TOP 100 CAMPING SITES
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| 5 Ways to Protect Yourself (and Others) from Swine Flu Experts say that the steps you should take to shield yourself from swine flu are not much different than those you might take to ward off seasonal flu. [More] rss.sciam.com |
Space Geology: From the Moon to Mars Forty years ago this month the lunar surface reverberated with life for the first time. Forty years from now will Mars, too, come alive? President Barack Obama has affirmed the broad goals for human spaceflight that his predecessor put forward in 2004: retire the shuttle in 2010, develop a replacement line of rockets (named Ares), return to the moon by 2020, and go to Mars, perhaps in the mid-2030s [see “To the Moon and Beyond,” by Charles Dingell, William A. Johns and Julie Kramer White; Scientific American, October 2007]. The program is known as Constellation.For now, policy makers are worried less about Mars than about the downtime between the last shuttle launch and first Ares flight, during which the U.S. will depend on Russia or private companies to launch its astronauts into orbit. What was originally supposed to be a two-year gap has widened to six, and in May the Obama administration announced that former aerospace executive Norman Augustine will lead a review of the program to see how it might get back on track. [More] rss.sciam.com |
Fish Shrink to Beat Heat [The following is an exact transcript of this podcast.]Forget the meek. If the Earth keeps getting warmer, a recent study shows that it’s the small that are gonna come out on top--at least in the world’s oceans. With global temperatures on the rise, scientists are trying to figure out what a warmer earth will mean for worldwide ecosystems. In aquatic environments it seems two responses have already come into play. First, species are seeking higher altitudes and latitudes so they can stay in their comfort zones. Second, organisms are shifting key events in their life cycles, like when algae bloom or fish spawn. [More] rss.sciam.com |
Tuning In To The Insect Philharmonic [ The following is an exact transcript of this podcast. ]“Can you hear the end of the daytime insect? That’s the cicada. But I’m hearing crickets in the background too. And just listen for a second, listen to how many different sounds you can hear.” That’s Allison Beall of the Marshlands Conservancy, a wildlife sanctuary in Rye, New York. She led a twilight walk through the preserve on September 5th. [More] rss.sciam.com |
Are Algae Mass Murderers? Algae seem harmless enough. These precursors to plants thrive throughout the world's waters. But these single-celled plants have global consequences. We can thank them for oxygen in the atmosphere, oil in the lithosphere as well as dead zones in the oceans and now even a dead horse in France . That's right. The fumes from decomposing algae on a French beach killed a horse and rendered its rider unconscious this past summer. And poisonous tides caused by algal blooms make eating shellfish dicey at times as well as causing mass die-offs of fish, birds and even sea-going mammals. Plus, according to a new theory, that might just be a small taste of the plants' killing ability. [More] rss.sciam.com |