Новости науки и техники в "Scientific American" 8 января 2002 г.

RESEARCH REVEALS THE GREAT WHITE'S WANDERING WAYS

White sharks' speed and tendency to spend a majority of time below the surface make tracking the globally distributed fish a challenge. But by using a new electronic tagging technology researchers have assembled the most detailed record yet of the beast's ecological niche. Intriguingly, it seems that the creatures dive deeper and wander farther from shore than previously thought.

DAILY TRIVIA

How long is one cosmic year? Where does the smallest lizard on earth live? What does the word algebra really mean? Think you know? Check back at ScientificAmerican.com each day to learn the answers to these and many other science trivia questions.

PHYSICISTS CREATE A NEW STATE OF MATTER

Cool a gas of rubidium atoms to one-hundred-millionth of a degree above absolute zero or less and something strange happens. The atoms lose their individuality and merge into a single quantum state, forming what is known as a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). New research reveals a surprising BEC behavior. Under certain conditions, the condensate undergoes a reversible quantum phase transition, switching from a superfluid to a patterned fluid--a new type of matter.

BRAIN IMAGING STUDY REVEALS PLACEBO'S EFFECT

Scientists have recognized for some time that people suffering from depression often experience a substantial reduction in symptoms when given a placebo. In fact, this observation has led some researchers to propose that up to 75 percent of the apparent efficacy of antidepressant medicine may actually be attributable to the placebo effect. Determining the cause of a patient's improvement under such circumstances is no easy task. But the results of a new study may shed light on the matter.

LANGUAGE LEARNING MAY NOT BE HARDER FOR ADULTS

People who are dismayed that they didn't learn multiple languages as tykes, when mastering them may have been easier, shouldn't despair entirely. The results of a new study challenge the conventional critical period hypothesis, and suggest that people can in fact process a second language in adulthood much in the same way as they process their first.

ASK THE EXPERTS:  WHAT ARE GEYSERS AND HOW DO THEY WORK?

Karen Harpp, an assistant professor of geology at Colgate University, explains the inner workings of Old Faithful and its kind.