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Gendered Grammar Linked to Global Sexism

Stephanie Pappas
Live Science
Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:03 UTC
Language Gender
© Lim Yong Hian, Shutterstock
Mandarin Chinese, as spoken, is a genderless language, meaning the pronoun for both "he" and "she" sounds the same. English is a natural gender language, meaning there are special pronouns for each gender, but nouns are gender-free.

Languages in which nouns are given male or female status are linked to gender inequality, according to a new study that compares languages and equality across the globe.

Surprisingly, though, languages with no gender at all - where even "he" and "she" are represented by the same word - are associated with the most gender inequality, perhaps because people automatically categorize gender-neutral references as male.

"These are aspects of language that seem very mundane and seem like they wouldn't make a difference," said study researcher Jennifer Prewitt-Freilino, a psychologist at the Rhode Island School of Design. "But more and more research that is starting to come out looking at grammatical gender and language suggests that it has more of an impact than you would think."
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Info

Wacky Physics: New Uncertainty About the Uncertainty Principle

Clara Moskowitz
Live Science
Tue, 21 Feb 2012 09:34 UTC
Electron
© Dreamstime
The uncertainty principle posits, for instance, that if you make a measurement to find out the exact position of an electron around an atom, you will only be able to get a hazy idea of how fast it's moving.

One of the most often quoted, yet least understood, tenets of physics is the uncertainty principle.

Formulated by German physicist Werner Heisenberg in 1927, the rule states that the more precisely you measure a particle's position, the less precisely you will be able to determine its momentum, and vice versa.

The principle is often invoked outside the realm of physics to describe how the act of observing something changes the thing being observed, or to point out that there's a limit to how well we can ever really understand the universe.

While the subtleties of the uncertainty principle are often lost on nonphysicists, it turns out the idea is frequently misunderstood by experts, too. But a recent experiment shed new light on the maxim and led to a novel formula describing how the uncertainty principle really works.
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Magnify

Mind Blowing Animations of Unseeable Biology

Drew Berry
TED
Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:42 UTC
We have no ways to directly observe molecules and what they do -- Drew Berry wants to change that. At TEDxSydney he shows his scientifically accurate (and entertaining!) animations that help researchers see unseeable processes within our own cells.


The movie is available to view with subtitles in 17 languages HERE.
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Pocket Knife

Single-atom transistor is perfect


University of New South Wales
Sun, 19 Feb 2012 20:12 UTC
Image
© ARC Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication, at UNSW.
This is a single-atom transistor: 3D perspective scanning tunnelling microscope image of a hydrogenated silicon surface. Phosphorus will incorporate in the red shaded regions selectively desorbed with a STM tip to form electrical leads for a single phosphorus atom patterned precisely in the center.
In a remarkable feat of micro-engineering, UNSW [University of New South Wales] physicists have created a working transistor consisting of a single atom placed precisely in a silicon crystal.

The tiny electronic device, described today in a paper published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, uses as its active component an individual phosphorus atom patterned between atomic-scale electrodes and electrostatic control gates.

This unprecedented atomic accuracy may yield the elementary building block for a future quantum computer with unparalleled computational efficiency.

Until now, single-atom transistors have been realized only by chance, where researchers either have had to search through many devices or tune multi-atom devices to isolate one that works.

"But this device is perfect", says Professor Michelle Simmons, group leader and director of the ARC Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication at UNSW. "This is the first time anyone has shown control of a single atom in a substrate with this level of precise accuracy."
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Telescope

Cold and Spellbinding: An Alignment of Planets

Dr. Tony Phillips
Science@NASA.gov
Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:26 UTC
Note to sky watchers: Put on your winter coats. What you're about to read might make you feel an uncontrollable urge to dash outside. The brightest planets in the solar system are lining up in the evening sky, and you can see the formation - some of it at least - tonight.

Go out at sunset and look west. Venus and Jupiter pop out of the twilight even before the sky fades completely black. The two brilliant planets surrounded by evening blue is a beautiful sight.

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Evil Rays

US: Nevada first state to authorize driverless cars

Paul A. Eisenstein
The Detroit Bureau
Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:00 UTC
Image
© Hanna-Barbera Productions
The Jetsons would feel right at home in Nevada -- which this month became the first state in the nation to formally approve legislation authorizing the use of autonomous vehicles on its roadways.

The once far-fetched idea is becoming more and more grounded every day as manufacturers work to develop technology that could permit a motorist to plug in a destination and let the vehicle drive there automatically. Indeed, Google has become a leader in autonomous technology, with several prototypes already logging over 160,000 miles in test runs.

While most experts contend the technology is still years away from widespread application, Nevada lawmakers apparently couldn't wait. Last summer, lawmakers there ordered state regulators to establish rules covering the use of autonomous vehicles.

The regulations have now been finalized -- and the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles will now have to formalize licensing procedures for companies that want to test their vehicles in the state.
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Telescope

Mars rocks indicate relatively recent quakes, volcanism, on Red Planet


Mars Daily / SPX
Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:18 UTC
Image
© HiRISE
Scientists have found evidence of relatively recent quakes on the surface of Mars by studying boulders that fell off cliffs, leaving tracks behind.
Images of a martian landscape offer evidence that the Red Planet's surface not only can shake like the surface of Earth, but has done so relatively recently. If marsquakes do indeed take place, said the scientists who analyzed the high-resolution images, our nearest planetary neighbor may still have active volcanism, which could help create conditions for liquid water.

With High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) imagery, the research team examined boulders along a fault system known as Cerberus Fossae, which cuts across a very young (few million years old) lava surface on Mars.

By analyzing boulders that toppled from a martian cliff, some of which left trails in the coarse-grained soils, and comparing the patterns of dislodged rocks to such patterns caused by quakes on Earth, the scientists determined the rocks fell because of seismic activity. The martian patterns were not consistent with how boulders would scatter if they were deposited as ice melted, another means by which rocks are dispersed on Mars.
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Info

Fossilized, 'Pompeii' Forest Discovered Under Ash

Wynne Parry
Live Science
Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:12 UTC
Ash Covered Forest
© Courtesy of Jun Wang / Painting: Ren Yugao
An artist's painting of a tropical forest before it was preserved in volcanic ash 300 million years ago in what is now Inner Mongolia.

About 300 million years ago, volcanic ash buried a tropical forest located in what is now Inner Mongolia, much like it did the ancient Roman city of Pompeii.

This preserved forest has given researchers the unusual opportunity to examine an ecosystem essentially frozen in place by a natural disaster, giving them a detailed look at ancient plant communities and a glimpse at the ancient climate.

This ancient, tropical forest created peat, or moist, acidic, decaying plant matter. Over geologic time, the peat deposits were subjected to high pressure and became coal, which is found in the area.

The volcano appears to have left a layer of ash that was originally 39 inches (100 centimeters) thick.

"This ash-fall buried and killed the plants, broke off twigs and leaves, toppled trees, and preserved the forest remains in place within the ash layer," the authors, led by Jun Wang of the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology in China, wrote in an article published Monday (Feb. 20) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Better Earth

A bill of rights for dolphins: They're so smart we must treat them as 'non human persons' say scientists

Fiona Macrae
Dailymail.co.uk
Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:07 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Flippin' heck: A coalition of scientists are calling for a bill of rights to protect dolphins like bottlenose Fungie who loves to entertain sightseers in boats in Dingle, Ireland
Dolphins are so intelligent that they should be thought of as 'non-human persons' and given their own bill of rights, it is claimed. A coalition of scientists, philosophers and animal welfare groups have come up with a declaration of dolphin rights which they hope will one day be enshrined in law. This would stop them being kept in zoos and waterparks, and being attacked by fishermen.

Whales would also be elevated above other animals by the list of rules, leading to whalers being classed as murderers, the American Association for the Advancement of Science's annual conference heard in Vancouver. Whale watching trips would be subject to regulations which would respect the creatures' privacy, and developers and oil companies would have to give huge consideration to the effect their projects would have on the animals' life and culture.

Philosopher Thomas White said: 'Scientific evidence is now strong enough to support the claim that dolphins are, like humans, self-aware, intelligent beings with emotions and personalities. 'Accordingly, dolphins should be regarded as "non-human persons" and valued as individuals. From an ethical perspective, the injury, deaths and captivity of dolphins are wrong.'
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Telescope

NASA Spacecraft Reveals Recent Geological Activity on the Moon


SpaceRef
Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:54 UTC
New images from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft show the moon's crust is being stretched, forming minute valleys in a few small areas on the lunar surface. Scientists propose this geologic activity occurred less than 50 million years ago, which is considered recent compared to the moon's age of more than 4.5 billion years.
Image
© NASA
A team of researchers analyzing high-resolution images obtained by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) show small, narrow trenches typically much longer than they are wide. This indicates the lunar crust is being pulled apart at these locations. These linear valleys, known as graben, form when the moon's crust stretches, breaks and drops down along two bounding faults. A handful of these graben systems have been found across the lunar surface.
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