Science & Society

NASA will debut a new book for blind readers at a media event and reception Jan. 15. The agency will unveil "Touch the Invisible Sky," which gives blind readers the ability to experience cosmic images from the agency's space-based observatories and other telescopes on the ground. The event begins at 10 a.m. EST at the National Federation of the Blind, 1800 Johnson Street, Baltimore. Media will have the opportunity to ask the authors questions and view science experiments related to NASA's Great Observatories. "Touch the Invisible Sky" is accessible to both blind and sighted readers. The…

Eight-year-old boys dream of being superheroes - flying high above the clouds with nothing to limit themselves but their imaginations - and Danner Cronise got his dream, courtesy of his dad, Ray, co-founder of Zero Gravity Corporation. In the process he set the record as the youngest person to experience zero-gravity flight. Danner was joined by his father Ray, and older sisters Erin (10) and Alex (12). A NASA engineer for more than 15 years, Ray Cronise had a unique and personal reason for wanting to see his children enjoy weightlessness first hand. "It is awe inspiring to be able to take…

Poor water supply remains a key problem in large parts of Africa and Asia. Because large industrial plants require more energy and infrastructure than those areas have available, a small decentralized water treatment plants with an autonomous power supply is a better solution for transforming salty or brackish water into pure drinking water. Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute say they can do it - and produce water for about 10 Euros per 1000 liters. Large industrial plants for the desalination of seawater deliver 50 million cubic meters of fresh water every day – particularly in the…

Is marketing a bad thing? How much money does Coca-Cola spend on Research & Development of its premier soft drink? Nothing. When something works, you go with it. New Coke taught them that. But they market it like crazy. Yet whether pharmaceutical companies are primarily interested in research and development or marketing is central to the cultural debate about medicine. Marc-André Gagnon and Joel Lexchin, writing in PLoS Medicine, state that information on promotional expenditures from IMS, the most widely quoted authority that surveys pharmaceutical firms, isn't reliable. Well,…

LONDON, December 31 /PRNewswire/ -- A new survey from Red Kooga shows a trend towards doing more rather than giving things up for the New Year. Typical resolutions like giving up smoking and junk food are being replaced by resolutions to learn new skills, take up more hobbies and be more active. Over half of the 2,546 people surveyed (56%) are vowing to do more exercise in 2008 - this is up from 43% of people in 2007. This time last year people were more likely to be trying to give up smoking (16% in 2007 down to 13% for 2008), possibly due to the impending ban. In 2008,17% of people want…

People who bake aren't fans of sugar substitutes. 'Equal' does well in hot things like coffee that just require absorption but, for the most part, sugar remains king in the oven. Natur Research Foods Inc. announced that it has developed and is now distributing an all-natural sugar substitute, Natur Baker's Blend Natural Sweetener, for the purpose of baking. According to their press release, it has 40 percent fewer calories than sugar and has been tested as low-glycemic. They say it bakes, rises, caramelizes, provides a crust and preserves similar to cane sugar. "Natur Baker's Blend is…

According to a new survey, 52 percent of Americans plan to lose weight in 2008 but as January comes closer and marketing efforts promising quick and easy weight-loss solutions ratchet up, people are increasingly confused about what to believe. When it comes to weight-loss products, people who plan to lose weight have considerable knowledge gaps, particularly with regard to appetite suppressants, herbal products and dietary supplements. These products are not required by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to submit safety or efficacy studies, or to include warnings about potential side…

In a late-year flurry, Congress passed many bills last week. Among others, Congress passed an all-in-one spending bill. It combined eleven spending bills and additional spending for the Iraq war into one. H.R. 2764, now called the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008, is the bill. Its cost per U.S. family is a little over $9,400, about $720 of which is for the additional military spending. Most relevant to readers here is P.L. 110-140, The CLEAN Energy Act of 2007. Costs $4.28 per family What People Think: 51% For, 49% Against http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_PL_110-140.html…

What could be a greater test of the limits of human physiology than the Olympics? To mark the 2008 games in Beijing, the Journal of Physiology present a special issue focusing on the science behind human athleticism and endurance. This unique collection of original research and in-depth reviews examines the genes that make a champion, the physiology of elite athletes, limits to performance and how they might be overcome. Excess body heat is a barrier to performance in many sports, and a novel study by Romain Meeusen et al.1 shows that both the neurotransmitter systems have an important impact…

Do polls reflect who people will vote for or who they would like to be perceived as voting for? A new national study of voters who say they might vote in Democratic primaries (participants were not a representative sample of Democrats but were self-selected volunteers who took an experimental test over the Web) and caucuses shows a striking disconnect between their explicit and implicit preferences, according to Bethany Albertson, a University of Washington assistant political science professor and Anthony Greenwald, a UW psychology professor and inventor of the Implicit Association Test.…