Giant Icebergs, Unprecedented Ice Conditions Threaten Antarctic Penguin Colonies
Enormous grounded icebergs and an unprecedented amount of sea ice in Antarctica's Ross Sea have nearly isolated one of the continent's most populous Adelie penguin colonies, making it difficult for the birds to return from their feeding grounds in the open sea, according to researchers funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The numbers of Adelie penguins at Cape Crozier, about 130,000 breeding pairs in most years, "are at the low side" of the normal range, said David Ainley of H.T. Harvey & Associates of San Jose, California. A smaller colony of Adelies at Cape Royds will "fail totally" this year, he added.
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Engineers Develop New Chemical Sensor Based on Experimental Physics Breakthrough
For the first time, scientists have found evidence of a long-suspected phenomenon, tiny electrical currents produced when molecules interact with metal surfaces. The discovery may usher in a new generation of chemical detectors, and reveals details about catalytic processes used to produce more than half of the chemicals manufactured worldwide. Investigators at the University of California, Santa Barbara, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), were searching for what they call "chemicurrent," - electrons excited by low-energy chemical reactions. The team incorporated a pre-existing device called a "Schottky" diode into a new chemical sensor, and they describe the sensor and their findings in the December 21st issue of Science.
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Drunken Driving Costs and Risk Measured More Accurately by Economists
Drunk drivers are at least 13 times more likely to cause a fatal crash than sober drivers, according to a new study by Steven Levitt, Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago and Jack Porter, Professor of Economics at Harvard University. Using an innovative approach to studying drinking and driving, Levitt and Porter were also able to determine which law enforcement strategies are most likely to reduce accidents caused by drunken driving. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
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Habitat Fragmentation Can Amplify Ecological Stresses More Than Previously Thought
The fragmenting of habitats worldwide may be more devastating than scientists thought. Fragments are widely considered to be inferior to intact habitats because they are more likely to lose species. But new research shows that fragments are also more vulnerable to hunting, fires, drought and other kinds of ecological stress. "Such negative synergisms potentially could be one of the most important, and least understood, aspects of the modern environmental crisis," according to William Laurance of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Balboa, Panama.
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