Science in the News Weekly is a digest of science news stories appearing in the mainstream media. It is delivered every Monday afternoon (or Tuesday afternoon in the case of a Monday holiday) as part of Sigma Xi's public understanding of science program area, in conjunction with American Scientist magazine.

Science at the Top of the News for October 26-30

The most viewed article last week by subscribers to Science in the News Daily described a new bladeless fan produced by Dyson Inc. The other top two news items included a portrait of the renewal of the Aral Sea in Central Asia and a criticism of organic food by Maywa Montenegro. Subscribe now for free daily updates.

Environment: Climate, Bears and Bugs

At the Indigenous Uranium Forum in Acoma, N.M., attendees opposed renewed uranium mining for nuclear energy. They recalled health problems that mining caused to their communities in the past and objected to mining on sacred land. Meanwhile, on the East Coast, two tribes are opposing Cape Wind, an offshore wind farm proposed for Nantucket Sound. Desecrating the site with wind turbines would be detrimental to the tribes' spiritual well-being, they say.

For climate activists attending a wave of more than 4,300 coordinated demonstrations around the globe, the atmosphere—not the energy source—was the bottom line. Their message centered on the number 350, a target "safe" atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (in parts per million). The New York Times looked at their message and why some scientists say 350 was a bad choice.

Others say that carbon dioxide concentration alone isn't enough to go on, and the Christian Science Monitor featured efforts to create a global climate index. Like the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the index would distill multiple measures of climate change into a easy-to-understand figure.

The Associated Press, meanwhile, debunked a myth—fueled by recent cooler weather—that the climate isn't even warming. Four independent statisticians analyzed the temperature data and didn't find a cooling trend.

Climate aside, it was a big week for bear news. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that black bears in Yosemite National Park target minivans over other vehicles because they're easy to open and reliably full of food. Or at least crumbs. And the BBC profiled bear biologist Lynn Rogers, who has studied black bear behavior for 43 years. He gains the bears' trust and walks the woods with them to get a closer look at their lifestyle.

Finally, in insect news, researchers in California have found a way to induce war among invasive Argentine ants. And male bed bugs try to mate with other males—until the unwilling target releases a chemical that says "bug off."

Happy Birthday Internet, Caring Robots, Forensic Art

In the aftermath of the worst financial meltdown since the Great Depression, it's natural for people to question the economic principles that got us into such a pickle. What may be surprising, however, is that physicists have joined in to point out that economists ignore the concept of net energy return on investment at our peril. At the same time, some people are taking energy conservation personally and seriously, especially a Massachusetts family who plan to leave the furnace off this winter. And across the continent, a pair of Canadians are planning to open a desalination business that uses solar heat to dramatically reduce the energy required.

Last week saw the Internet celebrate its 40th birthday, and enthusiasts of classical music may be among the most grateful. Faced with high costs, an aging listening public and dwindling endowments, symphonies are increasingly substituting digital approaches for live performances. Computation is also helping out in the medical field, where highly interactive robots are being used to engage with stroke and Alzheimer's patients and autistic children.

In the world of weapons, however, computers are a two-edged sword: Despite efforts to build secure facilities to manufacture "trusted" chips, only 2 percent of integrated circuits used in weaponry come from such plants, risking silicon subversion. Still, technology is on the verge of offering soldiers increased protection from chemical warfare in the form of paints that absorb toxins, protecting those in and around vehicles coated with them.

In a nod to the natural world, biologists are marveling at the eyes of mantis shrimp and hoping to learn ways to build mechanical analogs of these fine optical devices. But the exchange goes both ways: Investigators are studying whether genes inserted into plants to confer disease resistance may provide a fitness advantage if transgenes escape into wild populations.

Finally, as befits Halloween week, the forensic science of facial reconstruction to identify victims turns out to be at least as much forensic art. One of the most successful practitioners uses forensic data only as a starting point for his creative process.

An Asteroid Blast and a Russian Trip to Mars

As if there weren't enough natural disasters to worry about, now there's evidence that we're not always aware when asteroids will strike from space. An asteroid exploded high above Indonesia last month, NASA reported weeks later. This one did no harm but released about three times more energy than the atomic bomb that leveled Hiroshima.

The chief of Russia's space agency says it's time to harness nuclear power for space exploration. Anatoly Perminov has proposed a new nuclear-powered spaceship for prospective manned missions to Mars and other planets.

And it appears Einstein is still right about some fundamental properties about our universe. After timing the travels of gamma rays of differing energies and wavelengths emitted when the universe was half its current age, scientists observed that they arrived at a target within nine-tenths of a second of each other. Einstein's theory of relativity, remember, instructs that the speed of light is constant, independent of its energy, direction and many other factors.

A Toddler Gets an Artificial Arm Bone

In what they called a medical first, surgeons implanted an artificial bone in the arm of a 3-year-old to replace his humerus, which was lost during cancer treatment. Nearly a year later, the boy is thriving and cancer-free.

Clinical success has also been reported in one type of gene therapy, a field that hasn't always lived up to its promise. Pennsylvania researchers have improved vision in 12 patients with a rare inherited visual defect.

Scientists are also making progress in the lab harnessing molecular systems gone awry to fight disease—in mice, anyway. They are retooling autoimmune responses that attack an animal's own tissue and turning them into weapons against cancer.

And in another potential step forward at the laboratory bench, scientists have turned human stem cells into early-stage sperm and eggs, an accomplishment that could provide insight into the causes of infertility.

Nobrow Cartoons by Mark Heath

Nobrow Cartoons

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