JON CARTWRIGHT – Page 33 – & THREE QUARKS EDITORIAL

Jail terms rock seismology

Physics WorldJon Cartwright1 December, 2012

Published in Physics World, 1 Dec 2012

Seven earthquake experts have been jailed for making apparently misleading statements before a devastating earthquake hit the Italian city of L’Aquila in 2009. Jon Cartwright reports

The earthquake that struck L’Aquila in the early hours of 6 April 2009 left hundreds dead and the Italian city in ruins. Yet the jailing in October of six scientists and a government official for manslaughter, owing to their apparently misleading statements on the prospect of the catastrophe, could have an equally huge impact on the world of science.

The conviction, which concluded a trial that lasted over a year, has stunned seismologists worldwide. Last month the International Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth Interior (IASPEI) expressed “deepest concern” about the outcome, which had condemned “some of IASPEI’s most brilliant scientists”. The trial, the association added, had set “a disturbing and unprecedented case” in linking earthquake casualties to “the free expression of scientific opinions”.

But while the scientific community has widely denounced the verdict, some believe those convicted were at least guilty of professional foolishness. “Many of my colleagues have had a knee-jerk reaction – that it’s crazy to bring science into the criminal arena,” says Tom Heaton, a seismologist at the California Institute of Technology and member of the California Earthquake Prediction Evaluation Council. “That may well be, but I saw some of the statements that were made, that everything was fine. And all I can say is, I would attempt not to make similar statements in California.” […]

For the rest of this article, please contact Jon Cartwright for a pdf.

Physicists claim microwave-imaging ‘breakthrough’

Physics WorldJon Cartwright28 November, 2012

Published in Physics World, 28 Nov 2012

Physicists in China say they have made a breakthrough in thermoacoustic imaging that could enable it to be used in hospitals within five years. The technique, which involves firing microwaves at tissue, had previously been considered too dangerous to use on humans, but the researchers have now employed what they say is a safer, nanosecond microwave source.

Thermoacoustic imaging was invented in the early 1980s. The idea is to expose tissue to a microwave pulse, which travels into the tissue until it is absorbed. Exactly how the pulse is absorbed depends on the type of tissue present. When the pulse is absorbed, it does not heat the tissue significantly because it is very short. The energy instead generates a moving deformation, which is an acoustic wave. The profile of this acoustic wave is detected using an array of transducers, and these data are used to create an image of the tissue through which the microwave pulse has passed. […]

The rest of this article is available here.

Magnesium oxide might go metallic in super-Earths

Chemistry WorldJon Cartwright22 November, 2012

Published in Chemistry World, 22 Nov 2012

We take the Earth’s magnetic field for granted, but it is the only thing protecting us from the sun’s bombardment of lethal charged particles. Now, however, it seems there may be more planets outside our solar system with protective magnetic fields than previously thought. That’s the implication of a US study, which has demonstrated that the common planetary mineral magnesium oxide turns into a metallic liquid at high pressure.

Magnesium oxide is one of the simplest oxides present in terrestrial planets such as the Earth, as well as in the cores of giant planets such as Jupiter. Scientists are therefore keen to understand how its properties change under high temperatures and pressures. Theoretical predictions suggest that at very high pressures (0.3 to 0.7TPa) it should transform from a structure like sodium chloride, where each magnesium ion has six adjacent oxygen ions, to a structure like caesium chloride, where each magnesium ion has eight adjacent oxygen ions. Theory also predicts that at very high temperatures, typically greater than 5000K, magnesium oxide should turn into a liquid. […]

The rest of this article is available here.

Commercial agriculture is ‘most important driver’ of deforestation

Energy & EnvironmentJon Cartwright15 November, 2012

Published in ERW, 15 Nov 2012

An international team claims to have the most comprehensive assessment yet of the drivers behind deforestation and forest degradation in the developing world. The assessment, which confirms agriculture as the main driver of deforestation, could help international organizations develop strategies to reduce carbon emissions.

Deforestation is being tackled internationally by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), through the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) programme. REDD seeks to give financial incentives to developing countries to reduce deforestation and forest degradation – the latter is essentially the thinning out of forests during processes such as selective logging. Meanwhile REDD’s offshoot programme, REDD+, seeks to deliver other benefits, such as biodiversity conservation. […]

The rest of this article is available here.

Patterns found in biosphere’s response to climate change

Energy & EnvironmentJon Cartwright13 November, 2012

Published in ERW, 13 Nov 2012

Researchers in Sweden and Germany have uncovered patterns in the biosphere’s response to climate change. The findings also reveal the major sources of uncertainty in the way climate models treat the biosphere, which could help modellers reduce those uncertainties in the future.

The biosphere is one of the most critical influences on the climate, yet it is also one of the most poorly understood. Over very long periods, the biosphere neither sequesters nor releases carbon to the atmosphere, but on shorter timescales it can function as a net source, through plants’ absorption of carbon dioxide, or a sink – through the respiration and decomposition of plants, and the burning of wildfires. […]

The rest of this article is available here.

Encrypted fabric to thwart fashion fakes

New ScientistJon Cartwright11 November, 2012

Published in New Scientist, 11 Nov 2012

YOUR clothes may soon carry a helpful secret. A new type of thread woven into patterns invisible to the naked eye could put an end to fake designer clothes – and dull outfits.

Concealed patterns visible only under polarised light are used in some nations’ bank notes to deter counterfeiting. To extend the method to other valuables, Christian Müller at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden, made a semi-transparent thread from polyethylene and a polymer used in clothes dye. This thread has unique optical properties that allow only certain polarisations to pass through. […]

The rest of this article is available here.

Lapping it up

Physics WorldJon Cartwright1 November, 2012

Published in Physics World, 1 Nov 2012

Cats are slow and elegant, dogs are quick and messy. But is the physics of their drinking all that different? Jon Cartwright reports

Cat and dog lovers, psychologists tell us, are a species apart. Those who like cats are sensitive yet open, while those who like dogs are bolder and more self-disciplined. But if there is one trait common to each, it is an endless fascination with their pets.

Roman Stocker is a case in point. “I love cats,” he says. “I just happened to be watching my cat over breakfast one morning, and then I started wondering: has anyone looked into how a cat laps?” To the average cat owner the question would have ended with idle musing, but to Stocker, an engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, US, it was to spark a minor flurry of interest into our favourite animals’ drinking habits.

In fact, the science of water consumption in the animal kingdom is a little more complex than you might think. Some animals, such as frogs, absorb water through their skin, while some, such as the desert-dwelling kangaroo rat, can extract enough moisture from their food. Unsurprisingly, drinking as a means of water consumption is the most popular, but even it has its variants. Vertebrates with big cheeks – pigs, sheep, horses and so on – can suck in water, whereas mammals with no cheeks, including most carnivores, cannot. Instead, carnivores must use their tongues; they must lap. […]

For the rest of this article, please contact Jon Cartwright for a pdf.

How the Zebra got his stripes

Physics WorldJon Cartwright1 November, 2012

Published in Physics World, 1 Nov 2012

Biophysicists are offering new clues to this age-old mystery, as Jon Cartwright reports

Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories told how various animals came to be. “How the rhinoceros got his skin”, “How the camel got his hump” and “How the whale got his throat” were some of the titles in the famous 1902 collection. The British writer never wrote a story entitled “How the zebra got his stripes” – although if you read his words closely, you’ll discover that, spooked by the leopard, the zebra fled into the forest and adopted stripes as a disguise.

That was just fiction, but a few decades earlier in 1867 the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace had put forward a similar idea – that the zebra evolved stripes as camouflage against predators in the tall grass. Wallace’s fellow naturalist Charles Darwin disagreed, pointing out that zebras prefer to hang out in open savannahs, where tall grass is rare. And so the scientific debate began: how did the zebra get his stripes?

Biologists haven’t been short of proposals. There are at least ten, including that stripes afford zebras a means to recognise one another, or that they provide an indication of fitness for potential mates. But none of these hypotheses has seen much supporting evidence, according to biophysicist Gábor Horváth at Eötvös University in Budapest, Hungary, and colleagues. […]

For the rest of this article, please contact Jon Cartwright for a pdf.

Hitachi closes in on quartz data storage

Physics WorldJon Cartwright1 November, 2012

Published in Physics World, 1 Nov 2012

They say the only safe way to preserve information is to set it in stone – but the next best option may be to set it in quartz. That is, according to researchers at Japanese electronics giant Hitachi, who have developed a “semi-perpetual” quartz-based data storage that could survive for millions of years.

Hitachi has been working on permanent methods of data storage for the last five years, driven by the concern that paper, CDs, hard disks and other storage media will not stand long-term physical disturbances and may not be easily readable with future technology. In 2009 Hitachi scientists found that they could store data optically in 3D in quartz, and showed that the medium had the potential to be highly durable and straightforward to read. […]

For the rest of this article, please contact Jon Cartwright for a pdf.

Simple solar

New ScientistJon Cartwright1 November, 2012

Published in New Scientist, Nov 2012

A stripped-down photovoltaic cell promises a new route to cheap solar power by making better use of the Sun’s rays, says Jon Cartwright

IF YOU want more energy from the sun, just take off a layer. Removing one of the main layers in an already-promising solar-cell technology has been found to boost its energy output. The new cells promise another route to making solar energy economical.

Whether solar cells will compete on price with fossil fuels or other renewable energy sources depends on a combination of factors, such as the efficiency with which they turn sunlight into electricity and the cost of materials and manufacturing. […]

The rest of this article is available here.