Welcome to Science Saturday, where the Overnight News Digest crew, consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors ScottyUrb, Bentliberal, wader, Oke, rfall, and JML9999, alumni editors palantir and jlms qkw, guest editors maggiejean and annetteboardman, and current editor-in-chief Neon Vincent, along with anyone else who reads and comments, informs and entertains you with this week's news about science, space, and the environment.
This week's featured stories come from MSNBC.
Sip some New Year's Eve science
By Alan Boyle
I don't advise playing any drinking games on New Year's Eve, but when scientists play with their drinks, the results can make for interesting cocktail-party conversation.
Here's a recap of research relating to the physics and chemistry of liquids in a glass:
Astronaut stops to smell the roses
By Alan Boyle
One of the last astronauts to ride on a space shuttle will be riding a totally different vehicle on Monday: a flower-bedecked float in the 2012 Rose Parade.
Say what?
The 5.5-mile journey down the parade route in Pasadena, Calif., doesn't hold a candle in distance or danger to the 5.3 million-mile journey that NASA astronaut Rex Walheim made in July during STS-135, Atlantis' program-ending mission. But it's a perfect follow-up for several reasons:
More stories, including the best and worst in science for 2011, after the jump.

Special section: Best and worst of general science for 2011
MSNBC: 11 scientific twists from 2011
By Alan Boyle
The past year brought us the supercomputer that trounced flesh-and-blood champions on the "Jeopardy" TV show ... genetic discoveries that showed us the tangles in humanity's family tree ... a tsunami that shouldn't have been as catastrophic as it was ... and neutrinos that shouldn't be going as fast as they seem to. Which scientific twist of 2011 do you find most intriguing? Now's the time to cast your vote for the top science story of 2011.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for this story.
MSNBC: The year in science: A quantum leap
By Alan Boyle
Synthetic genomes and Neanderthals are cool, but the journal Science went with something different as the year's top scientific breakthrough: the world's first quantum machine.
It's not much to look at. In fact, you can barely see it with the naked eye, and it doesn't work unless it's cooled down to just a fraction of a degree above absolute zero. But when researchers at the University of California at Santa Barbara created their tiny vibrating "springboard," that represented "the first time that scientists have demonstrated quantum effects in the motion of a human-made object," said Adrian Cho, a news writer for Science.
"On a conceptual level, that's cool because it extends quantum mechanics into a whole new realm," he said. "On a practical level, it opens up a variety of possibilities ranging from new experiments that meld quantum control over light, electrical currents and motion to, perhaps someday, tests of the bounds of quantum mechanics and our sense of reality."
New Scientist: Review of 2011: The year's biggest news at a glance
Social media in the Arab Spring, Japanese megaquake and nuclear disaster, orgasms in the brain, HIV drugs, faster-than-light neutrinos, Higgs and more.
New Scientist: 2011 review: The year in technology
It's been an astonishing year, packed with technological wizardry. A computer has bested the top human minds on the Jeopardy! quiz show. Thousands upon thousands of mind-blowing apps – not to mention Apple's super-smart, artificially intelligent Siri software – have remade our relationships with our cellphones. And new developments in green technology have given us a glimpse of a future unburdened by fossil fuels. Most of these stories mark beginnings, meaning this list of our favourite stories of the year is more than a look back – it's a reminder of all the exciting things yet to come.
New Scientist: 2011 review: The year in life science
In 2011 New Scientist saw genetic engineering on fast forward, foxes zeroing in on their prey using Earth's magnetic field, and a game of primordial Pac-ManMovie Camera.
We also discovered that the key to humanity may be in our missing DNA, lab yeast can make the evolutionary leap to multicellularity, and one vertebrate can eat with its mouth shut.
Meanwhile, our understanding of human evolution took a sharp left turn. In the wake of the 2010 discovery that humans and Neanderthals interbred, it emerged that our ancestors interbred with several other hominin species – and that the interbreeding may have helped us go global.
Here are our 10 favourite stories from 2011, from the earliest life on Earth to Egyptian archaeology and the latest developments in synthetic biology.
MSNBC: Hits and misses in five-tech forecast
By Alan Boyle
In the year 2015, will we be using holographic 3-D cell phones powered by air-breathing batteries in energy-saving offices to protect the planet and anticipate traffic jams? IBM's forecasters think we will — but a look back at their past technology predictions shows why some forecasts are sure bets and others fall flat.
The company's "Next Five in Five" list is an effort to anticipate technological innovations that are just over the horizon today but will make a significant impact on everyday life five years hence. "These are technologies we are working on, in some cases," Kerrie Holley, an IBM fellow and chief technology officer for global business services, told me. In other cases, IBM's researchers are just trying to figure out "where the hockey puck is going" when it comes to broad tech trends, he said.
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Such forecasts blend common-sense projections of current trends with wild ideas that sound so crazy they just might work. You can see how this works in this year's "Five in Five" list:
Recent Science Diaries and Stories
How many Trees does it take ...
by jamess
Backyard Science - The 2012 Yardbird Race begins at 12:01am January 1!
by bwren
My Highly Selective List of Quotes from 2011
by Steven D
This week in science: Best of the year
by DarkSyde
Slideshows/Videos
Next Media Animation on YouTube: Celebrities flunking science: 2011 edition
Snooki has earned her spot on an annual list of celebrities who sprout "bad science" by declaring that the ocean is salty because of whale sperm. The charity Sense about Science releases a list of the most egregious celebrity peddlers of pseudoscience every year. Bill O'Reilly, Michele Bachman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Simon Cowell and Christian Louboutin also made this year's list.
In this animation, we explore the wacky beliefs of the celebs, from Bill O'Reilly's utterance "Tide goes in ... tide goes out ... you can't explain that" to couture shoe designer Christian Louboutin's statement that wearing high heels can be an orgasmic experience.
For these celebs, maybe their new year's resolution should be "Be Less Stupid."
MSNBC has more.
Whale sperm, orgasmic feet top 2011 bad science list
Snooki's comment about ocean being salty and other celeb 'pearls' contribute
updated 12/27/2011 8:44:05 PM ET
LONDON — From whale sperm to colon cleansers to the shape of a woman's foot when she has an orgasm, celebrities did not disappoint during 2011 with their penchant for peddling suspect science in the world's media.
In its annual list of what it considers the year's worst abuses against science, the Sense About Science (SAS) campaign named reality TV star Nicole Polizzi, Republican presidential candidate Michelle Bachmann and American singer-songwriter Suzi Quatro as top offenders, with their dubious views on why the sea is salty, the risks of cervical cancer vaccines and the colon.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for this story.
MSNBC: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/29/9805608-must-see-science-videos-of-2011
By Alan Boyle
Laughing babies, talking dogs and Rebecca Black may be Internet sensations, but if you want to add something more substantive to your viral video diet, turn your dial to dueling chatbots, dancing Ph.D. theses and other highlights from the past year's surfeit of science videos.
Talking bots can be just as surprising and silly as talking dogs. Take "AI vs. AI," for example. Cornell researchers Igor Labutov, Jason Losinski and Hod Lipson took two Cleverbot artificial-intelligence programs, hooked them up to each other, and typed in "Hi" as an ice-breaker. Hilarity ensues.
MSNBC: Top science videos around the Web
By John Roach
Which videos from 2010 are getting good ratings from a science standpoint? The end-of-the-year spotlight is focusing on subjects that range from a Batman-like device that taps electricity from power lines, to a robot that can fold and stack towels fresh out of the dryer, to a "Crittercam" confrontation between a sea lion and an octopus.
New Scientist:New Scientist TV: Best videos of 2011
Discover Magazine: Galleries / The 100 Top Science Stories of 2010
Every year DISCOVER sorts through the scientific accomplishments of the past 12 months, and assembles a list of the coolest experiments, most brilliant discoveries, and most world-changing events. As you page through the countdown to the #1 science story, we think you'll come to the same conclusion we did: 2010 was quite a year.
Huffington Post: Best of TED 2011
Astronomy/Space
MSNBC: A year of outer-space farewells
By Alan Boyle
During 2011, NASA said goodbye to the Spirit Mars rover and the space shuttle program — but there's hope that during 2012, new players will strut their stuff on the space effort's huge stage, stretching from Cape Canaveral to the Red Planet.
This is my 15th annual "Year in Space" roundup, and in all those years I can't think of a starker time of transition between the year that's past and the year to come. The space shuttles are being readied for museums, and work hasn't yet started on the big rocket that NASA says it will need for the next era of human space exploration. The space agency's plans for commercializing operations in low Earth orbit could well be tied up in budgetary knots, and there are questions about how much farther its robotic Mars exploration program can go.
Farewells and failures, including Russia's Soyuz glitch and Phobos-Grunt gremlins, dominated the news from space over the past year.
But it's not all gloom and doom: One of NASA's Mars rovers may have given up the ghost, but the other one — Opportunity — has begin its most ambitious adventure yet, exploring the 14-mile-wide Endeavour Crater on Mars. Juno, GRAIL and Mars Science Laboratory were launched toward Jupiter, the moon and Mars, respectively. Other planetary probes are purring along, all the way from Mercury to the solar system's edge.
Space.com: 2011: The Year in Space
2011 was a very eventful year in spaceflight, with many vessels launching toward the heavens — and a few crashing back to Earth.
Here's a look at the top 11 spaceflight stories of the year, from the last mission of NASA's venerable space shuttle program to China's first-ever docking of two spaceships in Earth orbit:
New Scientist: 2011 review: The year in space
The year saw the final shuttle flight, the discovery of what might be a 1031-carat cosmic diamond and the discovery of the smallest exoplanet yet.
Evolution/Paleontology
University of Oregon via physorg.com: A new theory emerges for where some fish became four-limbed creatures
December 27, 2011
A small fish crawling on stumpy limbs from a shrinking desert pond is an icon of can-do spirit, emblematic of a leading theory for the evolutionary transition between fish and amphibians. This theorized image of such a drastic adaptation to changing environmental conditions, however, may, itself, be evolving into a new picture.
University of Oregon scientist Gregory J. Retallack, professor of geological sciences, says that his discoveries at numerous sites in Maryland, New York and Pennsylvania suggests that "such a plucky hypothetical ancestor of ours probably could not have survived the overwhelming odds of perishing in a trek to another shrinking pond."
The Tennessean: Franklin dig evidence reveals mastodon was butchered by ancient humans
12,000-year-old butchering marks, tools show ancient Cool Springs cuisine
Written by Kevin Walters | The Tennessean
1:51 AM, Dec. 27, 2011
FRANKLIN — A Cool Springs archaeological dig keeps yielding details about Paleolithic man and the big game he hunted.
State archaeologists say discoveries unearthed in 2010 at a long-studied archaeological site known as Coats-Hines in Cool Springs reveal it to be one of only a few sites that show early man in this area hunted and ate “megafauna,” a term describing very large animals.
Scientists confirm finding three and possibly four mastodons — large elephant-like creatures with tusks — at the site, with one mastodon, known as Mastodon B, having “unequivocal association” with human activity in the form of butchering marks.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Biodiversity
Planet Earth Online via physorg.com: Hedgerows can be managed better for wildlife
December 29, 2011
Simple changes to hedgerow management could significantly improve winter habitats and food supplies for wildlife, according to new research by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology.
Hedgerow berries are an essential food for small mammals and birds, including blackbirds, fieldfares and redwings, and their flowers provide nectar for pollinating insects. When and how often hedges are trimmed makes a big difference to the amount of both flowers and berries they produce.
...
The study, published in Biological Conservation, compared the effects of different management regimes on hawthorn hedges over five years. It found that cutting every three years rather than annually produced 2.1 times more flowers and 3.4 times the mass of berries.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for this story.
MSNBC: Rare 'faceless and brainless' fish seen off UK coast
By msnbc.com staff and news services
A rare species of fish described as “faceless and brainless” was among the unusual finds made by marine scientists off Britain’s coast, according to a Scottish government report published on Thursday.
The prehistoric amphioxus species, which grows to about two inches long and has no fins, was recorded off Orkney, part of the Northern Isles that lie off the far northern coast of mainland Scotland.
The elusive fish is regarded as a modern representative of the first animals that evolved a backbone, the Scottish government said.
Biotechnology/Health
New Scientist: 2011 review: The year in health science
From the first voice box transplant ever to reversing the symptoms of Alzheimer's by zapping the brain, it has been a fascinating, and on occasion downright weird, year in biomedicine. Who can forget the discovery that faecal transplants ease the symptoms of Parkinson's? We've also reported pills that could prevent cancer, warned of the five small steps to a potentially lethal flu pandemic, and even had a reporter perform intimate acts inside an fMRI scanner to unlock the secrets of consciousness. Here are our top 10 favourite stories of the year.
Climate/Environment
Eastern Arizona Courier: Using history to understand forest fires
By Paul M. Ingram
Wick Communications Science Intern
Published on Wednesday, December 28, 2011 11:15 AM MST
North of Albuquerque, N.M., the people of the Pueblo of Jemez may hold a secret to dealing with wildfires in the ponderosa pine forests of western New Mexico and eastern Arizona.
The tribe has lived in these forests since before the Spanish conquistadors explored the region in the 16th century. This long history makes the pueblo an ideal place for University of Arizona researchers to study how humans in the Southwest have dealt with wildfires over the centuries.
With backing from the National Science Foundation and the USDA under a four-year, $1.5 million grant, the UA-led team includes experts in tree-ring science, fire ecology, forest fire behavior, archaeology, anthropology and education.
The team’s goal is to figure out how to keep forests healthy using prescribed burns and other methods to minimize the destructive power of large fires. This goal will become increasingly important as drought conditions make woodlands more likely to burst.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for this story.
New Scientist: 2011 review: The year in environment
Explore the biggest environment stories of 2011, including: the Japanese megaquake, Earth's ticking time bombs, and the first field tests of geoengineering.
Detroit Free Press: 2011 sets record for wettest year in metro Detroit
December 31, 2011
It went down to the wire, but Detroit set a weather record overnight, breaking a 131-year-old mark as the region's wettest year.
According to the National Weather Service website, 2011 became the wettest year in Detroit in recorded history. The 2011 total logged for metro Detroit was 47.70 inches, beating the record set in 1880 by one one-hundredth of an inch.
...
For weeks, the region has exceeded the previous second-wettest year's total of 45.44 inches. That was logged in 1881, just one year after the all-time record was set, according to weather service data.
Other parts of Michigan also had their share of soggy weather this year. Flint was headed Friday toward its fourth wettest year on record, according to the Weather Service.
For context, read
2011 set rainfall records in Detroit, Michigan, and Ohio on Crazy Eddie's Motie News.
Geology
MSNBC: Float Venice to save it from rising seas, study says
By John Roach
To protect Venice from periodic floods that are increasingly heightened by the double whammy of rising seas levels and sinking land, a team of Italian researchers suggests lifting up the canal-laced city by pumping seawater into the aquifers below it.
Doing so could result in a uniform uplift of about 30 centimeters over a 10-year period of steady, coordinated pumping via a series of 12 wells that circle the city, according to a study reported in the journal Water Resources Research.
The idea isn't entirely new, but until now its applicability was clouded by a limited understanding of Venice's underlying soils.
Psychology/Behavior
N.Y. Times: Navigating Love and Autism
Jack Robison and Kirsten Lindsmith, two college students living in Greenfield, Mass., discuss how autism affects their lives and relationship.
Watch the video:
Love on the Spectrum.
Archeology/Anthropology
Physorg.com: Couple finds evidence indicating earliest humans lived by rivers and streams
by Bob Yirka
December 26, 2011
(PhysOrg.com) -- When many people think of our earliest human ancestors, they think of the hot dried out dusty environments in Africa in which many of their remains were found. Unfortunately, such images don’t take into account the changes in environment that have occurred since those times when early peoples walked the Earth. Archeologists of course have thought of such things and for many years have tossed ideas back and forth debating whether such people lived by rivers and streams, as did those that came later and built civilization along such places as the Nile or whether they lived in woodlands.
Now new evidence has come to light that suggests the former might be more likely. Husband and wife team Royhan and Nahid Gani have been studying the sediments surrounding the place where Ardipithecus ramidus, aka, "Ardi," was found in Ethiopia, and have, as they describe in their paper published in Nature Communications, found that most of the evidence in the area points to a group of people that lived near a very large river.
Otago Daily Times (NZ): Interest in early humans fillip for researchers
By John Gibb on Thu, 29 Dec 2011
University of Otago | News: Dunedin
University of Otago graduate Prof Tom Higham has been surprised by the extent of media interest in Oxford University research showing the first modern humans arrived in Europe thousands of years earlier than previously thought.
...
Research involving the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, at Oxford University, and linked to ancient bones and teeth found at sites in England and Italy has just pushed back the dates for the arrival of modern humans in Europe by about 5000 years, The Guardian newspaper recently noted.
Articles published in Nature showed that two baby teeth, found in Apulia, Italy, and a jawbone fragment, from Kent's Cavern, in Devon, were considerably older than previously thought, and that the Italian teeth were from early modern humans, not from Neanderthals, as previously believed.
Previously it had been thought that Homo sapiens reached Europe about 35,000 to 40,000 years ago, just as the Neanderthals, who had ruled the continent for several hundred thousand years, began to die out.
Elhuyar Fundazioa (Spain) via physorg.com: Irikaitz archaeological site -- host to a 25,000-year-old pendant
December 27, 2011
The recent discovery of a pendant at the Irikaitz archaeological site in Zestoa (in the Basque province of Gipuzkoa) has given rise to intense debate: it may be as old as 25,000 years, which would make it the oldest found to date at open-air excavations throughout the whole of the Iberian Peninsula. This stone is nine centimetres long and has a hole for hanging it from the neck although it would seem that, apart from being adornment, it was used to sharpen tools. The discovery has had great repercussion, but it is not by any means the only one uncovered here by the team led by Álvaro Arrizabalaga: "Almost every year some archaeological artefact of great value is discovered; at times, even 8 or 10. It is a highly fruitful location".
The Katmandu Post (Nepal) via Asia News Network (Thailand): Nepal's Mustang Cave: Study leads to peculiar discovery
Ankit Adhikari
The Kathmandu Post
Publication Date : 28-12-2011
Nepali experts digging into the mysteries of the famous Mhebrak cave in Lower Mustang in western Nepal have unearthed new clues, which could potentially unravel a significant portion of human history dating back to 450 BC.
A team of experts including those from the Department of Archaeology (DoA), who have been studying two unique corpses recovered from Mhebrak cave complex in Muktinath Valley of Lower Mustang, say shocking features of the corpses are drawing them closer to discovery of a peculiar culture of the prehistoric age.
They say the corpses—proved to have been of a mother and an infant—dating back to 450 BC were recovered in a sleeping posture where the mother seems to have protected her infant in every possible way. Interestingly, the body of the infant was found all compact, with steady bones and joints that were not detached. Even a layer of thin skin covering the infant’s bones is still intact.
Herald-Whig: Volunteers clear the way for better view of Indian mounds
By DEBORAH GERTZ HUSAR
Herald-Whig Staff Writer
Posted: Dec 24, 2011 9:49 AM CST Updated: Dec 26, 2011 2:12 PM CST
Removing decades of dense overgrowth has cleared the way for a better view of Quincy's Native American heritage -- and one of the best preserved earthwork complexes still evident in the Upper Mississippi River valley.
Local archaeologists and volunteers worked in November and early December to reveal prehistoric Native American mounds in Quincy's Indian Mounds Park.
Work will continue in the spring, but "people can now come to Quincy and view these spectacular earthen monuments in a manner closer to that envisioned by the original builders," said Dave Nolan of the Illinois State Archaeological Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois. "People knew the mounds were there but didn't realize how special they are, how unique they are."
National Geographic News: Mysterious Mass Sacrifice Found Near Ancient Peru Pyramid
Huge pre-Inca burial pit also held ceramic heads, beer jars.
John Roach for National Geographic News
Published December 28, 2011
An apparent ritual mass sacrifice—including decapitations and a royal beer bash—is coming to light near a pre-Inca pyramid in northern Peru, archaeologists say.
Excavations next to the ancient Huaca Las Ventanas pyramid first uncovered bodies in August, and more have been emerging since then from a 50-by-50-foot (15-by-15-meter) pit.
The pyramid is part of the Sicán site, the capital of the Lambayeque people—also known as the Sicán—who ruled Peru's northern coast from about A.D. 900 to 1100.
BBC: Secrets of life on Newport's medieval ship revealed
By Nicola Smith BBC Wales News
Next year marks the 10th anniversary of a remarkable discovery on the banks of the River Usk in Newport
In the summer of 2002, thousands flocked to the banks of the River Usk in Newport, to see a piece of history.
In the middle of a building site, the mud had been cleared to reveal the 500-year-old remains of a trading ship.
Built in 1447, it is the world's best preserved example of a 15th Century vessel. Nearly ten years after it was uncovered, archaeologists are still making new discoveries about life on board.
They hope that in the next decade the ship will be rebuilt and put on display in its own museum.
LiveScience: Lovers' Pipe Dreams Emerge from Jerusalem Excavation
Wynne Parry, LiveScience Senior Writer
Date: 29 December 2011 Time: 11:20 AM ET
An archaeological excavation in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem has uncovered a centuries-old clay pipe inscribed with the phrase "Love is the language for lovers."
Literally translated, the inscription reads "Heart is language for the lover." And, not surprisingly, it was most likely a gift to a lover, according to Shahar Puni, of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
Irish Central: Irish San Francisco gold rush artifacts found in archaeology dig
Excavation for new terminal unearths historic mementos of gold rush era
By JAMES O'SHEA,
IrishCentral Staff writer
Gold rush artifacts from the 1850s, including many pieces owned by Irish laborers, have been discovered in San Francisco during the building of a new transportation terminal.
The 70 artifacts discovered to date have archaeologists excited about what potentially lies underneath the site in the Financial district near downtown San Francisco.
The Tennessean: Civil War soldier's teeth point to ancestry
Report in achaeology journal says remains suggest he was at least part American Indian
9:08 PM, Dec. 21, 2011
Written by
Kevin Walters | The Tennessean
FRANKLIN — Franklin’s “unknown soldier” had a mix of Native American and European ancestry and probably did not die as a result of a gunshot during the Battle of Franklin.
Those details are part of newly released archaeological findings that offer more insight about the male skeleton that was accidentally unearthed from an unmarked grave in 2009 during construction of the Columbia Avenue Chick-fil-A. The skeleton was later buried in Rest Haven Cemetery during a ceremony that attracted thousands of people and national attention.
Agence France Presse via physorg.com: A human touch for ancient scripts at Italy's book hospital
by Ljubomir Milasin
December 26, 2011
Ancient manuscripts are treated like hospital patients at a famous book restoration institute in Rome that has worked on everything from the Dead Sea Scrolls to one of the oldest Korans in the world.
"Look at this poor man suffering!" exclaimed Marina Bicchieri, head of the chemistry department at the Institute of the Pathology of the Book, as she examined oxidation levels on the unique institution's most recent project.
Bicchieri was looking at a chart with the scientific analysis of one of the last letters written by a captive Aldo Moro, a former Italian prime minister who was kidnapped and killed by far-left Red Brigades militants in 1978.
Founded in 1938 to preserve Italy's priceless archives, the laboratory is tucked away inside a walled garden in the city centre. "This interdisciplinary institute was the first of its kind in the world," Bicchieri said.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman, who sent in the above articles.
Physics
New Scientist: 2011 review: The year in physics
No year in recent memory has had as much jaw-dropping physics news as 2011. From neutrinos that might move faster than light to hints of the Higgs boson, the last undiscovered particle in the standard model, physics stories stole the limelight this year. We've chosen 10 stories we felt were the most surprising or fun, many of which will continue to make headlines in 2012. Stay tuned.
Chemistry
Inside Science News Service via physorg.com: Why certain flavor combinations melt in your mouth
By Chris Gorski
December 26, 2011
Do all cuisines thrive on kindred flavors? New research suggests that some cuisines may be based on combinations of dissimilar ingredients, but critics say the work is not filtering out flavors that may be unimportant to understanding why dishes are enjoyable.
British chef Heston Blumenthal is credited with originating the "food pairing hypothesis" which posits that foods that form pleasing flavor combinations -- from strawberries and chocolate to the more unexpected caviar and white chocolate -- do so because they share numerous chemical compounds responsible for flavor.
A study published in Scientific Reports examines this hypothesis, concluding that for some cuisines it holds true, including North American and Western European food, but that for others, including East Asian food, it is false. The researchers examined the relationships between individual ingredients with the techniques of network theory, which is often used to investigate the organization of complex systems.
Energy
MSNBC: 100 years of natural gas? Hype gets reality check
By John Roach
The hype around seemingly limitless reserves of natural gas made available through the technological innovation known as hydrologic fracturing, or fracking, may be just that — hype — according a new analysis of the data behind the claims.
An April press release from the Potential Gas Committee lies in the crosshairs of Chris Nedler's analytical reporting for Slate.com.
The committee, an organization of petroleum engineers and geoscientists, estimated a future gas supply of 2,170 trillion cubic feet (tcf), which at the current rate of consumption of 24 tcf per year, translates to a "95-year supply of gas, which apparently has been rounded up to 100 years," Nedler writes.
He then explains that only 273 tcf of that total are "proved reserves." That fits with data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The remaining amount is broken down into categories ranging from probable to speculative.
MSNBC: Map shows when solar power is a bargain
By John Roach
In 2013, the cost of solar power in San Diego will be cheaper than electricity from the local utility grid, according the predictions of an energy policy analyst who created a handy graphic to illustrate when so-called grid parity will be achieved.
The interactive graphic posted on the Energy Self Reliant States website shows when this moment will be reached in major U.S. cities between now and 2027.
Detroit Free Press: Light bulb change coming on Sunday; what's required?
December 30, 2011
The nation's new light bulb rules start taking effect Sunday. What exactly do they require, and what's their likely impact, since Congress barred funds to enforce the efficiency standards? Here are some answers:
QUESTION: What's included in the new standards?
ANSWER: The standards require that light bulbs be at least 25% more efficient and carry labels on the front and back of packages to explain their brightness, annual operating costs and expected life span.
The labels apply to all light bulbs made or imported after Sunday, but the efficiency standards apply only to traditional 100-watt incandescents on that day.
The efficiency rules will begin applying to the old-fashioned 75-watt bulb in January 2013 and 40- and 60-watt bulbs in January 2014.
Retailers can sell leftover bulbs as long as they weren't made or imported after their deadline.
Science, Space, Environment, and Energy Policy
Al Ahram (Egypt): Under the Pharaohs' spell
This year, archaeological sites and museums in Egypt, and even its antiquities council, were hit by the Pharaohs' curse, writes Nevine El-Aref
This year, 2011, was indeed different for Egypt. A few days after the revolution broke out on 25 January, eventually toppling president Hosni Mubarak and his autocratic regime, the corrupt police force faded into the background and many of Egypt's most important monuments and archaeological sites were left vulnerable to attacks by vandals, thugs and thieves. The first victim of the turmoil was the Egyptian Museum on the rim of the revolutionary hotspot, Tahrir Square. On Friday 28 January thieves broke into the museum through a skylight and removed 48 artefacts from their showcases. By good fortune, 29 of the missing items were recovered soon afterwards, many of them handed in by members of the public.
Stanford University: A study of two historical sites shows different paths to protecting cultural heritage
Archaeologist Questions the Role of Human Rights in Site Preservation
By Camille Brown
In the arid, rural plains of central Turkey sits one of the most important archaeological sites on earth. Sheltered by an expansive glass canopy, dozens of archaeologists and students work year-round to unearth and preserve the treasures of the ancient village of Çatalhöyük. Since 1993 Stanford professor of anthropology, Ian Hodder, has been leading an international team in an ongoing excavation of the 9,000 year-old Neolithic site.
Visible from the edges of the site are the low-slung buildings of the villagers who call Çatalhöyük home today. For the surrounding community the site represents the history of their ancestors. For academics and preservationists the site is a priceless window into the shared history of human civilization. The site is a meaningful symbol of cultural heritage to both groups, but they view it differently, and these views have important implications for basic human rights.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Science Education
BBC: Human zoos: When real people were exhibits
By Hugh Schofield BBC News, Paris
An exhibition in Paris looks at the history of so-called human zoos, that put inhabitants from foreign lands, mostly African countries, on display as article of curiosity.
Over four centuries from the first voyages of discovery, European societies developed an appetite for exhibiting exotic human "specimens" shipped back to Paris, London or Berlin for the interest and delectation of the crowd.
What started as wide-eyed curiosity on the part of observers turned into ghoulish pseudo-science in the mid-1800s, as researchers sought out physical evidence for their theory of races.
...
The story is told at the Quai Branly museum in Paris until June 2012, mainly through the display of paintings, old photographs, archive film, posters and postcards.
The aim of the exhibition is explicit - to teach how Western societies created a sense of "the other" in regard to foreign peoples, thus legitimising their eventual domination.
Victorville Daily Press: Lewis Center educator's classroom not bound by walls
Editor's note: Today we continue our 10-part series profiling some of the people who made a difference in 2011. Those profiled were nominated by Daily Press readers, with the finalists selected by the Daily Press staff. To read others in the series, click here.
Natasha Lindstrom, Staff Writer
December 28, 2011 9:00 AM
APPLE VALLEY • When she reminisces about high school, Molly Estes recalls the unique thrill of launching a refuge effort to revive the endangered Mohave tui chub fish.
Ethan Sockwell remembers the excitement of pinpointing a black layer in a wash as evidence of a fireplace that once warmed an American Indian tribe — and then graphing the coordinates using geographic information system technology. He reflects how cool it was to help preserve history as a high school student.
Sockwell is now an undergraduate sophomore studying GIS archaeology at University of Redlands, and Estes is in medical school at Loma Linda University.
The two former Academy for Academic Excellence students graduated five years apart, but they both credit the same influential teacher with fueling their ambition: AAE middle and high school coordinator Matthew Huffine.
Here's another story in this series.
VVC professor leads trailblazing expeditions
Dr. Hinrich Kaiser advances groundbreaking research, helps to revive war-torn nations
December 29, 2011 9:15 AM
Natasha Lindstrom, Staff Writer
VICTORVILLE • Don't let anyone tell you "herping" is just for geeks.
Sure it means searching for amphibians and reptiles in the name of science, but Victor Valley College professor Dr. Hinrich Kaiser has proven that hunting down the slimy, scaly creatures on uncharted land is anything but mundane.
He’s led several herping expeditions of students through East Timor, a tiny fledgling country in Southeast Asia struggling to recover from years of war against Indonesia.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Science Writing and Reporting
BBC: Wikipedia project to cover life in Monmouth
Wikipedia is launching a new project aimed at covering life in Monmouth.
The online encyclopaedia says Monmouthpedia will be its first venture based on a town.
It wants people to contribute articles and photographs on interesting and notable places, people, artefacts and other aspects of Monmouth life.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for this story.
Science is Cool
San Francisco Chronicle: Exploring French Polynesia's hidden islands
Mark Sissons, Special to The Chronicle
Friday, December 30, 2011
When considering the optimal wine-making terroir - the unique qualities of the environment that influences the wine it produces - it's a safe bet that a coral atoll in the middle of the Pacific doesn't typically come to mind.
Yet, I'm on Rangiroa, French Polynesia's largest atoll, sipping a lovely Vin de Tahiti blanc de corail produced on a nearby motu (islet) by Domaine Dominique Auroy, an award-winning winery.
Surrounding me is the Tuamotu Archipelago, a scattering of more than 100 islands and atolls spread over an area the size of Europe. And serving me is the Paul Gauguin of vintners, perhaps the only man in the world who routinely turns coral into wine - 40,000 bottles annually.
"In the beginning, my friends thought it was a joke when I quit a good wine industry job in France and came out here in just 10 days," says vineyard manager Sébastien Thepenier. He had never been to the South Pacific before responding to the online ad that changed his life.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for this story.