News Bytes of the Week--Could Coastal Trees Have Saved Lives in Myanmar? [News]
Scientific American - Posted: May 9th, 2008, 4:00pm EDT
Felled mangrove trees may have doomed the coast of Myanmar [More]
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From Bountiful to Barren: Rainfall Decrease Left the Sahara Out to Dry [News]
Scientific American - Posted: May 9th, 2008, 3:10pm EDT
In a finding that may help scientists better predict the pace of climate change, research published in Science shows how the Sahara Desert, a region as big as the U.S. that stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea across northern Africa, went from bountiful to bone-dry over a period of several thousand years.
Scientists peered into the Sahara's verdant past by analyzing sediment samples drilled out of the bottom of one of the desert's last living lakes. The samples revealed long-held secrets of how desert-friendly species replaced tropical plants and animals as monsoon rains retreated farther south into the continent.
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Mailbag: Is Fluoride Dangerous? Is a Solar Grand Plan a Good Idea? [Scientific American Magazine]
Scientific American - Posted: May 9th, 2008, 12:14pm EDT
Fluoride FindingsA report by the National Research Council (NRC) is cited as suggesting negative effects of fluoride in “Second Thoughts about Fluoride,” by Dan Fagin. But the NRC notes that its report was not initiated because of concerns about the low levels of fluoride used in community water fluoridation, nor did it examine that issue. Instead the report is part of a routine review by the Environmental Protection Agency to address whether the higher levels of naturally occurring fluoride currently allowed in drinking water pose a health risk. The EPA is evaluating the report.
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The Evolving Web of Future Wealth [Edit This]
Scientific American - Posted: May 9th, 2008, 11:25am EDT
Editor's Note: Stuart Kauffman has a well-earned reputation as a scientific provocateur, albeit one with the weight of data and wisdom on his side. Kauffman, a complexity researcher and biologist of the University of Calgary and the Santa Fe Institute, has argued, for example, that self-organization--the propensity for systems to become more complex without outside guidance--was just as important as natural selection in shaping evolution. (Intelligent design advocates, take note.)
In his new book Reinventing the Sacred: A New View of Science, Reason, and Religion (Basic Books, New York; May 2008), Kauffman develops a larger argument: Understanding what's happening in complex systems could help modern science break free of what some consider its too-reductionistic underpinnings. One controversial idea that Kauffman develops in his book is that by failing to take this approach to economics, traditional economists are unable to explain something that seems obvious but isn't: How does innovation drive growth?
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