Taming the Baywatch effect
A new study finds that breasts move up and down as much as eight inches during exercise—far more than ordinary bras are equipped to handle. Snicker if you must, but for researcher Joanna Scurr of the University of Portsmouth in England, it's serious business. She recruited 70 women with bra sizes ranging from A to JJ (no, that's not a typo) and measured their breast motions in three dimensions as they walked, jogged or ran. Contrary to popular opinion, bras that cradled each breast separately stilled movement better than single-piece or compression bras—for all breast sizes, not just larger ones. Scurr said in a statement that she wants to bring much needed science, not to mention a woman's touch, to bra design. "Sports science has always been dominated by men, and for them," she said. "Studying breasts is seen as slightly laughable." Women, however, "can see the benefits." (press release; British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences)
Appreciation: Alex the parrot
Alex, the academic African gray parrot who learned to speak more than 100 words, count to six and identify a dozen shapes and colors, died last week of seemingly natural causes at the age of 31, shy of his breed's average 50-year life span. Maybe he was drained from years of research that gave new meaning to "bird brain," arguably elevating his fine, feathered friends to the same cognitive plane as dolphins and chimps. The cagey bird had his doubters, but convinced his handlers that he possessed at least a toddlerlike ability to reason and express emotion, including frustration at nonstop experiments. Among his last words to his owner, Brandeis University researcher Irene Pepperberg: "You be good. I love you." (The Alex Foundation; New York Times)
Who loves Lucy more?
The bones of Lucy, a 3.2-million-year-old human ancestor unearthed in Ethiopia in 1974, went on display last week at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, the first leg of a six-year U.S. tour. One place the bones won't be heading is the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., which charges the tour violates a 1998 international resolution barring removal of such fragile remains from their country of origin. (Smithsonian; San Antonio Express-News)
Tsunami warning system works
Finally, some "good" disaster news. A $130-million warning system installed after the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that claimed more than 280,000 lives successfully alerted citizens of Indonesia and Malaysia this week about a magnitude 8.4 quake in the Indian Ocean and its aftershocks. The warning system delivered text messages, e-mails and faxes to officials, who relayed word to news media, mosques and volunteers, according to news accounts. The initial quake raised a 10-foot high tsunami that damaged coastal homes but caused no deaths itself, although at least 14 died from quakes on land. Officials caution, however, that the warning system, to be completed in 2008, is not yet fully reliable. (Reuters; AP)
Polar bears on thin ice
Receding Arctic Ocean ice may kill off two thirds or more of the roughly 16,000 existing polar bears by 2050, according to a new forecast by U.S. government researchers. Polar bears, which hunt seals on sea ice in the summer, are predicted to lose at least 42 percent of their Arctic range, leaving populations in northern Canada and western Greenland but wiping them out in Alaska and Russia. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is set to announce in January whether polar bears should be added to the threatened (soon to be endangered) species list. (U.S. Geological Survey; AP)
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