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A.
A Satellite that Offers New Insight into Solar Flares
Narrator:
This is Science Today. A satellite designed by scientists
at the University of California, Berkeley, has captured
never-before-seen details of an enormous solar flare.
Robert Lin, a physics professor and the principal
investigator for the RHESSI satellite, says the
one they captured was of the largest type - what's
called an X-class flare.
Lin:
The size of one of these explosions is hundreds
of times the size of the entire Earth. A large solar
flare will release the equivalent of a billion megatons
of TNT -effectively, a billion large H-bombs in
a timescale of tens of seconds to tens of minutes.
Narrator:
The RHESSI satellite takes X-ray and gamma ray images
of these solar flares and is so sensitive, it captured
a new energy band called micro flares, which may
have an effect on the heating of the sun's corona.
Lin:
There have been theories which postulate waves
or small micro flares and nano flares to heat it
and we're hoping if we get enough data from RHESSI
that we'll be able to explore at least one of these
possibilities.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
B.
Using the Internet to Track Airborne Hazards
Narrator:
This is Science Today. If terrorists attack a city
with radioactive, chemical, or biological weapons,
emergency response teams will need to know how the
toxic material will move through the affected area.
A group of scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory first tracked airborne hazards in 1979
during the Three Mile Island accident. Lab scientist
John Nasstrom says much progress has been made in
creating models for the atmospheric movement of toxic
agents.
Nasstrom: More recently we've
developed a new internet and web technology which
makes it much easier to access our capabilities and
this is the technology that we're starting to bring
to cities and demonstrate it and show that it can
be useful.
Narrator: The program is being tested
in Seattle this year.
Nasstrom:
And so we've
started with the Fire Department. We've started training
the HAZMAT teams, for example, how to use our software
tools to quickly request a prediction using an internet
connection and getting a result back from our three-dimensional
atmospheric models in about 5 to 10 minutes.
Narrator:
For
Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
Nature and Nurture in the Treatment of Alcoholism
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Does nature or nurture do a
better job of explaining addictions like alcoholism?
Ivan Diamond, a professor of neurology at the University
of California, San Francisco, says our brain and our
body work by interacting with the world, so the nature-nurture
debate is misplaced.
Diamond:
Too often there's been a separation in the judgment
of people between nature and nurture, that is, oh,
this is a willful problem or this is happening because
you've got a family riddled with alcoholism and brothers
and uncles and fathers and that you have a genetic
risk.
Narrator:
Diamond says programs like Alcoholics Anonymous
are the most effective way of treating alcoholism
right now, but he wants to improve the scientific
response to the disease.
Diamond:
There are many ways of thinking about addictive behaviors
and my particular point of view is that I'm a physician.
I think of this as a medical disorder, I think of
this as a way to try to treat the disorder and come
up with ways that might help.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
Fathers Offer Powerful Messages of Praise and Discipline
Narrator:
This is Science Today. When it comes to raising children
in a two-parent household, fathers are often given
the role of disciplinarian. Psychologist Brenda Bryant,
a child development expert at the University of California,
Davis, says it's unfortunate when fathers are the
sole disciplinarians.
Bryant:
Because it then makes for a very awkward relationship
with their children.
Narrator:
Byrant says it's best if both parents are involved
with discipline. On the other hand, she says children
do see men as being more powerful than women, but
that image of power can be used for positive feedback
too - especially praise.
Bryant:
Kids see fathers as powerful, therefore that adds
to their image of feeling protected and we certainly
can see that the praise that comes from a powerful
person can be very important. And so nurturing and
praise and acknowledgement from somebody who kids
see as powerful, is relevant to their well being.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
Dust Devil Electricity and the Martian Atmosphere
Narrator:
This is Science Today. As NASA prepares for further
research missions to Mars and considers the possibility
of eventually sending humans to our neighboring solar
system, scientists worry about how people and machines
will respond to the electrical discharges from the
huge dust devils that cover the Red Planet. Greg DeLory,
a physicist at the University of California, Berkeley,
says the atmospheric differences between Earth and
Mars are part of the research challenge.
DeLory:
The fascinating thing about Mars is that it has
a lot of the features that Earth does-dust and unstable
climate in areas-but the atmosphere is much much thinner.
It's about like being twenty miles up on earth, in
what's called the terrestrial stratosphere.
Narrator:
DeLory adds that research into the electrical discharges
of dust devils on Earth, should help protect humans
and equipment on future Mars missions.
DeLory:
Transplanting that to Mars will be possible to a certain
degree but the big questions remains: what does a
lower atmospheric conductivity do to the whole equation?
And this is why I think it remains a concern for NASA
and an area of interest for us.
Narrator:
For
Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
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