“What is clear from earlier spills … is that adding
microbes is highly unlikely to be of any help. While pure
cultures of microbes do a wonderful job of degrading
some hydrocarbons in laboratory culture vessels and
bioreactors, they have never been shown to be able to
compete with the diverse community of oil degraders that
develops naturally in oceans.… But that does not stop
companies from trying to sell an immediate solution that will instantly clean
up the spilled oil.… There were the orange and lemon rinds that would bring
about the instant disappearance of the oil — indeed if you use the olfactory
test for the presence of oil and you add enough oranges and lemons you will
no longer be able to smell the oil and could erroneously conclude that the
oil was gone.... Let’s hope that BP insists on scientifically proven methods
and resists the urge to buy instant snake oil cures.” – BIOLOGIST RONALD ATLAS OF THE
UNIVERSI TY OF LOUISVILLE IN KENTUCK Y IN A JUNE 7 POS T ON AN AMERICAN SOCIE TY FOR MICROBIOLOG Y BLOG
ON THE SCENE BLOG
New estimates of CO2
input and output by land-based life may improve
climate change models.
Read “New carbon data
should produce better
climate forecasts.”
LIFE
Coral reef fish larvae lose
their senses — at least in
discerning smells — when
water’s pH falls. See
“Ocean acidification may
make fish foolhardy.”
Science Past | FROM THE ISSUE OF JULY 30, 1960
LIP-SMACKING GRASSHOPPER — A grasshopper with a tal-
ent for lip-smacking has turned out to be quite an unusual
insect. Paratylotropidia brunneri Scudder is the first insect
known to communicate over fairly long
distances by producing an audible sound
from the mouth — literally smacking its
lips…. Produced at the rate of six or seven
per second, usually in groups of four, the
grasshopper ticks resemble a shorter,
softer version of the ticking song of a
katydid. The call can be heard several yards away…. It may
be … that the grasshopper’s lip-smacking signal evolved
through a stage in which feeding noises were significant.
At present it may be effective as a long-range signal only in
areas where there are few other sound-producing insects.
Firsts
Scientists have for the first time pinned down an extraso-
lar planet’s mass by observing the planet directly. Till now,
astronomers have calculated exoplanet mass by how much
“wobble” its gravity produced in its host star’s orbit. But by
studying how the starlight shifted as it passed through the
atmosphere of exoplanet HD 209458b (illustrated), Dutch
researchers found the planet’s orbital velocity. Plugging the
data into Newton’s law of gravity gave
a value for the planet’s mass — about
64 percent of Jupiter’s, the team
reports in the June 24 Nature. The
study also assessed the abundance of
molecules in the planet’s atmosphere.
Science Future
August 14 – 17
The American Sociological
Association meets in Atlanta.
See www.asanet.org/meetings
ATOM & COSMOS
August 30 – September 3
Researchers and policy makers meet in Boston to discuss
environmental factors affecting
penguin population health. See
www.penguinconference.org
Dry river deltas and valleys support the idea of an
ancient Martian ocean, a
new study finds. Read “Wet
past for Red Planet.”
September 1
A psychologist lectures in New
York City on the connection
between beauty and happiness.
See www.nyas.org/events
BODY & BRAIN
A new chemical seems to
help baby brain cells reach
maturity. Read “Fertilizing
future brain cells.”
Science Stats | GLOBAL GENDER PAY GAP
Male scientists outearn female scientists in each country surveyed in
a recent poll, with a lead of about 30 percent in some cases.
Average scientist salary by gender and country
Male Female
SOURCE: S. GRIMME AND G. RUSSO/NATURE 2010
100
Salary in US$ (thousands)
80
60
40
20
0
India
Japan
Australia
France
Germany
United Kingdom
Italy
Spain
United States
Canada
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: TOM FOUGEROUSSE/UNIV. OF LOUISVILLE; COURTESY OF DR. SIMON FOALE, ARC CEN TRE OF EXCELLENCE FOR CORAL REEF STUDIES; ESO
