Science 20 September 2013:
Vol. 341 no. 6152 p. 1327
DOI: 10.1126/science.341.6152.1327 Water Resources Researchers have discovered five major new aquifers deep under the arid northwestern corner of Kenya, a U.N. program announced last week. The find boosts Kenya's known groundwater reserves by 17% and could be a game-changer in a nation hit hard by droughts over the last several decades. It also highlights advances in the field of water prospecting. By melding traditional geology with data from space- and ground-based sensors and powerful software, researchers are revealing hidden reservoirs in sometimes surprising places. Finding the water is just the first hurdle, however; drilling for it and managing it properly remain major challenges.
Friday, 20 September 2013
[News & Analysis] Water Resources: Kenyan Find Heralds New Era in Water Prospecting
[News & Analysis] Space Exploration: India Aims a Probe at Mars—And at Earthly Prestige
[News & Analysis] Biomedical Publishing: Secretive and Subjective, Peer Review Proves Resistant to Study
Science 20 September 2013:
Vol. 341 no. 6152 p. 1331
DOI: 10.1126/science.341.6152.1331 Biomedical Publishing At the International Congress on Peer Review and Biomedical Publication, efforts to explore the scientific literature have shifted away from peer review and into other areas, such as bias and authorship. With a dearth of available data and funding, large systematic studies of how peer review works and doesn't aren't easy to get off the ground.
Monday, 16 September 2013
[News & Analysis] Genomics: Researchers to Explore Promise, Risks Of Sequencing Newborns' DNA
Science 13 September 2013:
Vol. 341 no. 6151 p. 1163
DOI: 10.1126/science.341.6151.1163 Genomics U.S. geneticists last week began examining the promise and risks of sequencing every newborn's genome. DNA sequencing could improve the accuracy of state newborn screening programs that test babies' blood for biochemical markers for several dozen rare disorders. And genome testing could potentially look for all 7000 or so diseases caused by defects in single genes. But newborn genome testing could potentially reveal many more unexpected genetic risks. Should parents be told, for example, that their child is at high risk for cancer later in life? A new $25 million, 5-year federal research program will examine such questions.
[News & Analysis] Planetary Science: It's Official—Voyager Has Left the Solar System
Science 13 September 2013:
Vol. 341 no. 6151 pp. 1158-1159
DOI: 10.1126/science.341.6151.1158 Planetary Science After 36 years of hurtling toward the edge of the solar system, the Voyager 1 spacecraft—its sensors failing, its energy running low—has crossed into the abyss of interstellar space. At least, after long disagreements, that is now the consensus view of Voyager mission team leaders. The space physicists' edge of the solar system "is not your usual planetary environment at all," says heliophysicist George Gloeckler, a Voyager team member since the 1960s. Even modern computer simulations could give no warning of the confusing weirdness Voyager 1 has encountered.
[News & Analysis] Space Science: Novel Craft Sets Out to Probe the Mysteries of Moondust
Science 13 September 2013:
Vol. 341 no. 6151 p. 1161
DOI: 10.1126/science.341.6151.1161 Space Science A new lunar mission that blasted off from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia last week will study the moon's atmosphere and dust. In addition, it will give NASA a chance to test a new laser communications system and a novel concept for designing spacecraft that could help future space missions.
[News & Analysis] Climate Science: Researchers Wary as DOE Bids to Build Sixth U.S. Climate Model
Science 13 September 2013:
Vol. 341 no. 6151 p. 1160
DOI: 10.1126/science.341.6151.1160 Climate Science The United States currently funds five major climate modeling efforts. But scientists and policymakers are eager to have even better models, and the U.S. Department of Energy is considering a plan to build a new, higher resolution model that could take into account features, such as ocean eddies or storms, that cover less than 100 square kilometers. Many researchers are excited about the nascent project, but others worry it could divert resources from existing collaborations.
Wednesday, 11 September 2013
[News & Analysis] As Syria Crisis Mounts, Scientist Looks Back at Last Major Chemical Attack
[News & Analysis] Chemical Weapons: U.N. Taps Special Labs to Investigate Syrian Attack
[News & Analysis] Synthetic Biology: Fluorine-Adding Bacteria May Transform Natural Product Medicines
Sunday, 18 August 2013
[News & Analysis] Emerging Diseases: Researchers Scramble to Understand Camel Connection to MERS
Science 16 August 2013:
Vol. 341 no. 6147 p. 702
DOI: 10.1126/science.341.6147.702 Emerging Diseases The discovery that camels in Oman harbor antibodies to the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronavirus has reenergized the hunt for the source of the virus. But whether the camels really were infected with MERS is still unclear; some believe the animals' peculiar immune system may have led to a wrong result.
[News & Analysis] Epidemiology: Budget Woes Threaten Long-Term Heart Studies
Science 16 August 2013:
Vol. 341 no. 6147 p. 701
DOI: 10.1126/science.341.6147.701 Epidemiology The Framingham Heart Study is an icon of epidemiology. Its long-term monitoring of a large group, or cohort, of people in a Massachusetts town has yielded landmark results on everything from the link between cholesterol and heart disease to the genetic risk of stroke. But this year, the thorough clinical exams that participants periodically receive will be scaled back, and plans for new tests put on hold. Similar cohort studies sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute are confronting a similar fate and some observers suggest that the era of such large, costly long-termstudies is drawing to a close.
[News & Analysis] Particle Physics: Europe Aims for a Cut-Rate Superlaser To Power Future Particle Accelerators
Science 16 August 2013:
Vol. 341 no. 6147 pp. 704-705
DOI: 10.1126/science.341.6147.704 Particle Physics Could the light at the end of high-energy physics' increasingly long tunnels be light? To keep making progress, physicists need to slam particles together at increasingly high energy. Many fear that the ever-more-powerful machines required will eventually become too expensive to build and run. In search of a way out, European researchers are investigating a radically new type of accelerator based on souped-up versions of devices already available: the fiber-optic lasers now used in telecommunications.