SCIENCE IN THE NEWS WEEKLY
Technology: Social Networking, Plagiarism, Profiling and More
Social networks have been a boon not only for people seeking connections to others but also for social scientists attempting to understand such relationships. What was very difficult to track by word of mouth readily surrenders to metrics through electronic services such as Facebook. As it happens, though, such tools are also proving useful to primates other than humans. An endangered Ugandan mountain gorilla, Muhozi, has gained Facebook and MySpace accounts in an effort by the Ugandan Wildlife Authority to raise funds to preserve the remaining 340 or so gorillas now living in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park.
To keep the social networking computers running, the head of the U. S. Department of Energy's storage group has taken the lead in arguing that adding significant battery capacity to the nation's electrical grid would both help smooth out fluctuations in output from renewable sources and be of general benefit to the reliability of the grid.
Technology also found uses in a few less-desirable activities last week. After an investigation by Nature, it was revealed that two Iranian government officials may have lifted text verbatim from previously published peer-reviewed papers in journals such as the Journal of Physics D and the International Journal of Impact Engineering. An even louder brouhaha was generated by revelations that the United Kingdom Border Agency began using DNA and tissue isotope analysis last year to decide who should be eligible for asylum. Scientists decried the program, using words such as "horrifying," "naïve" and "flawed."
In a shift of focus, software originally used for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI@home) will be adapted to seek evidence for artificial life. Work on EvoGrid is expected to begin in October.
And, finally, French investigators have come a long way in determining why we get such a kick out of champagne. Their work has shown that flavor-enhancing compounds are up to 30 times more prevalent in bubbles than in the wine itself.
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