Elsa’s Favorite Time Stories:

• Redefining the Second: To most of us, a second is just a fraction of one day. But the official international second is defined in terms of the cesium atom and the frequency of the microwave radiation that it can absorb. This ultra-precise atomic clock is the basis of GPS technology, but physicists such as Patrick Gill say we could do even better. New atomic clocks could measure time with a precision in the trillionths of a second (instead of mere billionths)–but the formal definition of the second won’t change until at least 2019.
  Patrick Gill’s work on new atomic clocks.
  All about the cesium clock at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, Colorado.
  A brief history of timekeeping, from NIST.
• Hugs in the Present Moment: Olympic athletes hug their coaches for three seconds following a performance. That rule applies to Asians, Europeans and Americans alike, says developmental psychologist Emese Nagy. Her discovery fits in with decades’ worth of data that suggest that our perception of the present moment lasts about three seconds.
  The study.
  Related news story from ScienceNOW.
• Tricking Our Internal Clocks: Our natural sense of time is fairly mysterious–and it’s susceptible to illusions. There isn’t a pacemaker in our brains that ticks off seconds, minutes and hours; rather, our timing emerges from a variety of brain functions. And, according to a new study led by neuroscientist Maneesh Sahani* and colleagues, what we see makes a difference too. The researchers could accelerate or brake participants’ perception of a half-second by changing the rate at which random movement played on a computer screen.
  The study.
  Watch the “rolling clouds” clips that fooled peoples’ internal clocks.
  More on our sense of time from the L.A. Times and from Discover.
  *Correction: Maneesh Sahani is at University College London, not King’s College as I said on the podcast. -EY

Chevron in Ecuador: Anchor Lisa Mullins speaks with the BBC’s Irene Caselli about the latest turn in a long legal battle over the environmental legacy of oil drilling in the Ecuadorian Amazon. A court yesterday ordered the U.S. company Chevron to pay damages of roughly $9 billion in the case.
Irene Caselli’s BBC coverage.
New York Times coverage, including background on the case.
Ecuador’s plans to conserve forest by keeping some of its oil in the ground.

Northern Bird Habitat: The Great Backyard Bird Count gets under way this weekend. The idea is to report on what’s on view in your backyard. Miyoko Chu of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology explains why counting birds such as the bar-tailed godwit is important.
The Great Backyard Bird Count.

Rethinking Polio Control: In podcast no. 72, we brought you an interview with D.A. Henderson, the man who wiped out smallpox. At the time, Henderson was skeptical of aims to eradicate polio. He has since changed his mind.
Read more in this New York Times article.
‘Gates calls for final push to eradicate polio,’ in the New York Times.

Peruvian Potato Varieties Headed for Doomsday Seed Vault: Indigenous groups in Peru have announced that they’re sending some 1500 varieties of potatoes to the doomsday seed bank in Svalbard, Norway. The potatoes are currently grown in the Cusco Potato Park, located in the Sacred Valley of the Incas. Read more here.
More about potatoes from The International Potato Center.
More about potatoes in this slide show by The World’s David Baron.

This week:  The story of a serial killer in 19th century France and the birth of modern forensic science. Growing coffee can endanger songbirds. What can you, as a consumer, do to help those birds? Also, our conversation about nuclear energy with M.V. Ramana and Alex Glaser continues through next week. Check it out, and join the conversation here.

Doug Starr and CSI in 19th Century France: Science writer Douglas Starr is the author of the new book The Killer of Little Shepherds: A True Crime Story and the Birth of Forensic Science. The book tells the grisly story of a serial killer in 19th century France and the criminologist who helped send him to the guillotine.

Guest: Douglas Starr

‘Bird-friendly’ Coffee: A recent study found that 13 percent of the world’s birds are either threatened or endangered. The problem has many causes, but one of them is – well – coffee. That’s right, your morning cup of joe may be harming songbirds, but there are efforts afoot to change that.

A Scarlet Tanager — one of the birds being hurt by coffee plantations. (Image: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
Report by: Diane Toomey
Read the story and listen to calls of birds that are being harmed by coffee plantations.
Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center.
Coffee and Conservation.
Rainforest Alliance.

How Coffee Consumers Affect Migratory Birds: Ornithologist Bridget Stutchbury talks about the problems confronting migratory birds and the role consumers can play in helping them.
Guest: Bridget Stutchbury

This week, we look at the global outbreak of H1N1 swine flu. First stop: a Mexican hospital, where new patients are showing up every day with what may be symptoms of the disease. Doctors are puzzled by the apparent high rate of death in Mexico while the virus causes much milder symptoms elsewhere.

China is also cautious about the outbreak. Authorities are watching for foreign visitors with symptoms, and the government has banned pork from Mexico and three American states. But eating pork doesn’t spread the disease, and as we hear from Michael Osterholm of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, closing borders could make the problem worse.

We conclude our swine flu tour with some time travel. In 1976 there was a swine flu outbreak at the U.S. Army’s Fort Dix in New Jersey. Public health officials feared a repeat of the deadly flu pandemic of 1918, so the response was quick and massive. It was also mistaken. Dr. Richard Wenzel, who diagnosed some of the first cases of the 1976 outbreak, talks about what happened.

Finally, we take a break from swine flu to look at other science news: The short history of HIV’s ancestors, an asteroid that may not have killed off the dinosaurs after all, and what dancing birds tell us about the origin of musicality.

Some Useful Links:

All you need to know about swine flu from the BBC and the CDC.

The SIV study, and more on the evolution of HIV.

More on the asteroid that may have wiped out the dinosaurs, and why some researchers think the asteroid couldn’t have caused the extinction. The Geological Society is publishing this latest study.

Video of dancing parrots from YouTube and Current Biology. Elephants can also dance and mimic sounds. The dancing animal studies are avaiable here and here.

Music:

The Meters, Ease Back

Huey Smith, Rock and Roll Pneumonia, Boogie Woogie Flu

Pakistan has a serious water crisis. Not only is the country running out of water, much of the available water is polluted and is making people sick.

Another crucial water problem for Pakistan is the ailing Indus River. One of the world’s great rivers and home to some of the earliest civilizations, the Indus is drying up.

Spanish vultures are having a rough time. In 2002, the EU passed a law designed to prevent mad cow disease. The law required farmers not to leave out livestock carcasses for vultures. The result: the birds have been starving—especially in Spain, the vulture capital of Europe. The European Parliament may change the law to allow farmers to leave some livestock carcasses for the carrion eaters after all.

Also this week, the Chinese government reported that the Great Wall is 2,400 miles longer than previously believed. Researchers claimed that an obese population produces up to 14% more greenhouse gas than a slimmer population. And finally, a brain imaging study from Belgium suggests that night owls can stay alert not just later, but also for longer, than morning people.

Music
The Standells, Dirty Water
Blondie, Dreaming

All over the world, disease and habitat destruction have caused honey bee numbers to plummet. Bees are crucial because they pollinate 80 percent of our fruit and vegetable crops. This week’s podcast begins with a story from Frankfurt, Germany, about how urban apiculture may give the bees a boost.

A bigger environmental problem is climate change. Everyone thinks of cars as a key contributor to global warming, but buildings are responsible for about half the total greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption around the world. One group of architects wants to change that. They call themselves Architecture 2030. By 2030, they want to design buildings that use no fossil fuels.

Last week, an earthquake hit central Italy, killing almost 300 people. One Italian scientist, Giampaolo Giuliani, a researcher at the National Physical Laboratory of Gran Sasso, predicted the earthquake on the basis of increased radon levels. Nano Seeber, a seismologist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University, talks about the difficulties in predicting earthquakes. Keep an eye on other earthquakes around the world at the USGS Earthquake Center.

Also this week: chimpanzees exchange meat for sex; some birds can tell where you’re looking; and researchers propose a clever new way to stop malaria by killing only old mosquitoes (see the original research paper).

Music:
Slim Harpo, I’m a King Bee
The Hives, A Stroll Through Hive Manor Corridors