News: AAAS 2011 Annual Meeting News
http://news.aaas.org//2011/index.shtml
Washington, D.C., is not just a
political capital—it’s an international science capital, too. The
National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the
National Academies, the Smithsonian, and even the Jefferson Memorial
testify to the central place of science and scientists in the
nation’s past and its future. Thousands of scientists, engineers,
policymakers, educators, and journalists from some 50 nations are
here at the 177th AAAS Annual Meeting to explore a broad range
of recent discoveries and looming global challenges. The AAAS Office
of Public Programs is providing news coverage, plus a sampling of
Annual Meeting news from around the world.
For three years as science adviser at the U.S. State Department and
USAID, Nina Fedoroff urged the world research community to collaborate
on “truly global problems that do not respect political boundaries or
political positions.”
“It’s never been more important for
scientists to work together on the big issues confronting the world:
food, energy, and water,” Fedoroff said in a recent interview. As the
incoming AAAS president, she will encourage the association to further
expand its international programs, especially in developing nations.
Read more about Fedoroff's priorities as AAAS President.
Commercial fishing operations in the past 40 years have precipitated a dramatic change in ocean fish stocks, with tuna and other big predators declining and small fish like anchovies and sardines surging. That’s the conclusion of the most ambitious study ever completed of fish populations in the Earth’s oceans, led by Villy Christensen of the University of British Columbia's Fisheries Centre.
In the past 100 years, 80% of the biomass of fish in the world’s oceans has been lost, Christensen says in a AAAS video that coincided with a symposium at the Annual Meeting. “Just in the last 40 years, we have lost 60% of the biomass,” he explained. “So we’ve seen some very serious declines, and there’s no doubt about what the cause is: We’re talking about overfishing—overfishing at the global scale.”
Only a few studies have tried to assess the future of fish populations in the ocean, and they range widely, from complete collapse of marine fish populations by 2048 to improvement in populations. But effective management strategies will be required to achieve the latter outcome, he said.
The story received extensive news coverage internationally.
To learn more, and to see a video of Villy Christensen, click on.
Food prices are climbing again, sparking public protests in some developing nations. Already there are about 1 billion people in the world who are chronically hungry. And policy makers, looking to the future, are assessing how much more difficult the challenge could get by 2050, when another 2 billion people will push the world population to 9 billion.
Compounding their concerns: Rising income levels in developing countries drives demand for more and better food. Declining reserves of fresh water. And changes in temperature, wind, and flooding that could prove detrimental to crop production.
“By 2030 we are going to need 50% more food, 40% more available fresh water, and something on the order of 50% more low-carbon energy,” Sir John Beddington, the chief science adviser to the U.K. government, told a symposium at the AAAS Annual Meeting. “We need a radical redesign of global food systems.”
AAAS President Nina V. Fedoroff, a plant biologist from Penn State, warned the audience that agricultural romanticism and nostalgia could check human efforts to produce food efficiently with the least environmental impact.
Read the full story.
Is antisocial behavior rooted in genetics or is it to some extent acquired through environmental influences? And what is the link between brain structure and criminal or psychopathic behavior?
The questions are crucial for society--they shape how we might try to prevent crime and how we might punish or rehabilitate criminals.
For generations, we have viewed crime at least partly as a moral issue, and the criminal as someone morally corrupted. But research discussed at the Annual Meeting suggested that anti-social behavior may be more likely when the front lobe of the brain is smaller than average or the when amygdala is unusually small or active.
“The seeds of sin are sown quite early on in life,” said criminologist Adrian Raine.
Read the full story.
Biological sciences have been transformed in recent years as new fields such as genomics, proteomics, synthetic biology, and systems biology have come online. Yet through it all, undergraduate biology education has remained largely unchanged.
Now, after years of collaboration among biology students, professors, and researchers, the U.S. National Science Foundation, AAAS, and their partners have released Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action. The new publication charts a course for bringing more contemporary, multi-disciplinary instruction into undergraduate biology classrooms and dramatically modernizing the ways that biological sciences are taught in universities across the United States.
“The publication of Vision and Change is a start,” said Bruce Alberts, the editor-in-chief of the journal Science. “It's now time for action.”
The publication was released Saturday 19 February at the Annual Meeting.
Brandon Bryn has the full story.
After agreeing to participate in a small study on exposure to environmental toxins, a woman learned she had traces of 109 potentially harmful chemicals in her body,
including PCBs and dioxins. Her first
reaction: "absolute outrage."
But her case represents an increasingly important issue for researchers. They are asking people for blood, tissues samples, and breast milk so that they can study toxins in the enivronment, and people want to know their individual results.
As a result, experts said at the Annual Meeting, researchers
are searching for ways to report these results that are personally
useful but also honest about the uncertainties of chemical exposure.
Read Becky Ham's full report.
The Sun
has a cycle of activity that usually lasts about a dozen years--and
right now, the latest quiet period appears to be coming to a close. That could portend tough times ahead for your radio, your GPS, and for those who are directing the flight and path of smart bombs against military targets.
A forum at the AAAS Annual Meeting focused on these issues and Science’s Robert Coontz caught up with panelist Thomas Bogdan, director of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center, in this Science Podcast.
In Bogdan’s view, the spectacular Valentine’s Day solar flare that generated worldwide news coverage wasn’t so unusual. “These were not the largest of storms,” Bogdan said. “I think they garnered a lot of attention because they were the largest storms we’ve seen in about four years.”
Earth is protected from much of the Sun’s radiation by its magnetic field, but sensitive electronics can be vulnerable. That is particularly true of satellites whose electronic circuits can be fried if they are not protected from the energy surges. Scientists are warning that a really large solar storm could wreak havoc on electronics comparable to Hurricane Katrina, but on a global scale.
A forum at the AAAS Annual Meeting focused on these issues and Science’s Robert Coontz caught up with panelist Thomas Bogdan, director of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center, in this Science Podcast.
In Bogdan’s view, the spectacular Valentine’s Day solar flare that generated worldwide news coverage wasn’t so unusual. “These were not the largest of storms,” Bogdan said. “I think they garnered a lot of attention because they were the largest storms we’ve seen in about four years.”
Earth is protected from much of the Sun’s radiation by its magnetic field, but sensitive electronics can be vulnerable. That is particularly true of satellites whose electronic circuits can be fried if they are not protected from the energy surges. Scientists are warning that a really large solar storm could wreak havoc on electronics comparable to Hurricane Katrina, but on a global scale.
For more on the stormy future of space weather, read Bob Roehr's full story.
Scientist as comedian--are you trying to be funny? But seriously: Brian Malow has a knack for infusing scientific topics with humor and wordplay. And during standing-room-only presentation Sunday at the Annual Meeting, Malow said that humor is too often overlooked an effective way for scientists to connect with a non-scientific audience.
Malow had his audience laughing throughout his presentation. But he also offered good, practical advice for how to be funny, and the advice can serve scientists and anyone else who's getting ready for a public presentation.
Among his key recommendations: Know your audience. Use stories and anecdotes to make a human connection. Steal other people's lines and make them your own, if you need to (with attribution, of course).
And in a pinch, it's a good bet to just to look amused. “It’s good to look like you’re
about to say something funny…you are funny,” Malow says. “Trust me, people
are laughing at you.”
For more about the role of humor in science communication, read Jennifer Santisi's full report (and see a video by Carla Schaffer).
MIT undergraduates must take an introductory biology class, and Graham
Walker teaches hundreds of these students in a semester. Somewhere in
those classes are the next superstars of science, he said, and he's
determined to find them.
Science education can sometimes turn into a "bulk experiment," where the goal is to get an average number of students to learn an average amount, he said in a plenary talk at the close of the 2011 AAAS Annual Meeting. But his experiences have impressed him with the diversity of learning styles and motivations of individual students, and he challenges himself to teach "at the single molecule" level, reaching out to each student in a way that will ignite his or her personal interest in science.
Science education can sometimes turn into a "bulk experiment," where the goal is to get an average number of students to learn an average amount, he said in a plenary talk at the close of the 2011 AAAS Annual Meeting. But his experiences have impressed him with the diversity of learning styles and motivations of individual students, and he challenges himself to teach "at the single molecule" level, reaching out to each student in a way that will ignite his or her personal interest in science.
Read more about Graham Walker's innovative education projects.
The AAAS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., ended Monday after an exciting five-day run. But in the days ahead, we'll be adding more meeting coverage to this site, including stories on:
- biosecurity;
- feeding the world's growing population;
- the politics of climate change;
- the science of comedy; and
- new AAAS President Nina Fedoroff.
Check back over the next few days for more news from the cutting edge of science.
DNA sequencing is getting easier and cheaper. Thousand of researchers nationwide have access to bacteria and viruses considered potentially dangerous to human health. And scientists and law enforcement agencies sometimes have very different ideas about how to approach regulation and security.
In an environment that holds great promise for advancing medical care and improving environmental clean-up, it's clear that the United States is still wrestling with how to limit the risks. At the AAAS Annual Meeting, a panel discussion featuring some eminent experts in research and science policy urged that a careful balance be struck so that, as much as possible, security is ensured without compromising research.
Ten years after the anthrax attacks that killed five Americans,
researchers say a “culture of responsibility” among scientists may be
the most effective way to prevent a future biological attack.
Read more about the state of American biosecurity.
Stuttering--and ways to ease the condition--have taken on a new
visibility since release last fall of "The King's Speech," the acclaimed film which follows
the inspiring effort of Britain's King George VI to control his
stammer.
But research
and treatment has come a long way since King George's era. Gone are the days when it was considered a product of poor parenting or a sign of
nervousness. Genes gone awry and brains working in overdrive are now
considered the more likely culprits.
From
studies on hand-clapping in children to stuttering mice, scientists at
the AAAS Annual Meeting reported that recent research is approaching the puzzle from
different directions. They're hoping to converge soon on a detailed
biological model that will explain why stuttering starts when it does,
why some people are more susceptible, and what sorts of
therapies are the best at treating the speech disorder.
UPDATE 2/22: Science Update, the smart, quirky 60-second daily radio show from AAAS, has a new segment on the latest stuttering research.
Read more about the possible roots of stuttering.
Science Update, the award-winning radio show from AAAS, visited the Annual Meeting this week, and in a new podcast Bob Hirshon and Susanne Bard explore some of the meeting's most intriguing stories: the new science of aeroecology, fresh insight into human taste preferences, novel ways to store energy, and 3-D printers that could one day produce replacement organs.
Science Update is a 60-second radio show broadcast five days a week on radio stations all over the United States. Once a week there's a new podcast that includes a number of stories. It's top-notch science reporting--quick, a little quirky, and highly informative. It was first broadcast in 1988, and celebrated its 5000th episode last July.
And if you have a science question, send it in to the Science Update team. Use this form or call 1-800-WHY-ISIT (949-4748). If they use your question on the air, you'll win a very classy new coffee mug.
Check out the Science Update podcast from the Annual Meeting.
Highlights from the final day of the AAAS Annual Meeting:
Inspiration and Engagement in Education, a plenary lecture by
American Cancer Society Research Professor, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, 8:30-9:30 a.m., Washington Convention Center, East Salon.
Bioprinting: A Future of Regenerative Medicine symposium. 9:45-11:15 a.m., Washington Convention Center, Room 146C.
Nature, Nurture, and Antisocial Behavior: Biological and Biosocial Research on Crime symposium. 9:45-11:15 a.m., Washington Convention Center, Room 145A.
Chat with molecular ecologist Ian Baldwin at Live@ AAAS from the Science News team. Noon, at the Science magazine News site.
See Monday's schedule online or page 25 of the program book.
![Alice S. Huang delivered the AAAS Presidential Address on 17 February at the Annual Meeting. [Photo by Edward W. Lempinen]](http://news.aaas.org/Alice%20Huang%20address%20021711.JPG "Alice S. Huang delivered the AAAS Presidential Address on 17 February at the Annual Meeting. [Photo by Edward W. Lempinen]")
AAAS President Alice S. Huang's own practice of science diplomacy--in the lab and on the
international stage--has convinced her of its power to address global
problems such as poverty and women's economic advancement.
"The
United States has tremendous credibility to engage other countries
in science diplomacy," she said in her presidential address at the 2011
AAAS Annual Meeting, "because of our own capabilities in science and
technology."
For the U.S. to succeed, she said, "we need to avoid arrogance and Western-centric
views, and behave as true partners in advancing international science as
well as the welfare of all citizens."
Read more about Alice S. Huang's presidential address.
In a crowded room at the AAAS Annual Meeting, researchers were talking
about the benefits of being able to “print” biological materials.
Nearby, a machine rested on a stool, draped in a white cloth; the
machine hummed as a carriage shifted back and forth, its gel-filled jet
tracing a precise pattern over the flat work surface.
The talk passed into a Q&A session, and the machine hummed on. By the time questions were answered, the Fab@Home 3D printer had completed its project: a silicon model of human ear cartilage.
The talk passed into a Q&A session, and the machine hummed on. By the time questions were answered, the Fab@Home 3D printer had completed its project: a silicon model of human ear cartilage.
The idea is derived from a common inkjet printer, but researchers are hoping to develop its capacity to build new skin and treat grave wounds, printing one thin layer at a time.
Read the full story, and watch a video, to learn more about bio-printing.
A single letter in an individual’s DNA determines whether or not that person is likely to become infected with Plasmodium vivax,
the world’s most common malaria parasite. New evidence suggests that
the parasite may be evolving a way around this genetic hurdle to gain
the ability to infect even more people.
Malaria already is one of the leading causes of death around the world, with 2.85 billion of the Earth’s 7 billion people at risk for the infection. And it is a re-emerging problem in the United States, as warming temperatures are helping malaria become reestablished in the American South.
If this new variant of the parasite gains a foothold on the continent of Africa, then millions of people once thought to be resistant to the bug “suddenly become susceptible to a new form of malaria,” Peter Zimmerman said during a news briefing at the AAAS Annual Meeting. Zimmerman is a professor of global health at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
Malaria already is one of the leading causes of death around the world, with 2.85 billion of the Earth’s 7 billion people at risk for the infection. And it is a re-emerging problem in the United States, as warming temperatures are helping malaria become reestablished in the American South.
If this new variant of the parasite gains a foothold on the continent of Africa, then millions of people once thought to be resistant to the bug “suddenly become susceptible to a new form of malaria,” Peter Zimmerman said during a news briefing at the AAAS Annual Meeting. Zimmerman is a professor of global health at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
Learn more about the new malaria threat.
White House Executive Pastry Chef William Yosses came to the AAAS Annual Meeting to embroider on a general theme: Flavor—sweet, salty, tart, bitter—“is a concept created in the brain.” Ah, but what a concept!
At a symposium on the science of food and flavor, Yosses and others fluent in that delightful science explored our attraction to really good foods--even when they're potentially really bad for us. Salt, for example, was singled out for a lot of attention.
“If our genetic disposition is to savor fat, and salt, and things that
are bad for us,” Yosses asked rhetorically, “what is a chef to do?” He had some appealing ideas about that, too.
For more on the science of flavor, including an interesting video, read on.
Even as the federal government nears a possible shutdown next month over
a delayed budget and many in the U.S. Congress call for severe spending
cuts, the nation's chief science adviser said President Barack Obama remains
committed to science and technology investments as essential drivers of
the country's economic future.
John P. Holdren, director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, said
that from clean energy to electronic health records, Obama "realizes
that science and technology are not just germane to success, but
central." And Holdren reassured his audience that the president's
concerns reach beyond research spending to supporting the broader science
enterprise, from education to commercial applications.
In a plenary address to the 2011 AAAS Annual Meeting, enthusiastically
received by a standing room-only crowd of more than1500, Holdren
shared his insights on a president deeply engaged in the details of
science policy, convinced of its importance to the country's future, and
personally delighted by the discoveries of scientists and students.
Read more about President Obama's plan to support U.S. innovation.
Bioengineer Frances Arnold wants to make microbes into the chemical
factories of the 21st century. But she learned long ago that her
designing skills pale alongside the handiwork of evolution. So like any
good entrepreneur, she decided to hire the competition.
Those
who direct the power of evolution successfully, she told her audience
at the 2011 AAAS Annual Meeting, can create new medicines, new fuels,
and new materials in a sustainable and efficient fashion.
“This is a very rich and intricate composition, the code of life, and we
don’t know how to write music like this,” she said. “We’re just
learning how to hold a pencil when it comes to comparison with the code
of life.”
Read more about Arnold's contributions to cutting-edge bioengineering.
A prestigious panel of biosecurity experts this evening, plus other highlights on the schedule for the fourth day of the AAAS Annual Meeting:
First Physics from the Large Hadron Collider symposium. 8:30-11:30 a.m., Washington Convention Center, Room 207B.
Molecular Self-Assembly and Artificial Molecular Machines seminar. 8:30-11:30 a.m., Washington Convention Centers, Room 146C.
Family Science Day and Meet the Scientists. 11:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m., Washington Convention Center, Exhibit Hall D.
The Science of Comedy: Communicating with Humor. 11:30 AM-12:30 p.m.,
Washington Convention Center, 158AB.
Washington Convention Center, 158AB.
Chat with neuroscientist Olaf Blanke and computer scientist Jose del R. Millan at Live@AAAS from the Science News team. Noon, at the Science magazine News site.
AAAS General Poster Session. 1:00-5:00 p.m., Washington Convention Center, Exhibit Hall D.
AAAS General Poster Session. 1:00-5:00 p.m., Washington Convention Center, Exhibit Hall D.
Plenary Lecture Panel on Biosecurity, featuring Rita R. Colwell, Anthony S. Fauci, Claire M. Fraser-Liggett, and U.S. Rep. Rush Holt. 5:00-6:00 p.m., Washington Convention Center, East Salon.
Browse the rest of Sunday's schedule online or on page 22 of the program book.
A performance combining music, dance, and sculpture with science
captivated a large audience Saturday at Family Science Days during the
AAAS Annual Meeting. Lelavision Performance Company along with David Lynn, professor of
chemistry at Emory University, performed “The Evolution of Life.”
Family Science Days is an opportunity--open to the public without charge--to enjoy hands-on exhibitions and engage with a variety of scientists and science organizations. Everything from dry ice experiments to colorful paints and crafts were popular features at the exhibitions.
Family Science Days continues on Sunday at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.
Family Science Days is an opportunity--open to the public without charge--to enjoy hands-on exhibitions and engage with a variety of scientists and science organizations. Everything from dry ice experiments to colorful paints and crafts were popular features at the exhibitions.
Family Science Days continues on Sunday at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.
Read more about Family Science Days.
When the news media cover issues like evolution and embryonic stem cell
research, scientists and evangelical Christians often are portrayed as implacable opponents. But speakers at the AAAS Annual
Meeting said there is another, quieter trend toward partnership between
the two communities, one that offers hope for working together on
important areas of science policy.
In their symposium, the
scientists and ethicists suggested practical reasons for
working with the politically active evangelical community. On issues like stem cell research, constructive engagement might temper
conflict and allow research to move forward. On environmental stewardship and climate change, shared values can be a basis for effective partnerships.
The ideal working
relationship between the two groups, said University of Virginia
professor James Childress, would produce "policies that can address a
range of ethical concerns but also be faithful to the science involved."
Read more about scientists' collaborations with the evangelical community.
Ethanol is increasingly seen as inefficient. At least one major oil company is looking to derive fuel from algae. And now a Swedish researcher in synthetic biology is exploring whether a common form of yeast, long associated with baking and brewing, could itself be turned into fuel, chemicals, and proteins.
Jens Nielsen, a systems and
synthetic biologist at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg,
Sweden, said much is already known about how to manipulate the organism. His group
has modified yeast through genetic engineering to change the metabolism
of the cells and produce desired chemical feedstocks in greater
quantities.
But at a AAAS Annual Meeting symposium, Nielsen said that many challenges lie ahead. Among them: the need for computational tools that are tailored for industrialized application of synthetic biology products.
Read Bob Roehr's full story.
NASA's Kepler mission has helped detect about 1200 "candidate" planets so far, but for William Chaplin, what's striking is this: The resonating sounds within a star make it quake and
pulse in tiny but predictable ways, like music. And that could help astronomers in their
search for Sun-sized starts that shelter Earth-sized planets.
Chaplin's research in the new field of asteroseismology is one of the
lesser-known highlights of the Kepler mission, a space-based
telescope launched in 2009 to explore a portion of the Milky Way galaxy
for Earth-like planets. On Saturday at the Annual Meeting, Kepler researchers
discussed the data gleaned by the telescope in its first years,
surveying its designated patch of sky in the constellations Cygnus and
Lyra.
Already, said MIT planet scientist Sara Seager, Kepler has notched some strange and incredible finds.
Read more about Kepler, and see a video interview with Sara Seager.
Learning a second language can improve your work skills or your travel
experience, but new research is showing that it also appears to confer
other, unexpected advantages: It actually makes the brain more healthy
and more efficient.
In presentations at the AAAS Annual Meeting, researchers detailed findings that show learning a second language can sharpen focus and other cognitive abilities and even hold off the effects of dementia.
An episode of Science Podcast, hosted by Robert Frederick, tapped into two Friday symposia. Frederick’s take-home: Being multilingual can actually influence learning and the brain structure, with impacts extending throughout one’s life.
In presentations at the AAAS Annual Meeting, researchers detailed findings that show learning a second language can sharpen focus and other cognitive abilities and even hold off the effects of dementia.
An episode of Science Podcast, hosted by Robert Frederick, tapped into two Friday symposia. Frederick’s take-home: Being multilingual can actually influence learning and the brain structure, with impacts extending throughout one’s life.
“We don’t
believe bilingualism prevents Alzheimer’s disease," said psychologist Ellen Bialystok in an interview with Science Update,
the daily 60-second radio show from AAAS. "What we’re saying is,
people who have been bilingual have more reserve, they have more
resources to continue functioning at a high level in spite of the
disease progressing in their brains.”
The story got extensive global coverage--including the Guardian, Agence-France-Presse, and National Geographic online. Mais oui!
For more information, read the full story.
The news team at Science is hosting a series of live chats
with
top scientists at this year's AAAS Annual Meeting. Today at noon, the guest will be Tom Kunz, whose research focuses on the ecology, behavior, evolution, and conservation biology of bats.
Here's the chat schedule for rest of the Annual Meeting, plus a link to the chat pages.
- Bat Behavior and Conservation with Tom Kunz, 12 noon
- Brain-controlled Robots with Andrew Schwartz, 12 noon on Sunday
- "Talking Trees" with Ian Baldwin,
Join us for the fun at Family Science Days, and check out these highlights from the third day of the AAAS Annual Meeting:
Other Worlds symposium. 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Washington Convention Center, Room 146C.
Other Worlds symposium. 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Washington Convention Center, Room 146C.
Family Science Days and Meet the Scientists. 11:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., Washington Convention Center, Exhibit Hall D.
Chat with bat scientist Tom Kunz at Live@AAAS from the Science News team. Noon, at the Science magazine News site.
AAAS Student Poster Competition. 1:00-5:00 p.m., Washington Convention Center, Exhibit Hall D.
Deepwater Drilling: A Risk Worth Taking? 1:30 PM-4:30 PM Washington Convention Center 206.
AAAS Student Poster Competition. 1:00-5:00 p.m., Washington Convention Center, Exhibit Hall D.
Deepwater Drilling: A Risk Worth Taking? 1:30 PM-4:30 PM Washington Convention Center 206.
TV Meteorologists Communicating Climate Change. 3:00-4:30 p.m. Washington Convention Center 156
AAAS Awards Ceremony and Reception 6:00-7:30 p.m., Renaissance Hotel Downtown, Grand Ballroom North
Design and Evolution: Engineering Biology in the 21st Century,
a plenary lecture by Frances Arnold, the Dick and Barbara Dickinson
Professor of Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry, California Institute
of Technology. 5:00-6:00 p.m., Washington Convention Center, East
Salon.
See Saturday's full schedule online or page 18 of the program book.
Humans have evolved a symbiotic,
co-dependent relationship with specialized communities of microorganisms
that colonize every part of our body, from the space between our
toes to the roof of our mouths and the recesses of our gut.
But what happens if the natural microbial ecology--in our intestines,
for example--is thrown out of balance? Researchers at an Annual Meeting symposium Friday said they're now
exploring whether autism, Type II diabetes, and other conditions may be
linked to such disruptions.
Modern medicine was founded on the discovery that microorganisms are a cause of disease. It has taken several hundred years to begin to realize that they also can be beneficial to our health, Dr. David Relman, a Stanford University professor, told the symposium.
Modern medicine was founded on the discovery that microorganisms are a cause of disease. It has taken several hundred years to begin to realize that they also can be beneficial to our health, Dr. David Relman, a Stanford University professor, told the symposium.
Read Bob Roehr's full story.
Despite continuing budget challenges, President Barack Obama is committed to supporting areas of research and development investment that are critical for the nation's long-term economic strength," White House science adviser John P. Holdren said Friday at AAAS.
In a news briefing with U.S. and foreign reporters, Holdren said the 2012 budget proposed by the president reduced funding for an array of valuable science-related programs. But the president signaled his economic vision and policy priorities by providing increases of approximately 6% for some civilian R&D and about 5% for all basic and applied research combined.
For the Department of Energy, NASA, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the White House has proposed "double-digit," increases for research, Holdren told reporters. "This is not the time to stop investing in the drivers of the economic growth we need for recovery," he said.
To learn more, and see a video summary of Holdren's news briefing, read the full story.
Flying animals, changing weather conditions, and human architecture
mingle in complicated ways within the lowest levels of the atmosphere.
Two years ago, Boston University biologist Thomas Kunz coined the term
"aeroecology" to describe the science of this unique borderland skimming
the surface of the planet.
The new discipline combines
atmospheric science, geography, ecology, and computational science in
ways that even its pioneers could not have predicted, researchers said Friday at the AAAS Annual Meeting.
Read more--and watch a video interview--about the new science of the skies.
In one image, molecules appear to ripple like water on a surface of gold. Another shows the human immunodeficiency virus in striking 3D detail. And a video shows how 3000 pieces of trash, tagged with sensors in Seattle, flow to destinations throughout the United States.
These were among the winners of the 2010 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge announced Thursday by the U.S. National Science Foundation and AAAS. Though they use different media and focus on subjects as diverse as molecules, fungi, and tomato seeds, all of the winners have a common accomplishment:
They use pictures to engage people worldwide and to convey science in creative, almost irresistible, ways.
Read Natasha Pinol's full story--and see the winning images.
Probing environmental reports on the size of the Gulf oil spill, the
possible risks of chemicals commonly found in drinking water, and the
fate of an endangered fish in the Colorado River are among the winners
of the 2010 AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards.
The awards,
administered by AAAS since their inception in 1945, go to professional journalists for
distinguished reporting for a general audience. The Kavli Foundation,
based in Oxnard, California, provided a generous endowment in 2009 that
ensures the future of the awards program.
Independent panels of science journalists pick the winners, who will
be honored in a ceremony Friday evening at the
Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.
Read more about the 2010 winners.
Are we slowly turning into robots? Are there any fish left in the sea?
Can a scientist make you laugh? These topics, and many others, as the Annual Meeting kicks into
high gear today:
Body and Machine Seminar, 8:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Washington Convention Center, Room 146C.
Evangelicals, Science, and Policy: Toward a Constructive Engagement. Symposium.
10:00-11:30 a.m., Washington Convention Center, Room 147A.
10:00-11:30 a.m., Washington Convention Center, Room 147A.
The Science of Comedy, an NSF workshop that teaches a new view of public engagement to scientists. 11:00 a.m.-noon, Washington Convention Center, Room 158A.
Chat with NASA space scientist Bill Borucki and MIT planetary scientist Sara Seager at Live@AAAS from the Science News team. Noon, at the Science magazine News site.
"String Theory and New Physics," a lecture by Harvard cosmologist Lisa Randall.
Noon-12:35 p.m., Washington Convention Center, Room 207A.
"String Theory and New Physics," a lecture by Harvard cosmologist Lisa Randall.
Noon-12:35 p.m., Washington Convention Center, Room 207A.
New Global Assessments of Threats to Marine Life symposium. 1:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m., Washington Convention Center, Room 146.
John P. Holdren, assistant to President Obama for science and
technology and director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Plenary lecture. 5:00-6:00 p.m., Washington Convention Center, East Salon.
See Friday's full schedule online or on page 13 of the Program Book.
Former U.S. Army Sergeant Glen Lehman lost an arm during battle in Iraq, and you watch with a mix of admiration and awe as he demonstrates some cutting-edge robotic technology: He has an artificial arm wired to his body now, and when he thinks about moving the arm, it moves.
The demonstration was one of several yesterday at the AAAS Annual Meeting that offered a glimpse of the emerging power and potential that may someday be tapped when human minds are connected to machines.
To learn more, check out Carla Schaffer's video story.
Adaptive optics, a technique used to peer into the center of the Milky
Way, is now turning its gaze on tiny blood vessels in the eye and
neurons in the mouse brain, experts said at a symposium at the 2011 AAAS
Annual Meeting.
The sight of a star--or cell--is never a perfect
one, as light waves bounce and bend in unpredictable ways as they make
their way from the object to the eye. Adaptive optics measures and
compensates for these deflections to create a sharper image.
Read more about adaptive optics' applications.
Most children learn early that bears hibernate through the winter, but, perhaps surprisingly, researchers have had limited insight into what goes on during that big sleep. Now researchers from the University of Alaska at Fairbanks have developed some interesting new insight.
Their findings show that although black bears reduce their body
temperatures only slightly during hibernation, their metabolic activity
drops dramatically, slowing to about 25% of their normal, active rates. Their heart rates slowed from around 55 beats per minute to about 14 beats per minute.
The findings have implications for a range of
human endeavors—from medical care to deep space travel.
Øivind Tøien and a group from the Institute of Arctic Biology at the
University of Alaska at Fairbanks, along with colleagues from Stanford
University, reported their findings in the 18 February issue of Science and discussed them during a news briefing on the findings on the
opening day of the 2011 AAAS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.
[UPDATE 2/18: This story received widespread news coverage, including stories by Joe Palca, NPR; Alan Boyle, msnbc.com; Brian Vastag, Washington Post; and Jeffrey Kluger, Time.com.]
Read Brandon Bryn's full report.
The news team at Science is hosting a series of live chats with
top scientists at this year's AAAS Annual Meeting. The first chat takes place
today at noon. Taking your questions will be former U.S. Representative Bill Foster, a physicist who's considering a novel approach for bringing scientists into politics.
Here's the chat schedule for each day of the Annual Meeting, plus a link to the chat pages.
- Turning Scientists Into Politicians with Bill Foster,12 noon
- Alien Worlds with Bill Borucki and Sara Seager,
- Bat Behavior and Conservation with Tom Kunz, 12 noon
- Brain-controlled Robots with Andrew Schwartz, 12 noon on Sunday
- "Talking Trees" with Ian Baldwin,
AAAS President Alice S. Huang said that overt
discrimination against women in science "is pretty well gone," but women
are still less likely to hold management-level positions in government,
industry, and academia.
"It seems as if the bar is set higher for women," said Huang, who spoke before international media at the start of the 2011 AAAS Annual Meeting. She called the advancement of women and minorities in science one of her lifelong passions.
"It seems as if the bar is set higher for women," said Huang, who spoke before international media at the start of the 2011 AAAS Annual Meeting. She called the advancement of women and minorities in science one of her lifelong passions.
Read Becky Ham's full story.
The 177th AAAS Annual Meeting formally opens today in Washington, D.C. The pace accelerates today before a full day of events on Friday.
Today's featured event:
AAAS President's Address by Alice S. Huang. The distinguished virologist and advocate for women in science in will deliver a plenary address that's open to meeting registrants and the public (without charge). Washington Convention Center, East Salon, 6:00-7:30 p.m.
AAAS tonight named the winners of eight prestigious awards in the fields of research, science diplomacy, education, and public service, citing the winners’ deep commitment to discovery and their positive impact for the public’s engagement with science.
Announced on the eve of the 177th AAAS Annual Meeting, the 2010 winners are:
Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award: Elizabeth Loftus of the University of California at Irvine.
Newcomb Cleveland Prize: A draft sequence of the Neandertal genome (detailed in a Science paper by Richard E. Green, David Reich, Svante Paabo, and colleagues.)
Science Diplomacy Award: Glenn E. Schweitzer, U.S. National Academies and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Early Career Award for Public Engagement with Science: Lynford L. Goddard, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Public Understanding of Science and Technology Award: J. John Cohen, University of Colorado School of Medicine.
Lifetime Mentor Award: Joel D. Oppenheim, New York University School of Medicine.
Mentor Award: Joseph M. DeSimone, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University.
Philip Hauge Abelson Award: U.S. Representative Rush Holt of New Jersey.
To learn more about the winners, read the full story.
Top honors in the 2010 AAAS/Subaru Science
Books & Film (SB&F) competition have been awarded to science books exploring
climate change, the collapse of honey bee colonies, 50 daring
experiments, and the gripping tale of Henrietta Lacks, whose cells made a crucial and lasting contribution to biological research.
The winners:
Children’s Science Picture Book: "The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge' (Scholastic), written by Joanna Cole and illustrated by Bruce Degen.
Middle Grades Science: "The Hive Detectives: Chronicle of a Honey Bee
Catastrophe," (Houghton Mifflin) written by Loree Griffin Burns and photographed by Ellen
Harasimowicz.
Young Adult Science: "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" (Macmillan), by Rebecca Skloot.
Hands-on Science: "The Book of Potentially Catastrophic Science: 50 Experiments for Daring Young Scientists" (Workman), by Sean Connolly.
AAAS and Subaru of America, Inc. co-sponsor the prizes to recognize recently published works that are scientifically sound and foster an understanding and appreciation of science in readers of all ages.AAAS CEO Alan I. Leshner praised the books for conveying "the excitement of science in ways that engage young minds.”
To learn more about the winners and finalists, read the full story.
Four accomplished science journalists—from Argentina, Chile, China, and Egypt—will attend the AAAS Annual Meeting under the AAAS-EurekAlert! Fellowships for International Science Reporters.
The recipients of the 2011 fellowships are:
- Andrea Obaid Carrion, Radio Cooperativa, Chile;
- Nadia El Dakroury, the newspaper El Dostor, Egypt;
- Dawei Yu, Caixin Media, China.
Fitting the mission of both AAAS and
its global news service, EurekAlert!, the fellowship seeks to promote international scientific
dialogue and advance the communication of science news to the global
public.
The fellowships were originally launched in 2004 with a seed grant
from the William T. Golden Endowment Fund for Program Innovation.
Read Jennifer Santisi's full report.
If you love science, and if you're anywhere near Washington, D.C., in the next several days, then the AAAS Annual Meeting has some amazing programs for you—for free—whether you're a teacher, a dad with some adventurous kids, or an early career scientist. Or maybe you'd love to learn how a pioneering researcher and her team are generating novel enzymes and organisms for use in medicine and in alternative forms of energy.
Family Science Days, to be held the weekend of 19-20 February, is an institution at the Annual Meeting that gets better every year. This year, there will be presentations on biologically inspired robots and experiments for daring young scientists, plus, for middle- and high school students, a series of short, interactive presentations by leading scientists.
The meeting also includes cutting-edge lectures on topics such as climate change and biosecurity, along with career-building presentations for scientists of every age.Registration for these free events is required
on-site at the Walter E. Washington
Convention Center in downtown D.C.
To learn more, read the full story.
Brain-controlled tele-presence robots, “smart” artificial limbs, bioprinting strategies for regenerative medicine, the next generation of batteries, and the search for other Earths—these are just a few of the topics to be explored as America’s largest general scientific conference convenes starting tomorrow in Washington, D.C.
The
AAAS Annual Meeting has been described in The
Times Higher Education as “the Olympics of science conferences,” and it's not difficult to see why. The meeting features hundreds of top scientists, policy experts, and leading educators from some 50 nations, many speaking about remarkable new discoveries or critical issues facing humanity.
Included in the lineup for the 177th Annual Meeting are free public lectures by John P. Holdren, President Barack Obama’s assistant for science and technology; Frances H. Arnold, a pioneer in the use of enzymes and organisms for medicine and energy; and Graham C. Walker, Massachusetts Institute of Technology education expert and cancer researcher.
Registrants will be able to sample symposia and seminars across the range of science—astronomy, neuroscience, and climate change, the role of innovation in economic growth, the state of U.S. research and development funding, and the importance of science diplomacy.
The AAAS President’s Address will be delivered by Alice S. Huang, the distinguished virologist and proponent for women in science. “The theme for this year’s conference, "Science Without Borders," stresses science’s increasingly global nature and highlights the importance of utilizing multidisciplinary approaches to the practice of science,” Huang said. “It challenges us to break down barriers and embrace diversity so we can leverage science to solve the urgent global problems we face and advance society.”
For details, see the Annual Meeting program.
Or read Ginger Pinholster's full story.
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through the AAAS News Twitter account.
Stay informed during the Annual Meeting through our Twitter account @AAASMeetings. Use our hashtag #AAASmtg to read what others are saying about the meeting or contribute to the conversation.
Stay up-to-date with the latest research on signal transduction with Science Signaling.
Listen to Annual Meeting interviews with scientists and journalists on the Science Podcast.
The latest discoveries in science, technology and medicine on AAAS's daily, 60-second radio program.
AAAS Annual Meeting resources for reporters, including press releases, speaker papers, presentations, bios, and multimedia.
