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Spare Parts: Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream by Joshua Davis FSG Originals, Scientific American and FSG originals are affiliates, 2014 ($25) In 2004 an upstart band of undocumented Mexican-American teenagers beat well-funded college teams to take the top prize in the Marine Advanced Technology Education remotely operated vehicle competition. The high school students surprised the judges with their creative engineering solutions and an “ugly” robot named Stinky that was built from scraps and cheap materials but nonetheless bested fancier entries from the likes of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology....

For decades Pluto was the undisputed heavyweight champion in the far reaches of the outer solar system. Now astronomers know that the beloved world is just one of many known dwarf planets, most of which orbit the sun out beyond Neptune. The discoveries that led to Pluto’s demotion from planet to dwarf planet arrived in a rapid burst that peaked about a decade ago. Between 2002 and 2007 astronomer Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology and his colleagues discovered several major objects, including the dwarf planets Eris, Makemake and Haumea (although another group also claims credit for Haumea)....

Government says no to coal-fired power plants but yes to syngas-from-coal-fired power plants. A Bold Policy on Coal-Fired-Plants Just two weeks ago, China announced a ban on the construction of new coal-fired power plants in three areas of the country with severe air pollution. TheGreenGrokgave China high marks for adopting the policy: any policy that limits the use of coal, the dirtiest of the fossil fuels,is a step in the right direction....

A molecule that can bind and re-solubilise mis-folded proteins in the eye has been identified by researchers in the US. The molecule—a sterol—shows potential as a non-surgical treatment for cataracts—eye drops containing it were able to partially reverse cataracts in mice and restore some transparency in isolated human lenses Currently, people who develop cataracts must have an operation to remove them to restore their sight. While this is relatively straightforward in the developed world, Jason Gestwicki from University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), who led the research, says: ‘There are about 100 million people in the world that are currently blind from cataracts because of lack of access to the surgical procedure....

A National Security Agency whistleblower named Thomas Drake was indicted several years ago for providing information to the press on waste, fraud and bureaucratic dysfunction in the agency’s counterterrorism programs. The U.S. Department of Justice indicted Drake, an NSA senior executive, under the Espionage Act of 1917 for retaining allegedly classified information. Eventually, the felony charges against Drake were dropped, and he pled guilty to a misdemeanor, exceeding authorized use of a computer....

When I think of the future of biomedical research, I think of my daughter. She is an MD/PhD student at Johns Hopkins University. By the time she graduates with both degrees she will be 30. She will have had four years of graduate school and superb scientific training (including published biomedical research as an undergraduate). But, according to data from the National Institutes of Health, she will have another 13 years to go before she will be competitive for the most common and substantial research grants the NIH offers....

Police may soon have a new way to catch pedophiles who distribute child abuse photos anonymously online. The technology could also help law enforcement agencies in other ways, such as identifying smartphone thieves who take pictures with the stolen gadgets and then post their snapshots on the Internet. Riccardo Satta, scientific project officer of the European Commission Joint Research Center’s Institute for the Protection and Security of the Citizen, described the work he did with fellow researcher Pasquale Stirparo at the Computers, Privacy and Data Protection Conference in Brussels held in January....

IN THE ZONES The Head Trip: Adventures on the Wheel of Consciousness by Jeff Warren. Random House, 2007 ($24.95) Jeff Warren spent several summers planting trees in northern Ontario, during which he frequently experienced something very odd. He would grab his shovel and start digging at 9 A.M., but when he would raise his head the sun would have moved to the other side of the sky and his watch would show 2 P....

The impending digital-TV transition has a forgotten victim: the big bang. You can tune an analog set between broadcast channels and see static, part of which is energy left over from the hot primordial universe. This static is known as the cosmic microwave background radiation, and its discovery in the 1960s proved the big bang theory. But on a digital TV, the best you can do is “The Big Bang Theory”....

We complain, in the U.S., that our doctors don’t know us: office visits last only a few minutes, conversations are curt and high-tech testing takes the place of talking. Now, perversely, one state has passed a law expressly forbidding doctors from asking certain questions about patients’ health and lifestyle. The questions concern guns and gun safety. This year the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has been hearing arguments about a Florida statute that says doctors cannot ask a patient about gun ownership—including safety issues and children’s access—unless they believe such information is relevant to the patient’s medical care....

As you watch the miles roll by on family road trips this summer, look just behind the guard rails to see what some scientists believe is a significant untapped resource in the battle against climate change. The land alongside the 4 million miles of U.S. public roadways, already being maintained by federal, state, and local governments, could be planted with vegetation that helps transfer carbon from the atmosphere into the soil, they say....

A controversial policy to address climate change by artificially cooling the planet deserves more research, according to a panel of leading U.S. scientists. But only if it is carefully governed. That’s the major conclusion from a report on solar geoengineering released yesterday by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. The report recommends that the federal government invest up to $200 million over the next five years to develop a national research program....

By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to revive a New York real estate developer’s lawsuit against the leaseholder of the destroyed World Trade Center and two airlines seeking environmental cleanup costs related to the Sept. 11, 2001 hijacked airliner attacks. The court’s refusal to hear the appeal filed by Cedar & Washington Associates Ltd means an appeals court ruling dismissing the lawsuit remains intact....

Looming larger than a double-decker bus and baring teeth that have been likened to serrated bananas, Tyrannosaurus rex has long been considered one of the most fearsome creatures ever to have walked the earth. Other familiar tyrannosaurs, such as Albertosaurus and Tarbosaurus, were likewise terrifying in their size and bite—despite those absurd-looking but characteristic arms. But it turns out that not all tyrannosaurs have these hallmark features. This past fall paleontologists unveiled two tyrannosaurs new to science that are shaking up long-standing ideas about everyone’s favorite mega-predator....

Key concepts Physics Gravity Molecules Surface tension Introduction Imagine this challenge: You have two glasses of water—one empty and one full. You want to pour half of the full glass into the empty one. The twist? You aren’t allowed to pick up either glass! Can you get the water to “walk” between the glasses using nothing but a paper towel? Try this activity to find out! Background You’ve probably used paper towels to clean up spilled water or other liquids....

Living in a warming ocean won’t just be uncomfortably hot for marine animals, it’s also likely to suffocate them. According to a newly published study in the journal Science, the combined stresses of rising ocean temperatures and the resulting drop in oxygen levels will put too much physiological strain on marine animals living closer to the equator. As water temperatures rise, the animal’s metabolism speeds up, increasing the demand for more oxygen....

Questions answered in this episode: “If the supermassive black hole in the center of our galaxy were to suddenly become a powerful quasar, what would it mean to life here on earth?” - Barrows0re “If nothing comes out of black holes, how come Gamma rays shoot from the poles?” - Mokhtar MOHAMMADIAN “How does Hawking radiation make black holes smaller to the point of disappearing?” - Jon Therkildsen Submit your questions for the next round of Ask the Experts by clicking here and posting in the YouTube comments (Google account required)....

Michael Trimble, a British professor at the Institute of Neurology in London, begins his new book with Gana the gorilla. In the summer of 2009, 11-year-old Gana gave birth to a boy at a Muenster zoo. But one day in August, the baby suddenly and mysteriously died. Gana held up her son in front of her, staring at his limp body. She held him close, stroking him. To onlookers it appeared that Gana was trying to reawaken him, and, as the hours passed, that she was mourning his passing....

About 16 percent of the U.S. coal fleet has retired in the past five years, but don’t expect major new coal-fired plants to fill that void. The federal government counts four new coal projects on a list of planned power plants nationwide. Three of those face long odds, and none will be able to replace the millions of tons in lost coal demand resulting from recent retirements, even as the Trump administration has vowed to revive the ailing industry....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. Ever since European archaeologists began excavating in Egypt in the 18th and 19th centuries CE, the ancient culture has been largely associated with death. Even into the mid-20th century CE reputable scholars were still writing on the death-obsessed Egyptians whose lives were lacking in play and without joy....