Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. The theatre of Marcellus was the largest and most important theatre in Rome and completed in the late 1st century BCE during the reign of Augustus. The architecture of the theatre would become a standard feature of theatres across the empire and influence the façades of such iconic buildings as the Colosseum....
A fungus that kills amphibians by invading their skin has become one of the most destructive invasive species ever recorded, a new research report says. Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, a type of chytrid fungus, has caused declines in 500 amphibian species and driven dozens of them to extinction, according to the report, published Thursday in Science. This is the first time scientists have taken global stock of the problem. “The impact of chytrid fungus is much larger than previously thought,” says Ben Scheele, a postdoctoral fellow at Australian National University who led 40 other researchers in quantifying the devastation....
Health care via mobile technology is still in its infancy. Of 75 trials in which patients used mobile tech, such as text messaging and downloadable apps, to manage a disease or adopt healthier behaviors, only three showed reliable signs of success, according to a systematic survey. In an accompanying survey of medical personnel who used smart phones and other devices, to help deliver care, the same team found more success: 11 of 42 trials had positive, reliable results....
From Nature magazine A tumour can be a hotbed of diversity, British scientists have discovered. Just as different types of tumours have distinct genetic mutations, so do separate parts of the same tumour. Findings in a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine help to explain why cancer is so difficult to study and treat. A clinician’s conclusion about prognosis or the best course of treatment can be contradictory depending on which part of the tumour the biopsy is taken from....
LONDON – The Asset Owners Disclosure Project asked 1,000 of the world’s largest asset owners what they were doing to guard against the possibility that their investments in fossil fuels could, in future, become worthless. Together, the owners manage more than $70 trillion. The Project found that only 27 of the 458 investment funds replying to its request are addressing climate risk at what it considers a responsible level. Only five of the 458 achieved the AODP’s top score, AAA....
Somewhere off the eastern coast of North Carolina, a frozen mixture of water and methane gas tucked in seabed sediments is starting to break down. Researchers blame a shifting Gulf Stream — the swift Atlantic Ocean current that flows north from the Gulf of Mexico — which is now delivering warmer waters to areas that had previously only experienced colder temperatures. “We know methane hydrates exist here and, if warming continues, it can potentially lead to less stable sediments in this region,” says Matthew Hornbach, a marine geologist at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, who led the study that is published online today in Nature....
Rob Summers was flat on his back at a rehabilitation institute in Kentucky when he realized he could wiggle his big toe. Up, down, up, down. This was new—something he hadn’t been able to do since a hit-and-run driver left him paralyzed from the chest down. When that happened four years earlier, doctors had told him that he would never move his lower body again. Now he was part of a pioneering experiment to test the power of electrical stimulation in people with spinal-cord injuries....
Ever wish you had the luxury of staying up late and sleeping in? Be careful what you wish for. According to a new study, night owls with insomnia may have a harder time of it than early risers, despite spending more time asleep. The conclusion comes from 312 insomniacs—those who have trouble falling or staying asleep or who have poor quality sleep—who went to the Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic in California for group therapy....
By Laura Zuckerman (Reuters) - A U.S. judge restored federal protections to wolves in Wyoming, at least temporarily, in a victory for wildlife conservationists that was sure to draw criticism from ranchers and hunters who see wolves as a threat to livestock and big-game animals. Wyoming Governor Matt Mead said the state would ask a higher court to block the judge’s order and allow the state to keep its wolf management policies intact, including licensed hunting of the animals and rules permitting some to be shot on sight....
Every month, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN—the longest-running magazine in the U.S. and an authoritative voice in science, technology and innovation—provides insight into scientific topics that affect our daily lives and capture our imagination, establishing the vital bridge between science and public policy. Key information from this month’s issue: • CYBERSECURITY Our next big cybersecurity problem could be the take down of the electrical grids that are imperative to keeping thelights on in U....
Wind farms and solar installations are often located in places where they will have the least impact on climate and health, a report finds. These renewable energies emit less carbon dioxide and air pollution than burning fossil fuels for electricity. But the windiest and sunniest places in the United States — such as the southwestern plains and deserts — are not always the most socially and environmentally beneficial sites for wind turbines and solar panels....
A device that fits on a table can diagnose malaria infection by detecting a by-product of the parasite’s growth in the blood. If the technique can be demonstrated to work in the field, it could detect and aid in the treatment of malaria in remote areas, where conventional testing equipment is not always available. The standard technique for diagnosing malaria infection is to look forPlasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes the disease, in a sample of the patient’s blood using a microscope....
David Shaw has returned to an early career. He designed some innovative parallel computers as an associate professor at Columbia University, went off to start a fabulously successful hedge fund and now has decided to simulate molecular dynamics calculations using vast parallelism. A critical problem in such calculations is called the N-body problem which entails computing the future behavior of a collection of N objects (in our case, atoms) where the objects start with a velocity and position and each object exerts some force on all other objects....
Does sex really persuade us to buy a product? Why do economies slip into depressions? And how much do we let our emotions influence our decision making? A spate of new books tries to answer these and other questions about how we make our choices, why they are sometimes so far off the mark and what their consequences are. Animal Spirits—How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism (Princeton University Press, 2009) examines the relation between economic fluctuations and psychological forces....
If the possibility of an asteroid called Bennu slamming into Earth a lifetime from now was keeping you up at night, NASA scientists think you can rest a little easier. The agency’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft spent more than two years closely orbiting the space rock. And with that incredibly detailed view of the asteroid, experts studying potential space rock impacts with Earth have been able to fine-tune their existing models of Bennu’s future....
It just may be one of the most underappreciated health problems in the U.S. today: As many as one in five children experience a mental disorder in a given year. The effects can be lasting, reducing their life satisfaction and productivity for years if their symptoms go undiagnosed and untreated. For these reasons, in this issue’s special report, “Calming a Child’s Mind,” we highlight emerging therapies for the three most prevalent childhood disorders—anxiety, behavior or conduct disorder, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)....
NEW YORK – A new scientific study suggests that the severe flooding that hit northern Australia earlier this year may have not been caused by rising global temperatures induced by greenhouse gases, but rather by the hole in the ozone layer. Research published last week by scientists at Columbia University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, in conjunction with partners in Canada, purports to demonstrate how the massive hole in the ozone layer of the atmosphere high above Antarctica is altering rainfall patterns in the Southern Hemisphere....
Key concepts Taste Perception Senses Food The brain Introduction During the holidays we often find ourselves surrounded by a wide variety of taste sensations. Have you ever wondered how well we sense different tastes? People are generally able to discern five basic tastes: sweet, umami (also known as savory), salty, sour and bitter. Is it easier to detect some of these flavors compared with others? In this science activity, you (and maybe some friends or family) will find out by exploring your taste thresholds for sweetness, saltiness and sourness....
NEW YORK—In advance of their debut at the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress in Detroit April 20, Honda gave ScientificAmerican.com a preview of two devices designed to assist the elderly and the physically disabled in walking. View a slide show of Honda’s technology in action David Iida, a spokesperson for Honda present at the event, says the primary inspiration for the devices was the demographic shift in Japan, which has a shrinking population and the world’s highest proportion of elderly people....
The mysterious phenomenon known as quantum entanglement—where objects seemingly communicate at speeds faster than light to instantaneously influence one another, regardless of their distance apart—was famously dismissed by Einstein as “spooky action at a distance.” New experiments could soon answer skeptics by enabling people to see entangled pulses of light with the naked eye. Although Einstein rebelled against the notion of quantum entanglement, scientists have repeatedly proved that measuring one of an entangled pair of objects, such as a photon, immediately affects its counterpart no matter how great their separation—theoretically....
