60 SECOND SCIENCE听写+讨论帖（提供音频及官方文稿）已更新至7月24日

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借这个假期提高听力水平，经过多方考量选择了60 second science，而且坚信听写是提高听力的唯一手段（限于本人现在比较菜的水平）。

给大家提供从2009年6月5日开始的官方文稿和mp3（由于此贴同时是日志帖，所以文稿会基于自己的听写状况用不同颜色标记，请见谅）。欢迎有同样想法的同学一起听写，有任何问题也欢迎大家一起讨论。
网络方便的同学也可以直接在itune里面订阅或者到Scientific American的官网直接下音频文件也可以啦！

已更新至7月24日。

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汇总楼
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July   24----- 39 Floor

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June 5th
                                                        A little Yolk for Boys
When it comes to lizard sex, size does matter. But not in the way you might think. Because in the June4th online issue of the journal Current Biology, scientists say that for at least one type of lizard, larger eggs are more likely to make girls while smaller eggs yield boy.
For many animals, the sex of an individual is dictated solely by its chromosomes. But for small alpine lizards,gender isn't so cut-and-dried. The scientists had earlier found that nest temperature can influence the sex of lizard hatchlings. Cooler nests turn out more boys-no matter what their chromosomes say. At the same time, the researchers noticed that larger eggs seemed to make more daughters. But they wanted to put their observation to the test. So they took big eggs and removed some yolk-and, voila,they made males. Adding yolk to a little egg was a recipe for a female.
This size manipulation might allow moms to balance their babies' sexes when a chilly nest would otherwise produce mostly sons. Because when it comes to alpine lizards, sex determination all comes down to a practical yolk.
-Karen Hopkin
lizard: n. 蜥蜴
yield: n.生产量，投资收益； v.生产，屈服，投降，弯下去，凹下去
chromosome: n.染色体
alpine: adj.高山的，阿尔卑斯山的
cut-and-dried: adj. 事先准备的，俗套的
hatchling: n.人工孵化的鱼苗或小鸟
voila: int. <法>那就是, 瞧(表示事情成功或满意之感叹词用语)
recipe: n.食谱，处方，秘诀
manipulation: n.处理
chilly: adj.寒冷的

  

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June 8th
                                       Hudson Plane: Out-of-Town Geese Did It
Back on January 15th, US Airways Flight 1549 made that amazing water landing in the Hudson after both engines were taken out by Canada geese, which can weigh eight pounds each. Now scientists have used forensic techniques to clear local geese—the perpetrators were out-of-towners. The study appears June 8th in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.

Crash investigators sent feather samples from the plane’s engines to the Smithsonian, which has a dedicated Feather Identification Lab. The researchers examined the feather’s hydrogen isotopes, which include regular hydrogen atoms and hydrogens with additional neutrons. The isotope ratios tell you about the bird’s diet. And that tells you where they dined.

The analysis showed that the birdsthat hit the plane were much closer to geese migrating from Canada’s Labrador region than the geese who live year-round in New York. That info could be important for strategies to avoid future bird strikes.The usual techniques for keeping resident birds away from planes are still working—but we need ones for strangers just passing through.
—Steve Mirsky

   
   

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June 9
                                        Antioxidants and Male Fertility
Guys, here’s another reason to eat your veggies: they might be good for your sperm. Some studies show that male fertility and what’s called seminal quality have declined over the last few decades. So researchers from two fertility clinics in Spain looked at the reproductive power of fruits and vegetables. The scientists have spent the past four years analyzing diet and possible exposure to workplace contaminants in men with fertility problems.

One effort examined the effects that antioxidants might have on sperm.The researchers hypothesized that antioxidants could lower the oxidative stress that can harm sperm. More antioxidants could theoretically improve both sperm concentration and motility.

The study enrolled 61 men from couples with fertility problems. Thirty of the men were shown to have sperm problems. The other 31 one acted as the control. Interviews revealed that the males with good semen quality ate significantly more fruits and vegetables—their diets were higher in vitamins and antioxidants in general. The study appears in the journal Fertility and Sterility.The researchers say this finding suggests that healthy diets lead to healthy sperm. So remember, guys, an apple a day keeps your swimmers in play.
—Cynthia Graber

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June 10
                                         Speed-Dating Roles Influence Attraction Perception
For folks who’ve engaged in the strange ritual of “speed dating,”finding that special someone is like winning a romantic game of musical chairs. Now scientists from Northwestern University say that the results depend on who’s doing the circling and who gets to sit.

If you’re not familiar with the process, in a typical bout of speed dating women are seated at a table and men come up to join them. The couples chat for a few minutes, and when the timer goes off the men stand up and move to the next table. At the end of the evening,participants fill out a score card indicating which partners they might like to see again. In this situation, it seems that the guys are usually less selective than the gals. They express interest in following up with more of their dates.

But when psychologists turned the tables and asked the boys to remain seated while the girls did the rotating, the results also did a 180—and the ladies became less picky, findings published in the journal Psychological Science.So the mere act of moving toward a potential mate seems to make that person more attractive. Which means that beauty may well be in the eye of the approacher.
—Karen Hopkin

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June 11
                                                        Maple Seed Flight Aerodynamics
What do a hummingbird, a moth, and a maple tree have in common? They all use a similar trick to fly. Okay, okay, a maple tree doesn’t fly.But its seeds kind of do. Maples make those little whirlybird seeds you see spiraling down in droves each spring. Their papery little wings keep them aloft so they can find a good place to germinate and make anew maple. But how they manage to fall so slowly has been a bit of a mystery—until now.

Scientists filmed maple seeds as they wafted through a smoke-filled wind tunnel. And they found that a spiral of air develops on top of each falling seed’s wing. That vortex generates lift, and acts like a miniature tornado that sucks the seed up. The study appears in the June12th issue of the journal Science.

The same type of vortex also helps bats, hummingbirds and insects soar.So it seems that plants and animals have both stumbled on the same aerodynamic approach to battling gravity. Which explains why the acorn might not fall far from the tree, but maple seeds can really go the distance.
—Karen Hopkin

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June 12
                                                   Brain Knows It's Duck Reason
When an Iraqi reporter threw his shoe at President Bush, University of Washington neurologists were delighted. But not because of politics.The fling was just real-world evidence of a theory they were testing.As the shoe flew, Bush ducked while Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki, who was standing right beside him, barely flinched. The reason, the researchers say, is that we have a dual vision system. Our brains "see"things well before our eyes do. Their report is in the June 11th issue of the journal Current Biology.

The scientists contend that Bush ducked because his brain’s action pathway categorized the trajectory of the shoe as a threat well before his perception pathway began to track its flight. Meanwhile, Maliki realized the shoe wasn’t headed his way and didn’t take evasive action.The scientists say this mirrors computer simulations where test subjects respond much faster to approaching visual stimuli when those objects are on a trajectory lined up with their heads. Basically, your brain will tell you whether an item is a threat even before you know you saw it. The findings could apply to everyone from ballplayers to loafers.
—Adam Hinterthuer

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June 15
                                          The Rain's Maintained Speed Strain Is Now Explained
Could it be that our understanding of rain was all wet? A new study says that some drops of rain are falling faster than they should be.Which ultimately means that it may be raining less than we think.

It’s been assumed that large raindrops fall faster than smaller ones. A big drop’s size and heft give it a faster terminal velocity. Because it overcomes air resistance better than a small drop. But now researchers have found small raindrops falling faster than some bigger drops, and faster than what their terminal velocity should be. The finding appears in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Researchers used sophisticated optical equipment to study about 64,000individual raindrops, and found the expeditious outliers. Which came in clusters. These superfast droplets probably come from the breakup offast-moving large drops. Standard techniques to measure rain assume that fast drops are larger, and therefore overestimate the total precipitation. The scientists note that a third of the economy is influenced by weather forecasting, so even a small improvement in our understanding of rain would be more than a drop in the bucket.
—Steve Mirsky

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June 16
                                                         Earth's Fried Far-Future Postponed
About a billion years from now, some scientists say, the sun will be too bright for comfort, and our formerly hospitable planet will no longer be able to support life. If visions of this impending heat death disturb you, researchers from the California Institute of Technology have some good news. Their calculations add at least another billion years to Earth’s expiration date, results published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

As our sun matures it grows brighter and hotter. And over the past three or four billion years, the Earth’s been coping with the extra rays by getting rid of some of the CO2 in the atmosphere. Thinning out the CO2 that blankets the earth helps to keep things cool. But that can’t go on forever because we’d be left with no blanket at all.

Now the Caltech scientists say that the planet may be able to compensate by removing nitrogen from the atmosphere. That’ll decrease atmospheric pressure, which will then loosen the weave of the CO2blanket and allow more heat to escape. So stop and smell the roses. We may have an additional billion years to figure out this extreme case of global warming.

—Karen Hopkin

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June 17
                                                 Molting Molds Flying Bird Size Limit
If you were a bird, how big could you be? Well, an ostrich can weigh400 pounds—but it can’t get off the ground. So what if you want to fly?University of Washington scientists say it depends on how fast you can replace your flight feathers when you molt. The report is in the journal Public Library of Science Biology.

Feathers don’t last forever. So birds periodically shed their plumage and then sprout replacements. Small birds molt once or twice a year, and they replace their 9 or 10 primary flight feathers a few at a time over the course of a few weeks.

But bigger birds need bigger feathers. And that’s where the problem comes in. As birds increase in size, the rate at which they grow their feathers doesn’t keep up with their longer feather length. So if big birds tried to do like little birds, they’d spend the whole year molting—leaving little time for finding food or mates. [“Hey, whaddya doing?” “Still molting.”]

Some large birds, like honking big geese and 30-pound swans, get around the problem by forgoing flight while they get all their molting over with in one fell swoop. In other words, these birds of a feather defrock together.
—Karen Hopkin

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June 18
                                               Energy Secretary: We Need New Ag Revolution
Here’s a clip from last week’s CalTech commencement address by Secretary of Energy and physics Nobel Laureate Steven Chu:

Most scientists are optimistic by nature...part of my optimism comes from the fact that science has come to our aid in the past. As an example, I remind you of the agricultural revolution that occurred in the last century. In 1898, in his inaugural speech, Sir William Crookes, President of the Royal Society, began with the warning(attempts British accent) “England and all civilized nations stand in deadly peril.” I tried (referring to accent).

Crop rotation and manure were not sufficient to replenish the depleted soils, and he predicted that the fertilizer based on South American bird guano—just in case you’re wondering, guano is the technical term for bird doo-doo—and Chilean sodium nitrate would soon be exhausted. The solution Crookes proposed was to create artificial fertilizer. “It is the chemist,” he declared, “who must come to the rescue.”

In 1909, eleven years later, Fritz Haber demonstrated the catalytic synthesis of ammonia from air and hydrogen, a path unsuccessfully pursued by two distinguished chemists and future Nobel Prize winners,Walther Nernst and Wilhelm Ostwald. For this achievement, Haber was awarded the 1918 Noble Prize for Chemistry. The production of fertilizer was considered so important that the industrialization of ammonia synthesis was recognized by a second Nobel Prize to Carl Boschin 1931.

The second part of the agricultural revolution was led by Norman Borlaug, who got the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970. He created hybrid strains of wheat that increased the yield per acre four- to seven-fold in Mexico, India and Pakistan. Because of his work, the starvation of hundreds of millions of people was prevented.
Science and technology was the basis of the agricultural revolution,but current agricultural practices are not sustainable. And we need a second green revolution that will create perennial plants for food,fiber and energy, that fix their own nitrogen and draw precious nutrients into their roots for the following year.

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June 19
                                            Window Stickers Lead To Stretchy Electronics
Engineers would love to embed flexible electronics into things like paper, or surgical gloves or conventional clothing.But the wiring usually gets twisted and damaged. Now M.I.T. researchers have found inspiration in an unlikely place—the annoying air pockets that pop up in parking pass stickers on car windows.

Those bubbles arise because the thin sticker film expands at a different rate than the window glass when they both heat up. And the opposite is also true—the material can compress differently than the glass until it separates and blisters form.

The scientists were studying this kind of wrinkling behavior. They developed a model that predicted the formation, size and evolution of the bubbles that depends on three things: the elasticity of the film and the glass, and the strength of the bond between them.

Then they realized that carefully controlled delamination could be applied to make elastic electronics. Wires in the bubbly elastic material would start out only partially attached to a surface. Sothere’d be some slack allowing for safe stretching and twisting. The work appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and shows that a different approach can make a tough problem less sticky.
—Cynthia Graber

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June 22
                                                      Subways Loudest Transit Option in NYC
“Stand clear of the closing doors please.” Definitely keep your arms and legs away from the closing doors on the subway. But there’s a potentially more insidious danger to your health: the noise.

Mass transit is generally a safe ways to travel, one reason why 33million Americans use it every weekday. But a study that compared the various modes of mass transit in New York City found that the subways topped all other transit types for average noise, at a grinding 80decibels. The din was sometimes worse on the platforms, topping out at102 decibels. Commuter trains were much quieter, at about 75 decibels.Remember, that’s on a log scale, so, for example 80 is actually 10times noisier than 70—and about three times louder than 75. Normal conversation is between 60 and 70 decibels. The study is in the American Journal of Public Health.

The EPA and the World Health Organization recommend daily averages of no more than 70 decibels to protect your hearing. So earplugs may be in order if your particular commute is literally deafening.
—Steve Mirsky

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June 23
                                                              Tools Are Body Parts to Brain
If all you have is a hammer, they say that everything looks like a nail. But when you use that hammer, it looks like your arm—to your brain, anyway. A report in the June 23rd issue of the journal Current Biology shows that the brain interprets tools as just an extension of your physical self.

To move our bodies around in space, the brain builds what’s called a“body schema,” a representation of all our various parts. And this so-called schema is frequently updated to keep up with our ever-changing bodies. Otherwise, you’d think you were still a bitty baby. Now scientists have taken this body-image overhaul a step further. They’ve shown that when we use a tool, even for a few minutes,the brain sees it as a temporary body part.

Subjects were asked to pick up a block. They then used a long,mechanical grabber to pick up the same block. Then they tried to snag the block barehanded again. And it took longer than their initial grab.That’s because they were briefly behaving like their arms were still augmented. So next time you feel like a total tool, you might just be hitting the nail on the head.
—Karen Hopkin