Forested Buildings May Save Us from Alien Scrutiny (and Our Own Stupidity)

If you were an extraterrestrial scientist studying planet Earth, the signature achievement of its human inhabitants probably wouldn't be the Great Wall of China or the Pyramids or the Panama Canal. No, the thing that would impress aliens the most would be how, over the past 8,000 years, people have cut down about half of the lush green forests that once covered much of the planet's land mass. The problem is that it probably would impress the aliens as one of the stupidest things they'd ever seen. Forests, after all, provide humans with everything from building materials to medicines, and, perhaps more importantly, serve as massive carbon dioxide filter.

So, perhaps in an effort combat future alien scrutiny, I present to you the hot new architectural trend: green skyscrapers. You may be thinking: "What's the big deal?" But I'm not talking "green" in the figurative, sustainable-building-materials-and-solar-panels-on-the-roof sense. I'm talking literally green -- in that these towering urban high-rises would be filled with trees as well as people. In fact, judging by the looks of some of the designs, there may be more vegetation than human inhabitants. 

Have a Bite of Brainless Chicken

Warning: If you're about to gnaw on a big juicy plate of Buffalo wings, you may want to put off reading this.  British artist André Ford has come up with a bizarre vision, which he calls "The Centre for Unconscious Farming."  In an installation at the Royal College of Art, Ford imagines a horrific chicken farm of the future in which the fowl have the most of their brains removed surgically and are grown inside tangles of tubes that provide food and remove waste. Meanwhile, their muscles are electrically stimulated to promote growth until the moment they are ready for slaughter.

As Ford writes in his explanation:

As long as their brain stem is intact, the homeostatic functions of the chicken will continue to operate. By removing the cerebral cortex of the chicken, its sensory perceptions are removed. It can be produced in a denser condition while remaining alive, and oblivious.

This Week in Science! March 5-9

Chimpanzees Have Police Officers, Too
Chimpanzees are interested in social cohesion and have various strategies to guarantee the stability of their group. Anthropologists now reveal that chimpanzees mediate conflicts between other group members, not for their own direct benefit, but rather to preserve the peace within the group. Their impartial intervention in a conflict — so-called "policing" — can be regarded as an early evolutionary form of moral behavior. See the whole story.

Nasty People in the Media Prime the Brain for Aggression
Research over the past few decades has shown that viewing physical violence in the media can increase aggression in adults and children. But a new study, co-authored by an Iowa State University psychology professor, has also found that onscreen relational aggression — including social exclusion, gossip and emotional bullying — may prime the brain for aggression. See the whole story.

Communication Technologies Including Smartphones and Laptops Could Now Be 1,000 Times Faster, New Study Suggests
Many of the communication tools of today rely on the function of light or, more specifically, on applying information to a light wave. Up until now, studies on electronic and optical devices with materials that are the foundations of modern electronics — such as radio, TV, and computers — have generally relied on nonlinear optical effects, producing devices whose bandwidth has been limited to the gigahertz (GHz) frequency region. (Hertz stands for cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon, in this case 1billion cycles). See the whole story.

The Future Is Here. And It Wears Braces.

Last Tuesday I had the great pleasure - and honor - of being invited to attend the second annual White House Science Fair on behalf of SCI. I may be dating myself here, but the last time I was inside the White House was when teachers could still drop off a busload of kids at the front door for a tour almost any time.

We weren't sure if we'd be attending, so when we got the news on Monday, we had to put a plan together in short order. Luckily, our intrepid staff photographer, Beth Caldwell, agreed to drop everything and attend with me. Beth and I channeled our inner Rosalind Russels (remember her fast-talking reporter character from "His Girl Friday"?) as we checked in with the White House security team and got our shiny red Press badges. The reporters who regularly cover WH events have their own hangout with lots of cameras, computers, lockers, and a somewhat dingy espresso machine. We felt like real Washington insiders!

Getting Buggy

Spiders. Cockroaches. Giant Centipedes. Scorpions. Do the words give cold chills? Ever since I saw the movie "Arachnophobia" as a teenager, I've struggled to make peace with the insect denizens of our planet. As a science enthusiast, I appreciate the role they play in our ecosystem; I can even appreciate the curiously alien expressions that insects have (if you don't believe me, check out this amazing macro photo of a midge from our SciSpy community). Everyone seems to have one "kryptonite" critter - a creepy crawler that can turn you into a frozen weakling with one unexpected tickle. For me, terror marches in on long, skinny legs ... harvestmen, millipedes, and silverfish reduce me to squeaks and hand-rubbing.