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 Al-Masry Al-Youm (Egypt).
Vandals ravage Egyptian Museum, break mummies
Louise Sarant
The Egyptian Museum overlooking Tahrir Square in Cairo’s city center was vandalized Friday night by nine convicts, who broke artifacts and attempted to steal two mummies.
Convicts were forced to leave the mummies behind when they broke into pieces as they carried the ancient artifacts towards the museum doors...
Glass display cases were broken, although the ancient Egyptian jewels inside were not taken. Statues were broken into pieces and sarcophagi were displaced.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for this story.
More on this and other stories after the jump.
Egypt
The Eloquent Peasant on Blogspot: Statues of Tutankhamun damaged/stolen from the Egyptian Museum
January 29th, 2011 by Margaret
Devastating footage from Al Jazeera posted on Twitter and Flickr now shows significant damage and destruction in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Some of these images can be found at these sites. The footage appears to show wooden statues from the tomb of Tutankhamun with the gilded figure of the king ripped from the smashed bases.
Images of the damaged items at the link in the headline.
The National (United Arab Emirates): Germany rejects Egypt's demand to send Nefertiti home
David Crossland
Last Updated: Jan 27, 2011
BERLIN // Germany regards the exquisite painted bust of the Egyptian queen Nefertiti as one of its national treasures, and Egypt's dreams that she will return home one day - even on loan - are unlikely to come true.
The 3,350-year old artwork, discovered by German archaeologists in 1912, is the foremost piece in the city's recently rebuilt cultural showpiece, the Neues Museum, where she attracted 1.2 million visitors last year. She is to the German capital what the Mona Lisa is to Paris, only more so. Her startlingly timeless beauty and grace are appreciated all the more in this often grey city that still bears the scars of war.
So it came as no surprise that German officials swiftly and firmly rejected the latest demand on Monday by Zahi Hawass, the head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, that the bust be handed back. They denied his claim that a top German archaeologist had obtained Nefertiti by cheating Egyptian officials.
While we're on the subject of Egypt, here's a story not related to the current situation.
Agence France Presse via physorg.com: Great Pyramid has two secret chambers: French architect
A French architect campaigning for a new exploration of the 4,500-year-old Great Pyramid of Giza said on Thursday that the edifice may contain two chambers housing funereal furniture.
Jean-Pierre Houdin -- who was rebuffed three years ago by Egypt in his appeal for a probe into how the Pyramid was built -- said 3-D simulation and data from a US egyptologist, Bob Brier, pointed to two secret chambers in the heart of the structure.
The rooms would have housed furniture for use in the afterlife by the pharaoh Khufu, also known as Cheops in Greek, he told a press conference.
"I am convinced there are antechambers in this pyramid. What I want is to find them," he said.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
The crisis is being felt in energy, too.
L.A. Times: Oil prices climb on unrest in Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon and Yemen
Traders are buying up futures in case the anti-government sentiment disrupts output in the area's oil-rich countries, analysts say.
By Ronald D. White, Los Angeles Times
January 29, 2011
Oil prices surged Friday as concerns mounted that anti-government protests in Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon and Yemen could affect Middle East oil production. If that happens, analysts said, oil prices could quickly rise to $130 a barrel.
The protests sent crude oil futures for March delivery up $3.70, or 4.3%, to close at $89.34 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Analysts said traders were buying up oil in case the anti-government sentiment spreads and disrupts oil output. The buying not only reflected fears about immediate oil supplies but also whether new governments, if they ascend to power, would be friendly to the U.S. and other western countries.
There are also reports from Bloomberg and Reuters on this story.
On the tech front, the following has been widely reported, but bears repeating.
Agence France Presse via Discovery News: Internet, Mobile Phones Cut As Egypt Braces For Protests
Key communication tools used by protest organizers have been severed.
Fri Jan 28, 2011 05:31 AM ET
Content provided by Samer al-Atrush, AFP
Egypt cut mobile phone and Internet services on Friday and sent columns of riot police trucks into Cairo in a bid to thwart thousands of activists due to join anti-regime protests after noon prayers.
Leading dissident Mohamed ElBaradei and the Muslim Brothers have joined the biggest uprising in decades despite the government warning that decisive measures would be taken to crush the rising tide of protest.
Streets around Cairo were quiet Friday, a weekly holiday in Egypt, as dozens of riot police trucks were seen headed towards the capital, an AFP reporter said.
The event is also having effects on Internet freedom outside North Africa and the Middle East.
Agence France Presse via Discovery News: China micro-blogging sites censor 'Egypt'
Sat Jan 29, 2011 10:43 AM ET
BEIJING — The word "Egypt" was censored Saturday by several micro-blogging sites in China, where the ruling Communist Party is wary of issues of political reform, demands for democracy and disturbances to public order, including overseas.
On the sina.com and sohu.com sites, the Chinese equivalents of Twitter, which is censored in China, a query with the word "Egypt" returned the response: "According to the laws in force, the results of your search cannot be given."
Meanwhile, the Chinese news media is still covering the unrest. Go figure.
I now return you to regular coverage of science, space, energy, and the environment.
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Thutmose V: Latest Egyptian Antiquities News
Slideshows/Videos
MSNBC: Gorilla strolls on hind legs
Behavior might give him 'height advantage to look over the wall' at feeding time
A gorilla has achieved fame for walking upright on his hind legs like a human at a British animal park.
Ambam, a Western lowland gorilla, was filmed strolling about his enclosure by animal researcher Johanna Watson.
She posted the clip on YouTube, where it has been viewed by more than 250,000 people.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for this story.
Discovery News: Space Shuttle Challenger: 25 Years Later: Slide Show
Jan. 28, 2011 -- Twenty-five years ago today, the seven astronauts that made up the STS-51L crew embarked on a mission from which they would never return.
The crew included (in order of rank) commander Francis R. Scobee; pilot Michael J. Smith; mission specialists Judith A. Resnik, Ellison S. Onizuka, Ronald E. McNair; and payload specialists Gregory B. Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe.
Discovery News: Tiger Undergoes Hip Replacement Surgery: Big Pic
Jan. 28, 2011 -- A tiger in Germany has become the world's first to be given an artificial hip after a three-hour-operation by a team of vets that she only just survived, Leipzig University said on Thursday.
Girl, as the Malayan tiger at Halle Zoo in eastern Germany is known, had been in visible pain for close to a year because of problems in her right hip joint, the university said.
Discovery News: Earth: Dead Spot on Hisense Arena Explained.
Tennis balls are supposed to bounce. So what happened to this ball during a match at the Australian Open? Jorge Ribas explains.
Astronomy/Space
Discovery News: Oldest Galaxy Uncloaked by Hubble
If confirmed, the discovery would push back the appearance of galaxies about 100 million years closer to the Big Bang.
By Irene Klotz
Wed Jan 26, 2011 01:00 PM ET
Astronomers have penetrated another layer into the past, fishing out a galaxy believed to be formed just 500 million years after the birth of the universe.
"We're really pushing the envelope, so how prevalent these are there's a fair degree of uncertainty," astronomer Rychard Bouwens, with the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Leiden University, The Netherlands, told Discovery News.
If confirmed, the discovery would push back the appearance of galaxies about 100 million years closer to the Big Bang explosion, traceable from microwave background radiation, which occurred about 13.7 billion years ago.
Discovery News: Renegade Star Rips Through Space
Analysis by Ian O'Neill
Fri Jan 28, 2011 10:48 PM ET
Why is Zeta Ophiuchi so special? It's a runaway star, traveling at a breakneck speed of 87,000 kilometers per hour (or 24 kilometers per second). And how did it get accelerated to that speed? After all, stars don't just careen around the galaxy -- eventually being ejected from the Milky Way all together -- for no reason.
The massive Zeta Ophiuchi probably used to have an even larger binary partner that exploded as a supernova. So, like a hammer thrower spinning quickly at the Olympic Games, the blue supergiant star was treated like the hammer, released from the gravitational embrace of its exploding sibling in an instant. At the moment of detonation, it's orbital momentum shot it off into space at high speed.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation via Discovery News: Ocean on Saturn's Moon Full of Gas
The fizzy ocean on Enceladus may be capable of harboring life.
Fri Jan 28, 2011 01:25 PM ET
Content provided by Stuart Gary, ABC Science Online
New data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft indicates one of Saturn's moons, Enceladus, may have a fizzy ocean capable of harboring life.
The findings could explain the vast icy plumes of water that spray into space through fissures -- known as tiger stripes -- on the moon's frozen surface.
"Geophysicists expected Enceladus to be a lump of ice, cold, dead and uninteresting," lead Cassini planetary scientist Dennis Matson from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena California said.
Instead scientists have recently discovered the moon is covered with geysers shooting plumes of water vapor, icy particles and organic compounds.
Discovery News: Confirmed! Jupiter was Shot with an Asteroid
Analysis by Ian O'Neill
Thu Jan 27, 2011 05:37 AM ET
On July 19, 2009, 15 years (to the day) after the famous comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 peppered Jupiter with huge chunks of ice, the gas giant was hit once again by a cosmic bullet.
Australian amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley was the first to notice a scar in the planet's atmosphere after the fact, leading us to believe that Jupiter had been hit by another comet.
However, in this cosmic game of whodunit, jumping to the conclusion that "another" comet was to blame for the 2009 impact turns out to have been a red herring. Just because we know a comet slammed into the planet in 1994, it doesn't necessarily mean the 2009 event used the same weapon.
After some detective work, two papers recently published in the journal Icarus have concluded that Jupiter was actually shot by an asteroid, not a comet.
Space Travel: Solar Sail Stunner
by Dr. Tony Phillips
Science@NASA
Huntsville AL (SPX) Jan 25, 2011
In an unexpected reversal of fortune, NASA's NanoSail-D spacecraft has unfurled a gleaming sheet of space-age fabric 650 km above Earth, becoming the first-ever solar sail to circle our planet.
"We're solar sailing!" says NanoSail-D principal investigator Dean Alhorn of the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. "This is a momentous achievement."
Discovery News: Memories of Challenger Accident Still Shaping NASA
Analysis by Irene Klotz
Fri Jan 28, 2011 04:49 AM ET
The 1986 Challenger accident, as well as the Columbia tragedy that followed 17 years later, could have been prevented. That's the uncomfortable truth NASA lives with today. The signs of malfunctioning hardware were there in both cases well before the fatal flights.
There were oversights, misjudgments, shortcuts -- all well-intentioned, but with unforeseen and ultimately disastrous consequences. NASA fixed the faulty equipment, nursed its wounded pride and tried to rebuild its shattered reputation. It soldiered on.
That perseverance, the dedication to stick with something through incredibly tough times, is among the most important legacies of the Challenger and Columbia accidents, a lesson that NASA needs to take to heart again as it faces the retirement of the shuttle program this year and an uncertain future.
Discovery News: New Radar Net to Catch More Space Junk
At orbital speeds -- roughly 17,500 miles per hour -- even tiny debris can be deadly.
By Irene Klotz
Thu Jan 27, 2011 01:30 PM ET
The U.S. Air Force is working on a new surveillance system for keeping track of the thousands of rocket relics, old satellites and other trash whizzing around the planet.
The system, known as "Space Fence," will use S-band radars and computers to track objects as small as about one inch in diameter. At orbital speeds -- roughly 17,500 miles per hour -- even tiny debris can be deadly.
"A one-inch piece of junk can destroy any satellite in orbit," Nicholas Johnson, chief scientist for NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, told Discovery News.
Discovery News: Uranus Pathfinder: Mission to the Mysterious Ice Giant
Analysis by Ian O'Neill
Tue Jan 25, 2011 02:28 AM ET
Twenty-five years ago, NASA's Voyager 2 zipped past the planet Uranus on its way to Neptune. It was the first spacecraft ever to grab a close-up look at this bizarre world. Voyager 2 made its closest approach on Jan. 24, 1986, and since then we've only been able to gaze on the "ice giant" from afar.
However, Uranus might not be alone for too much longer if a group of 168 scientists from Europe and the U.S. have their way.
In a proposal submitted to the European Space Agency (ESA), a mission called Uranus Pathfinder has been short listed to make the trek to the outer solar system, arrive in Uranian orbit and study the planet's unique chemistry, rings, and its moons and investigate some of the planet's most enduring mysteries. This, in turn, will aid our knowledge of solar system history and how other star systems may form.
Evolution/Paleontology
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory via Medical News Today: Genetic Archaeology Finds Parts Of Our Genome More Closely Related To Orangutans Than Chimps
Peggy Calicchia
In a study published online in Genome Research, in coordination with the publication of the orangutan genome sequence, scientists have presented the surprising finding that although orangutans and humans are more distantly related, some regions of our genomes are more alike than those of our closest living relative, the chimpanzee.
The fossil record helped to establish evolutionary relationships and estimate divergence times of the primate branch leading to humans, but not until the advent of genome sequencing technology has it been possible to learn more detail about speciation times, genetic and phenotypic divergence times, and the genetic variation present in common ancestor species.
With the addition of the orangutan to the collection of sequenced primate genomes, an international group of scientists led by Mikkel Schierup and Thomas Mailund of Aarhus University in Denmark set out to shed light on these questions in primate evolution. "There remains signals of the distant past in DNA," said Mailund, "and our approach is to use such signals to study the genetics of our ancestors."
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for this story.
Agence France Presse via Discovery News: T. Rex Is Still King
No shameless scavenger, T. rex was six tons of teeth, muscle and sinew -- a born hunter.
Wed Jan 26, 2011 11:01 AM ET
Palaeontologists fought back on Wednesday in a spirited debate over the Tyrannosaurus rex, saying revisionists who branded the great dinosaur a shameless scavenger have got it all wrong.
For more than a century after its discovery, many scientists routinely described the Tyrannosaurus as the king of the killing machines -- six tons of teeth, muscle and sinew, designed to run down dinos several times its size and shred them.
But over the last decade, a new wave of T. rex scholarship has painted another, less flattering, picture.
Agence France Presse via Discovery News: One-Clawed Dino Was Early T. Rex Relative
The tiny, bug-eating dinosaur is the only one of its kind known to have just one finger..Tue Jan 25, 2011 09:43 AM ET
Researchers in China have unearthed a miniature single-clawed dinosaur that was likely an early relative of the ferocious T. Rex and is the only such creature known to have just one finger.
The newly named species of theropod, Linhenykus monodactylus, would have been about a meter (three feet) tall and as heavy as a parrot, said the study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Most theropods, which were carnivores that gave rise to modern birds, had three fingers per hand, but this one just had a single large claw that it likely used for digging into insect nests, in an odd but evolutionarily useful adaptation.
Discovery News: Humans Left Trees 4.2 Million Years Ago
Wrist bones of human ancestors reveal when humans switched from living in trees to on the ground.
By Jennifer Viegas
Fri Jan 28, 2011 12:13 PM ET
Early human ancestors stopped swinging in trees and started walking on the ground sometime between 4.2 and 3.5 million years ago, according to a new study.
This key moment, when our ancestors became anatomically and behaviorally less ape-like, coincides with increased cooling, more defined seasonality, and a grassland growth spurt. All transformed former forest habitats into more varied ones, forcing our very early relatives to change their ways.
"With the trees being farther apart, it became energetically advantageous for hominids to cross the gaps bipedally," said Gabriele Macho, lead author of the study that was published in the latest issue of Folia Primatologica.
Biodiversity
Daily Mail (UK): The moss which only gathers on one stone: Tiny plant in Derbyshire Dale is one of world's rarest
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:44 AM on 27th January 2011
Ramblers and climbers pass by without a second glance as they focus on the stunning scenery.
But only yards from their feet, in a raging stream, one of the rarest plants on the planet is growing.
A single square yard of stony riverbed in the Peak District contains the world’s entire stock of Derbyshire feather moss.
Discovery News: Coral Moves North to Beat the Heat
Analysis by Tim Wall
Tue Jan 25, 2011 10:49 AM ET
Corals seem like permanent structures, but some species have migrated far north from their historical range. The established coral themselves don't move, but the offspring, or polyps, of corals in waters around Japan have been moving north up to eight and a half miles per year since 1930, according to research covered by the journal Nature.
Hiroya Yamano of the Center for Global Environmental Research in Japan and his colleagues compared the historical and present day ranges of nine coral species. Four of the species studied had moved north, while the other five stayed put. All four species are listed as vulnerable or threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Moving north may save the coral from extinction, but could seriously disrupt the other species that depend on them.
BBC: Iran's endangered cheetahs are a unique subspecies
By Ella Davies
Earth News reporter
Iran's critically endangered cheetahs are the last remaining survivors of a unique, ancient Asian subspecies, genetics experts reveal.
New analysis confirms Iran's cheetahs belong to the subspecies Acinonyx jubatus venaticus.
DNA comparisons show that these Asiatic cheetahs split from other cheetahs, which live in Africa, 30,000 years ago.
Researchers suggest that Iran's cheetahs must be conserved to protect the future of all cheetahs.
Grind TV: Study reveals that orcas not only kill, but store gray whale calves
By: Pete Thomas, GrindTV.com
Think about Pacific gray whales and you're likely to conjure images of the iconic leviathans migrating peacefully along the West Coast of the United States to Baja California, or back to Arctic home waters.
What you may not know, however, is that returning mother gray whales and their calves must contend with stealthy transient killer whales who kill and consume about one-third of those calves, or about 300 annually.
New research also reveals, for the first time, that the orcas will even stash their victims in shallow Alaskan waters for future dining sessions, and that gray whale carcasses might also represent an important food source for brown bears and small sharks.
Agence France Presse via Discovery News: Orangutan DNA Boosts Survival Chances
Once widely distributed across Southeast Asia, only two populations of the intelligent, tree-dwelling ape remain in the wild.
Thu Jan 27, 2011 11:01 AM ET
Content provided by Marlowe Hood, AFP
Orangutans are far more genetically diverse than thought, a finding that could help their survival, say scientists delivering their first full DNA analysis of the critically-endangered ape.
The study, published Thursday in the science journal Nature, also reveals that the orangutan -- "the man of the forest" -- has hardly evolved over the last 15 million years, in sharp contrast to Homo sapiens and his closest cousin, the chimpanzee.
Once widely distributed across Southeast Asia, only two populations of the intelligent, tree-dwelling ape remain in the wild, both on islands in Indonesia.
Some 40,000 to 50,000 individuals live in Borneo, while in Sumatra deforestation and hunting has reduced a once robust community to about 7,000 individuals, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Biotechnology/Health
Agence France Presse via Discovery News: American Life Span Gains Shrinking
Life expectancy is still rising, but not nearly at the same pace as other wealthy nations due to high rates of smoking and obesity.
Tue Jan 25, 2011 02:01 PM ET
High smoking rates in the past, combined with widespread obesity, continue to chip away at U.S. life expectancy compared to other wealthy nations, a study released Tuesday said.
Over the past 25 years, life expectancy after 50 has risen in the United States, but at a slower rate than in countries like Japan and Australia, said the National Academy of Sciences report.
The gap sounded the alarm among government researchers because the United States spends more on health care than any other country, said the study which examined mortality records in 21 countries.
Discovery News: Turn Down the Heat, Lose Weight?
A small adjustment to your thermostat may do more than just save the planet; it could also help trim your waistline.
By Jessica Marshall
Wed Jan 26, 2011 03:45 PM ET
If saving energy isn't enough to convince you to turn down the heat a notch, perhaps this will: Colder temperatures may help you lose weight.
In an article published in Obesity Reviews, Fiona Johnson of University College London and colleagues gather evidence in support of the notion that upwardly creeping indoor temperatures and reduced cold exposure may be a contributor to rising obesity.
Although no studies yet address the question directly, several threads of evidence "seem to suggest that increases in indoor temperatures could be having a significant effect on body weight," Johnson said.
Cambridge University (UK): Ancient body clock discovered that helps to keep all living things on time
26 January 2011
The mechanism that controls the internal 24-hour clock of all forms of life from human cells to algae has been identified by scientists.
Not only does the research provide important insight into health-related problems linked to individuals with disrupted clocks - such as pilots and shift workers - it also indicates that the 24-hour circadian clock found in human cells is the same as that found in algae and dates back millions of years to early life on Earth.
Two new studies out tomorrow, 27 January, in the journal Nature from the Universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh give insight into the circadian clock which controls patterns of daily and seasonal activity, from sleep cycles to butterfly migrations.
Stroller Derby: Hyperbaric Chamber Saves the Lives of Two Children
Pressurized oxygen therapy is being credited for helping improve the lives of two siblings in Illinois
Posted by Meredith Carroll on January 23rd, 2011 at 5:42 pm
Hyperbaric chambers used to be best known because Michael Jackson was once photographed in one of them. In other words, they were seen as kooky, anti-aging, space-age, overpriced and over-hyped machinery.
However, the reality is that hyperbaric chambers can save lives. A brother and sister in Illinois are living proof.
Climate/Environment
Science News via Discovery News: Dispersants Persisted After BP Spill
Chemicals used to break up oil in the Gulf of Mexico last year lasted through September.
Fri Jan 28, 2011 02:54 PM ET
Content provided by Janet Raloff, Science News
Nearly 3 million liters (some 771,000 gallons) of a chemical dispersant ejected into oil and gas from BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill last spring and summer lingered until at least September, a new study shows. The chemicals moved in concert with plumes of oil deep beneath the Gulf of Mexico’s surface.
David Valentine of the University of California, Santa Barbara and his colleagues periodically sampled plume water that flowed at depths of 1,000 meters or more between May and September 2010. They shipped these samples to chemist Elizabeth Kujawinski at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts and her colleagues for analysis.
With rare exception, they report online January 26 in Environmental Science & Technology, the dispersant did not degrade but instead moved with the plumes until they were lost to dilution in the Gulf’s depths.
Discovery News: Cocaine Killing Forests in Colombia
The drug trade increases deforestation, but a new assessment also finds national parks can buffer the effect.
By Emily Sohn
Fri Jan 28, 2011 09:30 AM ET
Thousands of square miles of tropical forest have been chopped down to grow coca plants, whose leaves supply the world with cocaine. But the drug's environmental impact doesn't stop there.
Areas that surround coca plantations suffer particularly high levels of deforestation, too, found the first study to quantify how coca is reshaping landscapes in Colombia.
But there may be a bright side. In some parts of the country, national parks seemed to establish a buffer zone that reduced forest felling.
The Economist (UK): The drying of the West
The Colorado River and the civilisation it waters are in crisis
Jan 27th 2011
The main reason why Lake Mead, currently only 40% full, has been getting emptier is a decade-long drought. Whether this is a cyclical and normal event, or an early sign of climate change, is unclear. But even if the drought ends, most scientists think global warming will cause flows on the Colorado River to decrease by 10-30% in the next half century, says Douglas Kenney, the director of a water-policy programme at the University of Colorado Law School.
The other reason, says Mr Kenney, is the rapidly increasing demand for the river’s water. The Colorado provides much or most of the water for many cities and farms in seven states—Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and California—before it peters out in the sands of Mexico.
In the northern states, its water supports cattle empires. In its southern stretch, especially in California’s Imperial County, the river irrigates deserts to produce America’s winter vegetables. And all along the way, aqueducts branch off to supply cities from Salt Lake City and Denver to Phoenix and Los Angeles. The metropolis closest to Lake Mead, Las Vegas, gets 90% of its water from this one source.
Discovery News: Warm North Atlantic Heating Arctic
Analysis by John D. Cox
Thu Jan 27, 2011 01:33 PM ET
Flowing between Greenland and Norway, a North Atlantic Ocean current carrying water that is warmer than at anytime in the past 2,000 years may be speeding the decline of Arctic sea ice, scientists report.
Writing in the new issue of the journal Science, the researchers describe temperature variations derived from their study of the carbonate shells of tiny planktonic organisms in the marine sediment in the seabed of the Fram Strait off the coast of Western Svalbard.
Not only is the water the warmest its been in the past 20 centuries, report German scientist Robert F. Spielhagen and colleagues, but the flow known as the Arctic Atlantic Water Layer (AAWL) is carrying more water.
Discovery News: An Atmospheric Time Machine
Analysis by John D. Cox
Wed Jan 26, 2011 04:53 PM ET
Pick a day during the past 138 years -- during the "Dust Bowl" say, or the 1938 New York Hurricane, or the blizzards in the Prairies in 1899 -- and now scientists can tell you pretty much what the atmosphere was up to at the time.
Using measurements of air pressure on land and sea going back into the 19th century and powerful supercomputers, a big international team of researchers have built a set of data that describes what Earth's atmosphere -- from the surface to the Jet Stream -- has been doing every six hours since 1871.
The completion of the big 20th Century Reanalysis Project, which consumed millions of supercomputing hours at the U.S. Department of Energy science centers in California and Tennessee, allows scientists to look back into past weather events and see details they could not have imagined just a few years ago.
Discovery News: Loss of Sea Ice Poses Mercury Risk
Analysis by Kieran Mulvaney
Wed Jan 26, 2011 02:47 PM ET
Even as many residents of northern mid-latitudes hunker down during a persistently cold winter, farther north conditions continue to conspire to create the opposite effect. The minimum Arctic sea ice extent for 2010 was the third lowest recorded, after 2007 and 2008, and the extent for December was the lowest for that month since satellite records began in 1979.
While declining Arctic sea ice is generally equated in the popular imagination with an uncertain future for polar bears and perhaps other marine mammals, the wholesale alteration of this ecosystem inevitably seems likely to have a wide range of profound consequences. For example, in at least some areas of the Arctic Ocean, increased melting of sea ice has resulted in a decline in large marine algae and a growth in smaller, less productive algal species...
Now, a new study in the journal Nature Geoscience suggests that declines in sea ice cover might affect the amount of mercury entering into the Arctic marine food chain.
Geology
Australian Broadcasting Corporation via Discovery News: Coal Fires May Have Contributed to Biggest-Ever Extinction
Around 250 million years ago, over 90 percent of all marine species on Earth went extinct.
Mon Jan 24, 2011 01:00 PM ET
Content provided by Carl Holm, ABC Science Online
Massive coal fires may have been the cause for the extinction of more than 90 percent of marine species 250 million years ago, say Canadian geologists.
Volcanic eruptions in what is now Siberia may have caused coal seams to ignite explosively, sending large amounts of highly toxic coal fly-ash into the atmosphere, according to research published online this week in Nature Geoscience.
The resulting fallout would have poisoned the oceans and changed Earth's chemistry.
Psychology/Behavior
National Institutes of Health via physorg.com: Little-known growth factor enhances memory, prevents forgetting in rats
January 26, 2011
A naturally occurring growth factor significantly boosted retention and prevented forgetting of a fear memory when injected into rats' memory circuitry during time-limited windows when memories become fragile and changeable. In the study funded by the National Institutes of Health, animals treated with insulin-like growth factor (IGF-II) excelled at remembering to avoid a location where they had previously experienced a mild shock.
"To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of potent memory enhancement via a naturally occurring factor that readily passes through the blood-brain barrier - and thus may hold promise for treatment development," explained Cristina Alberini, Ph.D., of Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, a grantee of the NIH's National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).
Alberini and colleagues say IGF-II could become a potential drug target for boosting memory. They report on their discovery in the Jan. 27, 2011 issue of Nature.
George Mason University via physorg.com: Study finds 'masculine' women get more promotions at work
January 27, 2011
By Catherine Ferraro
Women who demonstrate stereotypical masculine traits should be mindful of their behavior if they want to get ahead in the workplace. That is the finding of researchers at George Mason University and Stanford University who recently completed a study that examined the effects of self-monitoring on women’s promotions.
Previous research has shown that women who exhibit conventional male characteristics such as self-confidence and dominance may suffer from the "backlash effect" in which they are viewed negatively for not acting in a traditionally feminine manner.
But according to researchers Olivia O’Neill, assistant professor in Mason’s School of Management, and Charles O’Reilly, professor in Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, women who are able to self-monitor their masculine behavior use it to their advantage and get more promotions at work than both men and other women.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Agence France Presse via Discovery News: Eating Bad Food Linked to Depression
Feeling blue? Clean up your diet, research suggests.
Thu Jan 27, 2011 09:38 AM ET
Eating foods high in trans-fats and saturated fats increases the risk of depression, according to a Spanish study published in the United States Wednesday, confirming previous studies that linked "junk food" with the disease.
Researchers also showed that some products, such as olive oil, which is high in healthy omega-9 fatty acids, can fight against the risk of mental illness.
Authors of the wide-reaching study, from the universities of Navarra and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, followed and analyzed the diet and lifestyle of over 12,000 volunteers over six years.
Archeology/Anthropology
The Guardian (UK): Stone tools discovered in Arabia force archaeologists to rethink human history
The tools found in southern Arabia date from 125,000 years ago – 55,000 years before humans were thought to have left Africa
Ian Sample, science correspondent
A spectacular haul of stone tools discovered beneath a collapsed rock shelter in southern Arabia has forced a major rethink of the story of human migration out of Africa. The collection of hand axes and other tools shaped to cut, pierce and scrape bear the hallmarks of early human workmanship, but date from 125,000 years ago, around 55,000 years before our ancestors were thought to have left the continent.
The artefacts, uncovered in the United Arab Emirates, point to a much earlier dispersal of ancient humans, who probably cut across from the Horn of Africa to the Arabian peninsula via a shallow channel in the Red Sea that became passable at the end of an ice age. Once established, these early pioneers may have pushed on across the Persian Gulf, perhaps reaching as far as India, Indonesia and eventually Australia.
Michael Petraglia, an archaeologist at Oxford University who was not involved in the work, told the Science journal: "This is really quite spectacular. It breaks the back of the current consensus view."
Middle East Online (United Arab Emirates): The Dawn of history exhibition to revel Abu Dhabi’s ancient past
ABU DHABI – "The excavations of the Danish archeologist in 1959-1961 provided the first glimpse of a time 4,000-5,000 years ago when this part of the Arabian Peninsula was at the centre of a vibrant, rich culture that managed the production and distribution of vast amounts of copper to the ancient world," said Mohammed Khalaf Al Mazrouei, Advisor for Culture and Heritage in the Court of the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Director General of ADACH.
Al Mazrouei was speaking in a press conference held yesterday in the Intercontinental Hotel in Abu Dhabi on ADACH upcoming exhibition "The Dawn of History: Revealing the Ancient Past of Abu Dhabi" that will start on 2nd February, 2011 until May 2nd near Al Jahili fort in Al Ain.
The exhibition is a jointly produced by ADACH and Moesgård Museum in Denmark and supported by The Sheikha Salama Bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation in Abu Dhabi.
New Kerala (India): 1,700-yr-old skeleton of African immigant found in Britain
London, Jan 26 : Archaeologists have unearthed a 1,700-year-old skeleton of an African immigrant at a Roman cemetery in Warwickshire in Britain.
The discovery, made during analysis of remains found near Stratford-upon-Avon, suggests that African immigrants lived far afield of major settlements such as London and York as early as the third or fourth century.
Stuart Palmer, Warwickshire county council's archaeology projects manager, said the find was surprising because it indicated that people of African descent lived in Warwickshire far earlier than historians thought, the Daily Mail reports.
CBC: Nunavut heritage sites face climate threat
Archaeological sites could be analyzed with 3D technology, then stabilized
Last Updated: Friday, January 28, 2011 | 4:28 PM ET .
Nunavut archaeological sites threatened by climate change may be saved thanks to new high-tech equipment, says the territory's director of culture and heritage.
Doug Stenton said new 3D technology and a ground-penetrating radar system can be used to quickly map the surface and sub-surface, and could be used to deal with sites affected by coastal erosion and melting permafrost.
The University of Manitoba has received funding to buy the technology and plans to use it in the Arctic.
"It will help us identify areas that need special attention...and help us plan strategies to protect the site, [such as] stabilization methods," Stenton said.
Pendle Today (UK): Secrets of Hapton Tower buried for ever if wind turbines built?
Published on Fri Jan 28 16:58:47 GMT 2011
SECRETS buried at one of Burnley’s most important and mysterious heritage sites could be lost forever – claims a local historian and councillor
Giant wind turbines are set to be built next to the remains of the 500-year-old Hapton Tower – once the majestic home of the Towneley family.
But Coun. Roger Frost said if the plans are not changed a vital part of the town’s history could be destroyed.
The heritage champion hopes one of the three new 350ft-high turbines could be moved to protect the Medieval site on Hameldon Hill which has yet to be excavated by archaeologists.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman, who sent in the above articles.
Discovery News: Humans Would Beat Neanderthals in Marathon
Analysis by Jennifer Viegas
Fri Jan 28, 2011 02:27 PM ET
Humans, versus other great apes, are built for running fast and long as opposed to very impressive strength, but what about Neanderthals? If a modern human and a Neanderthal competed in a marathon, who would win?
In a short sprint, the Neanderthal might have had a chance, but most fit humans would always win longer races, suggests new research accepted for publication in the Journal of Human Evolution.
Anthropologist David Raichlen of the University of Arizona and his colleagues determined that our modern human ancestors were better runners. The researchers did this by studying the hominids' fossilized remains.
Physics
Discovery News: Did Riccioli 'Discover' the Coriolis Effect?
Analysis by Jennifer Ouellette
Thu Jan 27, 2011 03:46 AM ET
Most physics buffs (and weather enthusiasts) have a passing familiarity with the Coriolis effect: the apparent deflection of a moving object when viewed from a rotating reference frame. The most common such frame? Our own Earth.
The effect was discovered in 1835 by Gustave Coriolis, who based it on his study of water wheels. It's kind of a pseudo-force, like centrifugal force: they only appear when Newton's laws of motion are applied in a rotating frame of reference.
A new paper submitted to the arXiv argues that an Italian Jesuit priest named Giovanni Battista Riccioli offered a very accurate description of this effect 200 years before Coriolis. That's the conclusion of the author, Christopher Graney of the Jefferson Community & Technical College in Kentucky, based on his translation of Riccioli's 1651 treatise, Almagestum Novum, in which Riccioli outlined 77 reasons he believed Copernicus' notion of the sun being at the center of the solar system was wrong.
Chemistry
Science News: What DNA does when it stretches
The molecule of life has some interesting elastic properties
By Daniel Strain
Wednesday, January 26th, 2011
DNA -- springy, stretchy and coiled -- is the cell's Slinky. And just like a Slinky, a DNA double helix can be stretched too far. The mechanics behind this process, called "overstretching," may be less cut-and-dried than scientists previously thought, a new study suggests.
Contrary to one prevailing theory, DNA molecules don’t have to have loose-hanging single strands — called free ends— to overstretch, say researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colo. With or without free ends, the team reports in a paper to appear in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, DNA double helices spring to almost twice their length at the same elastic stretching point.
Like a Slinky, DNA plays nice under tiny forces, stretching as molecular theory predicts. But when scientists pull on these molecules hard enough using devices called optical traps, DNA seems to get extra elastic. At 65 piconewtons of force — each piconewton equals one trillionth of a newton, itself equal to roughly the gravitational force on a typical apple — DNA elongates by 70 percent. "Within a few piconewtons, the molecule goes from normal DNA to overstretched DNA," says biophysicist and study coauthor Thomas Perkins.
Energy
STV (UK): Scottish researchers make clean fuel breakthrough
Glasgow University team using nanotechnology to store hydrogen in a solid state.
28 January 2011 05:00 GMT
A revolutionary new way of storing hydrogen could lead to the gas being used as a pollution-free alternative to conventional transport fuels, scientists have said.
Researchers from Glasgow University are using nanotechnology to find a way of storing hydrogen in a solid state.
The gas can be burnt to release energy, or combined with oxygen in a fuel cell to produce electricity.
In both cases, the only waste product is water - meaning it could become a clean alternative to powering aircraft and car engines. However, it can be expensive and difficult to store safely.
Reuters: China to import more fuels despite clean energy drive
By Jim Bai, Judy Hua and Chen Aizhu
BEIJING | Fri Jan 28, 2011 10:41am EST
China will ramp up conventional fuel imports and production to power its economy in 2011 despite accelerating efforts to develop clean, renewable and alternative energy.
The National Energy Administration (NEA) estimated on Friday that energy demand in the world's second largest economy will increase steadily but the growth could moderate from last year.
It did not provide an estimate of overall energy demand this year or energy used last year.
Calgary Herald (Canada): Talisman suspends shale-gas fracking after Pennsylvania well incident
By Kevin Dougherty, Postmedia News January 28, 2011
QUEBEC — Calgary's Talisman Energy Inc. suspended all "fracking" operations for about eight days across North America this month after what it described as "a well-control incident" in Pennsylvania.
Talisman spokeswoman Phoebe Buckland said from Calgary Thursday that the company halted all its fracking operations after "a water-based fluid release," at its Pennsylvania well and notified the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
"These sorts of incidents, we take very seriously," Buckland said. "Safety is our absolute first priority."
Agence France Presse via Discovery News: Solar Lamps Empower the Poor
One student who grew up in a rural African village invents a solar lamp that could help thousands.
Thu Jan 27, 2011 06:50 AM ET
Content provided by Helen Vesperini, AFP
Evans Wadongo is not yet 25, but has already changed the lives of tens of thousands of his fellow Kenyans living in poor rural communities by supplying them with solar lamps.
As a child growing up in west Kenya, Wadongo struggled to do his homework by kerosene lamp. He was caned at school if his family ran out of fuel for the lamp, and he permanently damaged his eyesight by sitting over the smoky fumes when they did have kerosene.
But his father, whom he describes as a teacher who was "very strict" and "my greatest inspiration," saw that he completed his studies and made it into university.
Science, Space, Environment, and Energy Policy
Agence France Presse via Discovery News: 'Innovate,' 'Reinvent,' Says President Obama
In his State of the Union address, the president emphasized the importance of America leading in science and technology.
Wed Jan 26, 2011 09:09 AM ET
A revitalized President Barack Obama bluntly told America to reinvent itself and unite to survive in a fast-changing global economy powered by rising giants like India and China.
Obama's confident State of the Union address Tuesday mixed straight talk with a patriotic call to action, as called upon the country to unleash a torrent of innovation to transform the economy after the most brutal meltdown in generations.
Obama conjured up a sepia-tinted vision of an America left behind after globalization changed the rules overnight, bemoaning the loss of a working class lifestyle bankrolled by a decent paycheck and benefits.
"The rules have changed. In a single generation, revolutions in technology have transformed the way we live, work and do business," Obama said, noting that rising powers like India and China were now highly competitive.
Center for American Progress: Clearing the Way for a Native Opportunity in America’s "Sputnik Moment"
The Department of Energy estimates that wind power from tribal lands could satisfy 14 percent of total U.S. electricity demand.
By Van Jones, Bracken Hendricks, Jorge Madrid | January 27, 2011
In his remarks at this week’s State of the Union, President Obama called for another "Sputnik moment," in which the country would unleash a wave of innovation that creates new industries and millions of new jobs. The plan the president laid out led boldly with the deployment of smart new infrastructure and clean technology that will break our dependence on imported oil while creating jobs and building businesses in our hardest hit American communities.
Today, the National Congress of American Indians delivers their response to the State of the Union, with a report on the state of Indian affairs. The response will highlight numerous issues crucial to Native American tribes, and outline a program for their sovereign nations to participate in this larger vision of investment and economic renewal. Tribal economies have been among the most deeply impacted by the broader economic downturn, and the president’s goals have special resonance to these communities. Critical among the strategies the NCAI is proposing is the commitment to pursue greater economic self-sufficiency and reduce crippling tribal unemployment, as well as a "concerted effort to unleash the potential of Indian energy resources throughout the nation."
The goals both President Obama and the leaders of the tribal nations have put forth are complementary and mutually beneficial, and deserve special consideration as the nation comes together across regions and party lines to take on the next phase of our economic recovery.
Discovery News: Carbon Tax on Carnivores
Analysis by Tim Wall
Fri Jan 28, 2011 12:50 PM ET
Many people think with either their wallets or their stomachs. Taking advantage of that can be used to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
A tax on meat and milk would increase the amount people take out of their wallets for foods which contribute to climate change. That would likely reduce the amount of those foods they put in their stomachs. And that's good for the environment, said a study published in the journal Climate Change.
"This tax is not at all a matter of forcing people to become vegetarians but merely moving towards a slightly more climate-smart diet," said one of the study's authors Stefan Wirsenius, of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Tacking €60, about $82, onto the cost of beef for every "ton of carbon dioxide equivalent" would reduce Europe's beef consumption by 15 percent. By taxing all meats and milk, Europe's greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced by about seven percent, according to the study.
Science Education
National Science Foundation via physorg.com: Unemployment among doctoral scientists and engineers lower than among the general population in 2008
January 27, 2011
Data released today by the National Science Foundation show the recent economic recession had less effect on doctoral degree holders in science, engineering and health (SEH) fields than it did on the general population.
According to a new NSF report, the unemployment rate in October 2008 for SEH doctorate recipients was 1.7 percent, whereas the unemployment rate for the total U.S. labor force was 6.6 percent.
...
The report found that about 752,000 individuals in the United States held SEH research doctoral degrees in 2008, an increase of 5.6 percent from 2006. Of this, 662,600 were employed or actively seeking work.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for this story.
Science Writing and Reporting
Science News: Book Review: North Pole, South Pole: The Epic Quest to Solve the Great Mystery of Earth's Magnetism
By Gillian Turner
Review by Sid Perkins
Many creatures — birds, bees and butterflies, for example — use the planet's magnetic field to navigate, but humans are the only ones to do so with instruments rather than an innate sense. In her first book, Turner, a geophysicist, looks at how people came to invent the compass and what has been learned since about the magnetic field that drives it.
Chapter by chapter, the author walks readers through the history of studying Earth's magnetic field, from the ancient Greeks' fascination with natural magnets called lodestones to today's supercomputer simulations of field-generating processes in the planet's core.