution way back when, according to new evidence of particulates in the lungs of 15 mummies, including noblemen and priests.
Particulates, tiny microscopic particles that irritate the lungs, have been linked to a wide array of modern-day illnesses, including heart disease, lung ailments and cancer. The particulates are typically linked to post-industrial activities, such as fossil-fuel burning.
But after hearing of reports of such particulates being found in mummy tissue, Roger Montgomerie, a doctoral student at the KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptology at the University of Manchester, decided to take a closer look at mummified lung tissue. His work represents the first attempt to identify and study particulates in multiple Egyptian mummies.
Indepedent Online (South Africa): Ajax's long-lost palace discovered on island
By Dina Kyriakidou
April 28 2006 at 03:10am
Salamina, Greece - On a deserted green hill above the Aegean Sea, archaeologists have unearthed what may be the palace of Ajax, one of the greatest heroes in Greek mythology.
From a rocky outcrop among the tranquil ruins, it is easy to imagine the warrior-king of Homer's Iliad setting sail from the island for Troy more than 3 300 years ago, as crowds lined the pine-covered slopes to wave farewell.
The idyllic location on Salamina island perfectly matches historical references, a fact which led archaeologists to wonder whether the scattered stones here might have formed one the most famous kingdoms of preistoric Greece.
"I had early indications but I wasn't certain I had discovered a palace until we found the twin ceremonial halls," said Yannos Lolos, the Ioannina University archaeologist heading the excavation. "It's one of very few cases where a Mycenaean palace can be linked to a top hero of the Homeric poems."
Sofia News Service (Bulgaria): Bulgarian Archaeologists Embark on Alpine Mission to Thracian Kings' Residence
Archaeology | June 6, 2011, Monday
Bulgaria's National History Museum are starting the largest alpine expedition in the history of Bulgarian archaeology in order to excavate the residence of the rulers of the Odrysian Kingdom, the state of the most powerful tribe of Ancient Thrace.
Bulgarian archaeologists uncovered the unique residence of the rulers of the Odrysian Kingdom in July 2010, after its location was initially detected in 2005.
The residence is located on the Kozi Gramadi mount in the Sredna Gora mountain, in the village of Starosel, close to the resort town of Hissar in central Bulgaria, at about 1 200 m above sea level.
University of Bristol (UK) via physorg.com:
Archaeologists discover skeleton in doctor's garden
June 9, 2011
A skeleton, possibly dating from Roman times, has been unearthed by archaeologists from the University of Bristol during a dig in the garden of vaccination pioneer Dr Edward Jenner in Berkeley, Gloucestershire.
The archaeologists, led by Professor Mark Horton and Dr Stuart Prior, have been excavating part of the garden of The Chantry, the former country home of vaccination pioneer, Dr Edward Jenner (1749-1823), during a series of annual digs since 2007. They have already established that Berkeley is an important Anglo-Saxon site with a mynster of the same scale and status as Gloucester.
Last week, they uncovered a skeleton believed to date from the Roman or possibly sub-Roman (that is the ‘Dark Ages’) period. The Roman occupation of Britain ended in 410AD, making this an extremely rare find of great historical significance.
New Scientist (UK): Early Americans helped colonise Easter Island
22:34 06 June 2011 by Michael Marshall
South Americans helped colonise Easter Island centuries before Europeans reached it. Clear genetic evidence has, for the first time, given support to elements of this controversial theory showing that while the remote island was mostly colonised from the west, there was also some influx of people from the Americas.
Easter Island is the easternmost island of Polynesia, the scattering of islands that stretches across the Pacific. It is also one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world.
So how did it come to be inhabited in the first place? Genetics, archaeology and linguistics all show that as a whole, Polynesia was colonised from Asia, probably from around Taiwan. The various lines of evidence suggest people began migrating east around 5500 years ago, reached Polynesia 2500 years later, before finally gaining Easter Island after another 1500 years.
Carteret News-Times: Wreck may be that of Wright
NEWS-TIMES
Published: Wednesday, June 8, 2011 3:05 PM EDT
CHERYL BURKE
BEAUFORT — A nonprofit marine archaeology company here thinks it may have found a legendary shipwreck off Shackleford Banks.
Rob Smith, president of Surface Interval Dive Co., based in Beaufort, said he believes his company has found the three-masted schooner Crissie Wright, which ran aground and partially sank in shallow water off Shackleford Banks on Jan. 8, 1886, near the now-vanished community of Wade’s Shore. All but one of its crew perished in the wreck.
“I’d been looking for the wreck on and off for the last 12 years,” he said Tuesday. “Then in April we found a debris field. And on our last trip on May 29 our magnetometer started singing like Ethel Merman. Our readings showed a large wreck and it’s in the right location. I’m 85 percent sure it’s the Crissie Wright.”
Mail Tribune: A family's trash has a story of its own
By Paul Fattig
Mail Tribune
The printing on what appeared to have been the bottom of an old pickle jar caught our attention.
"June 9, 1903. Portland, Oregon. Kerr Glass," read the embossed print on the glass turned purple by the sun.
We recently dug the broken remnant out of an old dump we are cleaning up on our Sterling Creek property south of Jacksonville.
Yes, the broken piece is trash. Garbage. Junk.
But it is antique junk, albeit we will never know its story. Whose hands once held the jar? Were the pickles dill or sweet? Like my late great aunt Gladys, did they toss in a hot pepper to allow the pickles to bite back?
The glass offers a tantalizing glimpse of those who once walked our land. Actually, they would have likely been late arrivals, given the fact miners first flocked to Sterling Creek in the early 1850s in search of gold.
Irish Examiner: Looters target wreckage of German U-boat off Cork
By Dan Buckley
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
TROPHY hunters have targeted the recently discovered German U-boat that sank off Roche’s Point in Cork during the First World War.
The Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation is investigating several incidents in which clothes and other personal items belonging to its 27-strong crew were looted from the 49-metre, 400-tonne German vessel UC-42. It sank during a mine-laying operation in 1917. The hull appears to have been damaged by rogue divers attempting to remove a propeller.
The underwater archaeology unit of the Department of Arts and Heritage has received reports of damage to and removal of pieces of the wreck and other objects from the site.
The Independent (UK): Half of all ancient Aboriginal rock art at risk of being lost
Archaeologists launch campaign to save Australia's indigenous paintings
By Kathy Marks
Saturday, 11 June 2011
Aboriginal elders call the ancient paintings and engravings that dot the landscape their history books.
But while Australia has some of the world's most outstanding and abundant rock art, experts say half of it could disappear over the next 50 years unless it is better protected.
Urban development, mining and vandalism – as well as erosion and other natural processes – are among threats to the art found in rock shelters, often in remote areas. Some sites have already been bulldozed, or had paintings defaced or carved out. Many Aboriginal communities have lost their connection with the art, which their ancestors looked after and retouched over generations.
LiveScience via Yahoo! News Canada: Archaeology's Tech Revolution Since Indiana Jones
By Jeremy Hsu, InnovationNewsDaily Senior Writer
LiveScience.com | LiveScience.com –
Let's face it, Indiana Jones was a pretty lousy archaeologist. He destroyed his sites, used a bullwhip instead of a trowel and was more likely to kill his peers than co-author a paper with them. Regardless, "Raiders of the Lost Ark," which celebrates its 30th anniversary on June 12, did make studying the past cool for an entire generation of scientists. Those modern archaeologists whom "Raiders" inspired luckily learned from the mistakes of Dr. Jones, and use advanced technology such as satellite imaging, airborne laser mapping, robots and full-body medical scanners instead of a scientifically useless whip.
Such innovations have allowed archaeologists to spot buried pyramids from space, create 3-D maps of ancient Mayan ruins from the air, explore the sunken wrecks of Roman ships and find evidence of heart disease in 3,000-year-old mummies. Most of the new toolkit comes from fields such as biology, chemistry, physics or engineering, as well as commercial gadgets that include GPS, laptops and smartphones.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman, who sent in the above articles.
Physics
Science News: Wave function directly measured
Canadian team achieves quantum feat that makes the intangible a little more tangible
By Devin Powell
Web edition : Wednesday, June 8th, 2011
The fuzzy quantum shape that describes the speed or location of a single particle, its wave function, has now been directly measured in the laboratory, giving this mathematical concept a small dose of reality.
Like a bubble on the breeze, the wave function usually disappears when poked or prodded for information. But scientists in Canada have worked out a gentler way to touch it, they report June 9 in Nature.
“Measuring the wave function itself is not really thought to be a possible thing,” says Stanford physicist Onur Hosten. “It’s not really thought to be something physical.”
Science News: No new particle from second detector
Competing Tevatron experiment sees nothing extraordinary
By Ron Cowen
Web edition : Friday, June 10th, 2011
In the search for a new elementary particle that would transmit a previously unknown force, it’s been an 11-day roller coaster ride at Fermilab’s Tevatron, the premiere U.S. atom smasher. And the ride’s not over yet.
At a conference in Blois, France, on May 30, Giovanni Punzi of the University of Pisa and the INFN in Italy raised hopes that one of the two particle detectors at the Tevatron, known as CDF, might indeed have discovered a new elementary particle. With the analysis of additional data, Punzi announced that a previously revealed sign of a possible new particle was unlikely to be a statistical fluke.
The team posted its updated analysis in early June. The CDF researchers base their findings on Tevatron collisions producing a small but puzzling excess in the number of pairs of particle jets at an energy of about 150 billion electron-volts.
Chemistry
Ohio State University: A NEW WAY TO MAKE LIGHTER, STRONGER STEEL – IN A FLASH
June 9, 2011
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A Detroit entrepreneur surprised university engineers here recently, when he invented a heat-treatment that makes steel 7 percent stronger than any steel on record – in less than 10 seconds.
In fact, the steel, now trademarked as Flash Bainite, has tested stronger and more shock-absorbing than the most common titanium alloys used by industry.
Now the entrepreneur is working with researchers at Ohio State University to better understand the science behind the new treatment, called flash processing.
What they’ve discovered may hold the key to making cars and military vehicles lighter, stronger, and more fuel-efficient.
Energy
Discovery News: Wind Energy Squeezed from Galloping Cables
Analysis by Emad Hanna
Thu Jun 9, 2011 11:48 AM ET
Structural engineers know that a little bit of wind can have dramatic repercussions on large buildings and bridges. One well-known effect known as ‘wake galloping’ causes cables on suspension bridges to oscillate up and down. This phenomenon is observable even at low wind conditions and is the result of one cylindrical cable distorting the path of the wind and causing it to ‘lift’ another cable behind it. The tug of war between the lifting action of the wind and the downwards force of the cable’s weight creates a distinctive ‘gallop.’
A team of scientists at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology is hoping to capitalize on wake galloping by using it to generate power. The idea is to build devices that are susceptible to the effect in a controlled way. They've created an oscillating cylinder that is attached to a magnet to create current as it moves up and down.
Think Progress: Do You Live Near One of the Top 25 Dirtiest Coal Plants?
By Energy Interns on Jun 10, 2011 at 1:45 pm
There’s a good chance you do. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, twenty of the top 25 mercury-emitting coal plants are located within 50-100 miles of some of the America’s biggest cities.
There are 600 coal plants in the U.S. These 25 coal plants emit roughly 30% of total mercury pollution in the U.S. electricity sector.
I live near the one in Monroe, Michigan. It's such a landmark that I lecture about it in both Environmental Science and Geology every semester.
Science, Space, Environment, and Energy Policy
University of Wisconsin: Senate confirms UW-Madison emeritus professor as deputy director of NSF
by Chris Barncard
June 6, 2011
Cora Marrett, an emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 26 to serve as deputy director of the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Marrett, who has a long history as a top administrator with the science agency, had been serving as acting director of NSF since June 1, 2010. NSF is a primary funder of basic scientific research in the United States and in fiscal year 2009 had a budget of nearly $6.5 billion.
University of Michigan: Banning federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research would derail related work, U-M researcher and colleagues conclude
June 9, 2011
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Banning federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research would have "disastrous consequences" on the study of a promising and increasingly popular new stem cell type that is not derived from human embryos, according to a University of Michigan researcher and his colleagues.
Human induced pluripotent stem cells, known as iPS cells, are reprogrammed adult cells that display many of the most scientifically valuable properties of embryonic stem cells while enabling researchers to bypass embryos altogether. Scientists hope to harness the power of both cell types to understand and treat disease, and possibly to grow new tissues to replace diseased organs.
When they burst onto the scene in 2007, iPS cells were heralded by some as likely replacements for the controversial human embryonic stem cells they mimic.
But a new analysis of more than 2,000 scientific papers by U-M sociologist Jason Owen-Smith and his colleagues finds that iPS cells are not replacing human embryonic stems cells in the laboratory. In fact, the two cell types have proven to be complementary, interdependent research tools, according to a commentary article scheduled for online publication June 9 in the journal Cell.
University of Michigan: U-M researchers advocate national strategic approach to therapeutic cancer vaccines
Doctor describes a potential 'game changer'
June 8, 2011
Vaccines that save lives by preventing disease have been around for centuries. Now, new vaccines that treat cancer are being developed, but how they will be combined with existing treatments is not clear.
Researchers at the University of Michigan Health System recommend that a national strategy be developed for bringing therapeutic cancer vaccines to patient care, so that cancers with less effective treatment options are priority targets.
“Vaccines that prevent disease have profoundly changed the lives of billions of people around the world,” says Matthew M. Davis, M.D., MAPP, associate professor of pediatrics and internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School. “A national strategy for therapeutic cancer vaccines would help emphasize development and regulatory approval for vaccines targeting cancers that currently do not have other good therapeutic options.”
Davis and co-author Elias J. Dayoub, a student at the U-M Medical School, published a commentary in the June 8 theme issue on cancer of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
'
University of Wisconsin: Research establishment spawns research-supply spinoffs
by David Tenenbaum
June 9, 2011
For a century, Wisconsin's traditional metal-working industries spawned a broad and profitable series of tool-and-diemaking firms that marketed nationwide.
Now, the immense variety of biological research at UW-Madison has spawned a range of companies that produce the complex supplies, materials and expertise needed by food, health and pharmaceuticals companies, and by basic researchers.
Only now, the market is not nationwide. It is worldwide.
Science Education
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Professor, students dig in Laclede's Landing, find debris from Great Fire of 1849
BY TIM O'NEIL • toneil@post-dispatch.com > 314-340-8132 | Posted: Sunday, June 5, 2011 12:15 am |
ST. LOUIS • Stick a shovel where humans have trod for centuries, and something fascinating will turn up.
Michael Fuller, professor of anthropology at St. Louis Community College at Meramec, took his class to modern-day Laclede's Landing for a month of digging in a vacant lot near Lucas and First streets. They hoped to find evidence of American Indian villages from the time of the Mound Builders.
No such luck. But Fuller said they believe owners of the original stone-and-brick building on the lot used debris from the city's Great Fire of May 17-18, 1849, to fill in the basement.
As evidence, he showed off shards of old brick cracked by heat, melted window panes, darkened soils stained by ash and bits of bottles and dishes that may have been on shelves the night the fire erupted.
"Archaeology is always an issue of interpretation," Fuller said.
He said they also found a piece of an old clay pipe resembling the sort that French-colonial traders used as currency with Indians. None of the broken bits in the haul is worth any money, he said, but it all adds to knowledge.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for this story.
Michigan State University: Want better math teachers? Train them better, scholar argues
June 9, 2011
EAST LANSING, Mich. — It’s time for the United States to consider establishing higher standards for math teachers if the nation is going to break its “vicious cycle” of mediocrity, a Michigan State University education scholar argues in Science magazine.
As American students continue to be outpaced in mathematics by pupils in countries such as Russia and Taiwan, William Schmidt recommends adopting more rigorous, demanding and internationally benchmarked teacher-preparation standards for math teachers.
“Our research shows that current teacher-preparation programs for middle-school math instructors in the United States do not produce teachers with an internationally competitive level of mathematics knowledge,” said Schmidt, a University Distinguished Professor and co-director of MSU’s Education Policy Center.
Schmidt makes his argument in an “education forum” paper in the June 10 edition of Science, one of the world’s preeminent science research journals. MSU researchers Richard Houang and Leland Cogan co-authored the paper.
Wayne State University: Wayne State University professor receives lifetime achievement award for research on Iraqi refugee and immigrant health disorders
June 9, 2011
DETROIT- A Wayne State University professor of family medicine and public health sciences has been recognized for his contributions to medicine and research with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Iraqi Medical Sciences Association (IMSA).
Hikmet Jamil, M.D., Ph.D., resident of West Bloomfield, Mich., director of occupational and environmental medicine graduate courses and professor in the Division of Occupational and Health Sciences in WSU's School of Medicine, received the award from IMSA President Saad Shakir on May 28, 2011, during the association's ninth annual convention in Troy, Mich.
"I feel very honored to be recognized for my work," said Jamil, whose primary areas of research include Iraqi refugee and immigrant health disorders, and the impact of hookah (water pipe) smoking on health. "Awards such as these are always appreciated, and I will use it to fuel my efforts to improve medical science and the health of others."
The IMSA is a nonprofit, nonpolitical organization whose members include physicians, dentists, pharmacists, scientists and other health science professionals of Iraqi descent. The association works to develop and promote professional, educational, cultural and humanitarian charitable efforts for the community and for Iraq.
University of Wisconsin: Science teachers to get opportunity to explore evolution
by David Tenenbaum
June 7, 2011
Science teachers will have a unique opportunity to get inside evolution at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which has a long history of evolutionary researchers.
A weeklong seminar for teachers will focus on the guiding principle of biology and "put the teachers of Wisconsin in touch with the faculty at UW-Madison, who are themselves teaching evolution," says Mara McDonald, a biologist who is administrator of the university's J.F. Crow Institute for the Study of Evolution.
The Crow Institute and the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center are co-sponsoring Evolution at the Movies: A Workshop for Educators, to be held on campus Aug. 8-12.
Science Writing and Reporting
Indiana University: AHR examines ‘Earthrise era,’ symbols of Argentine cultural identity
June 6, 2011
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Hear the word "Earth," and the images likely to flash through the mind are descendants of two views afforded by the Apollo missions. One, a photograph called "Earthrise," shows Earth half-cloaked in shadow above a lifeless moonscape. A second, "Blue Marble," reveals our planet suspended alone in the void; it is reputed to be the most widely disseminated photograph in history.
Such views of Earth, it has been argued, prompted a revolution in the global imagination and a new appreciation for the beauty and fragility of the planet. But Benjamin Lazier, associate professor of history at Reed College, writing in the June 2011 issue of the American Historical Review, questions whether the Apollo images did indeed prompt such a revolution. And if so, he asks, to what ends?
Lazier supplements accounts of the Cold War origins and environmentalist afterlives of the "Earthrise era" with a history of philosophical responses to the earliest images of Earth from space. He focuses on thinkers -- including Hannah Arendt, Martin Heidegger and Hans Blumenberg -- who were troubled by the displacement of local, earthbound horizons with horizons that are planetary in scope and scale.
"Their example … prompts us to ask whether the visions and vocabularies of the Earthrise era have inadvertently accelerated our planetary emergency as much as they have inspired us to slow it down," he writes in "Earthrise; or, The Globalization of the World Picture."
Ohio State University: AN “ALL NATURAL” DIET? THERE’S NO SUCH THING, BOOK SAYS
June 6, 2011
COLUMBUS, Ohio – From the paleolithic diet to the raw food diet, many health-conscious Americans now want to eat the way they believe our ancient ancestors ate.
But some of these dietary prescriptions make little sense for modern humans, according to a new book on the evolution of the use of food and eating habits among prehistoric people.
While there is much we can learn from what our ancestors ate, many of our more modern foods and diets were developed for very good reasons, said Kristen Gremillion, associate professor of anthropology at Ohio State University.
Gremillion is author of the new book Ancestral Appetites: Food in Prehistory (Cambridge University Press, 2011), which explores how humans have adjusted the food they eat and the way they prepare it in response to new knowledge and new environments.
“Humans are omnivores and we can eat a wide range of things,” Gremillion said.
Science is Cool
University of Michigan: Anger motivates people to vote, U-M study shows
June 7, 2011
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Though pundits and candidates suggest there is too much anger in politics, the emotion does have a potential benefit—it significantly motivates citizens to vote, according to a University of Michigan study.
"Anger in politics can play a particularly vital role, motivating some people to participate in ways they might ordinarily not," said Nicholas Valentino, the study's lead author and a professor of communication studies and political science. "We normally think people with a lot of resources and political skills are the ones who participate, but many citizens in this category regularly abstain from politics. Furthermore, many citizens with few resources can be mobilized if they experience strong anger.
"Anger leads citizens to harness existing skills and resources in a given election. Therefore, the process by which emotions are produced in each campaign can powerfully alter electoral outcomes."
This is why 2011 and 2012 will be good years for Democrats; the Republicans have pissed us off!
University of Wisconsin: Three UW-Madison teams will compete in national food product contests this weekend
by Nicole Miller
June 8, 2011
They spent most of the past year inventing a shelf-stable yogurt truffle, a beverage mix made with real fruit and a tangerine-flavored carbonated dairy beverage drink.
Now three teams of UW-Madison students are headed to New Orleans to see how their ideas fare in the final rounds of two national food product development competitions being held at the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) annual meeting this weekend.
One UW-Madison team will take samples of Blissful Bites — a yogurt truffle with a vanilla yogurt center, yogurt-flavored coating and crunchy outer layer of flax, oats and puffed rice — to compete against five other schools in the finals of the IFT's collegiate product development competition.
Two other UW-Madison product-development teams will compete in a Disney-sponsored competition to create healthy foods for kids. At the Disney finals, a team of UW-Madison undergraduates will showcase a carbonated beverage, called Tangerine Dream, that contains a full serving of low-fat dairy and tastes something like an orange creamsicle. Another UW-Madison team, this one composed of graduate students, will compete with Pixie Dust, a powdered drink mix made from real fruit that can be added to milk or water.
Science News: News in Brief: Social Networks
June 8, 2011
Power networks in Congress, Twitter’s crystal ball and iPhone contagion in news from an MIT workshop