sábado, 21 de mayo de 2011

Science

Cast Adrift in the Milky Way, Billions of Planets, All Alone

By DENNIS OVERBYE

NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt

An artist's rendering of an isolated planet.

Astronomers reported that for each of the Milky Way’s 200 billion stars, there are at least two Jupiter-size planets, many on their own or only distantly bound to a star.

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OBSERVATORY

The original and only known specimen of the Messel lizard Cryptolacerta. The skeleton is only a few centimeters long and is almost complete, lacking only parts of the tail. Its hands and feet were very small, showing the first steps of limb reduction.

Fossil Sheds Light on the Lizard-Snake Divide

By SINDYA N. BHANOO

A 47 million-year-old lizard specimen found in Germany indicates that snakes and the limbless lizards that superficially resemble them evolved independently.

OBSERVATORY

Silk Production Takes a Walk on the Wild Side

By SINDYA N. BHANOO

Using an acidic solution to remove the mineral layer that coats wild silkworms’ cocoons may make them easier to work with, Oxford researchers say.

Mid-Atlantic Dreads Bad Summer of Foul, Hungry Stink Bugs

By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS

In the Mid-Atlantic, the stink bugs are reappearing, and there appear to be more of them than before, according to those who track such things.

A tugboat pulled a barge loaded with logs last October in South Sumatra, Indonesia. A new plan puts some forests off limits.

Environmentalists Criticize Indonesia’s Plan to Save Forests

By AUBREY BELFORD

Environmentalists said the $1 billion plan gave industry too much leeway for further clearing in vital ecosystems.

Regulators Find Design Flaws in New Reactors

By MATTHEW L. WALD

The Nuclear Regulator Commission is asking Westinghouse to fix its calculations and to explain why it submitted flawed information in the first place.

The Three Gorges Dam faces problems involving pollution and geological disaster prevention.

China Admits Problems With Three Gorges Dam

By MICHAEL WINES

The State Council, China’s cabinet, said the dam was facing urgent problems involving pollution, geology and the relocation of residents displaced by the project.

Cmdr. Mark Kelly of the Endeavour and Cady Coleman, a flight engineer, speak from the space station.

NASA Installs Device at Space Station in Long-Sought Quest for Antimatter

By WILLIAM HARWOOD

Endeavour astronauts attached a $2 billion cosmic ray detector to the International Space Station.

U.S. Was Warned on Vents Before Failure at Japan’s Plant

By MATTHEW L. WALD

Five years before emergency vents at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant failed to work, an American engineer told regulators that their design was flawed.