Новости науки и техники в "Scientific American"

KILIMANJARO'S GIANT GLACIERS IN PERIL

Cores extracted from the ice fields of Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro are yielding clues about past climate in the region and, together with recent data, helping to forecast the future of the mountain's glaciers. A new study suggests that between 11,000 and 4,000 years ago, the region was generally warmer and wetter than it is today but experienced three major droughts in that time period. In addition, the scientists suspect that Kilimanjaro's ice cover could disappear by 2020 if current climate conditions persist.

NEW DRILL USES MICROWAVES TO MAKE HOLES

Researchers have fashioned a microwave drill using parts found in common kitchen appliances. According to a recent report, the drill can bore through tough substances such as concrete or glass without the usual whine or dust of its mechanical counterparts.

BOOKSTORE: THE BIT AND THE PENDULUM: FROM QUANTUM COMPUTING TO M THEORY--THE NEW PHYSICS OF INFORMATION By Tom Siegfried

Information, for most of us, is an airy, abstract thing - the stuff of ideas, images, and symbols. But for Tom Siegfried and the scientists he writes about in The Bit and the Pendulum: How the New Physics of Information Is Revolutionizing Science, information has become something much more fundamental to the workings of the world. "Information is real," Siegfried explains. "Information is physical." What that means depends somewhat on the discipline it's applied to (cosmology, particle physics, computer science, cognitive theory, and molecular biology are among the fields examined here), but in general it comes down to the radically simple notion that the universe, at its deepest levels, is made not of matter and energy but of bits. Information is real, yes. But more to the point: reality, in some increasingly meaningful sense, is information.

CODE RED: WORM ASSAULT ON THE WEB

On October 21, at 2100 GMT, hackers tried to cripple nine of the Internet's 13 root domain names system (DNS) servers, machines that form the backbone of the Net by linking all domain names to numerical Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. Seven of the machines were completely incapacitated by the deluge, known as a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS). Little more than a year ago, the Code Red worm tried to bring down the Net in a similar DDoS attack. Hacker Carolyn Meinel dissected the worm's ways for Scientific American and explained how a more successful DDoS attack in the future might possibly bring manufacturing to halt, wipe out bank records, interrupt telephone service and much worse.

HYDROGEN CLOUDS SPOTTED HIGH ABOVE THE MILKY WAY

Huge hydrogen clouds that measure 100-light-years across hover in the void between the Milky Way galaxy and intergalactic space, according to a new report. Previous research had revealed the presence of hydrogen gas floating above the plane of our galaxy. But where it came from or how it was distributed remained unclear due to instrument limitations. Now observations using the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) have exposed the shape of the neutral hydrogen masses.

NOSTRILS SHARE INFORMATION FOR RECOGNIZING SCENTS

The ability to detect a scent can be passed from one nostril to the other, according to a new study. New research suggests that nostrils share information to enhance a person's ability to detect elusive scents.

ASK THE EXPERTS: WHY DO DOGS GET BLUE, NOT RED, EYES IN FLASH PHOTOS?

Veterinary ophthalmologist J. Phillip Pickett of the Virginia- Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine explains.