Science Tuesday - Paleontology, the Environment, Posture, and Bubonic Plague

Spreading Their Wings to Longest on Record
By SINDYA N. BHANOO, The New York Times, September 20, 2010

The wandering albatross has the largest known wingspan of any living bird, at times reaching nearly 12 feet. But millions of years ago, there was a bird with wings that dwarfed those of the albatross, researchers now report.

The newly named species, Pelagornis chilensis, which lived about 5 million to 10 million years ago, had a wingspan of at least 17 feet.

This is the largest wingspan known in any bird. Although other, larger estimates have been made, they were based on fossils of feathers, and not on an intact skeleton, as in this case. The report is in The Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

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Cleaner for the Environment, Not for the Dishes
By MIREYA NAVARRO, The New York Times, September 20, 2010

Some longtime users were furious.

“My dishes were dirtier than before they were washed,” one wrote last week in the review section of the Web site for the Cascade line of dishwasher detergents. “It was horrible, and I won’t buy it again.”

“This is the worst product ever made for use as a dishwashing detergent!” another consumer wrote.

Like every other major detergent for automatic dishwashers, Procter & Gamble’s Cascade line recently underwent a makeover. Responding to laws that went into effect in 17 states in July, the nation’s detergent makers reformulated their products to reduce what had been the crucial ingredient, phosphates, to just a trace.

While phosphates help prevent dishes from spotting in the wash cycle, they have long ended up in lakes and reservoirs, stimulating algae growth that deprives other plants and fish of oxygen.

Yet now, with the content reduced, many consumers are finding the new formulas as appealing as low-flow showers, underscoring the tradeoffs that people often face today in a more environmentally conscious marketplace. From hybrid cars to solar panels, environmentally friendly alternatives can cost more. They can be less convenient, like toting cloth sacks or canteens rather than plastic bags or bottled water. And they can prove less effective, like some of the new cleaning products.

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The Claim: Replacing Your Desk Chair With an Exercise Ball can Improve Your Posture
By ANAHAD O’CONNOR, The New York Times, September 20, 2010

THE FACTS Exercise balls are becoming a popular alternative to plain old office chairs, a way — some say — to burn more calories and improve posture.

The increase in the calorie burn is real but small. According to a 2008 study, performing clerical work at a desk while sitting on an exercise ball burns about four more calories an hour than the same activity in a chair, or roughly 30 extra calories in a typical workday.

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United States: Decrease in Bubonic Plague Cases May Be an Effect of Climate Change
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr., The New York Times, September 20, 2010

Global warming may have one minor but previously unknown benefit, scientists said this month: it may be cutting down cases of bubonic plague in the United States.

About 10 to 20 Americans catch plague each year, and 1 to 3 die of it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nowadays, most cases are in the Four Corners area, where Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado meet, and most victims live in rodent-infested rural housing. The plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis, lives in the blood of prairie dogs and ferrets, and the fleas that infest those colonies can transfer it to squirrels, rats and mice, who like to live close to humans and their flea-carrying pets.

A study in this month’s issue of The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene tracked climatic conditions in 195 counties in 13 Western states, from Washington to Texas, that reported even one plague case since 1950.

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