Science Friday

Today we've got three stories to quench your thirst for scientific
knowledge:

• NASA hears words not yet spoken
  

  NASA has developed a computer program that comes close to
  reading thoughts not yet spoken, by analyzing nerve commands to the
  throat.
  It says the breakthrough holds promise for astronauts and the
  handicapped. "A person using the subvocal system thinks of phrases and
  talks to himself so quietly it cannot be heard, but the tongue and
  vocal cords do receive speech signals from the brain," said developer
  Chuck Jorgensen, of NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field,
  California. "So we silently spelled out 'NASA' and then submitted it to
  a well-known Web search engine. We electronically numbered the Web
  pages that came up as search results. We used the numbers again to
  choose Web pages to examine. This proved we could browse the Web
  without touching a keyboard." The next trial will command a robot
  similar to the Rovers currently exploring Mars. "We can have the model
  Rover go left or right using silently 'spoken' words.

• Many Species at Risk of Extinction
  

  A steep decline in birds, butterflies and native plants in
  Britain supports the theory that humans are pushing the natural world
  into the Earth's sixth big extinction event and the future may see more
  and more animal species disappearing.
  In
  an effort that sent more than 20,000 volunteers into every corner of
  England, Scotland and Wales to survey wildlife and plants, researchers
  found that many native populations are in big trouble and some are gone
  altogether. "This is the first time, for instance, that we can answer
  the question, 'Have butterflies declined as badly as birds?'" said
  Jeremy A. Thomas, an ecologist with the National Environment Research
  Council in Dorchester, England, and the first author of a study
  appearing in the journal Science. A survey of 58 butterfly species
  found that some had experienced a 71 percent population swoon since
  similar surveys taken from 1970 through 1982. Some 201 bird species
  were tracked between 1968 and 1971, and then again from 1988 to 1991,
  with a population decline of about 54 percent. Two surveys of 1,254
  native plant species showed a decrease of about 28 percent over 40
  years.
  Thomas said that other scientists, noting losses of mammals and other
  animals, have speculated about the loss of insects, but the British
  butterfly study is the first to actually document over decades such a
  steep decline.

• Corpse of monk in lotus position who died in 1723 found in Vietnam
  

  The corpse of a Buddhist monk sitting in a lotus position
  has been uncovered in a pagoda in northern Vietnam over 280 years after
  he died, a museum official said.
  The
  body of the monk, Nhu Tri, who died in 1723 in a tower at the Tieu
  Pagoda in Bac Ninh province, was covered in a layer of special
  preservative paint. His internal organs remained intact but one eye
  socket was damaged and his arms were broken off at the elbow, according
  to Nguyen Duy Nhat, deputy director of the Bac Ninh Museum. The corpse
  was first discovered around 30 years ago during the Vietnam War but
  local authorities were not in a position to preserve it.

Posted by flow Frazao on March 19, 2004 at 12:04 PM | Permalink