The share of Americans who see science as the nation's greatest achievement is down sharply, even as the public continues to hold scientists in high regard.
A new Pew Research Center poll indicates that 27 percent of Americans say the nation's greatest achievements are in science, medicine and technology, more than any category other than don't know.
But that's down from 47 percent in a similar study a decade ago, the center reported Thursday.
The decline comes even as technology reaches out to connect people worldwide via the Internet.
Science & Technology
© NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory/The University of Arizona
Cemented layers protrude from a dune in North Polar Region of Mars. This is a subset of HiRISE image PSP_001374_2650.
Cemented layers protrude from a dune in North Polar Region of Mars. This is a subset of HiRISE image PSP_001374_2650.
However a recent study published in Geomorphology shows that snow and ice are not enough in themselves to stop dune movement. While trapped ice and snow impedes movement of sand dunes in polar climates, compared to their counterparts in warmer areas, this does not entirely stop dune movement, the study shows.
This indicates that other factors are limiting dune movement, said Mary Bourke, a senior research scientist at the Tucson-based Planetary Science Institute. Bourke led the study, which covers the longest time period of any cold-climate dune migration and dune dynamics study to date.
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Toyota has filed for more than 2,000 patents for its hybrid technologies. A shopper checks out the 2010 Prius at a Tokyo showroom in May.
Toyota has filed for more than 2,000 patents for its hybrid technologies. A shopper checks out the 2010 Prius at a Tokyo showroom in May.
Since it started developing the gas-electric Prius more than a decade ago, Toyota has kept its attorneys just as busy as its engineers, meticulously filing for patents on more than 2,000 systems and components for its best-selling hybrid. Its third-generation Prius, which hit showrooms in May, accounts for about half of those patents alone.
Toyota's goal: to make it difficult for other auto makers to develop their own hybrids without seeking licensing from Toyota, as Ford Motor Co. already did to make its Escape hybrid and Nissan Motor Co. has for its Altima hybrid.
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Dr Karim Nayernia, Newcastle University Professor of Stem Cell Biology
Dr Karim Nayernia, Newcastle University Professor of Stem Cell Biology
The sperm were created in a test tube, from stem cells derived from a five-day-old male embryo. The advance raises ethical questions over the safety of the procedure and the threat it poses to the future role of men. It was also challenged by experts who claimed the sperm-like cells produced in the experiment were not genuine sperm.
If the finding is confirmed, a single male embryo could, in theory, yield a stem-cell line which when stored could provide an unlimited supply of sperm. Once the stem-cell line was established, there would be no further reproductive need for men. In a briefing on the research, the scientists at Newcastle University and the NorthEast England Stem Cell Institute, led by Professor Karim Nayernia, raise the question of whether their discovery means "the end of men".
U.S. scientists said they have determined the eruption of Indonesia's Toba volcano about 74,000 years ago triggered a decade-long severe winter.
Previous studies suggested the massive eruption produced a 1,000-year episode of ice sheet advance, as well as a "volcanic winter," which most likely would have drastically reduced the human population at the time.
To investigate additional mechanisms that might have enhanced and extended the effects of the Toba eruption, Rutgers University Professor Alan Robock and colleagues conducted six climate model computer simulations using state-of-the-art models that include vegetation death effects and stratospheric chemistry feedback that might affect the lifetime of the volcanic cloud.
Previous studies suggested the massive eruption produced a 1,000-year episode of ice sheet advance, as well as a "volcanic winter," which most likely would have drastically reduced the human population at the time.
To investigate additional mechanisms that might have enhanced and extended the effects of the Toba eruption, Rutgers University Professor Alan Robock and colleagues conducted six climate model computer simulations using state-of-the-art models that include vegetation death effects and stratospheric chemistry feedback that might affect the lifetime of the volcanic cloud.
A new review article appearing in Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) co-authored by Dr. Todd Kuiken, a research associate for the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN), focuses on the use of nanomaterials for environmental cleanup. It provides an overview of current practices; research findings; societal issues; potential environment, health, and safety implications; and possible future directions for nanoremediation. The authors conclude that the technology could be an effective and economically viable alternative for some current site cleanup practices, but potential risks remain poorly understood.
Scientists in Japan are reporting development of a faster, less expensive version of the fabled polymerase chain reaction (PCR) a DNA test widely used in criminal investigations, disease diagnosis, biological research and other applications. The new method could lead to expanded use of PCR in medicine, the criminal justice system and elsewhere, the researchers say. Their study is scheduled for the July 15 issue of Analytical Chemistry, a semi-monthly journal.
It's not only humans that can learn from watching television. Software developed in the UK has worked out the basics of sign language by absorbing TV shows that are both subtitled and signed.
Xanadu, the city built by Mongol emperor Kublai Khan and mentioned by Italian traveller Marco Polo, has been unearthed by Chinese archaeologists who have sketched its layout.
"The most exciting findings are the layout of the moat in front of the Mingde Gate to the royal capital in the three-month excavation," said Yang Xingyu, a senior archaeologist.
Xanadu, also spelled Shangdu, was built in 1256 under the command of Kublai Khan, the first emperor of Yuan or Mongol Dynasty (1206-1368). It became the summer capital of Mongol emperors of China after the Yuan Dynasty moved its capital to what is now Beijing.
"The most exciting findings are the layout of the moat in front of the Mingde Gate to the royal capital in the three-month excavation," said Yang Xingyu, a senior archaeologist.
Xanadu, also spelled Shangdu, was built in 1256 under the command of Kublai Khan, the first emperor of Yuan or Mongol Dynasty (1206-1368). It became the summer capital of Mongol emperors of China after the Yuan Dynasty moved its capital to what is now Beijing.
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Can DNA predict the details of an organism that develops from it?
Can DNA predict the details of an organism that develops from it?
Lewis Wolpert
I have entered into this wager with Rupert Sheldrake because of my interest in the details of how embryos develop, and how our understanding of this process will progress. In my latest book, How We Live and Why We Die, I suggest that it will one day be possible to predict from an embryo's genome how it will develop, and I believe it is possible for this to happen in the next 20 years.
I am, in fact, being a little over-keen because 40 years is a more likely time frame for such a breakthrough. Cells and embryos are extremely complicated: for their size, embryonic cells are the most complex structures in the universe.
Animals develop from a single cell, a fertilised egg, which divides to produce cells that will form the embryo. How that egg develops into an embryo and newborn animal is controlled by genes in the chromosomes. These genes are passive: they do nothing, just provide the code for proteins. It is proteins that determine how cells behave. While the DNA in every cell contains the code for all the proteins in all the cells, it is the particular proteins produced in particular cells that determine how those cells behave.
