This week:  We’re taking you to Scotland where a wildcat is facing threats to its survival.  A visit just south of here to Florida to learn about a collaboration between American and Cuban researchers. Elsa brings news about how different cultures visualize time, fish that sleep on mucus cocoons and sharing resources. 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.

The Wildcat of Scotland: Some of the world’s most endangered wildlife are obscure species, haunting far-flung corners of the planet, but other endangered creatures are much more familiar. Scotland is the last refuge of a small wild cat that has prowled parts of Great Britain since the last ice age.
Reporter: Ari Daniel Shapiro
Scottish Wildcat Association.
Highland Wildlife Park.
Cairngorms Wildcat Project.

US, Cuba Scientists Collaborate on Gulf Research: For the first time in decades, scientists from Cuba and the US are officially collaborating on Gulf of Mexico research.
Reporter: Lygia Navarro
Trinational Initiative for Marine Science and Conservation in the Gulf of Mexico and W Caribbean.
AP Enterprise: Scientists lower Gulf health grade (On Yahoo News).

Elsa’s Favorite Science Stories

• Time Goes West: Time doesn’t always progress from left to right, as it’s visualized on the time lines of Western cultures. An aboriginal community in northeast Australia visualizes the past in the east and the future in the west. And they always know which way is which, because they use the cardinal directions to describe not just time, but all sorts of objects and movements.
  The study.
  Science News coverage.
  Does Your Language Shape How You Think? (Article from the New York Times Magazine.)
  Lost in Translation (Wall Street Journal article by one of the study authors.)
• Cozy Mucus Cocoons: Several species of coral reef fish swaddle themselves in mucus cocoons before they fall asleep each night. Researchers have found that the cocoons act like mosquito nets, protecting the fish from blood-sucking crustaceans.
  The study.
  BBC coverage.
• Cooperation in Ethiopia: Some Ethiopian communities are better than others at managing their collectively-owned forests. New research helps explain why that is, and could eventually help policymakers promote sustainable management of other shared resources.
  The study.
  The Tragedy of the Commons, a seminal 1968 essay that predicted a dire outcome for collectively owned resources.
• Flying versus Driving: In the long run, cars have a bigger climate impact than airplanes. That’s because cars emit more CO2 per person per mile. (Airplanes have a stronger immediate effect because they impact clouds and ozone more directly–but those effects fade after the first few years.)
  The study.
  Discovery News coverage.
  Our previous coverage of air travel and climate.

Music in Science: Patrick McCray is a historian of science who studies interactions between culture and technology. He’s written several books, and is working on another one about visions for the technological future. When he’s writing, he likes soothing classical music, but editing is a different story. Find out what aggressive music helps him rip words off the page.
Guest: Patrick McCray.
Classical Music: Piano Trio No. 7 in B flat (Movement II: Scherzo), by Ludwig von Beethoven. Performed by the Chung Trio.
Song: New Day Rising, by Hüsker Dü.

This week: We’re talking about food and food crops in today’s show. You’ll hear about Germany’s schizophrenic attitude towards developing transgenic food crops. Then, journalist Michael Pollan talks about the growing need to regulate the organic food industry. Also, more about an ancient brown shoe discovered in Armenia. And a paleoecologist talks about her favorite music.

GM Foods in Europe: You’ve heard us talk about the pros and cons of GM foods before. In today’s show we look into how the field of research on so-called transgenic crops is playing out in Europe. Many European governments have banned the commercial use of almost all genetically engineered crops.  Even attempts to grow these crops experimentally are often stopped by public protests and civil disobedience.  That’s especially true in Germany.  Yet Germany remains home to some of the world’s leading scientists in the field.
Report by: David Hecht
Our Science Forum discussion with Lisa Weasel about whether transgenic food can feed the world’s hungry.
Recent articles about GM crops in Germany, from Spiegel: GM potatoes approved, then, Other GM potatoes rejected.

Regulating the Organic Food Market: The organic label means the food you’re buying is free of chemicals, and that it was grown with respect for the environment. But the label may not be a guarantee. The U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) just banned a leading American inspector of American foods in China. The Department said a Nebraska-based organization was using Chinese government employees to inspect government-controlled farms. Journalist and author Michael Pollan explains how the need for enforcement of organic food regulations has grown with the industry.
Guest: Michael Pollan
Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual
The U.S. Department of Agriculture National Organic Program
An essay on organic food and world hunger from Foreign Policy
Seed magazine’s “Food Fight” series

Ancient Brown Shoe: You may have heard about the discovery of the oldest known shoe in Armenia this past week. The shoe belonged to someone who lived almost 6,000 years ago, in the Copper age. In today’s show you’ll hear about the discovery and what scientists know about that time period.
Report by: David Levielle
Guest: Gregory Areshian
The study
New York Times coverage



A. Leather Shoe (Photo: PLoS Journal) B. Map of Location (Illustration: PLoS Journal)

Music in Science: Paleoecologist Jacquelyn Gill studies the interactions between mammoths, mastadons, and vegetation at the end of the last ice age ten thousand years ago. Her favorite lab music isn’t quite that old–but it’s still archaic compared to the state-of-the-art facility where she works at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Song: “Sing a New Song,” by Bennie Kreuger and his Orchestra
Jacquelyn Gill works in the Williams Lab at U.W.-Madison.
Listen to Radio Dismuke

This week: Geologists say they expected the earthquake in Haiti. Some European countries have overstocked the H1N1 vaccine and are trying to unload excess doses. Engineers and archaeologists are collaborating to expand Rome’s metro system. Elsa is back from vacation and her favorites stories include one about ancient Egyptian eyeliners. Finally, a listener tells us about his favorite music for doing science.

Haiti’s Seismic History: Haiti has had more than its share of natural disasters. Every year the country is hit by violent tropical storms, not earthquakes.  But geologists say that this week’s earthquake should not have come as a surprise. I spoke to a couple of geologists to find out why. Its a story I did for the radio show earlier this week.
Report by: Rhitu Chatterjee.
Live updates about Haiti from the BBC.
The quake could have been worse, says one scientist.

Flu Vaccine Overstock: After last year’s rush to stock up on the vaccine against the H1N1 flu, some European countries are now trying to unload millions of doses. Countries such as Spain, Germany, The Netherlands, and France have found themselves with huge stockpiles because far fewer citizens than expected sought out the vaccine. Governments are hoping to cancel orders or sell the excess vaccines to developing nations.
Report by: The World’s Gerry Hadden.

Elsa’s Favorite Science Stories:

• Lead in Ancient Egyptian Eyeliner: Ancient Egyptians might have been unaware of lead poisoning. But they might have known of some health benefits of lead that we are unaware of. That’s the conclusion of a new study that analyzed the novel lead salts found in the famous black eyeliners of ancient Egyptians sampled from a collection at France’s Louvre Museum.
  The study.
  The Egyptian Antiquities collection at the Louvre.
• Inflatable Female Cane Toads: Australian scientists have found that female cane toads are a fairly empowered lot. A female toad picks a male with the best call. But she wards off the smaller, unworthy suitors by inflating herself and causing them to loosen their grip on her. (Or if she prefers a smaller guy, she can make that happen too.)
  The study.
  BBC coverage.
  More about cane toads.
• Cricket Pollinators: A researcher working on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean has found the first evidence of a cricket pollinating flowers. Crickets are omnivorous and normally don’t use nectar as a food source. The researchers think that the raspy cricket on Reunion might have developed a taste for orchid nectar and become an important pollinator because of a scarcity of other insects on the island.
  The study.
  Watch the video of the raspy cricket caught in the act of pollinating an orchid.
  

Rome’s New Metro Line: Expanding Rome’s metro system is not an easy task. In a city with a rich history, building a metro line could mean endangering the city’s historical sites. That’s why engineers and archaeologists are collaborating to build Rome’s third metro line.
Report by: The BBC’s Duncan Kennedy.
See a BBC video of the new construction.

Music in Science: Biologist D J Braiser tells us which songs best describe his experience of doing science.

This week: We go to Kazakhstan, where the ancestor of modern-day apples is under threat of extinction. You’ll learn about the discovery of some ancient animal tracks that are changing our understanding of the evolution of terrestrial animals. You’ll also hear an interview with journalist and author Elizabeth Grossman about Green Chemistry, a field of science aimed at designing safer, non-toxic chemicals. In our Music in Science series, you’ll hear from marine biologist Steve Palumbi of Stanford University.

Rewriting Tetrapod Evolution: Paleontologists have discovered the fossilized tracks of an animal that lived 395 million years ago. The discovery suggests that our fishy ancestors may have taken to land some 18 million years earlier than scientists had previously thought. Some scientists are skeptical about drawing too many conclusions yet. But others think the discovery will rewrite the evolution of tetrapod ancestry.
Guest: Henry Gee.
Tiktaali roseae, the creature that scientists previously thought was first to walk out of water.
Video Credit: Nature Video.

The Promise of Green Chemistry: A few weeks ago, on podcast no. 43, you heard from Henrik Selin of Boston University about ways to reduce the threats from toxic chemicals. This week, you’ll hear from journalist and author Elizabeth Grossman about chemists trying to design cleaner, greener chemicals.
Guest: Elizabeth Grossman, author of Chasing Molecules.
Use of Potentially Harmful Chemicals Kept Secret Under Law, Washington Post.
A special podcast on toxic chemicals and the Bhopal disaster on Podcast no. 43.

Saving Apples: Scientists think that all apples originated from one species of fruit tree found in present day Kazakhstan. This ancestral species — Mallus sylvestris — may face extinction.
Report by: Rayhan Demytrie.

Music in Science: Continuing our new segment on music, we speak with Steve Palumbi. He is a marine biologist, a musician, and a songwriter.
Guest: Steve Palumbi.
Produced by: Marina Giovannelli.

Music is more than just pitch and rhythm, timbre and tempo.

Music can comfort. Or annoy.

It helps us celebrate – and mourn.

Music can foster a sense of group identity. (Consider national anthems.)

Are human beings hard-wired to enjoy music? What role did music play in the evolution of human societies? What would life be without music?

In this World Science Forum, we talk to Daniel Levitin, a neuroscientist at McGill University. He’s an expert on music cognition and the author of two books: This is Your Brain on Music and The World in Six Songs.
Levitin argues that music is at the heart of human nature.

The World’s Rhitu Chatterjee spoke with Levitin for The World Science Podcast.
[player] Download MP3.

Listeners asked Levitin their own questions on The World Science Forum.

• Are human beings unique in their ability to appreciate music? Have you ever seen your pet dog or cat entranced by music?
• Levitin argues that music paved the way for more complex behaviors like language to evolve. But how do we know that music evolved before language?
• Do you attribute your musical tastes to your genes or your upbringing?

Video Credit: World Science Festival

[player] Download MP3

It’s hard to imagine life without music. We turn to music for comfort. We celebrate and mourn with music. But how did music come to be such an important part of our lives?

This week, you’ll learn how music evolved since pre-historic times, and how it is wired in our brains. You can also bring your own question about the evolution of music and its effect on our brains to  The World Science Forum.

Your Brain on Music: I spoke with Daniel Levitin, a neuroscientist at McGill University in Montreal, about music and its role in our lives. Levitin studies musical wiring in our brains and is the author of two books – This is Your Brain on Music and The World in Six Songs. He argues that music isn’t just a pastime or distraction, but a crucial element of our identity as a species.

Do you have a question about music’s role in our lives? You can bring that question to The World Science Forum. Daniel Levitin will be taking your comments and questions on the topic through January 1, 2010.

Guest: Daniel Levitin and Rosanne Cash.
What’s on Levitin’s i-pod?
Music on My Brain lecture at the Museum of Science in Boston. (Thanks to Bill Farrar and Joe Rivers, of the Museum of Science for providing us with audio from the Music on my Brain lecture)
Evolution of Music from the Music Council of Australia.
Musical Language on PRI’s Radio Lab.