January 2, 2012

Good Morning,

Spain's new "right-wing" government threatens their reputation by slashing the Science Ministry. Check out the details to this development in the second article, including the implications of such cutting; perhaps a gloomy look at what could happen elsewhere in today's economy.

Until Next Time,
Erin

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Russian rocket launches U.S. satellites

MOSCOW - A Russian Soyuz rocket has successfully launched six satellites for U.S. client Globalstar, Russia's Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said. The Soyuz 2.1a with Fregat booster blasted off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan Wednesday with the Globalstar-2 satellites aboard, RIA Novosti reported. The launch had been scheduled for Dec. 5 but was postponed at the request of Globalstar. The launch was a success just days after another Soyuz 2.1 rocket failed to place a Meridian satellite into orbit after launch from the Plesetsk space center, causing it to crash near the Siberian city of Tobolsk just minutes after liftoff. Six previous Globalstar satellites were successfully launched on July 13, 2011. Globalstar is a low-Earth orbit satellite telecommunications system founded by U.S.-based Loral Corp. and Qualcomm Inc., providing voice and data services to North America and more than 120 countries worldwide.


Spain axes the country's science ministry

MADRID - Spain's new right-wing government has closed down the country's science ministry, a move researchers say will harm the country's scientific reputation. Mariano Rajoy, leader of the newly elected People's Party that took power last month, pledged to reduce the number of ministries from 15 to 12 to save money and improve governance. Responsibility for science and research will now fall to the ministry of economy and competition, Nature reported last week. Researchers have expressed concern about the signal the action sends. "Many of the countries ranking higher than Spain in research and development have a specialized ministry," Amaya Moro-Mart�n, a physicist at the Center for Astrobiology in Madrid, said. Carlos Andradas, president of the Confederation of Spanish Scientific Societies, said the change of government "should not imply a break or a downgrading in promoting scientific research." There may be benefits to placing the science portfolio within the influential ministry of economy that it is explicitly concerned with the country's development, he said, but added "we hope the effort to coordinate funding calls and tasks
will not be lost."


Monkeys in small groups fight more

WASHINGTON - Small monkey groups may win territorial disputes with larger groups because some members of the larger groups avoid aggressive encounters, U.S. researchers say. Scientists working at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute say individual monkeys in large groups who will participate in defending their home territory often choose not to participate in conflicts in which the larger group is the invader, giving smaller groups a "home field" advantage. Researchers used recorded vocalizations to simulate territorial invasions into the ranges of wild white-faced capuchin monkey groups at the Smithsonian research station on Barro Colorado Island in Panama. Monkeys responded more vigorously to territorial challenges near the center of their territories and were more likely to flee in encounters near the borders, they found, and defection by members of larger groups was more common than defection by members of smaller groups. These behavior patterns even the balance of power among groups and may explain how large and small groups are able to coexist, the researchers said.


China to get 2012 view of Venus transit

NANJING, China - Parts of eastern and central China will see a complete transit of Venus in June, an event they'll have to wait 105 years to witness again, astronomers say. The transit of Venus in front of the sun is similar to a solar eclipse by the moon. It occurs when the planet passes directly between the sun and Earth, obscuring a small portion of the sun. During the transit, people will see a small black dot moving across the sun, Wang Sichao of the Purple Mountain Observatory in Nanjing said. However, observers should not watch the transit with the naked eye, he said, and eye protection measures are strongly recommended, China's state-run news agency Xinhua reported Wednesday. In Beijing, the transit will start at 6:10 a.m. local time and last for over 6 hours before ending at 12:50 p.m., Wang said.

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