Netsurfer Science 03.13

The press recently made a big caffuffle about this paper by Wang, Kuzmich, and Dogaru of the NEC Research Institute in Princeton, getting all in a lather about disproving Einstein, exceeding the speed of light, and so forth. It's the usual story, though, of the press not understanding science and scientists not understanding the press, and … well, just read the paper published in "Nature" and figure it out or not as may be the case. One of the difficulties is that there is now so much in science that appears to be contrary to 'common sense' because of human beings' limited frame of reference that it's 'way too easy either to dismiss the results as nonsense or to overreact to them. Author statements like "a light pulse propagating through the atomic vapour cell appears at the exit side so much earlier than if it had propagated the same distance in a vacuum that the peak of the pulse appears to leave the cell before entering it" don't help. However, note the word 'peak'. Basically, we think what happens is that some of the light pulse gets accelerated and some of it doesn't. Overall, no laws are contravened, or as the article points out, "the observed superluminal light pulse propagation is not at odds with causality or special relativity". Phew!! (We should warn you that the URL for this page is so long that it's bound to be split on your screen. You're seeing right, and you might have to copy and paste it into your browser's URL line if point-and-click doesn't do the trick.)
http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file= /nature/journal/v406/n6793/full/406277a0_fs.html& _UserReference=D82349EE46B4B617CE3BA729F59B39870D49

EARTH SYSTEMS
No matter where you go, there you are

Pacific Decadal Oscillation

We don't know why it does what it does and we can't predict its pattern. The Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) is a long-lived El Niño-like pattern of climate variability in the Pacific Ocean. The name, after all, is self-explanatory. Unlike the better known - and more opaquely named - El Niño, which is relatively short-lived, PDO persists for 20-30 years. Another difference is that the major impact of PDO is in the North Pacific/North American sector. The site has explanations, theories about PDO, colored charts, key references to PDO research, and links to introductory articles on the phenomenon. Understanding what causes PDO is important because an understanding would help scientists make more reliable predictions about its future impact, currently pretty iffy. However, wheat futures investors please note that one current view of PDO is that it may spawn a 20-year drought for southern California, the south-west US and the Plains. Another reason for interest in PDO is that it demonstrates that normal climate conditions can vary over periods about as long as a human lifetime.
http://tao.atmos.washington.edu/pdo/

The Pedosphere and Its Dynamics

Those who might surmise that the term "pedosphere" refers to something dirty will be delighted to learn that, in fact, it refers to soil and the parts of the Earth where soil-formation processes are active. Dr. Noorallah Juma, Professor of Soil Ecology at the University of Alberta, has penned the textbook, "The Pedosphere and its Dynamics, a Systems Approach to Soil Science", and made a version available on the Web. The ecology, physical properties, formation, classification, mineralogy, and chemistry of soil is covered in detail here, with self-test questions at the end of each chapter. Copy thieves beware: clever javascripting implemented by the site's composers will (attempt to) prevent theft of original material!
http://www.pedosphere.com/contents.cfm

Greenwich Meridian Line

Very often we hear the words prime meridian or Greenwich mean time and really don't have a clue what they mean. What, where and why is the prime meridian and just what is the significance of Greenwich? Excellent questions for which we have just the place to reveal all and banish the mystery forever. The prime meridian, a 0-longitude reference from which all longitude is calculated, was established in October 1884 at a conference organized at the request of the US President (supplemental quiz for extra marks: what was his name?). Resolution 2, fixing the prime meridian at Greenwich, was passed 22-1, France and Brazil abstaining. Besides information on the meridian itself, the site's On the Line section links people in the eight countries (we're not telling) along the meridian line. The site is not overly deep and is too cluttered with ads and commercial click-mes for our taste and easy navigation, but it's got the meridian covered. Oh, and we just thought we'd get in the last (or first) word on a subject most of us have already forgotten about: NSD's fudging notwithstanding, the millennium starts in 2001. Just so you know!
http://greenwichmeridian.com/

COMPUTING AND ENGINEERING
Open the pod bay doors, Hal

Quantum White Paper

Curious about quantum computers? This paper by Alan Cline of Carolla Development asks and answers of quantum computers what they are and what they mean to us. 'Though the paper is intended for the general reader, readers with little or no computer science and/or physics background may have a little trouble following along. The paper itself is fascinating and does offer a nice introduction to quantum computers; we suggest that it's better if you print it and read it offline with a pencil in hand to make margin notes.
http://www.carolla.com/quantum/

ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away

Structure and Evolution of the Universe

This site is part of the NASA stable of space-oriented Web pages. In case you're wondering, the site makes no attempt to explain the structure and evolution of the universe, but instead provides an array of information about how scientists are going about figuring out how they might learn enough to be able to one day. One of NASA's four themes, the topic comprises three quests, and six campaigns, and the site provides scads of info about the space missions past and future related to them. In the galleries section are images, videos, screensavers and presentations. What's New provides the latest news and press releases. The Roadmap actually has two: a science map and a technology map, each of which has enough information for more than one rainy day, organized into what look like images of poster sessions. And like most places associated with NASA, there is virtually no end to this resource; it just keeps on expanding as you click, leading you where you will with its almost infinite array of information, pictures, and news.
http://universe.gsfc.nasa.gov/

You Can Call Them PERMANENT

You have to give the folks at PERMANET credit for coming up with their acronym. PERMANENT stands for Projects to Employ Resources of the Moon and Asteroids Near Earth in the Near Term. Sure, they could have said it a little more succinctly, but then we couldn't give them acronym kudos. PERMANENT is about developing space using the resources already there (the moon and asteroids). Think of this site as an infomercial. Its aim is to gain support, so its maintainers provide you with a lot of information. At times, it is a bit over the top; at one point, it reads "This is a chance in life for you to get involved with those of this historic generation in getting us out of Earth's cradle and into the heavens". Overall, though, the site offers very detailed explanations of what materials already exist in space and how we can use them.
http://www.permanent.com/

Astronomy Now

Can't get enough astronomy information? Astronomy Now might satiate your need to know the cosmos. The main page is quick to load and offers teasers of the featured articles. This month's top story, "Death of a Comet" is well worth reading. The site is easy to navigate, and the graphics the editors have chosen to illustrate the articles load quickly. Judging by the online version, it's no wonder Astronomy Now is the best-selling monthly astronomy magazine in the UK.
http://www.astronomynow.com/

BBC Online -The Planets

So Astronomy Now wasn't enough for you. Maybe The Planets from BBC Online will take care of those lingering information needs. The features include video clips that you need to download to view; but, if you or your computer just don't handle downloads well, don't shy away from this site. You're not required to download the images, which seem to the dandy extra, nice but not necessary to understand and appreciate The Planets. When you're finished exploring our solar system, be sure to visit the 'behind the scenes' feature. Unlike magicians, the folks at BBC Online reveal their neat tricks.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/planets/index.shtml

SPACE.com

Founded last year by former CNN financial news anchor Lou Dobbs, with impressive ambition and with newly appointed president Sally Ride at the helm, space.com wants to be THE place for space-related information and news. And while it does present oodles of facts, figures and information about what's going on in the space community, existing and planned space missions, and launch vehicles, it also includes sci-fi news and information, movie reviews, and just about anything with space and exploration of the cosmos as the theme. If you really want them to, Dobbs and Ride will send you daily e-mail updates about what's new on the site, so you can clog your inbox with even more stuff. The site is packed full of interesting material, everything leads into something else, and it's all quite addictive. Sections include news, missions/launches, science/astronomy, search for life, photos, spaceTV, business and technology, sci-fi, entertainment, games, people and interviews, opinions and columns, teaching resources, references, and the inevitable, unavoidable online shop. With this place running, there's absolutely no excuse for not being well informed about the latest space missions and business.
http://www.space.com/

Netsurfer Recommendations

Items our staff likes and you might too. Click on the cover or title to order the item at a hefty discount from Amazon.com and Beyond.com and send a few pennies our way as well.

Here Be Dragons: The Scientific Quest for Extraterrestrial Life
Simon Levay and David W. Koerner
Oxford Univ Pr (Trade); ISBN: 0195128524

What is so fascinating about this book is that Levay and Koerner set out to give the reader a grounding in all the facts that are really needed before you can intelligently engage in the topic of extraterrestrial life. And the way they do this is mainly through the wide range of interesting characters who are or have been concerned with wrestling those facts out of the background noise of ignorance. It is a breath-taking survey of evolution, extrasolar planets, the evolution of stars, and much more. And it is a series of encounters with a clamoring, argumentative horde of people including Carl Sagan, Frank Drake, Stuart Kauffman and many more. The authors rarely inflict their own views on the reader but are content to explore through the work and words of others. In the end, however, the authors clearly are optimists about the business, saying, "the trail of discovery hangs heavy with the scent of life". The book is a wonderful, informative read.

The Engines of Our Ingenuity: An Engineer Looks at Technology and Culture
John Lienhard
Oxford Univ Pr (Trade); ISBN: 0195135830

We can recommend Lienhard book on so many levels that we hardly know where to start. First, there's the sheer exuberance of his writing; this man is passionate about his subject and conveys that passion as few scientists do. Then there's the subject, one that fascinates us in a general sort way that we really hadn't been able to articulate until Lienhard took up the challenge. He contends that what makes us human is not biology but our ability to conceptualize and turn tools to our use, for better or worse. That's not such a novel notion in itself; but, where Lienhard shines in his ability to bring the notion to life, to point to instance after instance that proves our humanity. More than that, Lienhard deals with the back-and-forth between technology and culture, and the ways in which they go about shaping each other. His brief chapter on the Industrial Revolution is densely packed with commentary on the political revolutions of the 18th century; in the chapter entitled 'War and other ways to kill people' he writes, "[N]ow and again we undertake the technological problem of killing one another intentionally. That is seldom easy to do, and it has to play out against the universal human commandment, 'Thou shalt not kill.' So the problem is not only a difficult one technologically, it is also one that calls up all manner of creative tactics of self-justification." Lienhard's apparent preference for radio hasn't made him as visible as a Sagan or Bronowski or a Kenneth Clark, but he deserves every bit of the same attention.

MATHEMATICS, PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY
42

Art and Science of Criminal Investigation

Wanna play Holmes? Sherlock Holmes? Imagine yourself with that special ability to divine a description, method, perhaps even motive, simply by observing a crime scene. Reality isn't quite so neat, but crime scene reconstruction is often the first step in a criminal investigation. Reconstruction tries to answer questions like what happened and how it happened. Reconstructions come in many forms and each type requires different information. To learn more about it, check this site, a must for fans of the genre. Once you've learned enough, you can try to solve the online case study.
http://crimeandclues.com/introduction.htm

ARCHEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY
What is past is prologue

Lost Egyptian Cities

Beneath the waves, beneath the sea, they found remains, of three cities. This Times of London online special report doesn't use poetry but prose and pictures to describe the astonishing discovery of the ruins of three lost Egyptian cities that sank beneath the sea some 1200 years ago. Known before their discovery only from myth and ancient literature, the cities Herakleion, Canopus, and Menouthis were found several miles off shore near the ancient city of Alexandria, with which they were in losing economic competition prior to their flooding. The cities were discovered by Franck Goddio, an underwater explorer, who used advanced electronic techniques for probing the seabed to zero in on the lost cities. The site vividly describes the story of their tumultuous past and the probable cause of their loss, complete with a picture special, Internet links, and a glossary. The range of articles about the cities and their past, and the picture gallery provide a fascinating taste of the noisy tumult of human history.
http://www.the-times.co.uk/onlinespecials/world/egypt/

SCIENCE AND ART
Puttin' on the Ritz

Cave Paintings

They painted in the light of flickering torches deep in the caves. They painted with the growls of cave bears in their ears. They painted 32,000 years ago, these people, in the Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc cave. This Web site provides a modest, tantalizing glimpse of the wonders of the place discovered in December 1994 by three speleologists, Jean-Marie Chauvet, Brunel-Deschamps and Christian Hillaire. The cave includes several large galleries with over 400 paintings and engravings dating to the Paleolithic era (between 32,000 and 30,000 years ago) and showing rhinoceroses, lions, bears, owls, and mammoths painted with stunning skill and vigor, as well as, poignantly, a few tracings of human hands. Although the cave itself is closed to the public to preserve its treasures, sites like this allow us a least a glimpse of its wonders. The site comprises four sections: the discovery narrative, the bestiary gallery, progress of research in the cave, and links to other cave painting sites. The text is somewhat sparse and the cave map virtually useless.
http://www.culture.fr/culture/arcnat/chauvet/en/gvpda-d.htm

Physics and Psychophysics of Music

If a tree falls in the forest, and there is no one to hear it, will there be a sound? The oft-posed question captures rather well the nature of this Web site. In fact, not only does the face the music from a pure physics point of view (and you mathematicians out there will find something to bite into, too), but it touches on the realms of the sensations aroused by sound, always from a rigorously scientific point of view. This fascinating, if demanding, site is worth a visit.
http://online.anu.edu.au/ITA/ACAT/drw/PPofM/INDEX.html

SCIENCE LITE
Where are you, Mulder?

Torah Codes

One of the more nutty notions to crop up recently has been the idea that the Bible, especially the Torah, the first five books, contains hidden codes about people and events. This site is the perfect antidote to all that gibberish. Bunk it calls it. We like that word! It should be used more often! Bunk, BUNK! After all, there's plenty of it around these days, so all the more reason to welcome sites like this that skewer the fanciful, incredulous nonsense served up in tabloids, on TV, and in magazines. The first claim about codes appeared in the journal "Statistical Science" in 1994 and put forward statistical arguments that biographical information about medieval rabbis was purportedly 'encoded' in the Hebrew text of Genesis. There's a link here to an abridged version of that paper, along with lots of debunking, scuttling of the argument and long lists of folk with enviable reputations and credentials all of whom share in considering the code idea as the most basic, sheer, unadulterated nonsense. There's an excellent, not too technical summary of the code and its debunking here as well (May 1998 Chance magazine article). Brendan McKay has done a great service for reason and logic in this systematic exposure of, well, bunk. Great stuff!
http://cs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/dilugim/torah.html

MEDICINE, BIOLOGY AND ZOOLOGY
It's alive! It's alive!

Collecting and Preserving Butterflies

One of the many hazards of being a beetle or butterfly is the risk that avid collectors will scoop you up in a net and add you to their collections, preserving you in death for the edification of children, collectors, and museum goers. The truth is we'd count ourselves lucky to possess one of those marvelous Victorian butterfly collections, 'though we're hard pressed to tell you the essential difference between such a display and a wall full of mammals' heads. We can, however, offer a couple sites of useful information for collectors. First the Lepidopterists' Society has a stiff, legalistic sounding statement on collecting Lepidoptera, which boils down to collecting butterflies responsibly. That makes good sense, for however numerous and plentiful any particular insect may seem, it is part of an ecological web that may be more fragile than it appears. Still, it's all a bit stiff and formal and doesn't seem to make much room for kids' attempts to get a little closer to nature, which was about what our reviewer's own brief foray into insect collecting amounted to. The second site has valuable information on proper techniques for softening specimens so they can be mounted properly. You can choose the illustrated guide or the text-only version, as you wish. The instructions are informative, concise, and clear.
Statement: http://alpha.furman.edu/~snyder/snyder/lep/collect.html
Mounting: http://iannibutterfly.net/spread.htm

Cognition Writ Broad

CogPrints is an electronic archive for papers in any area pertinent to the study of cognition. That gives it a pretty big waterfront, roaming over psychology, the neurosciences, linguistics, many areas of computer science, philosophy, medicine, and more. CogPrints will send you e-mail when new papers in areas you specify are added to the archive, but you have to register (free) if you want this service (naturally), or if you wish to deposit publications in the archive. Otherwise you can search and read to your mind's content with the aid of a search engine with simple and advanced options, or you can just eyeball through the subject index and see what strikes your fancy. The system uses EPrint software. Currently there are nearly 3000 prints available for viewing here. Yes, we had to count them, we just had to; besides we know you count on that kind of dedication from the Netsurfer crew and we couldn't let you down. The deposition of research articles and widespread free availability is one of the most beneficial and enlightened advantages of the Internet. This archive is a significant contribution to the wide world of learning.
http://cogprints.soton.ac.uk/

Raptor Center

The site of the Raptor Center, an international medical and research facility for birds of prey at the University of Minnesota, has its talons in substantial information about those swellest of avians, raptors - condors, eagles, falcons, hawks, owls, osprey, and vultures. If you hurry, you can participate in the Annual Raptor Run in Bloomington, MN. (Humans do the running, not raptors!) Also here are raptor facts, legislation about raptors, Internet resources, and other information raptorial. (We were intrigued to learn that ospreys, characterized by the familiar 'feet-first' position they use to wrest fish from the water, have a reversible front toe and that they always carry the fish with the prey's head forward.} The site also has bird images and sounds. If you're flush with cash, you can use the Adopt-a-Raptor program to fund the treatment and release to the wild of a specimen of a raptor species of your choice. No less a personage than Kevin Sorbo has lent his support to that particular Herculean task. Overall this is an attractive site if somewhat modest in its resources.
http://www.raptor.cvm.umn.edu/

ANTHROPOLOGY, SOCIOLOGY, ECONOMICS, AND GEOGRAPHY
All that we see or seem

Theoretical Criminology.

It was the title that attracted us. Did it suggest, we wondered, that the dark thoughts that occasionally bubble up unbidden in the brain are crimes, if only in theory, that the odd immoral twitches that occur to us must be considered hypothetical offenses? As it turns out, we needn't have worried, because this is about the theory, or theories of criminology, a place for learning, researching and teaching theoretical criminology. So you can stuff guilt back into its dark box and approach this site with conscience clear, and no nervous tics. There's a lot here, marred - alas - by a lot that isn't here, at least not yet. Instead, there are just empty store fronts so to speak, and an old-fashioned approach to Web navigation. You also have to dig for understanding. The way of it often is quizzes, which lead to concepts described through links to articles and other sections of the site. But through its presentation of historical information and different schools of thought about criminology, the place seems to encourage some critical thinking about the subject rather than rote parroting of public popular attitudes. With huge and rising prison populations, this strikes us as a good thing, long overdue. The detailed bibliography looks long and comprehensive, but any of the relatively few online links labeled JSTOR lead to access denied messages unless your Internet address is one already authorized (read subscribers), whereas titles labeled WWW work fine. It would take forever to tell you what works and what doesn't here, but we do suggest you explore it yourself. And, for all its flaws, which are at least offenses of ambition, this is a worthy place to visit if the subject interests you. After all, any work of this potential magnitude and importance needs others to help and contribute.
http://www.crimetheory.com/

RESIDUE
We can't be sure what else is out there

FirstScience.com Science Jobs

Has NSS inspired you to become a scientist? All right, while we'd like to share the credit, we know where we stand. FirstScience.com contains much more than your typical job search (not to knock the job search, but there is more to the site). We're delighted to tell you about a site that isn't confined to the United States, too. At FirstScience, most of the jobs seem to be in the UK. If you don't live there or don't feel like relocating, the science books, links, and articles will be of more interest to you. There is also a fascinating little "Did you Know" scrollbar at the top of the main page where you can pick up interesting tidbits like the fact that chimps can understand up to 300 different signs.
http://www.firstscience.com/site/home.asp

The Engines of Our Ingenuity

Transcripts: hundreds - over 1500 of them to be more precise - of brief radio broadcasts by John H. Lienhard, make up the soul of this place, coupled with a simple numerical list, a search engine, keyword search tool, material for the classroom, information about the broadcasts, and instructions for carrying the program free of charge. The transcripts are brief and pithy, all of them about human inventiveness, engineering history, and the essence of technology. A million people listen to the broadcasts each week, so there's a fascinated following. There's also a book now, described here as well, titled "The Engines of Our Ingenuity: An Engineer Looks at Technology". This is fascinating stuff to dabble in, read at random, or plunder systematically for educational or interest's sake. Frank, informative, challenging, amusing and entertaining all at once, these transcripts are great tools for teaching, challenging, researching.
Engines Web: http://www.uh.edu/engines/engines.htm
Engines Book: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195135830/netsurferdigest

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CREDITS

Publisher: Arthur Bebak Editor: Judith David Contributing Editor: Production Manager: Bill Woodcock Netsurfer Communications, Inc. President: Arthur Bebak Vice President: S.M. Lieu	Writers and Netsurfers: Jason Alderman Jonathan Baum Kate Brown Davide di Lazzaro Craig Kott Michael Luke Elizabeth Rollins
NETSURFER SCIENCE © 2000 Netsurfer Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. NETSURFER SCIENCE is a trademark of Netsurfer Communications, Inc.