|
This week in European sciences -- week 51 |
|
Overview
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Exploding Universe and Dark Energy Tim Radford
celebrates the scientific breakthrough of the year in the Guardian (December
19, 2003): Dark energy which forces the universe apart at an accelerating
rate. Radford states that about 200 billion gallaxies, each containing
200 billion stars, are within the detectable range of telescopes. But
these form only 4 percent of the whole cosmos. 23 percent are made of
"dark matter", and the huge amount of 73 percent is attributed
to the "dark energy". The findings were made by the WMAP satellite
which measures tiny fluctuations of the cosmic microwave background radiation.
As a result of the new findings, astronomers now believe that the universe
is 13.7 billion years old. "The dark energy is spread uniformly through
the universe, latent in empty space. Its nature is a mystery", Sir
Martin Rees, Britain's astronomer royal is quoted. |
|
The
Guardian |
|
|
How Secure is Quantum Cryptography? For years
computer scientists and physicists have stressed in their papers a 100-percent
security of quantum cryptography methods: Theoretically there is no way
for a hacker to spy out the message encoded the quantum way. But now that
the first commercial products enter the market, researchers and system
developers have to figure out how one might circumvent the encoding system,
writes Alexander Stirn in Süddeutsche Zeitung (December
18, 2003), and gives some examples one will have to look out for. |
|
Süddeutsche
Zeitung |
|
|
Over the
last decades decreasing amounts of sun light reach the earth's surface.
Is it a true measurement result or an artefact? asks David Adam in The
Guardian (December
18, 2003). The little research done on the subject suggests that light
declined by about 3 percent per decade. Did nobody realizes that? In the
last reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) it's
not mentioned. The global dimming has nothing to do with changes in the
amount of sun light arriving from the sun. Something must happen in the
atmosphere. Scientists believe it's down to air pollution. Adam asks climate
researchers and meteorologists on their point of view of - as it seems
- a neglected issue. |
|
The
Guardian |
|
|
Actually,
it's the mission of scientists to report their research results to the
scientific community - and this includes also the negative outcomes of
their work. But in that respect, science is almost silent, reports Nicola
von Lutterotti in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (December
17, 2003). For sure, the reputation of researchers is only enhanced
by positive breakthroughs, but especially in medicine - as Lutterotti
states - negative results would be of great benefit to the community.
For instance, unpublished negative results in a therapy's potential may
lead to an overestimation of its value as a medical treatment. The author
points out several reasons, e.g. the competition between scientists in
general, in medicine the relation to and dependence on sponsoring
industry. The problem is not unknown to scientists, and people tried to
establish, for instance, the "Journal of Negative Results in Biomedicine"
(www.jnrbm.com). But
their impact is, for now, rather small. |
|
Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung |
|
|
Würgassen
is a small town in the middle of Germany - and in the middle of nowhere.
But in these days, in Würgassen the first nuclear power plant in Germany
is being disassembled.
In Die Zeit (December
17, 2003), Max Rauner and Stefan Schmitt describe the problems of
a dying power plant. It is the most expensive demolition the country has
ever seen. The green grass that will grow there will have cost about 700
million euros - and then the whole region will suffer from unemployment.
|
|
Die
Zeit |
|
|
Climate Change Policy Beyond the Kyoto Protocol The Kyoto
Agreement is at the brink of collapse: the US is determined not to join
and Russia is wavering. Negotiations dealing with climate change will,
however, not come to an end despite these setbacks. Susanna Baltscheffsky
portrays new attempts to understand the dynamics and political and cultural
contexts of such complex multilateral negotiations in Svenska Dagbladet
(December 14, 2003). A
new research programme sponsored by MISTRA (Foundation for Strategic Environmental
Studies) makes 50 Million Swedish crowns available for this kind of research.
Björn-Ola Linnér, historian and political scientist at the University
of Linköping and leader of the project "Climate Science Policy 2012 and
Beyond", explains that future negotiations will have to overcome their
focus on industrialised countries and ease the tension with developing
countries in the South. Linnér claims that the IPCC has so far put most
effort into attempts to find means to counteract climate change. Developing
countries, with often densly populated coastal regions, are more interested
in means how to adapt to climate change. Future negotiations must, according
to Linnér, adopt a broader perspective, which includes factors such as
urbanisation, migration, population growth, regional conflicts etc., and
thus should link scientific with societal and cultural considerations. |
|
Svenska
Dagbladet |
|
|
Plenty of
illustrations, but not much information on the science page: Dagens Nyheter
describes three missions to Mars, which will arrive - or were supposed
to arrive - soon on our neighbour in space: Europe's "Mars Express" with
its lander "Beagle2", the American twin landers "Spirit" and "Opportunity"
and the failed Japanese "Nozomi" (December
14, 2003). |
|
Dagens
Nyheter |
|
|
Greenhouse Gas 'Plan B' Gaining Support Many observers
and environmentally concerned people fear that the Kyoto protocol has
been damaged beyond repair. "So does the world have a plan B for
bringing the emissions of greenhouse gases under control?" asks Fred
Pearce in NewScientist (December
13, 2003). His answer is "yes", and the proposal, which
is backed by many eminent governmental and advisory bodies, goes by the
name of "contraction and convergence" - C&C, for short.
Contraction means instruments for reducing the total global output of
geenhouse gases. Convergence stands for the target that in the long run
every citizen on earth should have an equal "right to pollute"
and be allocated a fixed amount of pollution allowed per person. The British
Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution and the German Advisory Council
on Global Change both put that target date to the year 2050. |
|
NewScientist
|
|
|
Feedback |
|
We are glad to receive your comments! Send us an e-mail | subscribe | unsubscribe |