- Email: [email protected]
Warm winters could fuel Chikungunya outbreak in New York
For daily news stories, visit newscientist.com/news
AFTER years of handwringing, some good news about science education in the US: between 2009 and 2011, there was a rise in the average scores attained by
CDC/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
US science gains
60 Seconds
“Gains were seen across the board but gaps in average attainment between races and sexes remain” 13 to 14-year-olds in the leading national survey. In the latest round of the National Assessment of Educational Progress – known as the Nation’s Report Card – eighth-graders from across the Mozzies love NY US were quizzed on physical, WARMER New York winters have life, Earth and space sciences. a sting in the tail. The mosquito The average score, on a 300that carries chikungunya, a virus point scale, rose from 150 in 2009 that causes joint pain, is flocking to 152 in 2011. That might sound to the city in increasing numbers. modest, but in a large sample The virus, which originates in of 122,000 children from 7290 Africa, is carried by the Asian tiger schools it was significant. mosquito (Aedes albopictus) and Placing credit for the shift is could become endemic in New difficult, although the survey York within a few years. Until did identify some factors that now the bitter winters have kept correlate with success, including mosquito numbers down, says frequent hands-on projects and external science-related activities. Laura Harrington at Cornell There’s no room for complacency, “Someone arriving in however, says Shirley Malcom New York with the virus of the American Association for would have a 38 per cent the Advancement of Science in chance of passing it on” Washington DC. Although gains were seen almost across the board, she says that gaps between University in Ithaca, New York. Harrington estimates there races and sexes still remain. is one Asian tiger mosquito for every five New Yorkers. Once that ratio flips to five insects per person, her model suggests that Previous record 16 km someone arriving in New York carrying the virus would have a New record 38 per cent chance of passing it 97 km on to another person through B A TELEPORTATION mosquito bites. The disease could OF QUBITS become entrenched in the city at that level of infection, Harrington told the Inside Cornell event in New York City last week. Isolated cases of chikungunya have already been reported in the ENTANGLED PHOTONS US, but just like similar cases that showed up in Europe in 2007,
Oldest cave art
“Quote to go in here over four lines range left like this Quote to go in her like this xxxxx”
Engravings of female genitals in the Abri Castanet cave in southern France have been dated to around 40,000 years old, making them arguably the world’s oldest cave art. The engraving is a carved circle transected by a single vertical line (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1119663109).
African malaria alarm
–Beware: I carry chikungunya –
seasonal changes in weather kept mosquito numbers down and the virus in check. In Europe too, though, climate conditions are becoming more conducive for Asian tiger mosquitoes, suggesting the virus could become endemic there too (Journal of the Royal Society Interface, DOI: 10.1098/ rsif.2012.0138).
Greener US voters THE political system is often out of touch, especially when it comes to the environment. A poll shows that although Americans would pay extra for green electricity, Congress still wouldn’t pass a bill to that effect. In a survey of 1010 US citizens, Matthew Kotchen of Yale University found they favoured a clean energy standard, provided it added no more than 13 per cent to their annual electricity bills on average. But simulating how Congress would vote on a bill enacting the proposed national clean energy standards showed it would only pass if it added no more than 5 per cent to electricity bills (Nature Climate Change, DOI: 10.1038/nclimate1527). Why? Due to a quirk in the system, Democrats and Republicans in Congress are not directly proportional to the political persuasions of the districts they represent.
Strains of malaria parasite resistant to artemisinins – the most effective antimalarial drugs – have been discovered for the first time in Africa, where 90 per cent of global malaria deaths occur. Blood samples from 11 travellers returning to Canada from various parts of Africa had resistance to one of the four main artemisinins (Malaria Journal, DOI: 10.1186/1475-2875-11-131).
Kodak overexposed Camera company Kodak maintained a small nuclear reactor and weaponsgrade uranium in a basement at its headquarters in Rochester, New York, for over 30 years. Between 1974 and 2007, the company used the reactor for materials testing. Neighbours had no idea it was there.
Martian chronicles It’s the little rover that could. Opportunity landed on Mars in 2004 for a three-month mission. Fastforward eight years, and it has just resumed operation after hibernating for winter. Now on the Greeley Haven outcrop of Endeavour crater, it will measure wobble in Mars’s rotation.
Who’s been eating my… Goldilocks was right about the temperature of porridge. A study of 74 people sampling food at 5 °C and at 35 °C reveals how taste intensity varies with temperature. Sourness peaked in warm food, and bitterness in cold food, with sweetness intensity unaffected (Chemosensory Perception, DOI: 10.1007/s12078-012-9129-5).
19 May 2012| NewScientist | 5
AFTER years of handwringing, some good news about science education in the US: between 2009 and 2011, there was a rise in the average scores attained by
CDC/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
US science gains
60 Seconds
“Gains were seen across the board but gaps in average attainment between races and sexes remain” 13 to 14-year-olds in the leading national survey. In the latest round of the National Assessment of Educational Progress – known as the Nation’s Report Card – eighth-graders from across the Mozzies love NY US were quizzed on physical, WARMER New York winters have life, Earth and space sciences. a sting in the tail. The mosquito The average score, on a 300that carries chikungunya, a virus point scale, rose from 150 in 2009 that causes joint pain, is flocking to 152 in 2011. That might sound to the city in increasing numbers. modest, but in a large sample The virus, which originates in of 122,000 children from 7290 Africa, is carried by the Asian tiger schools it was significant. mosquito (Aedes albopictus) and Placing credit for the shift is could become endemic in New difficult, although the survey York within a few years. Until did identify some factors that now the bitter winters have kept correlate with success, including mosquito numbers down, says frequent hands-on projects and external science-related activities. Laura Harrington at Cornell There’s no room for complacency, “Someone arriving in however, says Shirley Malcom New York with the virus of the American Association for would have a 38 per cent the Advancement of Science in chance of passing it on” Washington DC. Although gains were seen almost across the board, she says that gaps between University in Ithaca, New York. Harrington estimates there races and sexes still remain. is one Asian tiger mosquito for every five New Yorkers. Once that ratio flips to five insects per person, her model suggests that Previous record 16 km someone arriving in New York carrying the virus would have a New record 38 per cent chance of passing it 97 km on to another person through B A TELEPORTATION mosquito bites. The disease could OF QUBITS become entrenched in the city at that level of infection, Harrington told the Inside Cornell event in New York City last week. Isolated cases of chikungunya have already been reported in the ENTANGLED PHOTONS US, but just like similar cases that showed up in Europe in 2007,
Oldest cave art
“Quote to go in here over four lines range left like this Quote to go in her like this xxxxx”
Engravings of female genitals in the Abri Castanet cave in southern France have been dated to around 40,000 years old, making them arguably the world’s oldest cave art. The engraving is a carved circle transected by a single vertical line (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1119663109).
African malaria alarm
–Beware: I carry chikungunya –
seasonal changes in weather kept mosquito numbers down and the virus in check. In Europe too, though, climate conditions are becoming more conducive for Asian tiger mosquitoes, suggesting the virus could become endemic there too (Journal of the Royal Society Interface, DOI: 10.1098/ rsif.2012.0138).
Greener US voters THE political system is often out of touch, especially when it comes to the environment. A poll shows that although Americans would pay extra for green electricity, Congress still wouldn’t pass a bill to that effect. In a survey of 1010 US citizens, Matthew Kotchen of Yale University found they favoured a clean energy standard, provided it added no more than 13 per cent to their annual electricity bills on average. But simulating how Congress would vote on a bill enacting the proposed national clean energy standards showed it would only pass if it added no more than 5 per cent to electricity bills (Nature Climate Change, DOI: 10.1038/nclimate1527). Why? Due to a quirk in the system, Democrats and Republicans in Congress are not directly proportional to the political persuasions of the districts they represent.
Strains of malaria parasite resistant to artemisinins – the most effective antimalarial drugs – have been discovered for the first time in Africa, where 90 per cent of global malaria deaths occur. Blood samples from 11 travellers returning to Canada from various parts of Africa had resistance to one of the four main artemisinins (Malaria Journal, DOI: 10.1186/1475-2875-11-131).
Kodak overexposed Camera company Kodak maintained a small nuclear reactor and weaponsgrade uranium in a basement at its headquarters in Rochester, New York, for over 30 years. Between 1974 and 2007, the company used the reactor for materials testing. Neighbours had no idea it was there.
Martian chronicles It’s the little rover that could. Opportunity landed on Mars in 2004 for a three-month mission. Fastforward eight years, and it has just resumed operation after hibernating for winter. Now on the Greeley Haven outcrop of Endeavour crater, it will measure wobble in Mars’s rotation.
Who’s been eating my… Goldilocks was right about the temperature of porridge. A study of 74 people sampling food at 5 °C and at 35 °C reveals how taste intensity varies with temperature. Sourness peaked in warm food, and bitterness in cold food, with sweetness intensity unaffected (Chemosensory Perception, DOI: 10.1007/s12078-012-9129-5).
19 May 2012| NewScientist | 5