< Home > < Index > < Page 1 > < Page 2 > < Page 3 > < Page 4 > < Online Extra >
| News Capsules - March-April issue - Page 4 |
Astronomer Sees
Possible Life on Mars
A German researcher has taken
another look at data obtained
from a Viking Mars landing in
1976 and claims to have
discovered evidence of possible
life on the planet. Joop
Houtkooper says 0.1 percent of
Martian soil could be of biological
origin. If confirmed, the “weird life
form” would be based on
hydrogen peroxide, which would
act as a natural anti-freeze on the
subfreezing Martian surface.—
news.yahoo.com (7/23/07)
Monkeys Compete in Math
Against Students
Can monkeys add like humans? A
mathematical competition between
two rhesus macaques and 14
college students showed that both
groups handled basic addition in
a similar manner. The students
beat the monkeys 94% to 76% in
accuracy but response times were
similar and both groups were
more likely to stumble when the
magnitude of the sums increased.
But the monkey math isn’t “math
in the sense of a symbolic
procedure, the way humans think
of math,” said a researcher.—www.
nature.com (12/18/07)
Haiti Losing Vegetation
Just 2% of Haiti remains covered
with plants after years of
deforestation. Trees and bushes
are routinely cut down and used
for cooking fuel. Most Haitians live
on less than $2 a day and need
the wood for fueling fires for
cooking. UN officials are pressing
the Haitian government to quickly
begin re-forestation and run-off
control programs before the crisis
becomes even worse.—news.
yahoo.com (12/20/07)
Possible Life on Mars
A German researcher has taken
another look at data obtained
from a Viking Mars landing in
1976 and claims to have
discovered evidence of possible
life on the planet. Joop
Houtkooper says 0.1 percent of
Martian soil could be of biological
origin. If confirmed, the “weird life
form” would be based on
hydrogen peroxide, which would
act as a natural anti-freeze on the
subfreezing Martian surface.—
news.yahoo.com (7/23/07)
Monkeys Compete in Math
Against Students
Can monkeys add like humans? A
mathematical competition between
two rhesus macaques and 14
college students showed that both
groups handled basic addition in
a similar manner. The students
beat the monkeys 94% to 76% in
accuracy but response times were
similar and both groups were
more likely to stumble when the
magnitude of the sums increased.
But the monkey math isn’t “math
in the sense of a symbolic
procedure, the way humans think
of math,” said a researcher.—www.
nature.com (12/18/07)
Haiti Losing Vegetation
Just 2% of Haiti remains covered
with plants after years of
deforestation. Trees and bushes
are routinely cut down and used
for cooking fuel. Most Haitians live
on less than $2 a day and need
the wood for fueling fires for
cooking. UN officials are pressing
the Haitian government to quickly
begin re-forestation and run-off
control programs before the crisis
becomes even worse.—news.
yahoo.com (12/20/07)
Chinese Scientists Put
A Halt to the Rain
Scientists in Beijing, China, have
had success in managing to stop
light rainfall in experiments. Their
goal is to guarantee a dry
opening ceremony at August’s
Olympic Games. For cool clouds
they used a coolant made from
liquid nitrogen to decrease the
size of drops, making them less
likely to fall. For warmer clouds
they used silver iodide to
accelerate the droplets’ collision
and produce a downdraft that
suppressed cloud formation. They
admit it would be very difficult to
prevent a heavy rain.—news.
yahoo.com (1/30/08)
Pandas May Be Taught by
Dogs How to Fight
The first artificially bred panda
has been apparently killed in
China after a battle with other
animals. As a result, Chinese
scientists are thinking about using
police dogs to help pandas fight
better. Four pandas raised in
captivity may live with a specially
trained police dog or other
animals at a panda breeding
center. It is hoped the pandas will
learn how to protect themselves
by observing the dog, thus
increasing their chances of
survival after being released into
the wild.—news.yahoo.com
(12/22/07)
A Halt to the Rain
Scientists in Beijing, China, have
had success in managing to stop
light rainfall in experiments. Their
goal is to guarantee a dry
opening ceremony at August’s
Olympic Games. For cool clouds
they used a coolant made from
liquid nitrogen to decrease the
size of drops, making them less
likely to fall. For warmer clouds
they used silver iodide to
accelerate the droplets’ collision
and produce a downdraft that
suppressed cloud formation. They
admit it would be very difficult to
prevent a heavy rain.—news.
yahoo.com (1/30/08)
Pandas May Be Taught by
Dogs How to Fight
The first artificially bred panda
has been apparently killed in
China after a battle with other
animals. As a result, Chinese
scientists are thinking about using
police dogs to help pandas fight
better. Four pandas raised in
captivity may live with a specially
trained police dog or other
animals at a panda breeding
center. It is hoped the pandas will
learn how to protect themselves
by observing the dog, thus
increasing their chances of
survival after being released into
the wild.—news.yahoo.com
(12/22/07)
Inventors Look to
Nature Again
There’s another new product
available that has been invented
only because scientists studied
nature first. Geckel is a new glue
that works like the adhesive on a
Post-It note but which can also
work on wet surfaces. The
inventors studied lizards called
geckos, which use tiny hairs with
adhesive to allow the creatures to
stick to walls and ceilings. But
they also studied shellfish called
mussels, which use an adhesive
protein to attach firmly to wet
surfaces.—Discover (January,
2008)
Scientists Say They
Have Created Antimatter
In science fiction antimatter has
been used to power spaceships,
but in real life physicists have
struggled to create even fleeting
particles of antimatter. However, a
U. of California at Riverside
scientist recently joined two
positronium atoms (formed by the
union of an electron and its
antiparticle, the positron) into the
first antimolecule. A short-lived
molecule like that doesn’t have
any direct uses, but the technique
may bring us closer to creating a
powerful gamma-ray laser.—
Discover (December, 2007)
Nature Again
There’s another new product
available that has been invented
only because scientists studied
nature first. Geckel is a new glue
that works like the adhesive on a
Post-It note but which can also
work on wet surfaces. The
inventors studied lizards called
geckos, which use tiny hairs with
adhesive to allow the creatures to
stick to walls and ceilings. But
they also studied shellfish called
mussels, which use an adhesive
protein to attach firmly to wet
surfaces.—Discover (January,
2008)
Scientists Say They
Have Created Antimatter
In science fiction antimatter has
been used to power spaceships,
but in real life physicists have
struggled to create even fleeting
particles of antimatter. However, a
U. of California at Riverside
scientist recently joined two
positronium atoms (formed by the
union of an electron and its
antiparticle, the positron) into the
first antimolecule. A short-lived
molecule like that doesn’t have
any direct uses, but the technique
may bring us closer to creating a
powerful gamma-ray laser.—
Discover (December, 2007)
< Home > < Index > < Page 1 > < Page 2 > < Page 3 > < Page 4 > < Online Extra >