Wolbach Library: CfA in the News ~ Week ending 3 January 2010 1. New social science research from G. Sonnert and co-researchers described, Science Letter, p40, Tuesday, January 5, 2010 2. 2009 in science and medicine, ROGER SCHLUETER, Belleville News Democrat (IL), Sunday, January 3, 2010 3. 'Science, celestial bodies have always inspired humankind', Staff Correspondent, Hindu (India), Tuesday, December 29, 2009 4. Why is Carpenter defending scientists?, The Morning Call, Morning Call (Allentown, PA), FIRST ed, pA25, Sunday, December 27, 2009 5. CORRECTIONS, OPINION BY RYAN FINLEY, ARIZONA DAILY STAR, Arizona Daily Star (AZ), FINAL ed, pA2, Saturday, December 19, 2009 6. We see a 'Super-Earth', TOM BEAL; TOM BEAL, ARIZONA DAILY STAR, Arizona Daily Star, (AZ), FINAL ed, pA1, Thursday, December 17, 2009 Record - 1 DIALOG(R) New social science research from G. Sonnert and co-researchers described, Science Letter, p40, Tuesday, January 5, 2010 TEXT: "In this paper we report on testing the 'rolen model' and 'opportunity-structure' hypotheses about the parents whom scientists mentioned as career influencers. According to the role-model hypothesis, the gender match between scientist and influencer is paramount (for example, women scientists would disproportionately often mention their mothers as career influencers)," scientists writing in the journal Social Studies of Science report (see also ). "According to the opportunity-structure hypothesis, the parent's educational level predicts his/her probability of being mentioned as a career influencer (that ism parents with higher educational levels would be more likely to be named). The examination of a sample of American scientists who had received prestigious postdoctoral fellowships resulted in rejecting the role-model hypothesis and corroborating the opportunity-structure hypothesis. There were a few additional findings. First, women scientists were more likely than men scientists to mention parental influencers. Second, fathers were more likely than mothers to be mentioned as influencers," wrote G. Sonnert and colleagues. The researchers concluded: "Third, an interaction was found between the scientist's gender and parental education when predicting a parent's nomination as influencer." Sonnert and colleagues published their study in Social Studies of Science (Parents Who Influence Their Children to Become Scientists: Effects of Gender and Parental Education. Social Studies of Science, 2009;39(6):927-941). Additional information can be obtained by contacting G. Sonnert, Harvard Smithsonian Center Astrophysics, MS 71, 60 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. The publisher of the journal Social Studies of Science can be contacted at: Sage Publications Ltd., 1 Olivers Yard, 55 City Road, London EC1Y 1SP, England. Copyright (c) 2010 Science Letter via NewsRx.com Record - 2 DIALOG(R) 2009 in science and medicine, ROGER SCHLUETER, Belleville News Democrat (IL), Sunday, January 3, 2010 TEXT: Yogi Berra might have called it deja vu all over again -- only people wouldn't have laughed at his mangled prose this time. When swine flu broke out in Mexico last April, its lethal opening salvo quickly evoked memories of the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic that led to 50 million to 100 million deaths worldwide. At first, people had every reason to fear a possible repeat. After killing Mexicans by the score, the disease spread to dozens of other countries in just a couple of months, leading the World Health Organization to issue its highest warning -- a Phase 6 pandemic alert. U.S. officials braced for the worse, predicting the virus might infect half of all Americans and might cause 30,000 to 90,000 deaths. Early signs indicated their dire warnings might be on target: The 2009 H1N1 flu was indeed a mutated cousin of the 1918 flu, and, just like the original version, it was hitting the young worse than the elderly, it was striking long before the regular flu season, and it seemed to be coming in waves. On Oct. 23, President Barack Obama declared swine flu a national emergency. And when drug companies had churned out only 10 percent of a promised 250 million doses of vaccine by early November, concern continued to build. Since then, however, fears of a massive deadly pandemic have been subsiding. While an estimated 50 million Americans have caught the disease, so far it has killed 10,000, which is far below the 35,000 that the seasonal flu kills in an average year. Indications are that there will be no repeat of the 1976 swine flu vaccine fiasco, which was quickly stopped after numerous reports of it causing Guillain-Barre syndrome. Just last week, health officials offered more good news: The virus does not seem to be nearly as contagious as first thought. If your child brings it home, adults have only a one in eight chance of catching it, too, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine . Still, it's too early to issue an all-clear signal, say authorities, who continue to urge everyone to be vaccinated. For its impact alone, the swine flu arguably may have been the top medical-science story of 2009, but there were plenty of other momentous events with less dire consequences: a new human ancestor, the discovery of earthlike planets, water on the moon and another claim of finding dark matter, to name just a few. Here's a recap: Long lost ancestor The story of human evolution was turned on its ear in 2009 when the world was introduced to the bones of a 4.4-million-year-old hominid named Ardipithecus ramidus -- affectionately known as Ardi. It had long been believed that man's earliest ancestors were hunched-over apelike creatures that roamed the open savannas of ancient Africa. But these remarkable remains told the story of a 4-foot-tall, 110-pound female who walked upright through verdant woodlands a million years before Donald Johanson's famous Lucy came along. Ardi and the remains of about three dozen other adults and children were dug up in the Afar desert of Ethiopia along with thousands of other plant and animal remains. The finds were studied for 15 years before nearly a dozen articles in a special issue of Science last October painted the picture of an early ancestor with large hands; feet and pelvis adapted for walking; a splayed-out big toe similar to modern apes; and a small brain but one positioned more like that of modern man. She also had upper canine teeth similar in size to ours to help chew her diet of nuts, fruits, small mammals and eggs. Because of its primitive pelvis and missing knee joints, some question the findings, but Tim White , co-director of the research group, says the evidence clearly puts Ardi at the earliest stages of human evolution. Stem-cell green light Even before President Obama could give his official blessing, the new administration had scientists diving into stem-cell research with renewed vigor. Just two days after Obama took his oath, the Food and Drug Administration gave San Francisco-based Geron permission to conduct the first clinical trial of a medical therapy involving embryonic stem cells. Using embryos left over from in vitro fertilization treatments, scientists worked to coax stem cells into spinal cord cells that would be injected into paralyzed patients. It is an attempt to build on work at the University of California at Irvine that enabled paralyzed rats to walk again. The FDA decision reversed eight years of restrictions under President George W. Bush that limited scientists to a few pre-existing cell lines. Then, on March 9, Obama signed an executive order freeing federal funds for all types of stem-cell work, boosting research around the country -- and not all involving the controversial embryonic variety. In March, University of Wisconsin researchers said they had turned skin cells into stem cells with a new method that would not cause side effects such as cancer. And, in November, an international team said they were successful in stopping progression of a fatal brain disease known as X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy with a combination of stem cells and gene therapy. Genetic treatments also continued to progress as doctors announced curing nine infants born with "bubble-boy" disease by injecting the patients with healthy copies of an immune-system gene they were born without. In Oregon, researchers successfully replaced mitochondrial genes in a macaque monkey egg, which could open the door to treating thousands of birth defects, researchers said. Houston, we have problems As 2010 dawns, the U.S. space program finds itself at a critical crossroads. Long gone are the exciting days of watching NASA put a man on the moon in the 1960s. Now, an aging space shuttle fleet may be put out to pasture by the end of the year. Budget woes may slow plans for unmanned exploration of the solar system and elsewhere. And, a program to return to the moon by 2020, announced by President George W. Bush in 2004, now seems a pipe dream. NASA "appears to be on an unsustainable trajectory," concluded former Lockheed CEO Norman Augustine and his commission when President Obama asked them to study the future of NASA's manned space program. So what's next? If Augustine's commission has its way, you'll see private companies increasingly take over research and development. Already, NASA has given grants to SpaceX and Orbital Sciences to design new launchers and capsules. Such moves will allow NASA to focus on the biggest projects, such as the new Ares V rocket to carry man into deep space. "NASA would be better served to spend its money on going beyond Earth orbit rather than running a trucking service to low Earth orbit," Augustine said at a press conference when his group's report was released.