Science Matters

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A weekly round-up of science news

Gut Bacteria

Apparently our gut bacteria outnumber our own cells by 10 to 1, which means that by weight we are more bacteria than human. I wonder how an alien species would define us; by our outside appearance or by the most populous creature we contain? They may even ignore us and believe we were merely containers for the true rulers of our planet!

In recent studies of the bacteria, it was found that 2/3rds of them were new to science, so there is much more research to be done very close to home. The bacteria were taken from 3 people and varied widely between them.

Rhinoceros

The numbers of one-horned rhinos have declined in Nepal from 600 in 2000 to 400. The decline is thought to be from poaching due to decreased security caused by the Maoist insurgency there. A case where human rights and animal rights meet and neither are winning.

Mice Research

Mice have been put into near suspended animation using 80 parts per million of hydrogen sulphide1 in the air. It is hoped that this research will aid space travel for humans one day.

Ants

This story is more pertinent to highlight the emotional way in which science stories can be written, which can be completely misleading. For instance, this story tells of an Amazonian ant which deliberately tortures its prey on 'elaborate traps on which hapless prey are stretched like medieval torture victims, before being slowly hacked to pieces.'

In fact, the story is about a trap. The prey gets its feet stuck in the small holes created for the purpose and is then eaten alive - as many ant victims are. Pieces are cut off for later and for feeding to the ant larvae, for whom food has always been transported in this way.

The story describes this as:

Once the prey is well secured by jaws fastening all its extremities, it is stretched over the platform like an ancient sacrifice to the gods.

Yes, it is an ingenious trap which the ants build, but they have always tried to catch larger prey, whether by overwhelming them by numbers or by traps such as this. This is not a method of torture; ants do not behave in humane and ethical ways be giving a painless death first, but then many animals do not. It is the way of their species and often of nature, it doesn't make it torture, just an efficient way of dealing with prey. It is also very similar to how spiders catch and eat their prey, but no-one describes that as medieval torture, or an ancient sacrifice to the gods!

New Coral Reefs

These have been discovered off the north coast of Australia, 100 kilometres of them. They are in deep murky water which is why it took so long for them to be discovered and they could be 100,000 years old. There could also be up to 50 small reefs as well as the 100km long one. Hopefully they will be included in a maritime national park planned for the area.

American Rivers

The group American Rivers has listed the most endangered rivers in the US. Sewerage is the biggest threat to them at present, with 860 billion gallons of raw sewerage emptied into the rivers each year, and they are worried at the effect this is having on American health. The worst rated river is the Susquehanna which flows into Chesapeake Bay. People's local habitats, beaches and diets are at risk with the present situation. American Rivers says that the present administration is turning their backs on the problem.

Check out American Rivers.org for a full list of the rivers and even contact numbers if they are in your neck of the woods and you want to get involved or complain about what you have seen.

Dangerous Plastics

California may ban Bisphenol A, which is used in the packaging of foods and drinks. Studies are showing more evidence that the chemical leaches out from the plastic and, because of its similarity to oestrogen, can damage health in a variety of ways.

Alpine Plants

Ski Pistes are becoming even more difficult areas for the native plants to survive in. Pistes which have been machine graded, to smooth them out, have 5 times as much bare ground then other pistes. The increasing use of artificial snow which takes longer to melt is also becoming a problem; it is changing the types of plants which are expected at certain times of the year. Countries such as Austria and Italy, with lower ski runs, already use artificial snow on 40% of their runs.

Kenya's Flamingoes

These are under threat as the Rift Valley lakes could dry up. The habitat is already threatened by deforestation and changing weather patterns and the flock of flamingos has shrunk since the 1970s by 15.5 square kilometers.

Iceberg


I mentioned last week that the iceberg B-15A in the McMurdo sound has been moving. It has moved enough to break off 5 kms of the Drygalski ice tongue. B-15A is part of B-15 which is the large iceberg which came off the Ross ice-shelf. It was equivalent in size to Jamaica, but broke up into pieces. These pieces have still been big enough, though, to profoundly affect the geography of the area and the creatures, especially the penguins. The iceberg may remove more of the ice tongue and, hopefully, it has now moved enough to allow the penguins to resume their normal routine.

Glaciers

The Antarctic Glaciers are in retreat; 90% of the glaciers are losing mass. The main culprit is believed to be global warming but other factors may be having an effect including changing ocean currents and temperatures. 50 years ago glaciers were still growing, so this is a rapid change and one which is unlikely to slow down and reverse under current conditions.

Peru

The UN has warned Peru that Machu Picchu may lose its World Heritage Status if they do not make more effort to maintain it. The Peruvian authorities have submitted a $130 million plan which includes daily limits on the numbers of tourists, which are very similar to the numbers seen there now! The UN will make its decision in June whether to accept the plan or to list the site as an at risk site.

Illness In TV Soaps

Apparently, once a character in a soap opera has an illness then doctors are seeing more people coming into the surgery believing they have the same illness. The doctors believe it is a form of hypochondria, but I wonder whether some of the people really have the illness and seeing people in soaps with the same symptoms made it easier for them to admit to themselves that they needed to see someone about it. Perhaps it also makes people recognize similar symptoms. Sometimes it could be genuine and, if diagnosis are made either way because of a soap, then it sounds like a good education to me.

Cannabis

Canada is the first country to approve a cannabis based drug. It is to help adults with multiple sclerosis.

Abandoned Satellites

Satellites which have been abandoned in a low Earth orbit will drift back to Earth, but those in geosynchronous orbit will stay in their orbit. Due to the increasing numbers of satellites abandoned, guidelines were made so that, at the end of each satellites life, it could be moved to an orbit 300 kilometres above the orbit so that collisions were minimised. This is not happening though.

Objects in geosynchronous orbits tend to move to two points of stable orbit - one above India and the other above the Pacific. Any objects there then move like a pendulum through the point – which is known as librate. This means that all abandoned satellites will move to that point, increasing the chance of a collision with something on the orbit or with other debris. There are 340 working satellites, 140 abandoned satellites which are librating and 395 which are drifting just above the geosynchronous orbit and causing near misses on a daily basis. There are also 32 abandoned nuclear reactors and 13 abandoned reactor fuel cores accounting for a tonne of radioactive fuel orbiting the Earth. The chances of collision are very high. They already happen everyday and we are just waiting for a serious one which may knock something out of orbit to come crashing down, especially if that involves radioactive fuel.

Snippets from Space

It has been confirmed that the Great Wall of China can be seen from space. The first Chinese astronaut said he couldn't see it, but it has since been identified from the International Space Station.

The Spitzer telescope has seen what could be debris from another asteroid belt around a star 41 light years away.

The Mars Rover – Spirit has seen dust devils in action, pictures
Here

Infomania

Those of us plagued by information overload and who find it difficult to ignore new texts, emails etc, suffer a fall in concentration which is twice that seen in marijuana smokers. Even at home or on holiday 62% of people check their work messages. Do we benefit from not switching off? Does it make us more efficient, ready to react and on the ball, or do we need compulsory 'rest' periods? Hopefully a lively debate on this is taking place on this thread

Sources

Science Matters Archive

KazSorrel

28.04.05 Front Page

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1This is the bad egg smell, probably enough to make anyone want to go into suspended animation!

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