Science 8 November 2013:
Vol. 342 no. 6159 pp. 688-689
DOI: 10.1126/science.342.6159.688 Climate Change Climate Change For climate scientists, extreme weather is risky territory. There is no question that global warming is real, but the science linking any one hurricane, drought, or flood to climate change is shaky. And yet laypeople, politicians, and activists inevitably seize on vivid, easy-to-grasp weather events to make points about abstract, long-term climate. But climate researchers aren't giving up. With more research and new methods for gauging the links between climate change and weather, they may be able to answer the "Is this climate change?" question on the spot—and turn extreme weather events into moments of teachable science.
Friday, November 15, 2013
[News Focus] Climate Change: In the Hot Seat
KRW/USD
The won was first used as Korea's currency between 1902 and 1910. In 1945 Korea became divided, resulting in separate currencies, both called won, for the South and the North.
JOD/USD
The Jordanian dinar is the official currency of Jordan but also circulates in West Bank together with the Israeli new sheqel. Since 1995, the dinar has been officially pegged to the IMF's Special Drawing Rights (SDRs). In practice, it is fixed at 1 U.S. dollar = 0.709 dinar most of the time.
HUF/USD
The Hungarian forint is divided into100 fillér, although fillér coins have not been in circulation since 1999. In 2004 Hungary joined the European Union. The forint is slated to disappear circa 2012-2014, however this will depend on the economic situation closer to the time.
JPY/USD
In standard Japanese, the yen is pronounced 'en' and literally means 'round object'. It is widely used throughout the world as a reserve currency after the United States dollar, the euro and the pound sterling.
JMD/USD
The dollar (JMD) has been the currency of Jamaica since 1969. It is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign, $, or, alternatively, J$ or JA$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies. It is divided into 100 cents.
MKD/USD
The denar is the currency of the Republic of Macedonia. It is subdivided into 100 deni. The name denar comes from the name of the ancient Roman monetary unit, the denarius. The currency symbol is ???, the first three letters of its name. The Macedonian denar was introduced in 1992.
LBP/USD
The Lebanese pound (lira in Arabic, ????, or livre in French) is the currency unit of Lebanon. It is divided into 100 qirsh (Arabic, ???) or piastres but inflation has eliminated the subdivisions. Before the war of 1975-1990, 1 U.S. dollar was worth 3 pounds. It is now pegged at 1 U.S. Dollar = 1507.5 LBP.
GMD/USD
The dalasi is the currency of the Gambia since 1971, replacing the Gambian pound. It is subdivided into 100 bututs. Banknotes currently in circulation are 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100 dalasis.
EUR/USD
The Eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, Estonia and Spain, Cyprus and Malta. The Euro was introduced in 2002.
ILS/USD
The sheqel has been a freely convertible currency since January 1, 2003. The currency is not produced in Israel, as the country has no mint. Instead banknotes are imported by air and coins by sea.
GTQ/USD
The quetzal (locally: ke'tsal) is the currency of Guatemala. It is named after the national bird of Guatemala, the Resplendent Quetzal. In ancient Mayan culture, the quetzal bird's tail feathers were used as currency. It is divided into 100 cents, called centavos in standard Spanish or lenes in Guatemalan slang. The plural can be either quetzales or quetzals.
LKR/USD
The rupee (Sinhala: ?????? , Tamil: ??????) is the currency of Sri Lanka, divided into 100 cents. It is issued by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and is generally written Rs. although SLRs. may occasionally be used for disambiguation.
INR/USD
In different parts of India, the currency is known as the rupee, roopayi, rupaye, rubai or one of the other terms derived from the Sanskrit rupyakam. The most commonly used symbols for the rupee are Rs, Rp and ??.
BMD/USD
The dollar is the currency of Bermuda and is sub-divided into 100 cents. It is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $ or, alternatively, BD$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies. The Bermudian dollar is not normally traded outside of Bermuda. It is pegged to the US Dollar at par.
BHD/USD
The Bahraini dinar was introduced in 1965, replacing the Gulf rupee. In 2001 the dinar was officially pegged to the US Dollar at 1 USD = 0.376 BHD which translates to approximately 1 dinar = 2.65957 dollars and, consequently, 10 Saudi Arabian Riyals. It is the second highest valued currency.
CHF/USD
The franc is the currency of both Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
Its name in the four official languages of Switzerland is Franken (German), franc (French and Rhaeto-Romanic), and franco (Italian).
BBD/USD
The dollar has been the currency of Barbados since 1882. The Barbados dollar replaced the East Caribbean dollar at par in 1973. Since July 5, 1975, the Barbados dollar has been pegged to the US dollar at 1 USD = 2 Bds$.
BRL/USD
The real, meaning 'royal, was first introduced by Portugese settlers and became Brazil's official currency in 1690. It was not sub-divided in smaller units. The modern real (plural reais) was introduced on July 1, 1994.
AED/USD
The Arab Emirates dirham was introduced in 1973 to serve the seven countries of the United Arab Emirates. The seven countries, termed emirates, are Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain.
EGP/USD
The Egyptian pound, or gineih, is the currency of Egypt. It is divided into 100 qirsh (???), or 1000 malleem ( ?????).
BDT/USD
The Taka (????) is the currency of Bangladesh and is subdivided into 100 poisha. The most commonly used symbol for the Taka is Tk and ?. In Bengali, the word "taka" is also used to mean any money, currency, or notes. Thus, colloquially, a person speaking Bengali may use "taka" to refer to money regardless of what currency it is denominated in.
CLP/USD
The Chilean peso is subdivided into 100 centavos, although no centavo denominated coins remain in circulation. Colloquial names for some banknotes and coins include luka or luca for the 1000-peso banknote, quina for the 500-peso coin, and gamba for the 100-peso coin.
ARS/USD
The Argentine peso was originally established as the nuevo peso argentino or peso convertible, and the symbol used locally for it is $. To avoid confusion, Argentines frequently use US$, U$, U$S, or U$A to indicate U.S. dollars.
AUD/USD
The Australian Dollar is currently the fifth-most-traded currency in world foreign exchange markets. It is also used in the Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu.
[News & Analysis] Infectious Disease: Israel's Silent Polio Epidemic Breaks All the Rules
Science 8 November 2013:
Vol. 342 no. 6159 pp. 679-680
DOI: 10.1126/science.342.6159.679 Infectious Disease Twenty-five years after it was dispatched, wild poliovirus is back and circulating widely in Israel but, surprisingly, there have been no cases. Like many other wealthy countries, Israel relies on the inactivated polio vaccine, or IPV, to protect against this crippling disease. Paradoxically, Israel's very high vaccination rate is what has allowed the virus to circulate silently for months.
Thursday, November 14, 2013
[News & Analysis] Paleontology: The Ears Have It: First Snakes Were Burrowers, Not Swimmers
Science 8 November 2013:
Vol. 342 no. 6159 p. 683
DOI: 10.1126/science.342.6159.683-a Paleontology One of paleontology's sharpest debates concerns whether the first snakes crawled on land or swam in the water. Data on the inner ear anatomy of living and fossil snakes, presented at a recent meeting, suggest that snakes evolved from terrestrial, burrowing ancestors.
[News & Analysis] Intellectual Property: California Moves Shake Up Prenatal Gene Testing Market
Science 8 November 2013:
Vol. 342 no. 6159 p. 680
DOI: 10.1126/science.342.6159.680 Intellectual Property Sequenom's 2001 patent on a method of isolating fetal DNA from a mother's bloodstream to test for Down syndrome was thrown out by a U.S. court in San Francisco. Judge Susan Illston rested her decision in part on the recent Supreme Court ruling that natural phenomena like genes cannot be patented. Illston also wrote that Sequenom's patented idea was not sufficiently inventive.
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
[News Focus] Malaria as Lifesaving Therapy
Science 8 November 2013:
Vol. 342 no. 6159 p. 686
DOI: 10.1126/science.342.6159.686 Vivax malaria was once familiar to doctors not only as a foe, but also as an ally. In the first half of the 20th century, it was used to treat tens of thousands of patients suffering from end-stage syphilis, who were otherwise doomed to a gruesome death. The treatment, seen as a miracle cure, did allow many to recover, and its discoverer won a Nobel Prize.
[News of the Week] Random Sample
Science 8 November 2013:
Vol. 342 no. 6159 pp. 677-678
DOI: 10.1126/science.342.6159.677-a For 150 years, the brain of German genius and mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss, stored in the University of Göttingen's collection, has been studied in detail by anatomists. But new research suggests the often-studied brain isn't Gauss's at all.
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
[News of the Week] Around the World
Science 8 November 2013:
Vol. 342 no. 6159 pp. 676-677
DOI: 10.1126/science.342.6159.676-b In science news around the world, virologist Ron Fouchier appeals the Dutch government's ruling that he must apply for an export license before publishing research on H5N1, a damaging banana disease spreads beyond Southeast Asia to Jordan, scientists in the United Kingdom establish a British Personal Genome Project, and more.
[News & Analysis] Has Program to Rotate Scientists at NSF Spun Out of Control?
Science 8 November 2013:
Vol. 342 no. 6159 p. 683
DOI: 10.1126/science.342.6159.683-b A program that brings scientists temporarily to the National Science Foundation keeps the agency on the cutting-edge of scientific discovery. But members of Congress and the foundation's inspector general have raised several questions about how the program operates. And the scientists themselves lack the usual workplace protections, as one recent rotator discovered to her misfortune.
Monday, November 11, 2013
[News & Analysis] Planetary Science: Orbiting MAVEN Mission Set to Trace a Planet's History in Thin Martian Air
Science 8 November 2013:
Vol. 342 no. 6159 p. 681
DOI: 10.1126/science.342.6159.681 Planetary Science The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN), a NASA spacecraft to be launched to Mars later this month, will try to decipher billions of years of planetary history from careful study of the martian atmosphere. Eons ago, planetary scientists believe, Mars had a thick atmosphere that sheltered a surface awash with water—conditions in which life could have emerged and thrived. Today, that atmosphere is thin and depleted, and Mars is a cold, barren desert. What caused this remarkable transformation? Until now, planetary scientists have attempted to answer such questions mainly from the planet's surface. MAVEN will take a new course: flying through the outer fringes of Mars's atmosphere, measuring gases and monitoring conditions with eight instruments. The measurements should help researchers figure out how the solar wind, asteroid impacts, and chemical reactions gradually depleted the Red Planet's atmosphere.
[News Focus] The Forgotten Malaria
Science 8 November 2013:
Vol. 342 no. 6159 pp. 684-687
DOI: 10.1126/science.342.6159.684 Malaria caused by the parasite Plasmodium vivax has long been an afterthought in both public health plans and in research funding. One of the five Plasmodium species that cause malaria in humans, P. vivax is often overshadowed by its more lethal cousin, P. falciparum. Now, new recognition of the severe disease that P. vivax can cause and its ability to elude many of the standard malaria control measures have prompted researchers and policymakers to give the parasite new attention. The parasite has a number of tricks, however, that make it a formidable foe.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
[News & Analysis] Science and the Military: Soldier-Scientists Join Counterinsurgency in Afghanistan
Science 8 November 2013:
Vol. 342 no. 6159 p. 682
DOI: 10.1126/science.342.6159.682 Science and the Military Over the past 5 years, a novel U.S. Army program has deployed soldier-scientists in 10 Afghan provinces as part of a counterinsurgency strategy to stem reliance on the Taliban. The program has spent $42 million on more than 680 projects, such as coring trees for climate records, shifting farmers from growing poppy for opium, and assessing the Taliban's potential to generate income from mining in their strongholds.