Posts

The ability to link language to the world around us is a crowning feature of our species. For very young infants, it is not yet about learning the meaning of words like “cat” or “dog.” Rather, the acoustic signals in speech help foster infants’ fundamental cognitive capacities, including the formation of categories of objects, such as cats or dogs. The sounds that activate this key step in development can come not just from human language but also from vocalizations made by nonhuman primates....

There’s something mysterious coming up from the frozen ground in Antarctica, and it could break physics as we know it. Physicists don’t know what it is exactly. But they do know it’s some sort of cosmic ray—a high-energy particle that’s blasted its way through space, into the Earth, and back out again. But the particles physicists know about—the collection of particles that make up what scientists call the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics—shouldn’t be able to do that....

Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of six features on the science of food, running daily from March 30 through April 6, 2009. DAVIS, Calif.—Ann Wigmore was not enamored with the American diet. Having moved from Lithuania after World War I, she was appalled by our white breads and other abominations and dearly missed the treats her grandmother once prepared, including a savory “gruel made from crushed rye grain and diluted goat’s milk....

In anticipating the next pandemic, flu specialists think the H5N1 avian flu strain, which has jumped from birds to dozens of people in Asia, will inevitably adapt to spreading from person to person. The first local outbreaks could then quickly fan out across the globe. If the disease follows the pattern of previous pandemics, a third of the world’s population could be infected and perhaps 1 percent of those people might die....

Donald Trump is loaded. He has 673 delegates, billions of dollars and a gun permit. But he doesn’t seem to have a coherent policy on energy and climate. Trump to this point has offered campaign pitches rather than policy positions on issues related to greenhouse gases, fossil fuel development and renewable electricity. It appears that the Republican front-runner hasn’t hired a top energy adviser, according to multiple GOP analysts who work on the issue....

Climate scientists this week began a research blitz to study El Niño, the climate trouble-maker that disrupts weather around much of the globe. For the next two months, US researchers will use specially outfitted planes, a research ship and hundreds of weather balloons to monitor the region in the tropical Pacific Ocean where El Niño forms. Ultimately, the scientists say, their measurements could help to improve weather forecasts and unlock secrets about how powerful El Niño events evolve....

“In China victory for wildlife conservation as citizens persuaded to give up shark fin soup.” This October 19 headline in the Washington Post was one that marine conservationists had been waiting decades to read—and the story inside delivered, reporting a 50 to 70 percent decrease in consumption of the delicacy over the last two years in China. Demand for shark fin soup is one of the largest drivers of the global shark overfishing crisis that has resulted in one in six species of sharks, skates, and rays being evaluated as Threatened by the IUCN Red List....

In the recent past, the World Health Organization linked asbestos to 107,000 lost lives worldwide in a single year. The use of asbestos is currently banned in 55 countries, including most of Europe. Despite the fact that an estimated 10-15% of those deaths occurred in the United States, asbestos is not banned in the United States or Canada. Here in the US, asbestos is still imported and found in consumer products like clothing, vinyl floor tiles, roof coatings, cement shingles, and automobile brake pads and clutches....

… 5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1 … and liftoff! Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved rockets and everything about flying to space. So the sound of the countdown leading up to a rocket launch is music to my ears. Of course, the sound that follows the countdown is anything but musical because rockets are really loud … but they’re also beautiful. And they’re marvelous machines that will soon be playing an increasingly crucial role in our day-to-day lives as we begin the journey towards becoming a truly space-faring species....

A WORLD WITHOUT COLOR appears to be missing crucial elements. And indeed it is. Colors not only enable us to see the world more precisely, they also create emergent qualities that would not exist without them. The color photograph at the left, for example, reveals autumnal leaves in the placid water of a fountain, along with the reflections of trees and of a dark-blue afternoon sky behind them. In a black-and-white picture of the same scene, the leaves are less distinct, the dark-blue sky is absent, the reflections of the light are weak, the water itself is hardly visible, and the difference in apparent depth among the sky, trees and floating leaves is all but gone....

Our Scientific American 50 award for Policy Leader of the Year to Al Gore for spreading awareness of climate change was the most controversial item of the December 2006 issue. Some correspondents were wholly dismissive of Gore’s efforts; others felt he erred in oversimplifying a complicated subject. “The earth’s atmosphere is very complex, yet Gore asserts that climate warming is due to one factor: the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,” wrote H....

A newly discovered type of stem cell could help provide a model for early human development—and, eventually, allow human organs to be grown in large animals such as pigs or cows for research or therapeutic purposes. Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, a developmental biologist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, and his colleagues stumbled across a previously unknown variety of pluripotent cell—which can give rise to any type of tissue—while attempting to graft human pluripotent stem cells into mouse embryos....

Polyethylene is one of the most popular and, unfortunately, persistent types of plastics. Bags, bottles, and packaging made from the polymer accumulate in landfills and oceans across the globe. Scientists lament that microbes can’t chew up the plastic to render it harmless. However, a new study reports the first definitive molecular evidence that certain bacteria, found in the guts of a common pantry pest, can thrive on polyethylene and break it apart (Environ....

Climate change is already threatening some of the Mediterranean’s most treasured historical sites, from the iconic Venice canals to the ancient Phoenician city of Tyre. A jarring new study, published yesterday in the journal Nature Communications, found that more than 90 percent of the region’s World Heritage sites are at risk now from sea-level rise and coastal erosion. By the end of the century, 47 of the Mediterranean’s 49 sites—and some of the oldest remaining markers of the history of human civilization—will be in jeopardy....

Packaging is essential for preserving and distributing many kinds of foods, but it often incorporates plastic—scraps of which already litter too much of the planet, posing a threat to wildlife and contaminating drinking water and soil. Now researchers say they have developed a nontoxic, biodegradable and antimicrobial food coating that could reduce food waste and foodborne illness without adding plastic to the environment. A new study shows this material can be effectively sprayed on individual pieces of produce, such as fruits or vegetables....

Earlier this year Iran’s defense minister put the world on notice: His nation had developed the ability to “easily” watch spacewalking astronauts from the ground. The announcement was largely ignored, in part because it made the minister sound like a James Bond villain. The boast was also a bit anticlimactic, given that even amateur astronomers are already recording in detail what happens in low Earth orbit. Both the technology involved and the techniques used to observe satellites and even the occasional astronaut perched outside the International Space Station (ISS) are improving, much to the presumed chagrin of governments looking to keep certain on orbital activity confidential....

NEW YORK CITY—The bustling food market on the corner of 165th Street and Grand Concourse in the Bronx almost has a casino feel, except that the chips are dull brown, and rather than cherries on a slot machine real fruit and vegetables are lined up on display. But the cheers are no less exuberant: “This is so awesome!” exclaims one happy customer clutching a handful of tokens and tomatoes. “It’s just like Atlantic City....

To medicate or not? Millions of parents must decide when their child is diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)–a decision made tougher by controversy. Studies increasingly show that while medication may calm a child’s behavior, it does not improve grades, peer relationships or defiant behavior over the long term. Consequently, researchers have focused attention on the disorder’s neurobiology. Recent studies support the notion that many children with ADHD have cognitive deficits, specifically in working memory–the ability to hold in mind information that guides behavior....

Although at times your dog’s vocalizations might be unwelcome, those sounds carry much more information and meaning than you might think. In recent years many studies have investigated the noises made by companion dogs. One major finding: dogs bark differently in various contexts, and it is possible to tell the difference. A 2004 study by Sophia Yin and Brenda McCowan in Animal Behaviour reported that “disturbance barks” (emitted in response to a stranger ringing the doorbell) sound different from “isolation barks” (when a dog is separated from an owner) and barks emitted during play....

The Biden administration arrived this month at international climate talks in Scotland with the intent to prove the United States was again ready to lead the fight against global warming. But when more than 40 countries signed a pledge to phase out coal in the coming decades, the United States was conspicuously absent. The White House’s reluctance to sign the pledge says a lot about coal’s continued political influence in the face of declining fortunes....