Scientific Observations
“At first glance, the causes of wildlife declines in
a protected area may seem obvious. Excessive
hunting, for instance, effectively extirpated wolves,
mountain lions, and other large carnivores from
Yellowstone National Park. Modern extinctions in
protected areas, however, are seldom so easily
attributed to one cause. Recent studies link them
to an array of threats that vary, often unpredictably,
across time and space. They range from global
phenomena such as climate change and atmospheric pollution, to regional
issues such as shifts in fire regimes, disease dynamics, or invasive species, to
more localized threats such as overharvest, habitat conversion, and the effects
of isolation. These threats can interact both additively and synergistically to
create syndromes of extinction that confound diagnosis and remedy.” — ECOLOGIST
JUSTIN S. BRASHARES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, IN THE JULY 23 SCIENCE
SN Online
www.sciencenews.org
GENES & CELLS
Some liver cells have a
strange number of chromosomes, but instead of
signaling cancer this quirk
may make cells stronger.
Read “Vital flaw.”
LIFE
New data counter old
about where mosquitoes
picked up malaria. See
“Main malaria parasite
came to humans from
gorillas, not chimps.”
Science Past | FROM THE ISSUE OF OCTOBER 22, 1960
WORLD TV VIA SATELLITES SET AT $170,000,000 —
Fifty improved courier-type communications satellites
would provide world-wide telephone and television
facilities for a mere $170,000,000:
$100,000,000 for the satellites and
$70,000,000 for the ground stations. These
are the figures the American Telephone
and Telegraph Company estimated for the
Federal Communications Commission
in Washington, D. C. Without the luxury
of television facilities, the telephone system alone would
cost only $115,000,000. AT&T also estimated the cost of an
economy system to link America, Europe and Hawaii with
30 active repeater satellites. The price for 600 telephone
circuits and a two-way TV channel: $82,000,000.
Science Future
October 28 – 30
National Science Teachers
Association holds its Kansas
City area conference on science
education. Go to www.nsta.org/
conferences/2010kan
November 1
Slated launch date for shuttle
Discovery’s ;nal space;ight.
See www.nasa.gov/missions
November 5
Nomination deadline for the
15th Annual Carnegie Science
Awards. Go to www.carnegie
sciencecenter.org
Science Stats | MANLY HYGIENE
More than three-quarters of men wash their hands publicly, but
rates fall at the ballpark, one study found.
Public hand-washing rates
20
40
60
80
100
Men
Women
Percent of bathroom visitors
ATOM & COSMOS
Astronomers combined
hours of Cassini spacecraft
data into a video of Saturn’s
auroras. Read “Glowing
auroras ring Saturn.”
Unexpected pairings of
energetic particles are
perplexing Large Hadron
Collider physicists. See
“Particles in cahoots.”
CLOCKWISE, TOP LEFT: W.C. BRASHARES; IAN NICHOLS, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY; DEVONYU/ISTOCKPHOTO
Firsts
Scientists have made the first measurements of flying fish
aerodynamics. Mechanical engineers Hyungmin Park and
Haecheon Choi of Seoul National University stuffed freshly
dead darkedged-wing flying fish (Cypselurus hiraii) with
their fins in three different positions and put the fish in a
wind tunnel. The scientists analyzed airflow around the
fins and body and found that the flying fish’s gliding performance in air is comparable to a bird’s. The data confirm that
the fish control aerodynamic forces by altering the angle of
their pectoral fins, which changes the effective “wingspan”
and the lift force. Gliding low over the water with the body
parallel to the surface minimizes drag, too. The results
appear in the September Journal of Experimental Biology.
