2/15/2008 - MSNBC
The discovery of a Jupiter-like planet and another about the size of Saturn has astronomers suggesting that solar systems like our own may be common. The newfound worlds both appear to be gaseous and are about 80% the sizes of Jupiter and Saturn, the astronomers said today. They orbit a star that is about half the size of our Sun and is dimmer and much cooler.
2/15/2008 - ABC News
While teleportation has figured prominently in science fiction, physicists say that teleportation is possible now, at least on a small scale, and the applications for the future are far from fictitious. But pop culture's depictions of "beaming" people from one place to another have significantly mangled the perception of what's actually possible under the laws of physics. According to physicists, teleportation in its most basic sense is not about sending matter, but about sending information.
2/15/2008 - BBC News
Only about 4% of the world's oceans remain undamaged by human activity, according to the first detailed global map of human impacts on the seas. A study says that climate change, fishing, pollution, and other human factors have exacted a heavy toll on almost half of the marine waters. Only remote icy areas near the poles are relatively pristine, but they face threats as ice sheets melt. The authors say the data is a "wake-up call" to policymakers.
2/15/2008 - Scientific American
Genetic material once dismissed as "junk" may be responsible for the evolution of simple invertebrates into more complex organisms sporting backbones, according to a new study. Tiny snippets of the genome known as microRNA were long thought to be genomic refuse because they were transcribed from so-called "junk DNA," sections of the genome that do not carry information for making proteins responsible for various cellular functions. Now, researchers report that these tiny genetic segments could be responsible for the evolution of animals with backbones, noting that they found a surfeit of microRNA in the genomes of the earliest vertebrates, such as lampreys, when compared with invertebrates like sea squirts.
2/15/2008 - Education Week (requires free registration)
Edward J. McElroy announced he plans to retire as president of the American Federation of Teachers. McElroy, the head of the 1.4-member union since 2004, intends to step down at the AFT's convention in July. McElroy's presidency has been marked by the union's sharp opposition to important provisions in the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which the AFT greeted with reserved optimism after the law passed Congress with broad bipartisan support in 2001.
2/15/2008 - Seattlepi.com
Does class size really matter? Experts have varying opinions, but many find that there are benefits to smaller classes.
2/15/2008 - Star-Gazette
Many corporate leaders are pushing for increased focus and rigor in our K-8 science curriculum.
2/13/2008 - MSNBC
Arctic sea ice next summer may shrink below the record low last year and it's hard to see how it won't eventually melt away completely, according to a climatologist. Global warming combined with natural cyclical changes likely will continue to push ice into the North Atlantic Ocean. The last remnants of thick, old sea ice are dispersing and the unusual weather cycles that contributed to sea ice loss last year are continuing. Scientists are watching Arctic sea ice closely, trying to sort out the effects of global warming and natural cyclical changes.
2/13/2008 - ABC News
Scientists report they have found a new dinosaur species in Mexico. It was apparently a duck-billed plant eater, probably about 25 feet long. Scientists hesitate to guess too much about it, but they say they can tell from its bone structure that it was probably not fully grown. It's different from almost any other duck-billed dinosaur ever found. The reassembled skull has a large hollow bulge on top, through which it probably breathed, and its nasal passages probably allowed it to make some kind of music, somewhat like what trumpeters make.
2/12/2008 - MSNBC
The popular wireless technology known as Bluetooth could get a lot faster next year by taking advantage of Wi-Fi technology already built into many gadgets. Linking Bluetooth and Wi-Fi may make it easier and faster to transfer large amounts of music between computers and cell phones, or send pictures from a camera phone to a printer, or video from a camcorder to a TV.
2/12/2008 - The Washington Post (requires free registration)
Living to 100 is easier than you might think. Surprising new research suggests that even people who develop heart disease or diabetes late in life have a decent shot at reaching the century mark.
2/12/2008 - Scientific American
A new study adds to the growing body of evidence that artificial sweeteners may add, rather than trim weight. Psychologists report that nine rats given yogurt sweetened with no-cal saccharin ended up eating more and gaining more weight and body fat than eight fellow rodents given yogurt containing plain old glucose. Study authors speculate the reason is that the faux sweetener confuses the brain, fooling it into revving up the body's metabolism in anticipation of a never-to-come calorie load.
2/12/2008 - The New York Times (requires free registration)
Archaeologists reported the discovery at a desert oasis of what they say is the earliest known farming settlement in ancient Egypt. They said the animal bones, carbonized grains, hearths, and pottery were roughly dated at 5200 B.C. Now, for the first time, the archaeologists said, early agriculture in Egypt can be studied in a village context, promising insights about the farmers and some answers to the questions of how, why, and when Egyptians adopted farming.
2/12/2008 - St. Petersburg Times
Opponents of Florida's proposed new science standards turned out in force Monday, encouraging education officials, in the last public hearing before next week's vote, to take a more skeptical view of evolution. More than 70 people spoke at the hearing, which itself drew criticism because board members were not present. About 45 speakers were opposed.
2/11/2008 - The New York Times (requires free registration)
Government scientists have discovered a new way that H.I.V. attacks human cells, an advance that could provide fresh avenues for the development of additional therapies to stop AIDS. The discovery is the identification of a new human receptor for H.I.V. The receptor helps guide the virus to the gut after it gains entry to the body, where it begins its relentless attack on the immune system. Scientists have sought to identify receptors because they offer targets for the development of new classes of drugs.
2/11/2008 - National Geographic
Modern birds originated a hundred million years ago--long before the demise of dinosaurs, according to new research. In searching for the first ancestors of modern birds, studies have shown discrepancies between results from fossils and genetic analyses. Fossil records suggest that modern birds originated 60 million years ago, after the end of the Cretaceous period about 65 million years ago when dinosaurs died off. But molecular studies suggest that the genetic divergences between many lineages of birds occurred during the Cretaceous period. Now a new study based on molecular evidence suggests that avian ancestors were flapping their wings some 40 million years earlier than thought.
2/11/2008 - Education Week (requires free registration)
Does motivating students to study harder with the promise of cash sound like innovation—or bribery?That's a question educators and researchers have been debating, amid concerns that money-for-achievement programs actually decrease students' intrinsic motivation to learn and send mixed messages about studying. But the idea is catching on, with new cash-incentive programs planning to give money to students this school year in the Baltimore school district and some schools in an Atlanta suburb.
2/11/2008 - MSNBC
Scientists may one day be able to destroy viruses in the same way that opera singers presumably shatter wine glasses. New research mathematically determined the frequencies at which simple viruses could be shaken to death. "The capsid of a virus is something like the shell of a turtle," said physicist Otto Sankey of Arizona State University. "If the shell can be compromised [by mechanical vibrations], the virus can be inactivated." Recent experimental evidence has shown that laser pulses tuned to the right frequency can kill certain viruses. However, locating these so-called resonant frequencies is a bit of trial and error.
2/11/2008 - The Kansas City Star
This spring Kansas State University will graduate more math teachers than anyone there can remember--31 instead of the usual 15. Other universities, including UMKC and the University of Missouri-Columbia, are seeing more math education majors.
2/11/2008 - The Times-Herald
Since becoming one of the first Georgia school systems to receive "district accreditation" from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the Coweta County School System has worked through a short checklist of suggestions for improvement. The hiring of "content specialists" in the areas of math and science represents one of the last check marks to be made. Though the school system has curriculum coordinators at the elementary and secondary levels, this is the first time individuals will be assigned to a specific subject. The content specialists will work hand-in-hand with curriculum coordinators to ensure their subject area is being implemented across the board.
2/8/2008 - Daily News
Middle school teacher, Greer Harvell, is one of three educators from across the nation vying for the Shell Science Teaching Award. Sponsored by Shell Oil Co. and the National Science Teachers Association, the award recognizes one outstanding classroom teacher who has had a positive impact on his or her students.
2/8/2008 - BBC News
Scientists in Germany say that tattoos could be the ideal way of delivering vaccines into the body. The researchers say that in tests undertaken with mice, tattoos were much more effective in provoking a response from the immune system. Tattoos could be a useful way of delivering therapeutic vaccines in humans, including for some cancers. Such vaccines have often failed to produce the expected immune response when delivered using an injection.
2/8/2008 - Scientific American
Converting corn to ethanol in Iowa not only leads to clearing more of the Amazonian rainforest, researchers report in a pair of new studies in Science, but also would do little to slow global warming, and often make it worse. Turning food into fuel also has the unintended consequence of driving up food prices, reducing the access of the neediest populations to grains and meat.
2/8/2008 - The New York Times (requires free registration)
Researchers have developed an electrical generator mounted on the knee that turns walks into watts. The device, which in its current form looks a little like a simple knee brace with cyborg bling, harnesses power from part of the stride. One device on each leg can produce about five watts of electricity, which is enough to run 10 cellphones, or potentially, medical devices like insulin pumps or prosthetic limbs. The power generated could be stored in a battery.
2/8/2008 - Santa Barbara News Press
The founder of a popular Kentucky Christian museum that rejects evolution says in a new book that Darwin's theory fuels racism and genocide. Ken Ham, who opened the Creation Museum last year, and co-author Charles Ware, president of Crossroads Bible College in Indianapolis, have written "Darwin's Plantation: Evolution's Racist Roots," arguing that the theory inspired the Nazi belief in racial superiority and the murderous policies of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.
