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Ker Than for National Geographic News
Published November 8, 2010

            
      
Polar bears typically  seals  at sea, returning to land when springtime temperatures
melt the ice floes the bears use as rest stops. But climate change has been causing sea ice to
melt earlier each year (pictures), forcing polar bears to come ashore sooner.

(See "Most Polar Bears Gone By 2050, Studies Say.")

In a previous study, biologist Robert Rockwell and his colleague Linda Gormezano documented
polar bears in Canada's Hudson Bay area returning to land about two weeks earlier than they'd
done in the past, near the end of June instead of the middle of July.
This early arrival   the bears to shore around the same time that nesting snow geese
are incubating their eggs in Hudson Bay.
Snow goose eggs are more often food for skuas and Arctic foxes. But polar bears arefamous
for their voracious appetites: One polar bear reportedly  a "goose egg-fest," Rockwell
said, devouring more than 800 eggs in four days.
Accounts like this have caused some scientists to worry that hungry polar bears might severely
reduce or wipe out nesting snow goose populations.

(Related: "Grizzly Bears Moving Into Canada's Polar Bear Capital.")

But in new research, recently published online in the journal Oikos, Rockwell and his team
show that the currently plentiful snow goose population is in no danger from the bears. In fact,
the eggs might provide a valuable backup food source as polar bears are forced to end their
seal hunts early.
For one thing, a snow goose egg is about twice the size of a chicken egg, but it is much more
nutritious, said Rockwell, a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History and
a professor at the City University of New York.
Downing a goose egg is like "eating a stick of butter," he said. Rockwell estimates that if a polar
bear eats about 88 snow goose eggs, the bear will be consuming the caloric equivalent of a
seal.

   ! "# "

Snow geese are migratory birds that spend their winters in warmer parts of North America.
The birds typically arrive in the Arctic to breed around the end of May and remain through
August. (Find out about "Great Migrations" on the National Geographic Channel.)
Millions of snow geese arrive in Canada each year to breed, and each nesting female lays four
eggs, on average.
Snow geese are currently considered a species of least concern according to the International
Union for Conservation of Nature, because they have a wide range and a large global
population that seems to be increasing.
Rockwell's initial research suggested polar bears are developing an alarming taste for their
new food source. The biologist had even heard reports of some bears coming
ashore î
or the sea ice melts to gorge on goose eggs.

(Also see "Arctic Foxes Put Eggs in 'Cold Storage' for Lean Times.")

The new study, however, indicates that the birds are safe.
Using historical records, Rockwell and his colleagues simulated the timing of four events that
occur during the Arctic spring: the  $ of sea ice, the polar bears' migration to shore, the
northward migration of snow geese, and the laying of eggs.
The results showed that, even though the two species' time on land will increasingly overlap as
global warming continues, there will always be "mismatches"Ͷyears when the bears just miss
the nesting geese.
"It's just natural [climate] variation," Rockwell said. "It only takes the occasional year of
mismatch to allow the goose population to reset itself."
Polar bears are expected to come ashore even earlier in the coming years, so goose eggs could
become an increasingly vital food source for them. (See"Polar Bears Listed as Threatened
Species in U.S.")
"Bears are bears," Rockwell said. "Once they find a food source, they're going to capitalize on
it."
This article is interesting because we can see how the global warming affects not just the
weather but the food chain of some animals, like the polar bears. We need to stop the global
warming, if not, more and more animals will change their food habits and will put in danger
other species, causing his extinction. Should the polar bear returns to its previous diet? I think
͞of course it should, the gooses could be in serious danger if all the polar bears start to eat its
eggs.

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"Amazing" DNA results show benefits of ancient urbanization, study says.
Matt Kaplan for National Geographic News
Published November 8, 2010

               )         
   ' ' *    '   
"If cities increase the amount of disease people are exposed to, shouldn't they also, over time,
make them natural places for disease resistance to evolve?" asked study co-author Mark
Thomas, a biologist at University College London.
(Related: "Evolution Getting Faster, Thanks to Germs, Viruses, Study Says.")
It's basic evolutionary theory: People who survive infection stand a better chance of having
children and passing along disease-resistant genes. So groups from regions where urbanization
has existed for thousands of years should be more disease resistant.
The trick was finding proof.
To do so, study co-author Ian Barnes, a molecular paleobiologist at University College London,
screened DNA samples from 17 groups long associated with particular regions of Europe, Asia,
and AfricaͶfor example Anatolian Turks and the southern Sudanese.
Barnes analyzed the DNA samples for a gene associated with resistance to tuberculosis (TB)
and suspected of being associated with resistance to leprosy as well as to leishmaniasis, a
reaction to sand fly bites, and to Kawasaki disease, a childhood ailment that involves inflamed
blood vessels and can lead to heart disease. (See "Oldest Human TB Case Found in 500,000-
Year-Old Fossil.")
At the same time, the team studied archaeological and historical data to work out where the
earliest cities were on these regions. For example, in Anatolia the Çatal Hüyük settlement is
roughly 8,000 years old, while in southern Sudan, the city of Juba (map) isn't even a hundred.
(Related: "Half of Humanity Will Live in Cities by Year's End" [March 2008].)
In areas of ancient urbanization, it  , "we found very high frequency" for the TB-
resistance gene, study co-author Thomas said. But, for example, "the Saami people from
northern Scandinavia and the Malawi people fromAfrica, who have little history of urban
living, did not have this frequency. (See ourinteractive Genographic atlas of ancient human
migrations.)
"We were utterly amazed by how strongly the statistics supported what we were seeing," he
added. "When you look for things like this in evolutionary history, there's so much over the
years that can mess up your data."
(Related: "Bigger Cities Causing Stronger Summer Storms, Experts Say.")


 '
 
"It's a good study and the findings make a lot of sense," said epidemiologist Andrew Read. But
it also raises more questions.
"That it took the rise of disease-ridden cities to cause this resistant gene to become common
suggests to me that there must be a cost to having itͶor else it would have been common in
the first place," said Read, of Pennsylvania State University, who wasn't involved in the new
study.
Perhaps, he said, the resistant gene causes immune systems to overreactͶand attack the
body when it's exposed to harmless things like peanuts and pollenͶmaking people more
vulnerable to allergies and arthritis, for example.
And while it may be small consolation to the allergic and arthritic, having those disorders, Read
said, might be a small price to ' avoiding death by tuberculosis.
It͛s interesting how the DNA can evolve through the time, making the genes of people exposed
to diseases; with this their descendants will be stronger against this diseases. However, this
has a cost, like be allergic to small things like peanuts, but even with this is a small ͞price͟ to
pay . But, this is possible in the entire world? We should investigate deeper to discover if this is
the best way to endure strong and more dangerous diseases, like HIV and Cancer.

+ Ê     ' , ,  -.

By GINA KOLATA
Published: November 8, 2010
About 25 years ago, before I came to The Times, I had a job interview at U.S. News & World
Report. I really wanted the reporter position, and it seemed to me that things were going well.
Then I was asked, ͞What will be the important medical news next year?͟
I replied that the reason science reporting is exciting is that the big discoveries are so
unpredictable.
But, the interviewer pressed, surely there must be some stories I was following that were on
the verge of a breakthrough. I realized I had to   with something, so I said: ͞Gene
therapy. It is likely that next year gene therapy will be shown to work and medicine will be
transformed.͟
Well, I am still waiting for that to happen. And, for whatever reason, I never heard from U.S.
News again.
But was I right to say advances are unpredictable? Yes and no, scientists say.
͞I͛ve learned over the years that the best predictor for what will be new and exciting is, ͚Expect
the unexpected,͛ ͟ said Dr. Joseph L. Goldstein, a Nobel laureate who is professor and
chairman of the department of medical genetics at the University of Texas Southwestern
Medical Center in Dallas.
Dr. David Baltimore of CalTech, another Nobel laureate, said, ͞If you could predict it, it
wouldn͛t be a breakthrough.͟
But even if it͛s impossible to predict a particular major discovery, one can sometimes sense
when a particular area of science is   '', says Dr. Richard Klausner, a former head of
the National Cancer Institute who is now a managing partner in the Column Group, a venture
capital firm. ͞It  a Moore͛s Law curve,͟ he said, referring to an observation in computer
science that the speed of computing keeps increasing exponentially.
When that happens, Dr. Klausner said, ͞barriers and unknowns seem to be falling,͟ and it is
pretty much predictable that even more exciting discoveries will be made.
That͛s happening now in stem cell research, he said, though not in the much-heralded sense of
using embryonic stem cells to treat diseases. Rather, the accelerating discoveries relate to
what determines a cell͛s fate Ͷ is it going to be a heart cell, a liver cell, a brain cell? Ͷ and
how to  one type of cell  another.
The field came to life in 1998 when scientists found very versatile cells, stem cells in embryos
that could   any cell in the body. As they worked on finding ways to direct those cells
to   various types of cells, suddenly, Dr. Klausner said, ͞this whole field took a turn.͟
In 2007, two groups of scientists discovered they did not have to start by plucking stem cells
from embryos. Instead, they could turn an already developed cell, like a skin cell, into a stem
cell by adding four genes. Then other researchers learned that they did not need to add the
genes Ͷ they could add instructions from genes instead.
At this point the idea was to take a cell, like a skin cell, make it sort of reverse its development
and   a stem cell, then direct that stem cell to develop into a different kind of cell, like
a nerve cell.
But was it really necessary to   that process of backward, then forward,
development? With what Dr. Klausner sees as a sign of the breathless pace of this field,
scientists found over the past two years that they could do what they call
͞transdifferentiation.͟ They are now taking cells, like nerve cells, and   them  other
types of cells, like muscle cells.
In theory, of course, it should be possible. All cells in the body have the same genes Ͷ what
makes a nerve cell different from a muscle cell is that some genes are silenced in a nerve cell
and others are silenced in a muscle cell. Only specific subsets of a cell͛s genes are used.
But it is one thing to know this in theory. It is quite another to  one cell type  another.
Yet now, three groups of researchers have done it. One group  connective tissue 
nerve, another turned connective tissue into heart muscles, and a third turned exocrine cells
of the pancreas, which secrete digestive enzymes, into the very different endocrine cells of the
pancreas, which make hormones like insulin. The value of being able to transform one type of
cell into another, Dr. Klausner said, is that now scientists have ͞a totally novel source͟ of cells
that they can convert.
͞I find it so wild,͟ Dr. Klausner said, ͞You go from nobody being able to do this to everybody
being able to do it.͟
So maybe the likelihood of unpredictable discoveries can be predicted, once a field really gets
going.
But often, the unpredictable is just that Ͷ unpredictable. The result is a well-recognized
problem in deciding what research to finance.
The National Institutes of Health, which  ' most research, evaluates grant proposals with
committees, called study sections, that give them scores. The highest-scoring grants get
financed.
The article talks about cells, more precise, how to transform one kind of cell into another. This
represents a big step in the health field. A group of scientists turned some cells into another
capable of produce insulin; I think that is something amazing, overall for diabetes͛ patients.
This kind of investigation and research should be financed by the government and not just the
winner but all of them, to be cooperative is better than be competitive.

/ Ê ’'$& 0 1, 2 3 

All-female species reproduces via virgin birth, new study says.
Brian Handwerk for National Geographic News
Published November 8, 2010
You could call it the surprise du jour: A popular food on Vietnamese menus has  to
be a lizard previously unknown to science, scientists say.
What's more, the newfound ^ iol is ngovantrii is no run-of-the-mill reptileͶthe all-female
species reproduces via cloning, without the need for male lizards.
Single-gender lizards aren't that much of an oddity: About one percent of lizards can
reproduce by parthenogenesis, meaning the females spontaneously ovulate and clone
themselves to produce offspring with the same genetic blueprint.
(Related: "Virgin Birth Expected at Christmas ͶBy Komodo Dragon.")
"The Vietnamese have been eating these for time on end," said herpetologist L. Lee Grismer of
La Sierra University in Riverside, California, who helped identify the animal.
"In this part of the Mekong Delta [in southeastern Vietnam], restaurants have been serving
this undescribed species, and we just stumbled across it."
(See "New Snub-Nosed Monkey Discovered, Eaten.")
Wild Lizard Chase
Grismer's Vietnamese colleague Ngo Van Tri of the Vietnam Academy of Science and
Technology found live lizards for sale in a restaurant in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province .
Noting that the reptiles all looked strangely similar, Ngo sent pictures to Grismer and his son
Jesse Grismer, a herpetology doctoral student at the University of Kansas.
The father-son team suspected that they may be    an all-female species. That's
because the team knew that the lizard likely belonged to the^ iol is genus, in which males
and females in lizards have distinct color differencesͶand no males were apparent in the
photos.
So the pair hopped on a plane to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), telephoned the restaurant to
"reserve" the lizards, and began an eight-hour motorcycle odysseyͶwhich ended in
disappointment.
"When we finally got there, this crazy guy had gotten drunk and served them all to his
customers," recalled Lee Grismer, who has received funding for other projects from
the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration. (The Society owns
National Geographic News.)
Fortunately other area restaurants had the lizards on offer, and local schoolchildren helped
gather more from the wild. Eventually the Grismers examined almost 70 of the lizardsͶand all
 to be females.
Who's Your (Lizard) Daddy?
The newfound reptile also had rows of enlarged scales on its arms as well as lamellaeͶbone
layersͶunder its toes that set it apart from other species, according to the study, published
April 22 in the journal ZOOTAXA.
The species is probably a hybrid from maternal and paternal lines of two related lizard species,
a phenomenon that can occur in transition zones between two habitats. For instance, the new
lizard's home, the Binh Chau-Phuoc Buu Nature Reserve, sits between scrub woodland and
coastal sand dunes.
"So species that do really well in one habitat or the other will occasionally get together and
reproduce to form a hybrid," Grismer said.
Genetic tests of the new lizard's mitochondrial DNA identified its maternal species as ^.
guttata. Because this type of DNA is   only through females, the paternal species
isn't yet known.
(Related: "Evolution in Action: Lizard Moving from Eggs to Live Birth.")
New Reptile May Be in Hot Water
The newly discovered hybrid species may already be at a disadvantage, Grismer addedͶeven
though it doesn't seem to be rare in the wild.
For instance, some scientists suggest that hybrid species are more prone to extinction because
they don't produce much genetic diversity from generation to generation, according to
herpetologist Charles Cole, curator emeritus at theAmerican Museum of Natural History in
New York.
Genetic diversity keeps a species viable and healthy in the long term.
(See "Hybrid 'Superpredator' Invading California Ponds.")
"At least in terms of lizards, most that are unisexual speciesͶwhen compared to the lineages
of other lizardsͶhave not been around very long," said Cole, who was not involved with the
Grismers' research.
Because the lizards don't combine genes during mating, genetic changes arise by random
mutationsͶwhich are at least as likely to be detrimental as beneficial.
Lizard Hybrid Hardy as a Mule?
However, Cole cautioned, there are also theories that hybrids can also be healthier in the short
term.
For instance, a hybrid's cells may be more genetically diverse than those of nonhybrids,
because hybrids carry genes from each of their parent species.
"This might mean that the animals are tougher and more adaptable," Cole said.
(Read how hybrid panthers are helping the rare cat rebound in Florida.)
For instance, he said, mulesͶcrosses between horses and donkeysͶ"are sterile, but they are
really good robust animals that are in some ways a preferred work animal even though they
can't reproduce."
"So what you get in the unisexual lizards is a mule that can clone itself."
It is interesting how this lizard can reproduce itself without the help of the opposite gender
specimen, it͛s like cloning itself! The article describes the procedure of these weird
phenomena, but it is just incredible that this lizard can procreate without a male lizard, but this
makes that all the lizards are female. I think that these lizards are more adaptable than a
human being. Ê

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THE GIST Men   a short-term relationship are more interested in    a
woman͛s body than are those  ' long-term love
THE SOURCE ͞Mor Than Just a Pr tty Fac  M n͛s Priority Shi
ts Toward Bodily Attractiv n ss
in Short-T rm V rsus ^ong-T rm Mating Cont ts͟ îy Jaim C. Con
r, Carin P rillou and David
M. Buss, Evolution and Human B havior.
Never mind those last 10 pounds. According to a new study, men care more about a woman͛s
face than they do about her body when seeking a long-term relationship.
To determine how men and women rank the relative importance of face versus body, the
authors Ͷ Jaime C. Confer, a graduate student of psychology; Carin Perilloux, another
graduate student; and David M. Buss, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas at
Austin Ͷ showed 375 heterosexual college students an image of a person with head and body
, and described the person as either a potential short- or long-term mate.
Participants then had the option of    either the head or body, but not both. Later,
they were asked to rate how much more important the face or body was, depending on which
they elected to reveal.
Women treated bodies and faces alike, independent of short- or long-term interest. Men,
however, made a distinction between face and figure, depending on their intent. Among male
participants, 25 percent of those who were told to consider the person as a long-term partner
chose to see the figure, compared with 51 percent who chose the body if they were  
a potential short-term partner.
Here is how the authors explain it: a woman͛s face and body signify different things, they say.
To put it in clinical terms, facial features are cues of youth and health, and features like large
eyes are feminine because ͞they are sensitive to the rise in estrogen levels that accompanies
puberty and persists through a woman͛s reproductive lifespan.͟ This would indicate long-term
reproductive value; that is, the time a woman has left to reproduce.
The body, meanwhile, signifies fertility in the here and now. A young and comely pregnant
woman, for example, would have a high reproductive value but zero current fertility potential
Ͷ she is clearly already taken. Evolutionary psychology theory holds that men value current
fertility (body) more in a short-term mate and reproductive value (face) in the long term.
But there may be more to a pretty face. ͞The face is a signifier of emotion and character,͟ said
Roy F. Baumeister, the author of a new book, ͞Is There Anything Good About Men?͟ (Oxford
University Press). ͞Men who want a long-term relationship aren͛t just interested in
reproductive value; they͛re also  ' emotional intimacy.͟
Does the study sell men͛s sights short? ͞One of the biggest limitations is we didn͛t ask
participants why they chose face or body,͟ Ms. Confer said. ͞We just assumed they were
looking to evaluate attractiveness, but it could have been many other things Ͷ personality
type, whether there would be a connection. We didn͛t even think of it afterward Ͷ it was an
oversight.͟ Seems as if it͛s not only what men look at in potential mates, but also how they
view them that counts.
I didn¶t know that a man looks the woman¶s face for a long term relationship, well at least
now I know that my possibilities to have a long term relationship are high. But even with
these studies, this not apply for every man in the world, it would be a good idea to do this
research here in Mexico to discover what a man wants for long term relationship. I¶m
pretty sure that most of them would choose a good body more than a pretty face.

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DERLIN Ͷ The global debate over how access to the Internet should be determined and paid
for has attracted free speech advocates, telephone network operators and big online
businesses like Google and Facebook.
This week, arguments over so-called network neutrality move to Brussels, where the European
Commission and Parliament are holding a daylong meeting that is expected to draw speakers
from industry, government and academia.
In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission attempted this year to bar operators Ͷ
telecommunications and cable companies that offer connections to the Internet Ͷ from
selectively managing the data flowing over their networks to assure that all customers got
adequate service.
The commission tried to prohibit their extracting payment from big traffic generators like
Google, but the proposal is  in legal challenges. In Europe, the debate is not as
far along, but the outcome is equally clouded.
Important signals about the Continent͛s approach may come Thursday from Neelie Kroes, the
European commissioner for telecommunications, who is scheduled to speak at the meeting
and must report to the Parliament on the status of net neutrality by the end of the year.
In the absence of new regulation, Europe appears to be on track to give mobile network
operators a relatively free hand in managing the data flowing over their networks. That could
include the imposition of additional charges on rivals, like the voice-over-Internet service
Skype.
Ms. Kroes, in public statements this year, has warned operators not to bar rival services from
their mobile networks but has not indicated that she intends to push for tighter regulation that
would limit the way operators can manage their data traffic.
Jean-Jacques Sahel, the European director of regulatory affairs at Skype, said Ms. Kroes
needed to make sure that the 27 E.U. national regulators Ͷ who must establish rules by May 1
defining ͞reasonable͟ traffic management practices Ͷ take an aggressive approach to ensure
that operators do not discriminate against rivals.
In most European markets, Mr. Sahel said, operators are still charging an extra fee, usually Φ10
to Φ15 a month, or $14 to $21, for customers wishing to use voice-over-Internet services. ͞This
is a form of economic discrimination,͟ Mr. Sahel said. ͞The question is: Where will this stop?͟
Ms. Kroes declined to comment through a spokesman, Jonathan Todd.
Network operators say that charging mobile consumers for rival services like Skype is widely
accepted and that there has been no evidence of widespread censorship or discrimination that
would warrant more regulation.
A Sept. 30 report by the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications, the
European Union͛s telecommunications advisory group, seemed to confirm the industry
position, concluding that there was no new need for regulation at this point.
The group, which is   of the bloc͛s national telecommunications regulators, said
operators in more than a dozen countries Ͷ Austria, Croatia, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands,
Portugal, Romania, Switzerland, France, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland and Britain Ͷ had
either blocked or throttled services like Skype or file-sharing Web sites. In general, using Skype
allows callers to avoid paying the operators for local and long-distance calling; file-sharing sites
put steep demands on mobile networks.
But most blocking stopped, the report said, after being reported to local media or regulators.
͞To date, the survey carried out by Berec shows that incidents remain few and most of them
have been solved voluntarily,͟ the regulators concluded. ͞These findings imply that there is
currently little reason to undertake any new regulatory measures.͟


 
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Two female Sumatran tiger cubs at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park  '' their newly
emerging teeth last week, the zoo said in a caption released with this photo.
Born on October 5, the cubs are being desensitized to the human touch in anticipation of
vaccines or other necessary veterinary care, the zoo added. "It also allows keepers to check if
the cubs are teething. Keepers discovered the cubs' canines are now emerging. The cubs are
described as clumsy on their feet. Keepers expect them to be more agile and be ready to
explore the outdoors in mid-January," the zoo said.
Sumatran tigers are a critically endangered species, with only about 400 cats left worldwide,
according to the zoo, which is home to seven Sumatran tigers.


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On its 115th anniversary, x-ray tech is "very far from a dead science."

When German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen pioneered the use ofx-rays 115 years agoͶas
celebrated today with a 115th-anniversary Google doodleͶhe couldn't have imagined the
uses they'd be put to a century later.
(See x-rays   art by photographer Nick Veasey.)
On November 8, 1895, Röntgen (also spelled "Roentgen") was experimenting with vacuum
tubes when he produced and detected the previously unknown type of radiation.
A few days later Röntgen made the first medical x-ray image in history by taking a picture that
clearly revealed the bones of his wife's hand.
Medical imaging is still the best known use of x-rays, but scientists and engineers have devised
a host of new uses for this uniquely penetrating form of light.
(See "Iceman Bled Out From Arrow Wound, X-Rays Reveal.")
ET X-Rays
Astronomers, for example, were quick to grasp the potential of x-rays in their field. But it
wasn't until 1949 that scientists strapped small Geiger counters to a captured German V-2
missileͶwith a peak altitude of about 50 miles (80 kilometers)Ͷand the field of x-ray
astronomy was born.
"What made [x-ray astronomy] possible was the ability to put instruments in space, because x-
rays get absorbed by the atmosphere and don't reach the ground," said Leon Golub, an
astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge,
Massachusetts.
In that first experiment, scientists confirmed that our sun, and by extension all stars, emit x-
rays. Stellar x-rays are emitted by superheated gas in the stars' atmospheres, or coronas.
So far, more than a dozen telescopes that detect x-rays have been   space. With
their aid, astronomers have discovered sources of x-rays far beyond our solar system, including
distant galaxies composed of trillions of stars, dying stars known as supernovae, stellar corpses
called neutron stars and white dwarfs, and black holes.
While black holes themselves emit no light, their immediate environments are often so
turbulent that they shine brightly with x-rays.
"What seems to be happening is that black holes accumulate large disks of infalling matter
around them," Golub explained. (Find out how x-rays are unlocking black hole mysteries.)
"As that matter swirls around the black hole and spirals towards its center, it  , and the
gas gets so hot that it becomes like the corona [of a star] and it produces x-rays."
(Read more on what x-rays have done for astronomy.)
X-Rays Turned Into Lasers
Since Röntgen's days, scientists have also learned to manipulate x-rays in a variety of
nonmedical ways.
For example, a new multimillion-dollar machine at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at
California's Stanford University can combine x-rays into a laser beam similar to visible-light
lasers.
Unlike regular lasers, though, laser bursts made from x-rays are so bright and so brief that they
should allow researchers to create ultrafast stop-motion movies of natural phenomena that
have never before been seen clearly.
For example, until now the formation and breakage of molecular bonds by atoms was
essentially a blur to scientists. But with x-ray lasers, biological reactionsͶsuch as
photosynthesis, which plants use to convert sunlight into energyͶcould theoretically be
visualized one step at a time.
"With x-ray lasers," said SLAC senior scientist Uwe Bergmann, "you can study things on the
time scale of molecules and chemical reactions."
X-Rays Expose Invisible World
Scientists are also combining x-rays with microscopy to pioneer new ways of visualizing cellular
structures and microorganisms.
A light microscope's resolution is dependent on the wavelength of the light being used.
Because x-rays have much smaller wavelengths than visible light, they can be used to image
objects that are up to ten times smaller than what can be resolved using traditional
microscopy, explained Martin Richardson, a professor of optics at the University of Central
Florida, whose group has been helping to pioneer x-ray microscopy for biological studies since
the early 1990s.
(Related pictures: "'Invisible' Ancient Bugs Seen by Hi-Tech X-Rays.")
"Although Röntgen discovered x-rays 115 years ago," Richardson said, "x-ray science is very far
from a dead science."

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By JOHN SCHWARTZ Published: November 8, 2010

Joanne Pedersen tried to add her spouse to her federal health insurance on Monday. She was
rejected. Again.
The problem is that while Ms. Pedersen is legally married to Ann Meitzen under Connecticut
law, federal law does not recognize same-sex unions. So a health insurance matter that is all
but automatic for most married people is not ' them under federal law.
Ms. Pedersen and Ms. Meitzen plan to file a lawsuit Tuesday against the government in an
effort to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 law that prohibits the federal
government from recognizing marriages of same-sex couples.
They are plaintiffs in one of two lawsuits being filed by the legal groupGay and Lesbian
Advocates and Defenders, a gay rights legal organization based in Boston, and by theAmerican
Civil Liberties Union.
A similar challenge by the gay rights legal group resulted in a ruling in July from a federal judge
in Boston that the act is unconstitutional. The Obama administration is appealing that decision.
The two new lawsuits, which involve plaintiffs from New York, Connecticut, Vermont and New
Hampshire, expand the attack geographically and also encompass more of the1,138 federal
laws and regulations that the Defense of Marriage Act potentially affects Ͷ including the
insurance costs amounting to several hundred dollars a month in the case of Ms. Pedersen and
Ms. Meitzen, and a $350,0000 estate tax payment in the A.C.L.U. case.
The civil liberties union filed suit on behalf of Edith S. Windsor, whose spouse, Thea C. Spyer,
died last year of aortic stenosis. The two women, New Yorkers who had been together for 44
years, married in Toronto in 2007. New York officially recognizes same-sex
marriages performed in other states. Had the two been man and wife, there would have been
no federal estate tax to pay.
͞It͛s just so unfair,͟ said Ms. Windsor, who is 81.
Taken together, said Mary Bonauto, the director of the Civil Rights Project for the Gay and
Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, the cases show same-sex couples ͞are falling through the
safety net other people .͟
Traditionally, Ms. Bonauto noted, the federal government has left the definition of marriage to
the states. ͞The federal government has respected those determinations, except in the
instance of gay and lesbian couples marrying,͟ she said. The result, she said, is a violation of
constitutional guarantees of equal protection.
In the Massachusetts case earlier this year, the Justice Department defended the Defense of
Marriage law, and is likely to do so again as the two new cases move forward. A spokeswoman
for the Department of Justice, Tracy Schmaler, said, ͞The Justice Department has a
longstanding tradition of defending acts of Congress when they are challenged in court.͟
The new cases, however, could increase the pressure onPresident Obama to act on his
repeated promises to support gay rights. Mr. Obama has called for the repeal of the Defense
of Marriage Act, saying it is discriminatory. But he has also said he supports civil unions but not
same-sex marriage. Last month, however, at a meeting with liberal bloggers, he said he had
been thinking ͞a lot͟ about that position, saying, ͞Attitudes evolve, including mine.͟
Five states and the District of Columbia allow same-sex marriages to be performed, but 31
states have passed laws blocking them. The issue continues to echo politically. Last week, Iowa
voters removed three of the Supreme Court justices who had participated in a unanimous
decision allowing same-sex marriage.
Maggie Gallagher, the chairwoman of the National Organization for Marriage, a group that
opposes same-sex marriage, said court challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act showed that
gay rights advocates ͞continue to push a primarily court-based strategy of, in our view,
inventing rights that neither the founders nor the majority of Americans can recognize in our
Constitution.͟
To Ms. Pedersen, the question is one of justice. She and Ms. Meitzen, who married in 2008,
have been together in Connecticut for 12 years. Ms. Meitzen, a social worker, has had health
problems, and Ms. Pedersen, a civilian retiree from the Department of Naval Intelligence, tried
to enroll her spouse in the federal employee health benefits program Ͷ a move that would
save them hundreds of dollars a month.
Both women had been married before, to men, and have grown children. The fact that the law
values one of their marriages over another is a source of consternation, Ms. Pedersen said.
͞If we were heterosexual, we wouldn͛t be talking today, because we would have the benefits,͟
Ms. Pedersen said. ͞I would just like the federal government to recognize our marriage as just
as real as everybody else͛s.͟
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FOR college applicants who haven͛t engaged in many extracurricular activities, turning to the
section of the Common Application where they are encouraged to list such pursuits can cause
a bit of a flutter in the stomach.
This year͛s application includes 12 blank fields set aside for ͞Extracurricular Activities & Work
Experience.͟ What of the applicant who has done only a few things, however intensively?
͞The perception is that you have to fill in all the blanks,͟ Jennifer Delahunty, the dean of
admissions at Kenyon College in Ohio, told me recently. ͞What we hate to see,͟ she said, ͞is
when students do things like check ͚9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grades͛ and then write ͚personal
reading.͛ Yes, we͛re glad you͛re a reader. But it looks decidedly like filler.͟
Instead, Ms. Delahunty and her counterparts say, students should feel free to leave some
white space, and at no risk to their chances of admission. In fact, on this year͛s online version
of the Common Application, clicking on the oversize yellow question mark in the activity
section will open a popup box under the statement, ͞I am concerned that I will be at a
disadvantage if I do not complete all 12 activity fields.͟ It is followed by a soothing message
from the administrators of the application, assuring applicants that ͞the availability of 12 fields
is not intended to imply that you should list 12 activities.͟
As Monica C. Inzer, the dean of admissions at Hamilton College in New York and a member of
the Common Application board, explained: ͞We͛d rather see depth than a longer list. I think
students think we want well-rounded kids. We do. But we really want a well-rounded class.
That could be lots of people who have individual strengths. Distinction in one area is good, and
better than doing a lot of little things.͟
The space for activities on this year͛s Common Application, which is accepted by more than
400 colleges and universities, is greater than in past editions. For the first time, the application
combines extracurricular activities (previously seven lines) and work experience (previously
four) into one 12-line section.
One reason for the revision: ͞So there would be no implied hierarchy of importance between
extracurriculars (formerly listed first) and work experience,͟ Rob Killion, executive director of
the Common Application, wrote in an e-mail.
The change is intended to benefit applicants like the one to Kenyon a few years ago ͞who had
no activities, save 25 hours working at the family gas station each week,͟ Ms. Delahunty said.
͞We know that͛s all that the student could do.͟ He was admitted.
Moreover, the combined work-and-play section permits students to rank all their activities ͞in
their order of importance to you͟; in such a way, a job might take precedence over  
the school yearbook.
Ultimately, what are admissions deans hoping to see in this section of the application?
͞We͛d rather see a marathon than a bunch of sprints,͟ Ms. Delahunty said Ͷ and no, for those
of you who run track and cross-country, she wasn͛t speaking literally. ͞We͛d rather see a
student who has been engaged over a couple of years in an activity rather than someone who
goes to 12 different meetings in a month and doesn͛t really dig deep into one activity.͟
While colleges know that students are going to try things that don͛t  , they ultimately
hope to find evidence that ͞something seized you and you stayed with it,͟ said Ms. Delahunty,
the editor of a recently published series of essays for parents, ͞I͛m Going to College Ͷ Not
You.͟
While leadership is prized, rank-and-file participation counts, too. ͞Not everybody is going to
be president of a club or captain of a team,͟ Ms. Inzer said. ͞We͛re   ' signs of
commitment, a purpose to what you do.͟
Just as significant may be how students respond to the request that they ͞briefly elaborate on
one͟ activity or work experience in four lines or less.
Eric J. Furda, the dean of admissions at the University of Pennsylvania, said he hoped to glean
from the answer what a student learned from that experience.
͞They͛re not going to differentiate themselves by listing that they were on the student
newspaper and were editor in chief; there are other editors in chief of the student
newspaper,͟ Mr. Furda said. ͞Talking about that experience on the application is a way the
student is going to differentiate himself or herself.͟
It may demoralize some applicants to hear that the extra space was motivated partly by those
students who not only filled in all the lines allotted for their non-academic lives, but also
attached a résumé with even more details. Still, giving too much information to admissions
officers already on information overload Ͷ remember, they may read upward of 1,000
applications in just a few weeks Ͷ can backfire.
͞It͛s our hope,͟ Mr. Killion said, ͞that some students will no longer feel the need to send a
résumé.͟
This article said that a lot of students are concerned about the 12 blank fields set aside in the
applicants exam for Extracurricular Activities & Work Experience. They believe that their
chances of being accepted increased if they fill all the blanks. However, in this exam, the main
purpose is to relax the students, to make them know that they are just kids and the day just
have 24 hours, they can do many things but 12 is a little bit complicated.

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News reports on comets have been dominated the past few days by NASA's flyby yesterday
morning of the comet 103P/Hartley 2 and the subsequent  $ pictures.
Before the NASA craft got cozy, the comet made its closest approach by Earth on October 20,
coming a mere 11 million miles (17.7 million kilometers) from our planet.
Hartley 2 was discovered in 1986 and has been calculated to have a 6.5-year orbit. But this is
the first time since its discovery that the comet has swung so close to homeͶgravitational
tugs from Jupiter usually throw Hartley 2 onto a more distant course.
Still, that comet got closer to Earth last month than our nearest planetary neighbor,Venus,
and doesn't that just make you wonder: What would happen if Hartley 2 slammed into North
America?
Well, wonder no more. Scientists at Purdue University in Indiana and Imperial College
London today released the latest, user-friendly version of their disaster calculator toolImpact
Earth!
Just feed the tool a few parametersͶsize, density, speed, angle of approachͶand the
program   such delightful data as the resulting change in the tilt of Earth's axis, the
size of the crater, the magnitude of any potential tsunami, and whether people around you
would have their clothing ignited by the blast of thermal radiation.
That last part depends on your distance from the impact site, which is part of the overall
calculations.
You can tell the tool exactly how big your impactor should be, or you can pick from a $
 menu of sample sizes. Options include a school bus, a humpback whale, London, the
moon, and [handily enough] Hartley 2.
The best part is that the tool is more than just edutainment. Its creators say their
calculations are scientifically accurate enough for NASA or the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security to make use of the data, according to the Milwauk Journal-S ntinal.
However, "the site is intended for a broad global audience because an impact is an inevitable
aspect of life on this planet, and literally everyone on Earth should be interested," co-
creator Jay Melosh of Purdue told the Wisconsin newspaper.

If you want to know what will happen in a twister alert, you must read the article. It talks
about the information you must to input in order to know how big and deep will be the crater.
However an impact is something inevitable for this planet, and this will attract more and more
clients, they are just fragments because it disappears when entering to the atmosphere. This
software sound curious and it͛s said that is working properly.