Milestone for CERN
BBC: Construction on a giant underground laboratory that will help take physics into a new era is reaching a major milestone.
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February 28, 2007Milestone for CERNBBC: Construction on a giant underground laboratory that will help take physics into a new era is reaching a major milestone. Once a rite of passage, science fairs lose lusterOrlando Sentinel: Science fairs used to be big deals -- competitions that exercised critical-thinking, research and public speaking. It's also a blast to set off papier-mache volcanoes and grow tiny Sea-Monkeys. But participation in county science fairs has dropped dramatically among Florida high-school students -- ironically, at the same time the state has ordered teachers to focus more intensely on biology, chemistry and other sciences. Blueprint for new energy instituteSan Francisco Chronicle: A brain trust of UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientists will staff the university's new Energy Biosciences Institute funded by British Petroleum, and a top plant research professor at Stanford appears likely to be selected to lead the facility. Iran's pursuit of nuclear power raises alarmsThe Christian Science Monitor: Does access to fuel ease nations toward nuclear weapons? Rising demand has nonproliferation experts unsettled. February 27, 2007European research council gets billon dollar budgetBBC: Europe has a new flagship agency to fund the brightest ideas in science. US Government Reconsiders future of Los AlamosDaily Nexus: Despite increases in facility security and program redevelopment, the University of California-managed Los Alamos National Laboratory is currently facing several threats to its funding and longevity from government officials. New South Pole telescope to study mysterious dark energyUSA Today: The new South Pole Telescope (SPT) has successfully collected its first light as part of a long-term project to unravel one of the biggest mysteries in cosmology, researchers announced today. Practical Fusion, or Just a Bubble?The New York Times: Explosive devices based on fusion have been built for years. The challenge is a reactor that generates more energy than it consumes. February 26, 20072007 International Polar YearVarious: The UN will launch tomorrow the 2007 International Polar Year. The research project, which will cost $350-million to $1.5-billion, involves more than 60 countries and 10,000 scientists studying climate, geology, and biology of the two polar regions. Nearly every major media outlet is reporting the start of the IPY, including the Christian Science Monitor, the BBC, the New York Times, and the Middle East Times. The IPY is the fourth such integrated Artic and Antarctic science effort since 1882 says the New York Times. The last such effort, the International Geophysical Year was fifty years ago. Unlike the IGY, the IPY "is a very grass-roots effort," says Robin Bell, a senior scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, N.Y to the Christian Science Monitor. Iran Says It Launched Suborbital Rocket Into SpaceThe New York Times: Iran announced Sunday that it had launched a research rocket that attained a suborbital altitude, a test that appeared to move it closer toward its aim of putting its own satellites into space. New Sub Dives Crushing DepthsWired: Scientists at the University of Washington have developed an autonomous underwater vehicle that can stay out to sea for up to a year and dive to depths of nearly 9,000 feet -- nearly three times deeper than the deepest-diving military submarines. Climate change institute createdBBC: Climate change has become such a major issue that a leading UK university is to create a dedicated institute to study the subject. February 23, 2007Medieval Mosques Illuminated by MathNPR: Historic buildings in the Islamic world are often covered with breathtakingly intricate geometric designs. Both artists and mathematicians have long puzzled over them, wondering how the patterns were created. Where Bush would steer energy R&DThe Christian Science Monitor: Some critics question proposed federal spending hikes for nuclear research. Ozone layer damage linked to increase use of CFC'sThe New York Times: Until recently, it looked like the depleted ozone layer protecting the earth from harmful solar rays was on its way to being healed. But thanks in part to an explosion of demand for air-conditioners in hot places like India and southern China — mostly relying on refrigerants already banned in Europe and in the process of being phased out in the United States — the ozone layer is proving very hard to repair. Car company collapse hits UK scienceBBC: UK science has become an unexpected victim of the Rover collapse as funds used to soften the impact of the failure were clawed back from research. Blair bids for missile defense siteThe Economist: Britain's Tony Blair is bidding to host the new phase of America's missile-defence shield in Europe February 22, 2007Predictions about extrasolar planets run out of steamSan Francisco Chronicle: Three astronomy teams examining two celestial bodies called hot Jupiters fail to find water as expected in worlds' atmospheres Fluorescent Bulbs: A Better Idea?NPR (audio): The debut of the "18 Seconds Movement" encourages Americans to replace incandescent light bulbs with more energy-efficient "compact fluorescent bulbs." You'll see ads on the Internet and in movie theaters, sponsored by conservation groups and by big companies who are selling the bulbs. Lawmakers in California and New Jersey are considering bans on incandescent bulbs. Los Alamos lab may lose nuclear workSanta Fe New Mexican: Record power for military laserBBC: A laser developed for military use is a few steps away from hitting a power threshold thought necessary to turn it into a battlefield weapon. February 21, 2007Doubts increase over new clean burning coal plantsThe New York Times: Within the next few years, power companies are planning to build about 150 coal plants to meet growing electricity demands. Despite expectations that global warming rules are coming, almost none of the plants will be built to capture the thousands of tons of carbon dioxide that burning coal spews into the atmosphere. Arms Control Treaties close to tipping pointVarious: The international community is having to respond to both progress and setbacks in its attempts to control both nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. The Guardian newspaper reports on Iran's defiance of the UN security council over its uranium enrichment facilities that are suspected to form the basis of nuclear weapons program. The BBC reports on a new agreement between India and Pakistan aimed at reducing the risk of accidental nuclear war in the region. North Korea may have enough plutonium for 4-8 warheads says the Boston Herald, despite agreeing to abandon its weapons program. But the main concern among arms control analysts, such as those at the STAFOR organization, is the deteriorating relationship between Russia and the US, brought about because of the positioning of radar and missile stations in Poland and the Czech Republic. The US claims that the installations are part of the national anti‑ballistic defense system, and are designed to defend the US against a missile launch from places such as Iran, not Russia. Russia disagrees, and is threatening to abandon the Intermediate‑Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) signed by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President Ronald Reagan in December 1987. The Eurasia Daily Monitor highlights a timeframe over Russian complaints regarding the INF treaty. White-knuckle atmospheric science takes flightHULIQ.com: Science doesn’t always happen at a lab bench. For University of Toronto Mississauga physicist Kent Moore, it happens while strapped into a four-point harness, flying head-on into hurricane-force winds off the southern tip of Greenland. Robo-sub takes Antarctic plungeBBC: A voyage to Antarctica's icy depths has revealed a rich array of marine life and geological features that may shed light on the region's past and future. February 20, 2007U.N. urged to take action on asteroid threatBoston Globe: An asteroid may come uncomfortably close to Earth in 2036 and the United Nations should assume responsibility for a space mission to deflect it, a group of astronauts, engineers and scientists said on Saturday. Burton Richter Speaks About Future of Particle PhysicsAzom.com: Particle physics is about to transform our thinking once again. Experiments of the last 15 years suggest new forms of matter, new forces of nature and perhaps even new dimensions of space and time. Pinning down the new ideas will require more data from larger and more expensive machines-at a time when funding is more difficult than ever to secure. Is the U.S. Near a Tipping Point on Global Warming?Environmental News Network: U.S. policy on global warming seems headed for a tipping point, with politicians, business leaders and economists joining environmentalists to call for new laws to limit greenhouse gases that spur climate change. Opinion: Why we will try not to make the same mistakes again with space hardwareThe New York Times: After years of spending our nation’s space budget building an orbiting space station of questionable utility, serviced by an operationally expensive space shuttle of unsafe design, NASA has set a new direction for the future of human spaceflight. Once again, we have our sights on the Moon ... and beyond. We are finally, bodily, going to make our way into space, this time to stay. February 19, 2007U.S. has more science smarts - sort ofBoston.com: People in the U.S. know more about basic science today than they did two decades ago, good news that researchers say is tempered by an unsettling growth in the belief in pseudoscience such as astrology and visits by extraterrestrial aliens. In 1988 only about 10 percent knew enough about science to understand reports in major newspapers, a figure that grew to 28 percent by 2005, according to Jon D. Miller, a Michigan State University professor. AAAS speaks out on warmingSeattle Times: The AAAS joined the concern over global climate change Sunday, calling it a "growing threat to society." It comes just weeks after the International Panel on Climate Change issued its most recent report on human-induced warming. Science needs entrepreneurs, Google founder saysReuters: Scientists need more entrepreneurial drive and could benefit by doing more to promote solutions to big human problems, Google Inc. co-founder Larry Page told a meeting of academic researchers. "There are lots of people who specialize in marketing, but as far as I can tell, none of them work for you," Page told researchers at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science late on Friday. Peru's glacier vanishing, scientists warnCBC: The world's largest tropical glacier is in danger of disappearing within five years, according to international researchers meeting this week in San Francisco. Ohio State glaciologist Lonnie Thompson and a team of scientists said they have found evidence the Qori Kalis glacier of the Quelccaya ice cap in the Peruvian Andes could lose half its mass in 12 months and could be gone five years from now. February 16, 2007Interview: Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner Ed McGaffiganNPR (audio): Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner Ed McGaffigan is dying of cancer. But though his life expectancy is limited, he says he will go to work until he is physically unable to do so. A Half-Century Late, Alternative Accelerator Takes OffScience: It's not quite a cyclotron and not really a synchrotron, but the fixed-field alternating-gradient synchrotron could create a whole new role for particle beams The Father of Quantum ComputingWired: On Tuesday, Canadian company D-Wave Systems demonstrated a 16-qubit, specific-purpose quantum computer to a room packed with observers and thick with doubt and awe. Reporters watched as the machine solved a Sudoku puzzle and a seating arrangements problem, and, most impressively, searched for molecules similar to the drug Prilosec from a database of molecules. Space lasers detect big lakes under Antarctic iceReuters: Lasers beamed from space have detected what researchers have long suspected: big sloshing lakes of water underneath Antarctic ice. February 15, 2007To Add Speed, Chipmakers Tune StructureBusiness Week: IBM, Intel, and AMD are finding ways around the physical problems that have hampered their efforts to make chips faster Astronomers hunt for 'exoplanets'The Christian Science Monitor: This could be a banner year in the search for alien planets. Earlier this month, a new European satellite began its mission to spot planets as they orbit in front of their stars. Meanwhile, a research team has demonstrated the power of that technique by using Hubble Space Telescope data to trace activity in the outer atmosphere of an alien world. It's the first time such meteorological details have been gathered from a planet in another star system. Scientists dubious of quantum claimsMSNBC: Quantum computing is such an elusive goal that even the company claiming to have the "world's first commercial quantum computer" acknowledged it isn't entirely sure the machine is performing true quantum calculations. Plasma physics: On the crest of a wakeNature: What a conventional particle accelerator needs kilometres to achieve, a compact 'plasma wakefield' accelerator has just mastered in less than a metre. So is it adieu to the era of the gargantuan mega-accelerator? February 14, 2007Los Alamos scientist criticizes federal approach to arsenalSan Francisco Chronicle: With the Bush administration and Congress fighting over how to rebuild the nuclear weapons complex, one of the country's top weapons designers said he believes it is time for the United States to consider a radical shift in policy that would ultimately eliminate the nuclear arsenal. Kansas board boosts evolution educationMSNBC: The Kansas state Board of Education on Tuesday repealed science guidelines questioning evolution that had made the state an object of ridicule. Comet clash kicks up dusty hazeBBC: Collisions between comets may be kicking up copious amounts of dust observed around a dead star. Finland's Nanotechnology Industry is BoomingAZoNano.com: The boom in Finnish nanotechnology is uncovered by the 'Nanotechnology in Finnish Industry' survey. The biannual survey studied the evolution of the Finnish nanotechnology scene in the period 2004-2006. The 2006 survey identified 129 Finnish companies that either had commercial products or research activities focused on nanotechnology, or who had participated in the Tekes FinNano technology programme. The previous 2004 survey had found 61 companies that had activities related to nanotechnology. February 13, 2007N. Korea agrees to nuclear disarmamentMiami Herald: North Korea agreed Tuesday to shut down its main nuclear reactor and eventually dismantle its atomic weapons program in exchange for millions of dollars in aid, just four months after the communist state shocked the world by testing a nuclear bomb. The turning point on global warmingThe Boston Globe: There is now a broad consensus in this country, and indeed in the world, that global warming is happening, that it is a serious problem, and that humans are causing it. The recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded there is a greater than 90 percent chance that greenhouse gases released by human activities like burning oil in cars and coal in power plants are causing most of the observed global warming. This report puts the final nail in denial's coffin about the problem of global warming. A Familiar and Prescient Voice, Brought to LifeThe New York Times: It’s been a long 10 years since we’ve heard Carl Sagan beckoning us to consider the possibilities inherent in the “billions” of stars peppering the sky and in the “billions” of neuronal connections spiderwebbing our brains. Researcher Cleared of Misconduct, but Case Is Still MurkyThe New York Times: A professor who contends that nuclear fusion can be generated in a tabletop experiment has been cleared of research misconduct by Purdue University. But the refusal of university officials to answer any questions and their lack of detail in a statement released last week has left scientists to pore over the words like Kremlinologists, looking to divine meaning in what was said and what was not. February 12, 2007Intel Prototype May Herald a New Age of ProcessingThe New York Times: Intel will demonstrate on Monday an experimental computer chip with 80 separate processing engines, or cores, that company executives say provides a model for commercial chips that will be used widely in standard desktop, laptop and server computers within five years. In a Search Refinement, a Chance to Rival GoogleThe New York Times: Early in the decade, a struggling Xerox Corporation was trying to sell off a stake in its Palo Alto Research Center, which it could no longer afford to support. But with the technology bubble bursting, the price that investors were willing to pay for a piece of PARC, as the center is known, kept going down. In Russia's Science City, elemental discoveriesThe Baltimore Sun: The small, pleasant city of Dubna on the bank of the Volga River is known as Naukograd, or Science City, and for good reason: It lends its name to element 105 of the periodic table, dubnium, and is home to the research institute where |