NMDHS Marauders

Throw-away Buildings Thermal Window Failure: How it Happens Virtually all glass condominium towers feature window wall systems (floor-to-ceiling walls of glass) enclosing the entire facade. Window walls yield spectacular views, but owners who buy a condo unit for the view may not realize that they're relying on a couple of panes of glass separated by less than an inch of insulated space to protect them from the elements. That insulated barrier will degrade over time, even as energy costs increase. On some buildings, five per cent of the thermal windows may have failed before they're even delivered to the construction site. Another 10 - 15 per cent will fail by the 20-year mark as they're exposed to the physics of heat expansion. By the 25 year-mark, a growing number will fail every year.

"Building scientists have known for a long time that glass-walled structures are less energy efficient than the stone and concrete buildings that were put up forty of fifty years ago. But the market demand for glass combined with the relatively low cost of glass-wall construction means the building industry has been happy to oblige."

"Adults who ate canned soup daily showed a jump in levels of the plasticizer BPA in their urine, according to a small study. The study of 75 people in Tuesday's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association is one of the first to quantify BPA levels in humans after eating canned foods compared with eating freshly prepared ingredients. Bisphenol A is an industrial chemical used to make polycarbonate plastic for water bottles and food containers as well as the protective lining in metal cans."

"Now a different team at the same lab reports findings that, they say, cast doubt on that surprising result. The Icarus team at the Icarus experiment says that because the neutrinos sent from Cern do not appear to lose energy on their journey, they must not have exceeded the speed of light along the way."

"A US-based team of scientists claims to have invented a material that releases over two weeks of night-vision light after just one minute's exposure to the sun. The University of Georgia team says the near-infrared emitting substance could offer the military "secret" illumination at nighttime."

"Time lapse sequences of photographs taken by the crew of expeditions 28 & 29 onboard the International Space Station from August to October, 2011, who to my knowledge shot these pictures at an altitude of around 350 km. " Shooting locations in order of appearance: 1. Aurora Borealis Pass over the United States at Night 2. Aurora Borealis and eastern United States at Night 3. Aurora Australis from Madagascar to southwest of Australia 4. Aurora Australis south of Australia 5. Northwest coast of United States to Central South America at Night 6. Aurora Australis from the Southern to the Northern Pacific Ocean 7. Halfway around the World 8. Night Pass over Central Africa and the Middle East 9. Evening Pass over the Sahara Desert and the Middle East 10. Pass over Canada and Central United States at Night 11. Pass over Southern California to Hudson Bay 12. Islands in the Philippine Sea at Night 13. Pass over Eastern Asia to Philippine Sea and Guam 14. Views of the Mideast at Night 15. Night Pass over Mediterranean Sea 16. Aurora Borealis and the United States at Night 17. Aurora Australis over Indian Ocean 18. Eastern Europe to Southeastern Asia at Night

"Scientists say they can now explain the existence of what are perhaps Earth's most extraordinary mountains. The Gamburtsevs are the size of the European Alps and yet they are totally buried beneath the Antarctic ice."

"The team from the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) surveyed the composition of plant species within five-metre SGS in 10 fields and found the set-aside land resulted in a "sharp decrease" in the number of weeds encroaching into the cropped area."

Richard is currently a Member of the Inner Magic Circle, an Honorary Fellow of the British Science Association, and Fellow of the Rationalist Association. He is one of the most frequently quoted psychologists in the British media, the most followed psychologist on Twitter, and was recently listed in the Independent On Sunday's top 100 people who make Britain a better place to live.

"A dizzying array of research suggests alcohol can have both good and bad effects, but making sense of such studies all comes down to who you are and how much you drink. That point was driven across Tuesday with the release of a U.S. study suggesting women who consume three to six alcoholic beverages a week face a small increased risk of breast cancer, but it's not enough of a danger to stop drinking. The study in the Journal of the American Medical Association involved 105,986 nurses who were tracked for three decades."

"In an enormous display of survival of the fittest, the forests of the future are taking a new shape. In a new report, scientists outline the impact that a changing climate will have on which tree species can survive, and where. The study suggests that many species that were once able to survive and thrive are losing their competitive footholds, and opportunistic newcomers will eventually push them out."

"The onset of wrinkles, muscle wasting and cataracts has been delayed and even eliminated in mice, say researchers in the US. It was done by "flushing out" retired cells that had stopped dividing. They accumulate naturally with age. The scientists believe their findings could eventually "really have an impact" in the care of the elderly."

"Their heads move some 6m per second, at each peck enduring a deceleration more than 1,000 times the force of gravity. But researchers reporting in Plos One say that unequal upper and lower beak lengths and spongy, plate-like bone structure protect the birds' brains. The findings could help design more effective head protection for humans."

COSMOS is a literary science magazine with a global following. Australia's #1 science media brand, it reaches 400,000 people every month via a print magazine, a daily online news website and a weekly e-newsletter. Our COSMOS Teacher's Notes reach 65% of Australian high schools, and we produce a wide range of quality editorial products (such as websites, booklets, posters and DVDs) for a range of clients. COSMOS internationally respected for its literary writing, excellence in design and engaging breadth of content. It's the winner of 44 awards, including the Magazine of the Year trophy in both 2009 and 2006, and twice Editor of the Year, at the annual Publishers Australia Excellence Awards. COSMOS has also won the American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award, the Reuters/IUCN Award for Excellence in Environmental Journalism, the City of Sydney Lord Mayor's Sustainability Award and an Earth Journalism Award.

"A digital camera that allows photographers to focus their pictures after taking them has gone on sale. Rather than recording a single version of an image, the Lytro captures data about the intensity and direction of all the light entering its lenses."

"Obesity has a greater impact on the blood pressure of teenage girls than on teenage boys, a US study has suggested. High blood pressure is a risk factor for heart disease and stroke in later life. The study of 1,700 teenagers, presented to the American Physiological Society conference, found girls had three times the risk of higher blood pressure."

The latest study led by the Institute of Cancer Epidemiology in Denmark looked at more than 350,000 people with mobile phones over an 18-year period.

"Exposure to BPA before birth could affect girls' behavior at age three, according to the latest study on potential health effects of the widespread chemical. Preschool-aged girls whose mothers had relatively high urine levels of bisphenol-A during pregnancy scored worse but still within a normal range on behavior measures including anxiety and hyperactivity than other young girls."