Новости науки и техники в "Scientific American"

LANGUAGE AND THE INTERNET by David Crystal.

Never mind those anxieties about the Internet's impact on privacy, intellectual property and the recreational habits of 12-year-olds. What is it doing to the future of the English language? Will it really lead to the end of literacy as we know it - not to mention spelling?

MRI STUDY SHOWS LYING BRAINS LOOK DIFFERENT

Your brain may give you away when you're telling a lie, a new study suggests. Research presented at the national meeting of the Society for Neuroscience revealed differences in brain activity when people told the truth versus when they fibbed. The researchers suggest that there is a localized brain reaction that correlates to deception. Because MRI provides a more direct measure of brain activity than does the polygraph, it may hold advantages over that approach to lie detection.

RESEARCHERS ASSEMBLE BUILDING BLOCKS OF NANOCOMPUTERS

In a flurry of new research, scientists have begun to assemble the tiniest electronic elements into simple logic circuits--the building blocks of the electronic mazes that power computers. Two different groups have built on their previous work with transistors made from carbon nanotubes and nanowires to construct more complex circuits. A third team has demonstrated that a single small molecule can behave as a transistor.

SCIENTISTS COAX NEURONS FROM BONE MARROW STEM CELLS

As part of their continuing effort to skip over the ethical and political hurdles surrounding embryonic stem cells, researchers have unlocked even more potential from the adult kind. New findings suggest that a biochemical cocktail can coax adult bone marrow stem cells to become neurons. Although the ability to effect such a metamorphosis may someday hold promise for treating neurodegenerative ailments such as Parkinson's disease, the transformed cells currently revert back to their primordial state within two to three days.

NEW MODEL NARROWS ESTIMATES FOR THE THICKNESS OF EUROPA'S ICY CRUST

Just how thick the layer of ice covering the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa is lies at the center of an ongoing scientific debate. Current theory suggests that the icy layer covers a huge liquid ocean, so its thickness holds import for possible Europan oceanic explorations in the future. But estimates of the ice breadth have ranged from merely one or two kilometers to upwards of 30. Now new research provides support for an intermediate thickness of at least three to four kilometers.

MALARIA AND CANCER CELLS YIELD TO THE SAME GARLIC COMPOUNDS

Garlic may not ward off vampires, but it does provide a number of health benefits, exhibiting antifungal and antibacterial properties, and seeming to help lower the risk of cardiovascular disease and certain kinds of cancer. Animal studies have also shown it fights malaria. How garlic works against such disparate foes has proved difficult to understand. But new findings announced at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene provide some insight.

ASK THE EXPERTS: WHY DO JETS LEAVE A WHITE TRAIL IN THE SKY?

Engineering professor Jenn Stroud Rossmann of Harvey Mudd College replies.