【Phat Yeti出品】60-SECOND SCIENCE 官方听力文稿 + 讨论帖 （更新至：2008.03.07）

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60-Second Science_ Aug 13, 2008

Google-Style Rankings for Ecosystems
Using Google's ranking system--pages are important based on how many other pages link to them--ecologists can figure out which species really hold an ecosystem together. Adam Hinterthuer reports
Since so many species in a food web are interconnected, the demise of a one can mean extinction for several others that depend on it for food. Thanks to things like climate change and habitat destruction, this "bottom-up extinction" has ecologists scrambling to save key species. Stefano Allesino says they may just want to Google the problem.

Speaking on August 4th at the Ecological Society of America's annual conference, Allesino outlined a new way to rank the species of an ecosystem. Google uses a complicated algorithm to rank Web pages that best match a query. Basically, a single webpage ranks low, but rises in importance if a handful of other pages link to it. The highest ranked sites have thousands of these well-connected pages linked to them.

Inspired by this system, Allesino’s formula gives importance to a species if it supplies food to another. And, if that species serves as food for several organisms, it climbs up the rankings. Higher ranked species, says Allesino, should become the focus of conservation efforts. And that means there's finally a perk to being the foundation of the food web.
—Adam Hinterthuer

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60-Second Science_ Aug 14, 2008

Bees Help Track Criminals
Believe it or not, bees forage in a similar geographic pattern to that of serial killers committing crimes. So understanding bee behavior may help catch criminals. Karen Hopkin reports
Unless you’re talking about killer bees, it’s hard to imagine a situation in which “killers” and “bees” would be related. But it turns out that scientists are using the same mathematical model to describe the behavior of both bumblebees and human serial killers.

The method, called geographic profiling, was developed by a detective who was trying to predict where serial killers might live based on where they commit their crimes. Believe it or not, murderers operate fairly close to home. But not too close. They maintain a kind of kill-free “buffer zone” around their actual digs.
A similar pattern of activity seems to hold true for bumblebees—when they’re foraging for food. Bees tend to avoid stopping at flowers too close to home, perhaps to reduce the risk of drawing predators, parasites or nosy scientists to the nest. And working with the former detective, scientists in the U.K. found that geographic profiling allowed them to locate the entrance to a hive based on mapping which flowers the bees visit. The results appear online in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface. Repeating such experiments, with bees or other foraging critters, could help hone the model for catching criminals.
—Karen Hopkin   

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60-Second Science_ Aug 15, 2008

Air Fresheners' Unlisted Ingredients
Products for making indoor air smell fresh or laundry smell clean may include volatile chemical compounds technically considered to be pollutants. Adam Hinterthuer reports
Laundry detergents and air fresheners have long promised to keep your house and clothes smelling sunshine fresh and rain shower clean. But what they haven't said is what exactly you're sniffing when you snuggle up in your just-washed sheets. After hearing from people who said strong scents made them sick, University of Washington researcher Anne Steinemann scratched the surface and found almost a hundred chemicals that weren't listed on the labels. According to her report in the journal Environmental Impact Assessment Review, plug-in air fresheners, scented sprays, dryer sheets and detergents all contained a mixture of volatile organic compounds.

Since manufacturers aren't required to list their ingredients for such consumer products, the boxes only admitted to containing a "mixture of perfume oils." But five out of the six products Steinemann tested emitted one or more so-called hazardous air pollutants, which are carcinogens determined to have no safe exposure level by the EPA. While the study did not test for any human health risk from exposure to these chemicals, Steinemenn says the next time the air in the house smells stale, maybe you just open a window.
—Adam Hinterthuer

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60-Second Science_ Aug 18, 2008

Invasion of Privacy: A Conversation with Larry Greenemeier
ScientificAmerican.com's Larry Greenemeier talks about your privacy and the threats to it. See our privacy package online at SciAm.com, as well as the September special single-topic issue of Scientific American. Steve Mirsky reports
Scientific American's Larry Greenemeier talks about your privacy and the threats to it. See our privacy package online at SciAm.com, as well as the September special single-topic issue of Scientific American. Steve Mirsky reports.
Podcast transript not available at this time.

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