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    15 views51 pages

    New Scientist (2004-08-28)

    Uploaded by

    zaid alislam

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 51
    SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY NEWS | THE WEEK’S BEST IDEAS | US JOBS IN SCIENCE NewScientist ‘August 28-Seprember 3, 2004 MONSTER MACHINES To unlock the secrets of the universe you have to think big... THE RODENT THAT WILL RUN AND RUN How to cheat death The ultimate guide to mortality iowa coche Sefovate oem wo-_€ tomate mata Setar seaagemn er ret weseene soe (Ehiwcmay wernt Schcecratcea sete (toes yanmar chase Orestes vest. pe ONTHECOR Monster machines, page26 Horst deat death, page arathon mous, page2 NewScientist Fresh arguments ver freshwater fr Plesinep 7 NEWS TECHNOLOGY EDITORIAL Magnetic plasicatomtemperatue 19 Whatlessonshavewe leamed fom __Dscoverngtheariginsofspace dust 20 theailure Europe's Marslander? 3 Foliagesensorsasheswater pollution 21 wan Invention: passwords petrhythm 21 Protest beats polit; docorsimpliated TRENDS: WHO'S TRACKING YOU? InAbuGhraibtorure;"Tayta-ation” — Wielessraciotgswere meant tomake takesitstllon deserts MASAcapsuleto stocktaking easier for business, bute bbecaughty Hollywood stuntmen;_theynow athrettoyour privacy? 22 Microsoft adm cultura gates pu ‘uses confusion; blueprint foriatest partclesmasher 4 FEATURES SPECIAL REPORT ‘WORLD WATER CRISIS MONSTERS OF THE UNIWERSE WhatiscausingtheshortagesinAsia, Plasmas hatter than thesun, particles Aca and the Mideast? 6 atthe brink of lightspeed, typer lasers, (anal confit Palestine T-_ mega-magnetsandacastof thousands. Whytheword musth morerain & could only bethenine bigest machinesin physics ona questo THIS WEEK Mistmccturongwith eager 9 uackthesece#softheunivene 26 Backmusclesfind Waturn-off 10 FALLING ON DEAF EARS GM mouseismarathon runner T2__Research to cure deafness isproceding Cannabinoidsprotetfiom delusions 13 apace, yetmany deaf people regard Random numbesfromcosmicrays 18 thisasanassaulton ther cuture~ a ‘evenakintogenodde 36 Mothers dit affects child cancer, DeaTH DEFING rmessyhome, messy ind; docking _—_‘Weallknow we wll dieone dy, fleshavingsex; tastier strawberies _sofowdowe manage toad asthough areontheway;Panamacanalwas _‘I'smevergoingtohappen? ‘00d frfish; nanotube gs ow Theansworcouldchangeyour life 40 Benerateselecciy; how bigisa loud? chain eactons covode steel 14 "These mice are genetically in better shape. They behave like conditioned athletes” Engineesingthe* marathon mous", page 2 Colin Pitingers Benge battle p9 REGULARS (COMMENT AND ANALYSIS 'sitposble tosavethe elephantand havean active legal tedein wory? ‘es, saysDani les, andhee'show 16 errens Rights and wrongsof animales; el raionalty;ONA and; wombspots 24 ‘WTERVIEW For Moly Brown, hearing nos trafic from haf amile aay inte middleot thenightisa mite. Itmeans thatthe ionering bran stem mplantto Counterherdeatnessisworking Wu PounKs Washington day: Andreas Fre on stem cals, theelecon campaign, Ronald Reagan andhissurgeon-general WT ENIGMA 7 HISTORIES When suifanilamide emerged inthe 1930sasa cheap, efedive cure-all for serious childhood infections, seemed too ood tobe true. And sure enough, thingsstatedtogohotbiy wrong 48 Thewerld ina chia’ mind; making scents; masters ofthe game; great chemist; wher mote is mote; expert nese Plus: who'sreadingwhat 50 FEEDRACK Cy THE LAsTWoRD 6 08s, 2 28 gust 204| Newent itera 1a oman bone ‘Seng san, ance ieee wr, {hate Fetnsces tearm Serta feet SEE a Sats scclisear CREE ‘ater vest. a Au revoir, not goodbye Europe's Mars lander may be dead, but controversy surrounding it lives on rT1Snot hard tounderstand why the team {that put together Europe's fated Mars lander, Beagle2, wants nothershot at the Red Planet. The science that was to bedone by the landerisstillcompelling and the potential prize- the discovery of lfe beyond Earth could searcly be any bigger. ‘The team may have falled ths time, but the experience gained lays the foundations forfuture missions, The internal investigation {nto the loss ofthe ander, published this ‘week isan important step towards making ‘hema success. Irexaminesin painstaking {detail more than 150 scenarios that might ‘have caused the lander to fll ranging from, ‘damage from solarflaresto airbag failure (see page9).It then goeson tolist morethan ‘goo lessons that the Beagle 2teara learned. fromthe project. “The report is intended as handbook ‘ofthe pitfalls that spacecraft designers Should avoid in future Mars missions. ts lessons are already being implemented by team members whohavemovedon toother projects such as the European Space Agency's ‘ExoMars, its nextattemptto land on the planet, dueforlaunch in 2009. The openness ‘of Mark Sims the Beagle2 mission manager who edited the report in making this Information freely avalable to competitors ‘as well as colleagues can only beadmired, Tnany othercircumstances, sucha ‘comprehensive report would drawa firm line ‘under the failure. But for Beagle, controversy {slikely to drag on, thanks tothe way ESA and ‘the UK government have behaved. They provided the lion'sshare ofthe mission's Tunding and earlier this year commissioned ‘their own investigation tolooknot only attechnical reasons for the mission's ‘demise butalsoat management fallures ‘They refused to publish this report citing ‘vague confidentiality and legal reasons. The Beagle 2team's ability to write ts report without falling foul of such issues ives the lie tothis postion. seems ‘more likely that the secrecy was intended tosave the ESA and UK government from ‘embarrassment. Itisa cover-up that should not beallowed tastand. ‘In October, the UK's House of Commons Science and Technology Committee will publish its own investigation into theloss of the£45 million lander. That may go some way {ofillingin the gaps in his tale. Butitcamnot laythe ghost of Beagle 2 completely. Until the BSA/UK government reports, published, itwill remain astainon the original projectand haunt future European missions to Marslikea restless soul. © In sport, are good genes just another cheat? JUSTwhatisitthat makes the difference between Olympic gold andthe agony of defeat? Forathletes,itisabouttraininghard eating rightand preparing mentally~and sometimes taking illegal substances. What they cannot doanythingabout s thelzgenes. ‘Thisweek researchers announcedthat they have genetically engineered” marathon mice” thatcan runalmost twice asfaras normal mice, The modified micehave been siven anextra gene toboost production of protein called PPAR delta, which increases the umber ofslovw-twitch muscleflbzes that are vitalin endurance events (see page12)- “The study raisesthe questionof how many ‘ofthe runners inthe gruellingmarathons inAthenshavenatural genetic variations that boost their PPAR-delta levels. Researchers ‘couldsoon beadding these tothe growing Histof geneticvariations linked to specific athleticabilties Forsporting authorities, the big worry bout such esearch sthat athletes desperate for successmightsoonbe ableto resort togenetherapy. ‘Butconsider the case ofthe boy recently found tohave a mutation that greatly boosts muscle growth, Ifhe competes inthe 2016 ‘Olympics, ay, his rivals will face someone witha prodigious geneticadvantage. ‘That seems unfair, butitwouldalsobe ‘unthinkable toexclude him on the grounds ‘ofanatura genetic mutation, Pethapssportingauthoritiesshould ‘consider the idea that gene therapy, fitever becomes safe andeffective, does not have tobeabout givinga fewathletes an unfair advantage. Itcould bea way of evelingthe playingileldforall. © 2hug. 006 | ens |3 News in perspective WHEN DO YOU WANT IT? NOW! hainin youre to butane and thrwing pin ver company ‘executives sorte to influence ‘ervronmenta polg than sémecing ‘on Gpitl ML So saysan analysis of the impact ofthe green movement {in hes between 1960 and 1994, ‘Thestudy compares the number of bills pase by Congres with tats ‘employed by green grupsin the ‘same yn. onAignone, asaoloist atthe Univesity of Washington, Seat found that sities and beats were highly effective atfordng nen environmental ows. xc potestresed the numberof _ro-erironment bil passed by 2.2 per ‘ent Neither effort spent schmenzing, polls nor the state of public ‘opinion made ary ference. But conveinalplits dos pay Pig flu palaver ‘CONFUSION surrounded reports last week that the HSNL bird flu virus had been found ‘npigsin China. (Chen Hualan of China's National Avian influenza Reference Laboratory mentioned. the findings ataflusymposium {nBeljing on 20 August. Officials atthe World Health Organization land the UN Food and Agriculture Organization were reportedly taken by surpriseby her ‘comments, and several news stories implied thatChen had letslipinformation China would rather havekeptqulet, Infact although the full details have not yet been released, Chen's team mentioned preliminary ‘evidence of HSN Infection in pigs na prominentinternational journal more thana month ago, ‘The discovery was reported inNew Scientist at the time (3 July, P7) PHN distil infecting pigs in CChina-orln the othercountries still struggling tocontain, “Bird and human viruses may mingle in pigs to form anew strain more lethal to humans” ‘Mews zo kugst008 2 pat Eironmentallegisation is 15 percent mare ike to pass when Democrat conto both house of Congres. Andi gets 220 per cnt boostin ceongesioal election years, presumably becuse poliiansseeitasa ole wine. ‘Agone, wo presented his resus (on 1 ugust at the mera Sociological Associations meeting inSanFrandsc, says potest group owe thar edge when they bene partof he stem. Ther most eflectve wen is

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