Science Updates is a weekly email alert from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)
==BALANCING NATURE==
Most of the earth's plant and animal species are concentrated into just a few small areas. These biodiversity hotspots cover only 1.4% of the Earth's surface but contain nearly half of all plant species and at least a third of all animals. They still have many more rich secrets to reveal, yet all are facing huge pressure from human activity.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/features/2008/balancingnature/default.htm
== TOP STORIES FROM NEWS IN SCIENCE == http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/
MARS 3-D IMAGES SHOW LAY OF LAND
Newly unveiled 3D images of Mars will help scientists understand the Red Planet's unique topography, scientists say.
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2008/02/06/2155807.htm
BABIES ABSORB CHEMICALS FROM SHAMPOO
Baby lotion, powder and shampoo can lead to higher concentrations in an infant's body of phthalates, chemicals linked to allergies and altered reproductive development, a US study shows.
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2008/02/05/2154914.htm
AH! WHY WE SCRATCH AN ITCH
Oh, it brings such blessed relief and now scientists can tell you why. Scratching an itch temporarily shuts off areas in the brain linked with unpleasant feelings and memories.
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2008/02/01/2152151.htm
BIONIC LENS SPIES VIRTUAL WORLD
Engineers say they have combined a flexible contact lens with an imprinted electronic circuit and lights for the first time.
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2008/02/06/2155706.htm
== IN THE SKY THIS WEEK == http://home.mira.net/~reynella/skywatch/ssky.htm
The New Moon is Thursday February 7. The evening sky is to the north is still dominated by bright Mars. Mars forms a delightful broad triangle with the bright red stars Alderbaran and Betelgeuse, and is close to the bright star Elnath. With the Pleiades cluster and Orion's belt nearby, the evening sky is particularly beautiful now. In the late evening sky, Saturn saturn can be seen in the north-east. Saturn is at its largest and brightest in the next few weeks, and now is an excellent opportunity to observe the ringed world in a small telescope. In the morning twilight, Venus and Jupiter are readily visible close together, but draw apart during the week.
== ABC HEALTH & WELLBEING == http://www.abc.net.au/health/
THE PULSE: JOURNEY OF A CHEESEBURGER
A meal of chips, burgers and cola can make you feel sick. US researchers explain how and why.
http://abc.net.au/health/thepulse/stories/2008/02/07/2156368.htm
== TRANSCRIPTS NOW ONLINE
JANNA LEVIN
(In Conversation: 31/01/2008)
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/inconversation/stories/2008/2143752.htm
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL POWER OF FORGIVENESS IN SOUTH AFRICA
(All InThe Mind: 02/02/2008)
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/allinthemind/stories/2008/2105457.htm
2008 - THE YEAR AHEAD IN SPACE AND WHY WE NEARLY DIDN'T MAKE IT
(Science Show: 02/02/2008)
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/stories/2008/2152561.htm
MESO DIARY PART 3
(Science Show: 02/02/2008)
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/stories/2008/2152566.htm
HOW NERVES GROW IN THE BODY
(Science Show: 02/02/2008)
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/stories/2008/2152569.htm
FORMATION OF THE ENGLISH CHANNEL
(Science Show: 02/02/2008)
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/stories/2008/2152542.htm
BALANCING NATURE 2 - VIETNAM
(Science Show: 02/02/2008)
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/stories/2008/2121583.htm
== COMING UP ON ABC RADIO == http://www.abc.net.au/science/programs/
SCIENCE SHOW - Balancing Nature - Balancing Nature - Part 3 Philippines
Saturday 9 February, 12.05pm & Monday 11 February, 7.05pm RN
Coral reefs are often described as the rainforests of the oceans and the Philippines was recently declared as "The centre of the centre of marine shore fish biodiversity", yet its reef system is on a knife edge - due mainly to increasing numbers of fisherman exploiting the reefs, many of whom have resorted to destructive and illegal fishing methods. Lynne Malcolm visits key marine areas to find out how new links between scientists, local government and the fishermen could help to establish community managed fisheries restore the balance between sustainable biodiversity and the livelihood of its fishing communities.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/
ALL IN THE MIND – Proust was a neuoscientist
Saturday 9 February, 1.05pm, & Monday 11 February, 1.05pm RN
Of course Proust wasn't a neuroscientist. Or was he? Science writer, Jonah Lehrer, argues 19th century artists from Paul Cezanne to Virginia Woolf, Gertrude Stein to Walt Whitman anticipated some of the great discoveries about the mind and brain in their ground-breaking art and prose – realisations that science is only rediscovering now. He's calling for radical rethink of truth, art and science. He suggests that art can make science better.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/allinthemind/
THE PHILOSOPHER'S ZONE – The Emergence of Science Part 2
Saturday 9 February, 1.30pm, & Monday 11 February, 1.35pm RN
Why did the great scientific revolution occur in the West and not in China or the Arab-Islamic world? This week, in the second part of an interview with Stephen Gaukroger from the University of Sydney, we find out why it happened where it happened and how science became the bearer of general standards of rationality.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/philosopherszone/default.htm
OCKHAM'S RAZOR - Abraham Lincoln revisited
Sunday 10 February, 8.45am RN
26 years ago medical historian Dr Jim Leavesley from Perth gave his first talk in this time slot and today he revisits the same subject which dealt with the ailments of President Lincoln. Over the years opinion has changed. It was believed that the President suffered from Marfan's Disease but did he? There are splinters of bone and bits of hair on display at the Army Institute of Pathology, Washington and DNA from these fragments would settle the Marfan issue.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/ockhamsrazor/
INNOVATIONS
Sunday 10 February (0830hrs UT), Monday 11 February (1330 & 1705hrs UT), Wednesday 13 February (0430hrs UT), Radio Australia
A gas-sweetening system that cuts greenhouse gas emissions is set to make natural gas deposits more viable; blood pressure drugs cut the death rate in diabetes and, speeding up the process of wheat breeding without GM technology.
http://www.abc.net.au/ra/innovations/
HEALTH REPORT - The knee files - part two
Monday 11 February, 8.30am and 8.05pm RN
This week on the Health Report part two of a special report on your knees and the most common form of arthritis, osteoarthritis. In the second part we look at surgery. What kinds of knee operations are there? Should you have a knee joint replacement, and if so, how do you choose your surgeon and your new joint? A consumer's guide to the facts about knee surgery for advanced osteoarthritis. This two part special is presented by Associate Professor Alex Barratt from the School of Public Health, Sydney University.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/healthreport/
IN CONVERSATION - The attack before September 11
Thursday 14 February, 7.35pm RN
Who remembers the bomb that blew up in Wall Street eight years ago? It had many of the same effects as September 11 with nationwide panic, demands for draconian security measures and worries about the loss of civil liberties. Beverley Gage, professor of Modern History at Yale University has written a book about the event and talks to Alison Leigh about the startling fact that few Americans seem to know it happened. How come?
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/inconversation/
== HIGHLIGHTS ON ABC TV == http://www.abc.net.au/science/programs/
APOLLO 11: THE UNTOLD STORY
ABC 1, Monday 11 February, 9.35pm
Reveals how, in deep space, the Apollo 11 lunar module lost all contact with earth, coming within seconds of crashing. By running off course, the lunar module became critically low on fuel over inhospitable boulder-strewn lunar terrain.
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/guide/netw/200802/programs/ZY9091A001D11022008T213500.htm
NEW INVENTORS
ABC 1, Wednesday 13 February, 8pm
In this episode: a golfing answer to the perfect swing, a piece of canvas that turns into a swag, tarpaulin and jacket, and a clever remedy for soil salinity.
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/newinventors/
CATALYST – Series Return!
ABC 1, Thursday 14 February, 8pm
In the first episode of Catalyst for 2008, geologist Dr. Cornel de Ronde takes reporter Jonica Newby on his submarine quest to chart a newly discovered underwater landform known as the submarine arc volcano in the Pacific Ring of Fire - our planet's last great frontier.
http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/
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