SCIENCE IN THE NEWS WEEKLY
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.
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