Science News

Theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss, director of the Origins Initiative at Arizona State University, talks with podcast host Steve Mirsky [ pictured ] about neutrinos and gravity waves. [More]

By Bruce Dorminey

The star Eta Carinae (Eta Car), once one of the brightest in the southern sky, has long been shrouded in mystery. [More]

I don't believe in God--at least, not any version I've encountered so far--but I do believe in free will. Free will, which I define as our capacity to recognize and act on choices, is what makes life meaningful. I can't be sure that free will exists, so my belief is, I suppose, a faith. And it is a faith sorely tested by advances in science and technology.

Recently, for example, I've been brooding over whether the Internet, laptops, smart phones and all the razzmatazz of our wired (and wi-fi) age are enlarging or diminishing our free will. Because free will is not something you either do or don't have; it can thrive or shrivel, depending on your circumstances. You have more free will now than you did when you were two years old, for example, or than you would if you were locked in a prison or afflicted with Alzheimer's.

The deadly fungal infection that afflicts bats known as white-nose syndrome (WNS) has now been found on another U.S. bat species , the ninth since the infection was first observed four years ago. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, WNS has now beset 20 percent of North America's bat species.

WNS's latest victim is the southeastern myotis ( Myotis austroriparius ), which lives in the Gulf Coastal Plain and the lower Mississippi Alluvial Plain. An infected myotis bat was found in Virginia's Pocahontas State Park in May. It died soon after it was captured by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

In New York City, land of the ubiquitous yellow taxi, cabbies and other motorists find themselves with a bit less room to operate these days. [More]

Scientists have been working for decades to create an optical prosthesis that restores at least partial vision to those suffering from retinitis pigmentosa, macular degeneration and other retina-damaging diseases. Some retinal implants have begun to deliver on that promise, but the challenge remains for researchers to develop a technology that, in addition to providing clear images, can be worn comfortably over the long term. [More]

Modern high-yield farming lowered the amount of greenhouse gases pumped into the Earth's atmosphere toward the end of the 20th Century by a massive amount, according to a surprising study from researchers at Stanford University.

Technological advances in agriculture helped reduce greenhouse gas output by reducing the need to convert forests to farmland, the study said. Such conversion involves burning of trees and other naturally occurring carbon repositories, which increases emissions of carbon, methane and nitrous oxide.

When astronaut Alan Shepard took his first swing at a golf ball on the moon, he hit more dirt than ball. The dust he kicked up reinforced the idea that the moon is one big sand trap. But looks can be deceiving. Now, scientists reanalyzing lunar samples say that our satellite is at least a hundred times wetter than we thought. The results appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . [Francis McCubbin et al., http://bit.ly/dAxmNO ] [More]

Editor's Note: A team of researchers led by John Kessler , Texas A&M College of Geosciences chief scientist and assistant oceanography professor, has traveled to the Deepwater Horizon disaster site to study the methane leaking into the Gulf of Mexico (along with tens thousands of barrels of crude oil) daily at the site of the damaged Macondo 252 well. Kessler, along with David Valentine (an assistant professor of marine sediment geochemistry, biogeochemistry and geomicrobiology at the University of California, Santa Barbara) and the rest of his colleagues are hoping to come away with a rough estimate of the spill's size by the time his team returns home on June 20, followed by more accurate estimates as they complete their analysis of the information collected. Other objectives of the expedition onboard the RV Cape Hatteras include trying to determine how the methane might be removed from the water (whether eaten by waterborne microorganisms or released into the atmosphere) and how methane concentrations will change over time. Rainer Amon , a Texas A&M associate professor of marine sciences and oceanography, filed the following dispatch. It's the team's second blog post for Scientific American. [More]

Residents of Hammarby Sjöstad, a district on the south side of Stockholm, Sweden, don't let their waste go to waste. Every building in the district boasts an array of pneumatic tubes, like larger versions of the ones that whooshed checks from cars to bank tellers back in the day. One tube carries combustible waste to a plant where it is burned to make heat and electricity. Another zips food waste and other biomatter away to be composted and made into fertilizer. Yet another takes recyclables to a sorting facility. [More]

Take a look at the cup of coffee in front of you. Think of how badly you want it. Think of the warmth it will bring as it slips past your pursed lips and reaches through your body’s core. The inviting astringency that lingers on your tastebuds, and that can only be abated by another sip. Once you have worked yourself into a caffeine-deprived frenzy, reach out your hand and try and grasp your liquid gold.  New research conducted by Emily Balcetis and David Dunning and published in a recent issue of the journal Psychological Science suggests that you might not reach far enough. The coffee cup appears closer than it really is.   [More]