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By Heide Brandes OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - A warning from U.S. scientists that Oklahoma may be hit by a major earthquake has caused a run on insurance policies for tremors in the heartland state, adding to the woes of residents already in the firing line of devastating tornadoes. Quakes have typically been infrequent in Oklahoma, yet not unheard of. But in the past year, minor tremors have hit the state hundreds of times, raising worries the big one may be just around the corner....

DANCE DANCE EVOLUTION Thea Singer’s article on “The Evolution of Dance” raises so many questions, not only about entrainment—in which motor neurons align with sensory neurons’ detection of auditory signals—and the differences a trained dancer experiences in comparison with one who dances for enjoyment but also about why we dance and why some people and cultures don’t dance more. I dance with my children to feel joyous, connected, energized and relaxed....

When Can You Trust the Experts? How to Tell Good Science from Bad in Education by Daniel Willingham Jossey-Bass, 2012 ($24.95) Parents increasingly come face-to-face with important educational decisions that they feel ill prepared to make. Whether they are choosing among schools, math programs or early interventions for a learning disability, this book will help them figure out which options are backed by the best science. Educators and administrators faced with adopting new curricula and policies will likewise find it of value....

Taking just a tenth of a second, the snapping mechanism that a Venus fly trap uses to capture its prey is one of the fastest movements in the plant kingdom. Scientists have long wondered how the plant manages such a feat without muscles or nerves. The answer, according to results published today in the journal Nature, is by shapeshifting. Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan of Harvard University and his colleagues used high-speed video to catch the Venus fly trap in action....

EarthTalk® E - The Environmental Magazine Dear EarthTalk: A friend of mine recently stopped using skin and beauty products with parabens in them. What are parabens and should we all be avoiding them? - Betsy Johnson, Port Chester, NY First commercialized in the 1950s, parabens are a group of synthetic compounds commonly used as preservatives in a wide range of health, beauty and personal care products. If the product you are using contains methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben and isobutylparaben, it has parabens....

A new study may have been for (and about) the birds, but it also hints at how humans may have developed the ability to speak, potentially paving the way to one day to identifying the causes of speech deficiencies. Duke University scientists report in PLoS ONE this week that they attempted to pinpoint regions of the brain responsible for vocal skills by studying three types of birds (parrots, hummingbirds and songbirds) capable of picking up new songs and utterances as well as birds (zebra finches and ringed turtle doves) that lack the ability....

TABLE OF CONTENTS THE VICTIM CLOUD Filtering: Scientists and Hackers Making Spam Scientific, Part 1 Scientists building filters try to get a handle on the “etymologically restless” nature of spam by creating text corpuses for software analysis. The search is on for the equivalent of a spam calorie Loot from a Scandal Researchers use internal communications from the disgraced Enron to try to fashion spam filters Making Spam Hackable Software maven Paul Graham’s “Plan for Spam" Reprinted from Spam: A Shadow History of the Internet, by Finn Brunton....

Nobel Laureate economist, John Harsanyi, said that “apart from economic payoffs, social status seems to be the most important incentive and motivating force of social behavior.” The more noticeable status disparities are, the more concerned with status people become, and the differences between the haves and have-nots have been extremely pronounced during the economic recession of recent years. Barack Obama campaigned directly on the issue of the “dwindling middle class” during his 2008 presidential run and appointed vice-president Joe Biden to lead a middle class task force specifically to bolster this demographic....

Wildfires wreaked havoc across southern California last year, resulting in billions of dollars in irreparable damage. Not surprisingly, land managers and agencies this season have mobilized fire crews and equipment to stop the flames before they spread. In the meantime, however, researchers studying the amount of carbon that forests and vegetation harbor have stumbled on a finding that presents an added quandary to fire management: suppressing fires means that less carbon is stored in trees....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. Melito of Sardis (d. c. 180 CE) was a bishop in the city of Sardis (near modern-day Sart, Turkey) who was regarded as one of the greatest Christian thinkers, writers, and apologists of his time. In the modern age, he is best known for his Apology for Christianity sent to emperor Marcus Aurelius regarding the persecution of Christians....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. The Azores (Açores) are a North Atlantic island group, which was uninhabited before being colonized by the Portuguese from 1439. The Azores were strategically important for Portuguese mariners to use as a stepping stone to progress down the coast of West Africa and as a point of resupply for ships travelling back from the East Indies and those on their way to the Americas....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. London, the proud capital of the United Kingdom, is visited by millions of tourists every year and is famous for its rich history and historical landmarks. Magnificent castles, medieval prisons, art and history museums as well as countless opportunities for shopping and good food make visitors feel that there is always something new to explore - even if you stay for weeks....

Dinosaurs may have dominated the planet during the Jurassic Period, but they shared the landscape with little rodentlike creatures. Two new species of these pocket-size early mammals have been discovered in China — one was a horny-clawed tree-dweller, and the other was a tunnel-digger with shovel-like paws. Researchers say these new specimens show that early mammals, though small, were surprisingly diverse. Agile tree climber and its burrow-dwelling cousin One of the newly discovered creatures, now known as Agilodocodon scansorius, is the earliest tree-dwelling mammal ever found....

On December 1 the U.S. Supreme Court will hear opening arguments for what could become a momentous case. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Mississippi’s only abortion facility, sued the state over a 2018 law that has attempted to ban most abortions conducted after 15 weeks of gestation, which is just 13 weeks after conception. The regulation directly challenges the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which prevents states from outlawing abortions before “viability”—the point at which a fetus could survive outside the womb, which is generally around 24 weeks of gestation....

It sounds like a contradiction, but it’s true: Insecticide-treated mosquito nets are effective even against some insecticide-resistant mosquitoes, a new study shows. Why it matters: Mosquito nets treated with insecticides are one of the most effective ways to prevent malaria. The nets work both by preventing people from being bitten and by killing mosquitoes that come in contact with the nets. But the World Health Organization has only approved one class of insecticide to use on the nets, called pyrethroids, and mosquitoes across Africa are evolving resistance to that insecticide....

Caffeine will get you going during the day but could leave you tossing and turning at night – unless you’re a “night owl” to begin with, a new study suggests. In the study, “morning people” who consumed caffeine during the day appeared more likely than late risers to awaken in the middle of their nighttime sleep. The researchers said this is the first study to link caffeine intake with “chronotype,” the categorizing of people by the time of day they are most alert and active....

The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) is known for its far-reaching array of experiments. It’s now wrestling with what may be its toughest one: how to stimulate the technologies for three new industries to capture, transport and store the climate-changing emissions of fossil fuels. The laboratory, like other Department of Energy labs, does its work through partnerships with industries and universities. From its recent experiences, it estimates that trapping, shipping and storing carbon dioxide will eventually create “tens of thousands of jobs....

Mahogany and marbled, Sam Edwards’ thinly-sliced ham melts in your mouth, with flavor that may rival even the finest European meats. Once referred to as prosciutto’s “redneck cousin,” the South’s country ham industry is undergoing a transformation. Often served with grits and gravy, country ham has become increasingly popular with chefs seeking a local alternative to European dry-cured meats. The fate of the Southern delicacy, however, lies not on the fickle tongues of foodies, but with environmental regulators and an international treaty....

Microscopy remains one of the few areas of science in which enthusiastic amateurs can make others take notice. Nonprofessionals routinely produce stunning images of creatures and objects too tiny for the eye to resolve. This crowdsourcing of microscopic imagery arrived long before the invention of the smartphone and networked communications: the amateur has long made a mark with the microscope—in the early years, by hand drawing images that appeared underneath the lens, and, in more recent times, with the added realism brought by the photograph....

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the March 2003 issue of Scientific American. In a tidy office in the city hall in Wiscasset, Me., right around the corner from the town clerk, Judy Foss touts the virtues of an 820-acre industrial site that she plans to have available for redevelopment soon. It offers easy access by road, rail and barge and has plenty of cooling water. It is already on the high-voltage electric grid....