Scientific American Online

Most people, even those who pre-ordered the new Apple iPad, have yet to get their hands on one, but game developers have already put the wheels in motion to take advantage of the new platform. Say what you will about the iPad potentially turning the e-book reader market on its ear. Games are big business in Apple's App Store and the iPad's 25-centimeter LED-backlit display gives game writers a lot more room to work with. [More]

Mars and Venus. Pink and blue. As the stereotypes would have it, men and women have little in common but the ability to procreate. But how grounded in scientific reality are our culture’s notions about the ways the sexes diverge? And what does the influence of gender mean for our minds--for how we think and communicate?

We at Scientific American Mind wanted to know, too. So, in a first for the magazine, the editors have devoted an entire issue to this topic of gender and the brain. The articles look at male-female differences--and also some perhaps surprising similarities. “ He Said, She Said ,” by linguist Deborah Tannen, for instance, explains how all conversations and relationships between couples involve a combination of hierarchy and connection. Women’s and men’s conversational styles turn out to be different ways of reaching the same goals.

Dear EarthTalk: What is the potential for carbon “nanotubes” in battery technology? I heard them referred to as the biggest battery breakthrough to come along in years. And what else can we expect to see in terms of new battery technology in coming years? --R. M. Koncan, via e-mail

This week, a new Ford assembly plant in central Mexico began cranking out a first for Detroit automakers: a "dual clutch" automatic transmission designed to save fuel because it emulates a stick shift, only a computer is at the helm.

Ford is also planning to turn its entire fleet to six-speed transmissions by 2013, bumping up its average miles-per-gallon rating with more exactly calibrated gears. The transmission will be paired with a more efficient engine and will appear next year in the Ford Fiesta, a compact European model the company is reintroducing in the United States after it failed to stick in the 1970s.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - The United States and Canada will announce on Thursday that they are jointly imposing strict new vehicles emissions targets, said a source briefed on the matter.

The source confirmed the accuracy of news reports which said the two nations would require that automakers' combined fleets of cars and trucks get on average 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016. The current limit is 25 miles per gallon.

Spotted hyenas grunt and growl. But you know what they're famous for. [Hyena sounds.] So what's all the laughing about? [More]

By Zeeya Merali

A quantum trick could provide sharper ticks for the atomic clocks of the future. [More]

Illegal logging, the bushmeat trade, mining, the charcoal trade and a new strain of the Ebola virus could drive gorillas into extinction in central Africa in as little as 15 years, according to a new report from the U.N. and Interpol.

Three of the four gorilla subspecies are already considered critically endangered, and the fourth is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Interest in electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrids has come on strong over the past year or so, pushed relentlessly by carmakers promoting a newer, greener generation of transportation. As the Chevy Volt , Ford Transit Connect Electric , Nissan Leaf and others trickle out into the marketplace over the next year, it's clear that they will go only as far as their lithium ion batteries can take them (which right now isn't all that far). [More]

In the northern British Isles, the Celtic tribes known as the Picts coexisted for centuries alongside literate cultures such as the Romans, the Irish and the Anglo-Saxons. [More]

By Jeff Mason and Tom Doggett

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama announced plans on Wednesday for an expansion of U.S. offshore oil and gas drilling in an effort to win Republican support for new proposals to fight climate change.

The first sequenced drafts of the human genome were announced 10 years ago this June. President Bill Clinton remarked at the time that, "genome science will have a real impact on all of our lives." Although hopes were high, neither he nor the researchers involved promised magical genomic cures or personalized genomes for everyone by 2010. So when exactly can we, as individuals, expect to see that impact? [More]

Dear EarthTalk: Some time ago there were issues with Native American tribes storing nuclear waste on their land, something that was both unhealthy to the communities and caused considerable controversy among tribal leaders. Where is this issue today? --M. Spenser, via e-mail

If you ask the average person whether in the long run it is climate change or an asteroid/comet impact that's expected to kill more people annually, you'll undoubtedly get some confused replies. Those asteroid movies are scary, but there are no verified instances of an asteroid strike killing any humans, are there? Meanwhile, the science of climate change is currently being overshadowed by a media-driven public debate , mainly in the U.S. [More]

An estimated 20 million Americans take statins, making these cholesterol-lowering drugs the most widely prescribed class in the world. In coming years, these numbers are only expected to increase. In June 2011 the full patent for Pfizer’s blockbuster Lipitor (atorvastatin) will expire, making the drug significantly more affordable. And later this year the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute will release guidelines that could recommend stat­­ins for younger people who have no cholesterol issues--a move that could stave off cardiovascular disease later in life but also introduces questions about aggressively treating the healthy.

The current NCEP guidelines, published in 2001 and revised in 2004, recommend statins for heart disease patients with LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels greater than 70 milligrams per deciliter of blood and for people who have a moderately elevated risk of heart disease as well as LDL levels above 100 mg/dL. An expected NCEP move to lower the treatment bar this year would follow a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel’s vote in December 2009 to broaden the prescription base of Astra­Zeneca’s drug Crestor (rosu­va­statin) to an additional 6.5 million lower-risk Americans. The FDA usually accepts the panel’s recommendations.

Greenpeace is accusing one of the nation's largest conglomerates of sowing confusion around scientific assertions behind climate change, a broadside that comes amid waning public engagement on human-caused emissions.

Koch Industries, a sprawling private corporation based in Wichita, Kan., and run by two brothers, is the primary sponsor of the "climate denial machine," the environmental group asserts in a 44-page report .

Workers who apply certain pesticides to farm fields are twice as likely to contract melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer, according to a new scientific study. [More]

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is to announce on Wednesday a plan to permit exploration for oil and natural gas off the coast of Virginia as a way to create jobs and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

You might expect young women scientists to make less than older men. But veteran female life science researchers, even in very advanced positions, still make less than their male counterparts. So finds a report in the journal Academic Medicine . [See http://bit.ly/9C7nlF ]

Previous studies about income disparities in the life sciences didn’t take into account factors such as holding leadership positions. So for this study, researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital surveyed more than 3,000 investigators at the top 50 academic medical centers. The anonymous responses included information on professional leadership activities, the number of papers published and the journals they were in, hours spent working on professional, scientific and clinical activities--and, of course, pay.

For many diabetics, the unpleasant chore of drawing blood several times a day in order to check blood glucose levels is a part of life. Efforts to develop devices that can test blood glucose without the need to repeatedly prick fingers have faltered thus far due to questions about accuracy as well as complaints about skin irritation. One company is hoping to solve these problems with a biochemical sensor that adheres to the skin like a bandage and sends continuous blood glucose readings to a handheld wireless device. [More]