This week on radio, Tim Thwaites is talking about the world’s oldest fossils; power walking; the origins of beer; winning the lottery; and more…
Time for a power walk—Forget to charge your phone? Soon, a quick stroll in a special pair of shoes could provide enough power to keep it going for hours. Two American researchers using to walking to generate electricity by moving and deforming a liquid metal alloy. Australian researchers are performing much the same trick using pressure on thin films.—Nature Communications
A Nature story on this topic can be found at http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110823/full/news.2011.493.html
World’s oldest fossils found on West Australian beach—British and Australian researchers have found what appear to be the oldest signs of cellular life—on an ancient West Australian beach now inland. The traces are on sand grains dated at 3.4 billion years old. They seem to be of bacteria which processed sulphur compounds for energy in a world that was then largely oxygen-free.—Nature Geoscience
A New Scientist story on this topic can be found at http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20813-oldest-reliable-fossils-show-early-life-was-a-beach.html
Animals vote with their feet on climate change—During the past four decades, more than 2000 species of animals have moved up mountains and away from the equator to escape a warming world, according to UK researchers. The speed with which they are moving is keeping pace with the rate of climate change, and is far faster than previously predicted.—Science
A Science story on this topic can be found at http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/08/in-warming-world-critters-run-to.html?ref=hp
Human excrement causes Caribbean coral decline—The most important reef builder in the Caribbean, the elkhorn coral, has declined by 90 per cent in the past decade, partly due to the highly contagious white pox disease. US researchers have finally fingered its cause—human excrement. The good news is that we now know how to halt the spread of the disease.—PLoS ONE
A Science story on this topic can be found at http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/08/human-excrement-to-blame-for-cor.html?ref=hp
Increasing the chances of your number coming up—Statisticians and mathematicians in North America have been cashing in on ways of improving their chances of winning lotteries. One of them, a Canadian, says that because the lottery corporations must ensure they provide revenue to government, their systems are not truly random.—New Scientist
A New Scientist story on this topic can be found at http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128264.900-lottery-wins-come-easy-if-you-can-spot-the-loopholes.html
Beer’s mystery yeast—Portuguese researchers have discovered that the secret to Bavarian lager is a strain of yeast which is not of good German stock. It originated in Patagonia.—Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
A Science story on this topic can be found at http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/08/lager-beers-mystery-yeast.html?ref=hp