[News & Analysis] Archaeology: New Sites Bring the Earliest Americans Out of the Shadows
A new generation of archaeologists is searching for new evidence of the earliest humans in America, and finding it. At the annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, young researchers reported the discovery and analyses of a number of new sites, especially in South America, where they discovered the bones, stone tools, and hearths of Paleoindians. New dates on those sites show that Paleoindians had spread throughout the Americas by 12,000 to almost 15,000 years ago and even inhabited extreme environments, such as mountaintops or deserts.
Author: Ann Gibbons (Source: Science: This Week)
Source: Science: This Week - May 9, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Ann Gibbons Tags: Archaeology Source Type: research
[News & Analysis] Scientific Integrity: Fresh Misconduct Charges Hit Dutch Social Psychology
Based on a statistical analysis of a published paper, a national research integrity panel in the Netherlands has found evidence of data manipulation in the work of Jens Förster, a social psychologist at the University of Amsterdam. It is the third such affair in Dutch social psychology since 2011. Förster, who enjoys an excellent reputation in the field, denies the charges and says he feels "like the victim of an incredible witch hunt."
Author: Frank van Kolfschooten (Source: Science: This Week)
Source: Science: This Week - May 9, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Frank van Kolfschooten Tags: Scientific Integrity Source Type: research
[News of the Week] Newsmakers
Science chats with David Saltzberg, the one and only science consultant for the immensely popular CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory. And former biotech CEO Randy Mills is tapped to head the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. (Source: Science: This Week)
Source: Science: This Week - May 9, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Stewart Wills (mailto:swills at aaas.org) Source Type: research
[News of the Week] Random Sample
To speed up the production of a new malaria vaccine grown in mosquito saliva, scientists have designed a robot, dubbed SporoBot, that can rapidly dissect a mosquito's salivary glands—and they're asking for crowd funding, via Indiegogo.com, to help pay to build it. (Source: Science: This Week)
Source: Science: This Week - May 9, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Stewart Wills (mailto:swills at aaas.org) Source Type: research
[News of the Week] Around the World
In science news around the world, the first case of Middle East respiratory syndrome in the United States is confirmed, the World Health Organization declares the spread of wild poliovirus an international emergency, the United Kingdom proposes lifting its confidentiality rules for animal research, and more. (Source: Science: This Week)
Source: Science: This Week - May 9, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Stewart Wills (mailto:swills at aaas.org) Source Type: research
[News of the Week] This Week's Section
Follow the links below for a roundup of the week's top stories in science, or download a PDF of the entire section.
Around the WorldFindingsRandom SamplesNewsmakers (Source: Science: This Week)
Source: Science: This Week - May 8, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Stewart Wills (mailto:swills at aaas.org) Source Type: research
[News Focus] Death of the Stars
This past summer, a mysterious disease began to spread among sea stars on the west coast of North America, reaching farther and striking more species than ever before. Something similar seems to be happening on the east coast as well. To identify the pathogen, researchers are conducting experiments and searching for genetic clues. They are also watching for ecological impacts from the loss of these top predators.
Author: Erik Stokstad (Source: Science: This Week)
Source: Science: This Week - May 2, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Erik Stokstad Source Type: research
[News & Analysis] Economic Geology: Seafloor Mining Plan Advances, Worrying Critics
Leaping over a final hurdle, last week Canada-based Nautilus Minerals announced a resolution to its years of negotiation with the government of Papua New Guinea over plans to mine a copper- and gold-rich hydrothermal vent site in the country's waters. But scientists and environmental advocates alike worry that there is still too little information about how such mines will affect ocean ecosystems.
Author: Carolyn Gramling (Source: Science: This Week)
Source: Science: This Week - May 2, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Carolyn Gramling Tags: Economic Geology Source Type: research
[News & Analysis] Stem Cells: Therapeutic Cloning Reaches Milestone
Two teams have independently derived human embryonic stem cells by cloning adult skin cells. The promise of the technique remains tantalizing: replacement tissues for treating diseases from diabetes to Parkinson's, matched to the patient whose cells gave rise to them. But the practical, ethical, and legal hurdles are as high as ever. The method will also have to prove its worth against a strong competitor: a way to make personalized stem cells that doesn't involve embryos.
Author: Gretchen Vogel (Source: Science: This Week)
Source: Science: This Week - May 2, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Gretchen Vogel Tags: Stem Cells Source Type: research
[News & Analysis] Animal Research: Male Scent May Compromise Biomedical Studies
Scientists have found that rodents feel 36% less pain when a male researcher is in the room versus a female researcher. The rodents are also less stressed-out. The effect appears to be due to scent molecules that male mammals (including humans, dogs, and cats) have been emitting for eons. The finding could help explain why some labs have trouble replicating the results of others, and it could cause a reevaluation of decades of animal experiments: everything from the effectiveness of experimental drugs to the ability of monkeys to do math. Male odor could even influence human clinical trials.
Author: David Grimm (Source: Science: This Week)
Source: Science: This Week - May 2, 2014 Category: Science Authors: David Grimm Tags: Animal Research Source Type: research
[News & Analysis] Defense Science: As Pentagon Downsizes, Budgets Shrink for Academic Research
The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) is proposing to trim spending on basic research by nearly 7% as part of an overall downsizing. Congress still has to approve the $150 million cut for the 2015 fiscal year that begins 1 October, but universities are already preparing. Academic scientists get nearly $1 billion a year from the Pentagon for basic science, with certain fields especially dependent. The Pentagon funds about one-half of basic electrical engineering research, for instance, and one-fifth of math and physics studies. And the cuts come as universities get a growing share of research budgets from the military. DOD a...
Source: Science: This Week - May 2, 2014 Category: Science Authors: David Malakoff Tags: Defense Science Source Type: research
[News & Analysis] Wildlife Conservation: Drones Flying High as New Tool for Field Biologists
As price tags for drones fall, field biologists have begun using unmanned aerial vehicles for, among other things, developing more accurate wildlife censuses, mapping migration corridors, and cracking down on poachers.
Author: Richard Schiffman (Source: Science: This Week)
Source: Science: This Week - May 2, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Richard Schiffman Tags: Wildlife Conservation Source Type: research
[News & Analysis] Energy Technology: Perovskite Solar Cells Keep On Surging
Researchers from three research groups reported last week that they beat the previous efficiency record for converting the energy in sunlight to electricity in solar cells called perovskites. Though perovskite solar cells are only 5 years old, their efficiency has skyrocketed from 3.8% to 19.3%. Ultimately, engineers may be able to layer perovskite solar cells atop conventional photovoltaics made from crystalline silicon, creating cells that are up to 32% efficient. That could make solar electricity as cheap as power produced from fossil fuels.
Author: Robert F. Service (Source: Science: This Week)
Source: Science: This Week - May 2, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Robert F. Service Tags: Energy Technology Source Type: research
[News & Analysis] Emerging Diseases: Soaring MERS Cases in Saudi Arabia Raise Alarms
A spike in the reported number of cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome has sparked fresh fears that the virus may have undergone genetic changes that could help it spread between humans and create a pandemic. But preliminary studies have not shown such changes so far, and several other factors could explain the recent explosion, scientists say—from increased testing to sloppy hospital hygiene and a wave of camel births across the region.
Author: Kai Kupferschmidt (Source: Science: This Week)
Source: Science: This Week - May 2, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Kai Kupferschmidt Tags: Emerging Diseases Source Type: research
[News of the Week] Random Sample
The National Museum of Natural History in Paris hosts the world's largest natural history plant collection—and as of last week, the vast majority of its specimens (some 6 million plants) are now digitized as well. And scientists studying regeneration are taking a closer look at the three-banded panther worm, which can regrow any part of its body. (Source: Science: This Week)
Source: Science: This Week - May 2, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Stewart Wills (mailto:swills at aaas.org) Source Type: research
