Space missions become more challenging
WASHINGTON, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- NASA says it is about to embark on a series of space flights as difficult as any in history in order to complete the International Space Station.
"The flights ahead will be the most complex and challenging we've ever carried out for construction of the International Space Station in orbit," said Mike Suffredini, NASA station program manager. "The station literally becomes a new spacecraft with each assembly mission, and that will be true starting this year with dramatic changes in its cooling and power systems, habitable volume, utilization capability as well as its appearance."
Later this year, the station and shuttle crews will face a unique challenge in activating a permanent cooling system and new power sources. They must rewire the orbiting laboratory and change its electrical supplies without interrupting the continuous operation of any of its critical systems.
"The assembly of the station on these flights has no parallel in space history," Suffredini said. "We know they will be hard, and we may encounter the unexpected. But we are eager to get started, and there is tremendous excitement building in NASA and among our international partners."
Global warming may be killing palms
GAINESVILLE, Fla., Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Some palm trees along the U.S. west coast in Florida appear to be dying more rapidly than during previous years and that might be due to global warming.
University of Florida scientists say widespread deaths of palms and other trees in low-lying Floridian coastal areas has been reported since 1992. But the researchers say their latest survey shows in some areas 66 percent of mature palms have died since 2000.
"When we (counted) last year, the change we observed was an increase in the loss of mature trees," said Smriti Bhotika, a UF doctoral student in interdisciplinary ecology.
The researchers say rising sea level is the primary cause of the coastal forest decline. And the sea level rise -- expected to accelerate as the Earth becomes warmer -- is linked with the thermal expansion of water, as well as the melting of glaciers and ice sheets.
Bhotika presented the study Monday in Memphis, Tenn., during the Ecological Society of America's annual meeting.
Study nixes search engine dominance theory
BLOOMINGTON, Ind., Aug. 7 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say they've found Internet search engines are not biased toward popular Web sites and may even be egalitarian in the way they direct traffic.
The Indiana University School of Informatics study challenges the view of a Web-dominating "Googlearchy," in which search engines such as Google push all Web traffic to established, mainstream Web sites.
"Empirical data do not support the idea of a vicious cycle amplifying the rich-get-richer dynamic of the Web," said Filippo Mencer, associate professor of informatics and computer science. "Our study demonstrates that popular sites receive on average far less traffic than predicted by the 'Googlearchy' theory and that the playing field is more even."
Menczer was joined in the study by IU post-doctoral fellow Santo Fortunato; Assistant Professor Alessandro Flammini and Professor Alessandro Vespignani.
Their study, "Topical interests and the Mitigation of Search Engine Bias," appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
In utero health may affect life's success
NEW YORK, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have determined prenatal health has a significant influence on a person's lifetime economic success.
Columbia University researchers say it's not inherited traits such as skin tone or height that influences economic success, but, rather, a malleable characteristic -- in utero health -- that most strongly indicates how well a child will fare in adulthood. The scientists said their study has important implications for public policy, suggesting programs targeting early-life health have higher returns for reducing racial disparities in socioeconomic outcomes than do more traditional investments, including schooling.
The study analyzed adult economic outcomes of those exposed in utero to the 1918 influenza pandemic, which lasted only a few months -- meaning those born a few months apart had markedly different in utero conditions.
The Columbia scientists found children of infected mothers were 15 percent less likely to graduate from high school, and sons of infected mothers earned approximately $2,500 less per year than those who did not have fetal influenza exposure. Additionally, those who were in utero at the height of the epidemic had 20 percent higher disability rates at the age of 61.
The study is detailed in the Journal of Political Economy.
