WHY CAN'T JOHNNY UNDERSTAND SCIENCE?
Few would argue that science impacts daily living -- from the natural world, technologies used and decisions made about health. But a Cornell University researcher asks why most people know so little about science. Bruce Lewenstein, an associate professor of science communication, is among a number of educators exploring the gap between practitioners of science and the public. Aided by federal and university funding initiatives, they are working to promote general "scientific literacy" through community involvement and education efforts. Lewenstein edits a quarterly academic journal, Public Understanding of Science, and directs the New York Science Education Program, a consortium of colleges committed to improving undergraduate science education. Frank DiSalvo, also of Cornell University, sees science education as essential to a democratic society, in which the public makes decisions related to science and technology. "A scientifically illiterate public is a recipe for disaster," he says. "As a democracy, it's in our best interest to become scientifically literate, and that's really what outreach is about -- to introduce people to the methods of science and the fun of science."
UNUSUAL VIRUS FOUND IN ABORTED CALF
A group of viruses that can move from one animal species to another and cause a wide range of diseases has been found in the lungs of an aborted calf fetus, according to the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. Oregon State University researchers say these "vesiviruses" caused repeated outbreaks in the United States of a disease in pigs called vesicular exanthema of swine, or VES, in the 1930s to 1950s. "The VES-like viral group is still classified as a 'foreign animal disease agent' in the U.S., in part because some of the disease symptoms they can cause -- blistering of the mouth, nose, and feet -- mimic those of foot and mouth disease," says Alvin Smith. Research has shown for 30 years that ocean mammals are a vast reservoir of different calicivirus strains, including the VES group that caused a major animal health epidemic in the United States, according to Smith. "For at least 15 years, it's also been clear that these viruses are still endemic at high levels in the nation's livestock populations," he says. "We are well aware of the importance of reporting a possible new virus of bovine abortion. However, we must assign greater importance to the urgent need for differential diagnostic reagents for vesicular diseases."
SCIENTIST WARNS OF CENTURY OF GLOBAL WARMING
Global warming will persist for at least a century, even if emissions curbed now, according to Robert Dickinson of the Georgia Institute of Technology's School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. He presented the evidence behind this assessment at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston. "Current climate models can indicate the general nature of climate change for the next 100 to 200 years," Dickinson says. "But the effects of carbon dioxide that have been released into the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels last for at least 100 years," he says. "That means that any reductions in carbon dioxide that are expected to be possible over this period will not result in less global warming than we see today for at least a century." The burning of fossil fuels emits greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming. "The United States is the biggest user of fossil fuels, but China and India are likely to surpass the U.S. in the next 50 years, and China may surpass the U.S. in the next decade," Dickinson says.
SALT LAKE CITY AIR RELEASE MODEL
Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California have created a three-dimensional simulation of how a biological or chemical release could spread in and around Salt Lake City. The simulation was not created in response to any known threat, but to assist organizers of the 2002 Winter Olympics. The model showed how an airborne substance would flow through downtown buildings in Salt Lake City as well as the outskirts of the site of the 2002 Winter Olympics in case of an accidental release or terrorist attack. The researchers used weather and wind flow data over topographical maps to determine how a release might spread over the area if it came from the surrounding mountainous areas, or if it was released in the Salt Lake basin. Detailed weather data was fed into a three-dimensional model that portrays exactly how the layers of wind are blowing and how the winds will shift. The Salt Lake City simulation makes adjustments for how the buildings would block and channel the flow between them along street "canyons" such as those found on downtown streets between high-rise buildings.
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