This may fall into the "well, duh" category of discovery. But the Toronto Globe and Mail's Scott DeVeau this week reports a study, by University of Connecticut and Elon University researchers, that compared the way young women and young men interpret each other's remarks and manner during conversations. One co-...
This may fall into the "well, duh" category of discovery. But the Toronto Globe and Mail's Scott DeVeau this week reports a study, by University of Connecticut and Elon University researchers, that compared the way young women and young men interpret each other's remarks and manner during conversations. One co-author told him, "Men were more likely to perceive their partner as sexy and flirtatious, but that didn't at all correspond with how she saw him or she saw herself." Seriously, such data probably help inform efforts to corral men who tend toward sexual harassment after they read invitations that don't exist. But still: well, duh.
In a step that a Johns Hopkins researcher calls an important "proof of principle," damaged spinal cords in rats grew new connections to restore motor movement after treatment with mouse embryonic stem cells...
In a step that a Johns Hopkins researcher calls an important "proof of principle," damaged spinal cords in rats grew new connections to restore motor movement after treatment with mouse embryonic stem cells. The experiment's success also depended on a cocktail of growth hormones and other specialized substances to encourage assembly of a complete motor neuron circuit. Some of the new nerves completed circuitry all the way to targeted muscle groups. Human tests are some time off, but the researchers say they are optimistic. The results are to be published next week in the Annals of Neurology. The word from Johns Hopkins is that Reuters broke the journal's embargo.
Stories:
AP Lauran Neergaard;...
Demography is a science, is it not? At any rate, the US census bureau has released stats -- halfway between the last and the next official census -- on where people are going, and the places they are leaving. Clearly, in the minds of civic leaders and newspaper reporters, growth is good. That's sociological, and...
Demography is a science, is it not? At any rate, the US census bureau has released stats -- halfway between the last and the next official census -- on where people are going, and the places they are leaving. Clearly, in the minds of civic leaders and newspaper reporters, growth is good. That's sociological, and that's science too, sort of. Here is a sampling of newspaper takes on their local regions. Hard hit is the midwest. A quote quote found by Tim Doulin of the Columbus Dispatch, whose city bucked the local trend and eked out some growth, is a good one. The city "has as many good ingredients as you can have in the Midwest for population growth." That's faint praise indeed. The Tracker does not know if anybody will read all these, but they do illuminate the dictum (adapted from an old Tip O'Neill aphorism): all news is local.
Samples:
Cincinatti's shrinking fastest: Enquirer...
This may not be the most statistically robust study in the world, but what the Tribune-Review's Jennifer Bails reports could explain a lot to sport fans, if it's correct. It comes from a graduate student from Brock University, in Ontario, who reported it at a big neuroendocrinology meeting. He...
This may not be the most statistically robust study in the world, but what the Tribune-Review's Jennifer Bails reports could explain a lot to sport fans, if it's correct. It comes from a graduate student from Brock University, in Ontario, who reported it at a big neuroendocrinology meeting. He found among high school ice hockey players that both testosterone and the stress hormone cortisol spiked before games and, most important, the effect was greater before home games than away games. Most reporters linked the finding to the recent finals of the National Hockey League season.
Stories:
Pitts. Trib-Review Jennifer Bails; Globe and Mail Unnati Gandhi; Canadian Press...
In a regional report on global warming, the Detroit News's Mark Hicks tells readers in the US automobile industry's heart that global warming emissions are pollutants, not mere greenhouse gases...
In a regional report on global warming, the Detroit News's Mark Hicks tells readers in the US automobile industry's heart that global warming emissions are pollutants, not mere greenhouse gases, and are up regionally 46 percent in the last 50 years. The stats, which echo those of the nation as a whole, come from a private advocacy group that says it got them from a Department of Energy lab. Coal is one major source. Nearly a third of the increase is due to vehicle exhausts, the report says. The kicker is a quote calling Michigan's duty to cut its emissions a "moral obligation," a phrase that a certain former vice president just used on Larry King's show.
Grist for the Mill: Environment Michigan...
In the latest installment of its worthy "Energy Challenge" series, the NYTimes looks at Europe's inability to shake free of CO2-spewing powerplants fired by coal, despite most of its nations' commitments...
In the latest installment of its worthy "Energy Challenge" series, the NYTimes looks at Europe's inability to shake free of CO2-spewing powerplants fired by coal, despite most of its nations' commitments to Kyoto agreements. The Times's Mark Landler datelines it in aptly-named Schwarze Pumpe (which means black pump, a name having nothing however to do with pollution) in Germany where a pilot plant that will sequester its combusted carbon is going up (shown at right). Even in England, where the coal industry has imploded in recent decades, he reports, some mines may soon reopen.
Melanoma, the most serious common form of skin cancer, strikes most often in people with light skin that has few ultraviolet ray-absorbing pigments, such as persons of northern European ancestry. It is at them that...
Melanoma, the most serious common form of skin cancer, strikes most often in people with light skin that has few ultraviolet ray-absorbing pigments, such as persons of northern European ancestry. It is at them that most health warnings are aimed. But it can happen to anybody. A University of Miami study reports that, perhaps partly on the assumption they don't get the disease, blacks and other dark skinned Americans are much more likely to ignore signs of trouble until it is at an advanced, potentially fatal level. When they do get melanoma, African Americans are more than three times as likely as whites to be diagnosed at a late stage, hispanics nearly twice as likely. The results are in the Archives of Dermatology. They arise from examination of cases in Miami-Dade County.
Stories:
...
A study in JAMA, by Univ. of Wisconsin researchers, finds that cholesterol-lowering statin drugs seem to be significantly reducing the incidence of cataracts. This is a surprise, reports the LA Times's Thomas H. Maugh II, partly because among the FDA snags that some proposed statins hit was that...
A study in JAMA, by Univ. of Wisconsin researchers, finds that cholesterol-lowering statin drugs seem to be significantly reducing the incidence of cataracts. This is a surprise, reports the LA Times's Thomas H. Maugh II, partly because among the FDA snags that some proposed statins hit was that they seemed to increase eye cloudiness. But the study of 1300 people found a 45 percent cataract reduction. Even the lead author says the finding must be regarded as preliminary, with extensive followup to find out what's going on and whether it may lead to uses of such drugs specifically for eye problems. For the moment, she said, that's not merited.
Stories:
LA Times Thomas H. Maugh II; AP...
Researchers from China and from Britain's Cardiff University think there could be at least twice as many giant pandas living in the bamboo-rich forests of China as in earlier estimates. The new number derives from study of DNA...
Researchers from China and from Britain's Cardiff University think there could be at least twice as many giant pandas living in the bamboo-rich forests of China as in earlier estimates. The new number derives from study of DNA in panda droppings in one reserve. The genetic diversity the scientists found tells them that many more pandas are in the area than had been seen and counted. The findings are in the journal Current Biology.
Stories:
Reuters Belinda Goldsmith; Shanghai Daily Zhang Liuhao; ScienceNow...
A despairing, fed-up hed on a story about fish dying: "Lake Erie Cursed?..." says it all. The big pond does make a good poster child for invasive species. Lampreys, zebra mussells, the whole lot. In this case, it's actually an invasive virus. The Dispatch's Mike Lafferty reports that yellow perch...
A despairing, fed-up hed on a story about fish dying: "Lake Erie Cursed?..." says it all. The big pond does make a good poster child for invasive species. Lampreys, zebra mussells, the whole lot. In this case, it's actually an invasive virus. The Dispatch's Mike Lafferty reports that yellow perch have been showing up in nets, bleeding. There have been big fish kills, too. They have hemorrhagic-septicemia, he reports. Several species of fish are susceptible. The virus is common in Europe and Japan and has been popping up in the US for quite a while.
Other Hemorrhagic Fish News: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle Misty Edgecomb. The virus is in Lake...
20Jun 2006
The Globe regularly runs short and commendable profiles of scientists or other researchers. This week's is particularly fine. Writer Keith O'Brien goes down to Woods Hole to interview Shinya Inoue, who crafts microscopes. One of his first ones was so highly regarded his colleagues called it the...
The Globe regularly runs short and commendable profiles of scientists or other researchers. This week's is particularly fine. Writer Keith O'Brien goes down to Woods Hole to interview Shinya Inoue, who crafts microscopes. One of his first ones was so highly regarded his colleagues called it the Shinya Scope. He started building the things during air raids on Tokyo and later moved to the US. The story is a good illustration of the power of curiosity.
In Madagascar a symposium on African biodiversity and its value opened this week, sponsored by Conservation International. The AP's Jerome DeLay is there and reports that presidents and reps of several African nations are all saying the right things about the need to create wildlife parks and to...
In Madagascar a symposium on African biodiversity and its value opened this week, sponsored by Conservation International. The AP's Jerome DeLay is there and reports that presidents and reps of several African nations are all saying the right things about the need to create wildlife parks and to protect them from poachers and development. One focus is on creation of tourism or other businesses that create jobs while fostering conservation. Some African nations hope to emulate such nations as Costa Rica in making money off their remaining wildlands. That seems a tall order but, as one example of African potential, DeLay reports that Equatorial Guinea's lands set aside for nature, at least on paper, account for 37 percent of its area.
The Sacramento Bee's Edie Lau does a bang-up job profiling Arthur Rosenfeld, a state energy commissioner and one of the nation's leading lights on the battle to turn down...
The Sacramento Bee's Edie Lau does a bang-up job profiling Arthur Rosenfeld, a state energy commissioner and one of the nation's leading lights on the battle to turn down the lights ... and thermostats, and fridges, and giant SUVs, and everything else that makes Americans such energy pigs. He's a UC Berkeley physicist, was Enrico Fermi's last graduate student, and he's in DC to get the annual Fermi prize. Not much new science in this thing but it's a proper tribute to a good man.
The one certainty about global warming is a rising sea level, but so far at least, writes the Times's Cornelia Dean, homebuilders and homebuyers aren't factoring climate...
The one certainty about global warming is a rising sea level, but so far at least, writes the Times's Cornelia Dean, homebuilders and homebuyers aren't factoring climate change much into their decisions to put houses on barrier islands, beach bluffs, and other strands. The sea wall business is getting busier, she reports, which is fine if one sells rip rap or concrete for a living but the experts tell her the ocean's gonna win this one anyway, eventually. She reports that an orderly retreat from an advancing coast is a "perennial nonstarter" among realtors and the industries they serve. The story leads the science section and is well reported, touching on oceanography, sediment transport, sea wall technologies, thermal expansion, dredging, sand pumping, and the bleakness of an armored shoreline.
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The AP's Greg Bluestein gathers from an Atlanta meeting a decent grab bag of examples of evolution's fruits that smart engineers may turn into practical devices. They could include machines that use sonar like bats, or detect vibrations like rat whiskers, or walk like insects, or carry loads like...
The AP's Greg Bluestein gathers from an Atlanta meeting a decent grab bag of examples of evolution's fruits that smart engineers may turn into practical devices. They could include machines that use sonar like bats, or detect vibrations like rat whiskers, or walk like insects, or carry loads like spiders' silk, or detect small objects the way crabs respond to shrimp in the dark. The Tracker finds it odd that the usual, time-tested, and mellifluous word for this kind of work, "biomimetics", does not make its way into the yarn. Similarly perplexing is the story's aside on intelligent design.
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