Wendy Science

One of the world’s most iconic and beloved animals is quickly disappearing. Fifteen years ago about 140,000 giraffes () roamed the plains and forests of Africa. Today that number has plummeted by more than 40 percent, according to the (GCF). As with so many other species, the causes of this decline include habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, overhunting and poaching. Unfortunately, this decline has occurred with little fanfare or public attention. “For comparison’s sake, while there are warnings and alarm bells ringing about the imminent extinction of the African elephant as a result of the poaching crisis—a situation not in any way to be minimized—there are an estimated 450,000 African elephants compared to 80,000 giraffe,” says Kathleen Garrigan, senior communications officer for the . Surprisingly, even scientists haven’t given much attention to giraffes until the past five or so years. “We’re learning a lot more about their ecology but what we know is still way behind what we ...

An imminent tackle in high school football. (Credit: Ian Kahn via Flickr) In May of 2012, former NFL linebacker Junior Seau took his own life by shooting himself in the chest. Seau was dealing with depression, mood swings and insomnia. An autopsy of Seau’s brain revealed that he suffered from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), which as “a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in athletes (and others) with a history of repetitive brain trauma, including symptomatic concussions as well as asymptomatic subconcussive hits to the head.” It’s a disease associated with dementia, and it can only be diagnosed posthumously. After Seau’s suicide, CTE blossomed into the cultural lexicon. The NFL started to receive a wave of negative media attention, and the sport had become synonymous with CTE and concussions, which continues today. In a recent study, “new data from the nation’s largest brain bank focused on traumatic brain injury has found evidence of a degenerative brain dis...

How a photographer’s curiosity led to new scientific insight into the fluid dynamics of binary liquids November 24, 2014 | | Ernie Button was never a whisky drinker, but his wife loved the stuff. So, in an attempt to develop his palate the Phoenix-based began sampling everything from blended malts to single grains. Along his culinary journey he became intoxicated not only with sipping the amber liquid but with photographing it, too. His subject, however, was not a two-fingers’ pour but the dried drops left over in the bottom of the glass, which—as he discovered one morning while loading the dishwasher—leave intricate, lacelike designs in their evaporative wake. Photographic interest piqued, Button began experimenting with different Scotches, whiskeys and bourbons to see what kind of patterns he could coax out of those spirits’ departing drops. Rather than photoshop the images, he used different combinations of colored lights to highlight the undulations the evaporated liquid left ...

See Inside The organization joins scientists in figuring out the role clouds play in climate change Nov 18, 2014 | | More In This Article Climatologists often ponder clouds. Do they largely reflect sunlight away from Earth, helping it cool, or do they absorb and reradiate heat, accelerating rising temperatures? Their net effect in a changing climate . In September nasa deployed a team to the Arctic to gather more data on this question. Onboard a C-130 plane with solar, thermal and microwave radiometers, researchers recorded how sunlight and heat moved through the clouds; they also surveyed sea ice above 250,000 square nautical miles of Alaska. The work complements another nasa-supported team at the University of Alaska Fairbanks that is monitoring glacier size with planes such as the DHC-3 Otter (). In both cases, planes collect sharper readings than satellites. “We'll be making the data set available to the scientific community within six months,” says nasa mission leader Willi...

July 24, 2013 The drowsiness we experience after a hearty Thanksgiving meal is usually blamed on the amino acid tryptophan, which turkey supposedly has an extra helping of. Or does it? Scientific American editor Ferris Jabr investigates. Showing 16451 Give a Gift & Give a 1 year subscription as low as $14.99 > X Email this Article X

Researchers have designed peptides, short chains of amino acids, that spontaneously package DNA into tiny capsules that could offer a new route for drug delivery or gene transport November 24, 2014 | and | SYNTHETIC SHELL: Engineered peptides encapsulate DNA into a nanococoon (right) that resembles parapoxvirus particles (left). Scientists have designed short peptides that self-assemble with DNA to form viruslike capsules (. 2014, ). These nanococoons could offer a new route to transport genes or small-molecule drugs into cells, the researchers say. When developing the new particles, and Rong Ni of tried to mimic how virus proteins encapsulate their genomic DNA. Viruses use simple protein units that assemble along their DNA, like a stack of Legos, she says. So Chau and Ni set out to make a 16-amino acid peptide with three essential functions of viral proteins: remain stable in water, bind DNA, and assemble on their own. They did this by including a known DNA-binding region a...

CLIMATE CALCULATIONS “ClimeApocalypse!” [Skeptic], Michael Shermer draws on the widely criticized work of Danish political scientist Bjørn Lomborg to conclude that climate change is not a large concern when compared with poverty and global health. This is a false dichotomy; few global issues we face are of greater consequence to the poor and to all living creatures on the planet than climate change. Without immediate, large-scale action, global water supplies, agriculture, disease rates and extreme weather will have profound negative consequences on all of us. RAFAEL REYES Shermer's analysis is very anthropomorphic. It takes into account only the damages and costs to humans. It also takes into account only the current population with no accounting for future ones. JOE VIPOND . PRODUCTIVITY'S PERILS “Will Work for Machines” [Science Agenda], the editors discuss the role technological innovations may have played in productivity and corporate profits having increased while incomes...