Reflecting sunlight from the Earth by geoengineering would undoubtedly cool the climate, but would different countries agree on how much to reflect? Research by climate scientists at the University of Bristol shows that the impact of geoengineering …
Deleting a certain gene in mice can make them smarter by unlocking a mysterious region of the brain considered to be relatively inflexible, scientists at Emory University School of Medicine have found.
Mice with a disabled RGS14 gene are able to r…
A newly described and critically endangered pygmy-owl species discovered in Brazil was named today after Intel founder Gordon Moore and his wife Betty Moore, announced Conservation International. The description of the bird appears in the most recent edition of the Brazilian Journal of Ornithology.
Last summer, research teams in central Mongolia began excavating a newly discovered cemetery associated with the Xiongnu, a powerful confederacy of nomadic pastoralists in the region two millennia ago. The cemetery was found and surveyed in July 2001 and includes what appears to be the largest Xiongnu tomb found anywhere to date.
New analysis of sediment samples from the southern Caribbean indicate that severe droughts occurred at the same time as the known collapse of the Mayan civilization. In a study in the March 14 issue of the journal Science, researchers report that sediments from the Cariaco Basin in northern Venezuela clearly show a dry spell in the Caribbean region starting in the seventh century and lasting for more than 200 years.
Forest dieback in the northeastern United States and neighboring areas in Canada has been more frequent, more persistent, and more severe during recent decades, research has shown. Now scientists have found springtime temperature swings have intensified in that region during the same period. A new study links these escalating freeze-thaw episodes, which are known to harm trees, to an atmospheric pressure imbalance over the North Atlantic.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, a speaker at BioSecurity 2002, now underway in Las Vegas, discusses with Science Blog editor Ben Sullivan issues facing Israel and the Middle East in the biosecurity realm.
Beyond Iraq, to what extent do bioweapons represent a likely threat to Israel and other Middle East countries? Do you believe they are seen as a legitimate weapon by the powerplayers behind the intifada, for example, or does the region’s concentrated geography actually play against the likelihood of their use?
Iraq is clearly the major player of bio-weapon in the region. Syria might be interested in it as a part of its “Strategic Answer” vis a vis the per claimed nuclear capabilities of Israel, namely as a deterrence element. Palestinian terror might not be able to use it on major scale for the reasons you have mentioned…
New research has provided the first neuro-imaging evidence that the brain’s frontal lobes play a critical role in planning and choosing actions. The research team has found that a small region in the frontal lobe of the human brain is selectively activated when an individual intends to make a particular action and not another. These findings help explain why individuals with frontal lobe damage sometimes act impulsively and often have problems making decisions.