Cosmic Log : Science

Science by the book

Alan Boyle — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:13:00 GMT

Featurepics.com

Books on scientific subjects offer the world ... and other planets as well.

Science books used to show dinosaurs exclusively in shades of scaly green and brown. Books about the solar system used to list just nine planets, and books about the subatomic world didn't go much farther than protons, neutrons and electrons.

As times have changed, so has the science - and so should science books. Just in time for holiday giving, here's a selection of books for kids (and grownups) that incorporate recent developments on the scientific frontiers.

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Big pictures of tiny wonders

Alan Boyle — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:10:00 GMT

	Jan Michels
	Click for slideshow: Feast your eyes on Olympus BioScapes winners for 2009.

Who would have thought that a water flea, diseased neurons and poisoned algae could be so beautiful? It's just a matter of having the right perspective.

The flea, the neurons and the algae are among the stars of the show in this year's Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition. The contest is just one of several conducted annually to highlight scientific imagery that puts a fresh perspective on subjects that, under other circumstances, might seem commonplace or even repellent.

Take the water flea, for example.

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The scent of a dead celeb?

Alan Boyle — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:25:00 GMT

	Hulton Archive / Getty Images file
	A new line of fragrance is inspired by Marilyn Monroe's DNA.

A venture that uses the DNA from Marilyn Monroe, Michael Jackson and other dead celebrities to mix up personality-driven fragrances is getting more than a whiff of publicity - but if you're expecting a touch of "Marilyn" to make you smell like the real Marilyn, you have no nose for science.

MyDNAFragrance's "Antiquity" line of perfumery appears to be the latest marketing gimmick driven by genetics, along the lines of DNA art, protein-coded music and (heh, heh) celebrity DNA samples.

The venture does use the celebrities' DNA code, after a fashion, and it does translate that code into a customized scent recipe - so there's certainly no false advertising. But the DNA that's used has absolutely no bearing on what a person smells like, and the DNA itself is not featured in the recipe.

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Bird vs. Big Bang Machine

Alan Boyle — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:35:00 GMT

CERN / CMS Collaboration

A computer-generated graphic shows particles flying through the Large Hadron Collider's Compact Muon Solenoid detector during a "splash event" on Nov. 7.

The world's biggest and most expensive particle-smasher, the Large Hadron Collider, is all warmed up (and cooled down) for a fresh start after a few snags, including an unfortunate incident that involved a bird and a baguette.

Fourteen months ago, the LHC began operating in the middle of a media spotlight fit for a rock star - but broke down after only nine days. A faulty electrical interconnection between the underground collider ring's high-powered magnets, coupled with a helium leak, caused significant damage to the ring - and the LHC has been closed for repairs ever since.

Those repairs included the installation of a magnet protection system that should automatically shut down the collider if anything similar should happen again. The LHC is now undergoing its final checkouts, including a test last weekend that involved sending beams of protons halfway around the ring.

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Science stories that soar

Alan Boyle — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:10:00 GMT

This summer's animated movie "Up" and last month's weird tale of the balloon boy may have given you your fill of high-flying fiction - but if you're looking for factual sagas that soar, check out this year's winners of the AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards. There's even a story about a kid with a balloon.

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How the Maya lived

Alan Boyle — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:56:00 GMT

Courtesy of Nat'l Academy of Sciences / PNAS

The southeast corner of a painted pyramid excavated at a site in Mexico shows
scenes from everyday Maya life in the A.D. 620-700 time frame.

Murals found on a buried Mexican pyramid reveal how the average Maya lived about 1,350 years ago - shedding light on aspects of Maya society that are "virtually unknown," researchers say.

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DNA barcodes make their mark

Alan Boyle — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:30:00 GMT

	Consortium for the Barcode of Life
	Color-coded genetic sequences serve as "DNA barcodes" for a hermit thrush (far left), an American robin, a bumblebee and a honeybee. The gray bars stand for genetic differences.

DNA fingerprinting isn't just for humans anymore: The "barcodes of life" are being read in other species as well, and they're being used to crack down on smugglers, track down disease carriers and trace the effects of climate change.

About 350 experts from 50 countries will be meeting in Mexico over the next week to discuss the rising number of applications for the technology. One of the major items on the agenda is to seal a global deal to extend the DNA barcode system to plants.

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Fixing bugs in the ballot

Alan Boyle — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:15:00 GMT

msnbc.com

Click for interactive:
Learn more about
voting technologies.

Years after the controversial presidential election in 2000, election activists are still struggling to work the bugs out of balloting systems. The butterfly ballot may be ancient history, but changes in voting practices have brought in a whole new slate of challenges.

"U.S. elections really are a mess," said Arlene Ash, a biostatistician at Boston University who has made a study of statistical issues in elections. She said that was an astounding reality for "a country which has prided itself on industrial quality control and really getting technology right."

Tuesday may be an off-year Election Day, but the occasion serves as a good time to consider how far we've come since the year 2000, and how far we have yet to go.

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Space science on a budget

Alan Boyle — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:35:00 GMT

For decades, the cost of doing space science has been astronomically high, but all that will change when suborbital spacecraft start flying. Off-the-cuff calculations suggest doing low-cost research on commercial rocket ships could easily add up to $100 million a year.

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How to snoop into a personality

Alan Boyle — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:45:00 GMT

Sam Gosling / UT-Austin

These two dorm rooms reveal strikingly different personalities. "You could look at
either and be horrified," University of Texas psychologist Sam Gosling jokes.

Your personality is on display in all the stuff you leave behind, but sometimes it takes a skilled "snoopologist" to know what to look for.

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