If you breathe in helium and talk it will make your voice sound funny. When you're finished squeaking, the helium you breathe out will most likely find its way out into space. Finding helium on Earth is rare, but it is one of the more common elements in the universe. Test your knowledge of helium facts with this fun ten question quiz.
Helium Facts Quiz
When you put together a home chemistry kit for yourself, don't forget to toss some coffee filters into the cabinet. Coffee filters are great for keeping dust and insects out of crystal growing projects while permitting evaporation, are just right for paper chromatography, and make excellent filters. Here are some projects that use coffee filters for home chemistry. if(zs>0){if(zSbL250)gEI("spacer").style.height=Math.floor(e[0].height/12)+17.5+'em';else{var zIClns=[];function walkup(e){if(e.className!='entry'){if(e.nodeName=='A'||e.style.styleFloat=='right'||e.style.cssFloat=='right'||e.align=='right'||e.align=='left'||e.className=='alignright'||e.className=='alignleft')zIClns.push(e);walkup(e.parentNode)}}walkup(e[0]);if(zIClns.length){node=zIClns[zIClns.length-1];var clone=node.cloneNode(true);node.parentNode.removeChild(node);getElementsByClassName("entry",gEI("articlebody"))[0].insertBefore(clone,gEI("spacer"))}}}};zSB(2);zSbL=0
Are you naturally curious about the world around you? If so, I bet you have lots of questions. Here are some common chemistry-related questions, complete with answers: Do you think you have all the answers? Try the 20 Questions Chemistry Quiz!if(zs>0){if(zSbL250)gEI("spacer").style.height=Math.floor(e[0].height/12)+17.5+'em';else{var zIClns=[];function walkup(e){if(e.className!='entry'){if(e.nodeName=='A'||e.style.styleFloat=='right'||e.style.cssFloat=='right'||e.align=='right'||e.align=='left'||e.className=='alignright'||e.className=='alignleft')zIClns.push(e);walkup(e.parentNode)}}walkup(e[0]);if(zIClns.length){node=zIClns[zIClns.length-1];var clone=node.cloneNode(true);node.parentNode.removeChild(node);getElementsByClassName("entry",gEI("articlebody"))[0].insertBefore(clone,gEI("spacer"))}}}};zSB(2);zSbL=0
A year ago today, NASA's Curiosity rover landed on Mars. The famous robotic chemist achieved the following over the past year: Traveled over a mile across the surface of Mars. Located and analyzed dry stream beds, offering evidence of flowing water on ancient Mars. Measured Martian radiation, which poses a health risk to human explorers. Found elements and chemical compounds essential for life. Became the first machine to drill into another planet. Congratulations on a fantastic first year, Curiosity! You're an amazing chemist! Next up for Curiosity is a 4-month-long trek to Mount Sharp, where she will examine the layered rocks that chronicle Martian geology. Overview of Instruments on Mars CuriosityPhysics underwent a fundamental change in the early part of the 20th Century away from Newton's physics. Einstein showed Newton's physics failed at speeds approaching the speed of light and introduced relativity while Schr?dinger found Newton failed on the microscopic level and introduced quantum mechanics. Dirac was instrumental in uniting the two. Dirac's equation explained why electrons spin and are magnetic. It also postulated the existence of negative energy, or anti-matter solutions to the wave equation. The anti-matter electron would soon be discovered by Carl Anderson and called a positron. This discovery would cement Dirac's place in physics and earn him part of the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Find out what else occurred on this day in science history.
Chemists use Avogadro's number in many calculations. This constant is the number of particles in a mole of a substance. It's an experimentally derived value that you can determine for yourself. One easy method uses electrochemistry to make the calculation. Current (electron flow) over time is measured in an electrochemical cell. The number of atoms in a weighed sample is related to the current to calculate Avogadro's number. You can read more about Avogadro or find out what else occurred on this day in science history.
Follow About.com Chemistry on Facebook or Twitter.
Have you ever touched mercury? I'll admit that, back in the day, my science classmates and I used to push it around with pencils and fingers. We didn't think anything of it and we didn't seem to suffer any ill effects. Yet, touching mercury or breathing vapors that accompany the metal does leave lasting effects and can cause serious and lasting organ impairment, plus it can harm an unborn fetus. I've put together a quick summary of what can happen if you touch mercury and what you should do. You are welcome to add your own experiences with mercury, too. Hess's Law states the total enthalpy or energy change of a reaction is independent of the reaction pathway. If a reaction takes many steps to complete, the total change in enthalpy is equal to sum of the enthalpy changes for each individual step. When doing Hess's Law homework problems, there are three rules to follow:
1. Arrange the given equations so the reactants and products are on the appropriate sides of the arrows.
2. If you reverse a reaction, you must reverse the sign of ?H
3. If you multiply a reaction by a constant to obtain the correct coefficient, you must multiply ?H by the same constant.
It is also helpful to work the reaction backwards from the end of the reaction. It is also useful to see completed enthalpy change example problems to understand the steps needed to complete the homework problem. Find out what else occurred on this day in science history.
Famous for its spectacular mountain scenery, Austria is no longer the dominant political force it was in Central Europe under the Habsburg dynasty which ruled until the first world war. However, its position at the geographical heart of Europe on the key Danube trade route enhances its strategic importance.
After being joined to Nazi Germany from 1938-1945, Austria was occupied by the Allies, who divided up the country and the capital Vienna into separate sectors.
However, the 1955 State Treaty - signed by the Allies - guaranteed Austria's unity, ensuring it did not suffer Germany's fate of being split between the Soviets and the Western Cold War blocs.
In return, Austria declared permanent neutrality, to which it still adheres.
Continue reading the main story Politics: Under the "grand coalition" tradition, the centre-left SPOe and conservative People's Party have shared power for much of the post-World War II periodEconomy: Banking and insurance predominate. A strong industrial sector depends on exports, with Germany a key market. An austerity package aims to balance the budget by 2016International: Permanent neutrality is a cornerstone of foreign policy. Vienna is home to key international organisationsCountry profiles compiled by BBC Monitoring
There were some questions surrounding this when two thirds of voters supported EU membership in a referendum in 1994 and entry followed in 1995.The entry into Austria's coalition government of the far-right Freedom Party in February 2000 sent shockwaves across Europe. Austria's relations with the EU were severely strained after some states imposed sanctions in protest. These were lifted some months later.
The capital, Vienna, is home to key international organisations, including the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Opec, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Austria has a very rich cultural heritage. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart occupies a place of his own as composer of some of the best loved European classical music while the works of Franz Schubert enjoy great popularity too.
In the world of philosophy and ideas, Sigmund Freud still provokes controversy while Ludwig Wittgenstein was one of the major influences in 20th century thinking. In fine art, the paintings of Gustav Klimt are widely admired.
Austria's city of Salzburg is a centre for classical music 
Integration Minister Cecile Kyenge -- pictured in June -- is Italy's first black government minister.Cecile Kyenge has been the target of death threats and racist antics She became Italy's first black government minister in April Newspaper editor says the bad economy has contributed to racial tensions(CNN) -- Racist taunts against Italy's first black minister, Cecile Kyenge, took another ugly turn over the weekend when someone hurled bananas at her during a rally.
Kyenge's appointment as Italy's minister of integration three months ago isn't sitting well with right-wing radicals whose racial slurs and antics have overshadowed her tenure.The banana incident is just the latest.It took place Friday in Cervia, where Kyenge was speaking to supporters. A man popped up out of the crowd and launched two bananas toward the podium, Kyenge spokesman Cosimo Torlo said.The bananas fell short of the stage, landing between the first and second row of spectators.Giancarlo Mazzuca, chief editor of the daily newspaper Il Giorno, was sitting two chairs away from Kyenge.var currExpandable="expand17";if(typeof CNN.expandableMap==='object'){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);}var mObj={};mObj.type='video';mObj.contentId='';mObj.source='world/2013/05/03/pkg-wedeman-italy-first-black-pm-battles-racism.cnn';mObj.videoSource='CNN';mObj.videoSourceUrl='';mObj.lgImage="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130503152159-pkg-wedeman-italy-first-black-pm-battles-racism-00002403-story-body.jpg";mObj.lgImageX=300;mObj.lgImageY=169;mObj.origImageX="214";mObj.origImageY="120";mObj.contentType='video';CNN.expElements.expand17Store=mObj;"I was able to verify which levels can be reached by human stupidity," he wrote in a column.Police haven't found the person who hurled the bananas. There will be increased security around the minister, Torlo said.Kyenge shrugged off the episode -- as she has with the other incidents.In a Twitter post, she called it a sad waste of food when so many people are dying of hunger.Kyenge, who was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, moved to Italy in the 1980s to study medicine. She became an Italian citizen and is an ophthalmologist in Modena.While her ascent to a top government position reflects the success of immigrants, it also has stoked nativism.Ominous mannequinsJust before Kyenge arrived for Friday's rally, a group smeared blood-red paint and anti-immigrant messages onto mannequins."Immigration kills," read signs attached to the dummies.The far-right political group Forza Nuova ("New Force") claimed responsibility for the mannequins.The scene was also littered with fliers that said Italy's future growth depends on "protecting the Italian identity," according to the ANSA news agency.Insults from other politiciansTwo weeks ago, Italian Sen. Roberto Calderoli likened Kyenge to an orangutan. Calderoli, a member of the anti-immigration Northern League party, made the remarks at a political rally."I love animals -- bears and wolves, as everyone knows -- but when I see the pictures of Kyenge, I cannot but think of, even if I'm not saying she is one, the features of an orangutan," he was quoted as saying.After his comments were published, Calderoli said "if I've offended her, I apologize.""It was a joke, a comment in a joking way. There was nothing particularly against her," he said. "It was just my impression. ... It is all very well that she be a minister but in her own country. Given that this government needs to govern Italy, I hope that it is done by Italians."Kyenge responded diplomatically, saying Calderoli "does not need to ask forgiveness to me, but he should rather reflect on the political and institutional role that he carries. It is on this that he needs to make a profound reflection also to then apologize."She added, "Also, he must go beyond putting everything on a personal level. I think the time has come for us to study the problem of communication."Death threatsKyenge has also received death threats before visiting an area where the Northern League is powerful.A local politician recently said on Facebook that Kyenge should be raped so she can understand the pain felt by victims of crime, which some politicians blame on immigrants.She's been called a "Congolese monkey," "Zulu" and "the black anti-Italian." One Northern League official said "she seems like a great housekeeper" but "not a government minister."Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta appealed to Northern League leader Roberto Maroni to "close this chapter right away."Read more: Racist abuse of AC Milan star investigatedTensions over immigrantsItaly has been experiencing its highest level of unemployment in more than 20 years.In tough times, some Italians focus their anger on immigrants, Mazzuca, the newspaper editor, told CNN."The economic crisis is worsening the situation," he said. "Jobs that until a few years ago wouldn't have even been considered by Italians are now becoming precious."There have recently been more and more reports of Italians beating foreigners, particularly street vendors, Mazzuca said.He said doesn't believe that Italians generally are racists and hopes Kyenge will be able to ease racial tensions."I really think that Kyenge is the right person in the right place," he said. "As an eye doctor, she is able to see in the distance."Journalist Livia Borghese and CNN's Hada Messia contributed to this report. /* push in config for this share instance */cnn_shareconfig.push({"id" : "cnn_sharebar2","url" : "http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/28/world/europe/italy-politics-racism/index.html","title" : "Bananas thrown at Italy\'s first black minister Cecile Kyenge"});A hacker is somebody who doesn't ask how something works – they just see what works. — Jay Silver
Science and technology now allow us to "hack" solutions to the biggest challenges of our time. But how far is too far? And what are the consequences of these hacks? In this hour, we hear stories from TED speakers who dare to hack the brain, the climate, and even the animal kingdom in hopes of creating a better world.
Our nearest star is about to pull a once-in-11-years move by swapping its north and south magnetic poles.
The sun's polarity switch is a natural part of "solar max" — the period of peak activity during what averages out to be roughly an 11-year cycle. According to NASA, this year will mark the fourth time since 1976 that scientists have observed the 180-degree pole flip.
"It looks like we're no more than 3 to 4 months away from a complete field reversal," solar physicist Todd Hoeksema of Stanford University says on NASA's website. "This change will have ripple effects throughout the solar system."
The reversal marks the midway point of solar max, but it's a gradual process, says Phil Scherrer, another Stanford-based solar physicist.
"The sun's polar magnetic fields weaken, go to zero and then emerge again with the opposite polarity," he says.
While those ripple effects will go largely unnoticed on Earth, they will affect the size and shape of the undulating magnetic envelope that surrounds the solar system out to a boundary with interstellar space known as the heliopause. (The Voyager probes, launched in 1977, are hovering near that boundary now.)
Just before the switch, the magnetic field becomes very wavy, and as the Earth passes through it, it's likely to "stir up stormy space weather around our planet," NASA says.
"The sun's north pole has already changed sign, while the south pole is racing to catch up," Scherrer writes. "Soon, however, both poles will be reversed, and the second half of Solar Max will be underway."
Physics underwent a fundamental change in the early part of the 20th Century away from Newton's physics. Einstein showed Newton's physics failed at speeds approaching the speed of light and introduced relativity while Schr?dinger found Newton failed on the microscopic level and introduced quantum mechanics. Dirac was instrumental in uniting the two. Dirac's equation explained why electrons spin and are magnetic. It also postulated the existence of negative energy, or anti-matter solutions to the wave equation. The anti-matter electron would soon be discovered by Carl Anderson and called a positron. This discovery would cement Dirac's place in physics and earn him part of the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Find out what else occurred on this day in science history.
A day at the shore can leave beachgoers with more than a sunburn — a gulp of seawater can expose swimmers to disease-causing microbes like norovirus, salmonella, and adenovirus. Marine scientist Rachel Noble and environmental medicine researcher Samuel Dorevitch discuss the risk, and what's being done to limit swimmers' exposure.
Copyright © 2013 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, THEME FROM "JAWS")
IRA FLATOW, HOST:
Just when you thought it was safe to go into the water - you remember that music, of course. It now appears it's not only the sharks you have to worry about, but tiny microbes, things like norovirus, enterovirus, adenovirus, and salmonella - just a few of the nasties that have no menacing dorsal fins or big teeth, but might be found surfing the waves along with you, and if you're unlucky, might give you stomach cramps, fever, nausea, diarrhea. It happened to one of our staff members right here on SCIENCE FRIDAY.
How serious is the risk, and how do they get into the coastal waters? And is there anything we can do to keep these microbes out of the water? Rachel Noble is a professor at the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. She's based in Morehead City, North Carolina. Welcome to SCIENCE FRIDAY, Dr. Noble.
RACHEL NOBLE: Thank you, Ira. I love the music.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
FLATOW: You must get that a lot, that music, I imagine?
NOBLE: Absolutely. Noroviruses are every bit just as dangerous.
FLATOW: Is that right? Are they that dangerous?
(LAUGHTER)
NOBLE: No, no, because - no. They might cause a little discomfort for a day or so, but I don't think that that would prolong for as long as any of the nasties that would occur after some kind of an attack. But anyway...
FLATOW: Yeah, well let's talk about what nasties besides norovirus, what things should be worried about, or should we not be worried about in the water there?
NOBLE: Well, there's a few things that people have been studying in water, water-borne pathogens. Those are things that are making people sick that are in the water, and those would be viruses, bacteria and also could be protozoa, which are just small, microscopic organisms that are not either viruses or bacteria.
You already mentioned the norovirus. Norovirus is one of the ones that people are very familiar with, because of the news. They're the ones that have been problems on cruise ships. Also with the super bugs this spring, it's just a very infectious virus. It's very contagious from person to person.
FLATOW: I want to bring on Samuel Dorevitch. He's an occupation and environmental medicine specialist at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Welcome to SCIENCE FRIDAY.
SAMUEL DOREVITCH: Thanks, Ira.
FLATOW: How many people would you say get sick from swimming at the beach? Put this in perspective for us, would you.
DOREVITCH: Well, that's a good question, and it's a question that we only have estimates for, no real solid numbers. It seems that about maybe for every 1,000 people who go to the beach, about 50, 60, 70 will get sick, and of those about 20 or 30 per thousand got sick because of their beach exposure.
FLATOW: Would they think it's from the water, or would they think, oh, I had some bad shrimp or something?
DOREVITCH: Exactly. That's one of the big issues that makes it difficult to do surveillance, to do public health work, to figure out the scale of the problem. People may not recognize it as having been linked to the water. People who are at a beach may see - many people at the beach may get sick, but they'll go to different physicians who, unbeknownst to one another, are seeing people who have a related problem.
So it's very difficult, and most of what we do know about rates of illness comes from epidemiologic studies.
FLATOW: We're going to take a break and come back and talk more with Rachel Noble and Samuel Dorevitch. Our number: 1-800-989-8255. What about the beach this summer? What should we be worried, or what should we not be too worried about, but be ready when it strikes? Stay with us. We'll be right back after this break.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
FLATOW: I'm Ira Flatow, this is SCIENCE FRIDAY, from NPR. I'm Ira Flatow. We're talking this hour about the viruses and bacteria that end up in our coastal waters, and talking with Rachel Noble and Samuel Dorevitch. Dr. Noble, where do these things come from? How do they get into the ocean?
NOBLE: Well, in the United States, I would say that the main source is really storm water. And that's the water that's coming from rainfall that's really washing over the land and taking everything with it to the lowest point, which is often a river, a creek or the oceans. Our sewage systems in the United States are quite good, and some of the best in the world in terms of their treatment of things that could make you sick.
So while there are sewage spills every once in a while and cracks in sewage lines, storm water is really one of the biggest sources. So any time you see a pipe that's coming to the beach with water flowing out of it, and in many cases, those are storm water pipes. And if it's flowing after a big rain fall event, likely that it could be containing some material that might be contaminated from washing over the land.
FLATOW: But, you know, that's where you see the kids always playing that water at the beach.
NOBLE: Absolutely. That's one of our largest concerns. So those pipes - remember, even if there's water flowing in that's not from a pipe and that's pooled and coming into the ocean, if it's flowing, you know, from a landward source towards the ocean, it can contain any kinds of material from feces that can come from birds and dogs and people. And those are the things that are going to contain the pathogens that will make people sick.
FLATOW: The National Resource Defense Council, the NRDC, just released their testing the waters report on 20,000 beach closings around the nation last year due, in part, to bacterial contamination. And they wrote, quote, "serious water pollution persists at our nation's beaches." Would you disagree with that?
NOBLE: No, I wouldn't disagree with it. It depends on how much monitoring the state actually does in order to kind of pick up when the beach might be closed. But yes, there are serious problems with some of the - a lot of the storm water that comes to our beaches remains untreated. It's doesn't go through any kind of treatment plant. It's just raw material that's flowing across the land to the ocean. So that can definitely be the case.
FLATOW: Actually, they have a really interesting map. We have a link on our website to a map where you can look up your own beach and see where the water quality, what water quality they have rated. It's sciencefriday.com/beaches. Dr. Dorevitch, these pathogens, I understand, can also be found in the sand at the beach.
DOREVITCH: That's right.
FLATOW: So if you're making a sandcastle, you're playing with the pathogens.
DOREVITCH: That is correct. There's been research in the last few years showing that various viruses and bacteria persist and replicate in sand, and that epidemiologic studies have shown that people who have been digging in sand or have been buried in the sand are at greater risk for getting sick after their beach visit.
FLATOW: We're not telling everybody not to go to the beach, are we?
DOREVITCH: We're definitely not telling people that. We're telling people that they should pay attention to information that's available online about beach quality before they get to the beach. A lot of cities and municipalities post water quality online. Once they get to the beach, they should check if there's a yellow flag or red flag up.
They should wash their hands before they eat after being at the beach. So people definitely should be encouraged to put on their sun block and get out to the beach, but pay attention to the information about risk.
FLATOW: Dr. Noble, what can you do to minimize? Let's say you're in the water and you want to splash around. What can you do while you're in the water to minimize taking in these meanies?
NOBLE: Well, I'm a big swimmer, so it's hard for me to say. But one of the things that people can do is try not to overly ingest huge amounts of water. Of course, whenever you're swimming, the benefit of, you know, the health of just being out in the water and enjoying yourself is going to also somewhat outweigh the risk, especially if the water quality is good.
But head emersion and getting - basically allowing those pathogens to get into either your nose or your mouth are the ways, primarily, that these organisms do make you sick. You have to ingest them in order to make yourself sick with most of them. So the bottom line is trying to not ingest huge amounts of water, and that's probably one of the biggest pieces of guidance.
But one of the pieces of guidance that I give people additionally is just not allowing their families and children to play close to storm drain pipes and in areas where there's pooled water from the land coming into the ocean, because that's often the location of some of the highest risk. And like Sam said, if there are signs, you know, be wary of the signs and be mindful, because many of the signs that are placed near storm drains have been placed and placed around the storm drains to warn people.
And there's been good science conducted behind the signs that allow us to determine how far from storm drains, for example, it might be safe then to swim. There's more yet to done, but I think that a lot of those warning signs are placed, you know, are really placed properly. And so looking out for storm drains is really another piece of advice that I can give.
FLATOW: How long does it take - if you test the water, how long does it take to know that the beach is contaminated?
NOBLE: That's a great question. Right now, the majority of managers, states across the country, they use a test where if you take the sample on a Monday morning, you don't actually get the result until a Tuesday morning. There have been new guidance, basically, released by the EPA just in the last six to nine months that allow the use of some new DNA-based methods, methods that we've actually been, you know, developers of in my laboratory.
And we've been working on these rapid methods for a long time. And so now we can get results in about three hours. And there are states across the country, including California and Virginia, and a range of other states, including some inland locations in Wisconsin, Ohio and in Illinois that have been using these rapid methods to allow us to put signs up now within a few hours, rather than waiting a day past the time whenever the person was in the water.
So now, really, if we take a water sample in the morning, we can get a sign up or notification to the public hopefully before they put their towel down on the beach at roughly noon, or slightly before that, which is a huge advancement. We'd like it to be five minutes, but it's a huge advancement from where we were just a few years ago.
So we hope that the rapid methods will actually improve our ability to warn and notify the public of an event of contamination much more accurately coming into the future.
FLATOW: Let me go to the phones now. Let's go to Gulf Shores, Alabama. Hi Mary. Welcome to SCIENCE FRIDAY.
MARY: Hi, how are you? And thanks for your program.
FLATOW: You're welcome.
MARY: I have a question. It is related to bacteria count, and our beaches, in Gulf Shores, have very good ratings because they test often and apparently have done very well. But what I have been concerned about is the use of dispersants that was allowed by the EPA, and of course that meant the oil was dispersed, and there is probably still dispersant in the water. And, of course, the dispersant, as far as I have heard, disables the microbe eating - the oil-eating microbes from doing their job.
And I've also heard that use of dispersant increased the toxicity of tar balls, or bacteria count. I don't know which. But, anyway, I'd like your comments on how can we test for dispersants, because I'm very comfortable with the bacteria counts, but I'm very concerned. Are we testing for dispersants? And I think we should be, but because of the ingredients.
FLATOW: Sam Dorevitch?
DOREVITCH: Well, I think the caller raises an important issue, that when the water is tested routinely at beaches, it's for a very limited number of analyses. In Great Lakes waters, it's for the e-coli bacteria, and for marine waters it's the Enterococci bacteria. But chemicals are rarely tested, so the idea that more testing for chemicals is right on target, particularly after there's been a known use, heavy use of a chemical in a beach.
But the studies, human health studies are lacking at this point in terms of the particular dispersants that were used in the Gulf oil spill in terms of what do they do to people at beaches.
FLATOW: Thanks for the call, Mary.
MARY: Thank you.
FLATOW: 1-800-989-8255 is our number. Let's go to Nick in Riverside, California. Hi, Nick.
NICK: Hello. Thank you for your show today. The reason for my phone call is it's partially to do with public beaches, but more so, in the State of California this summer, there was a new mandate for signs that were posted on all public swimming areas, including swimming pools. And the signs have to say something along the lines of no swimming allowed by occupants suffering from diarrhea within two weeks.
And this is including, like, public beaches, or also, you know, chlorinated pools. And I'm just curious if this is sort of a very big concern for these pathogens. Is this something new, that as far as for like someone who had, you know, a bad flu two weeks ago, that chlorine can't even kill it?
FLATOW: Dr. Noble, Dr. Dorevitch?
NOBLE: It's not.
DOREVITCH: No. That's...
NOBLE: It's not necessarily new. Sam, I'll let you answer this question. I think one of the biggest things is that for the viral pathogens, you can actually shed them for very long periods of time. So if you have gotten an infection, there's, you know, many studies that demonstrate, you know, people being able to shed them through fecal contamination for 12, 14, 16 weeks, and even longer.
And some of these organisms are extremely hardy in water, even chlorinated water, to be honest. Hepatitis A is a good example. Adenovirus is also another hardy virus. So only in certain circumstances will they actually be degraded so that they wouldn't infect another person.
DOREVITCH: And just to add to that, there are more recorded outbreaks of waterborne disease in chlorinated waters than in surface waters. And that sounds a little paradoxical, but it's because we know more about what happens to people after they've been in a swimming pool.
And the parasites giardia and cryptosporidium, especially cryptosporidium, are very difficult to get rid of with chlorine. So public health authorities have been mounting an education campaign to get people to stay out of the water and prevent them from transmitting, potentially, their cryptosporidium to other people who are in the same swimming pool. So I think they're on the right track by encouraging that in California.
FLATOW: So if you were to choose between the pool and the shore...
(LAUGHTER)
FLATOW: I know what I would choose.
(LAUGHTER)
NOBLE: If it's not raining...
FLATOW: If it's not raining - well, let's...
NOBLE: ...the beach is a great option.
FLATOW: Well, let's talk about rain. Should there be a rule of thumb of how long to wait to go to the beach after a big rain?
NOBLE: There are actually are. In many states, they use one of two approaches. One is that they can say that after a certain amount of rainfall, that it's recommended that - that swimming is not recommended, specifically in places that are prone to a lot of storm drain discharge. So in the state of California, in various places, they have, after a half-an-inch of rain, a warning or a recommendation to the public for a 72-hour kind of watch on water quality in certain areas, once again, that are prone to these freshwater outlets or storm drains.
Other places will use a presumptive rainfall closure, actually, where they say after - rather than a recommendation, where they actually say that a water body is closed after, say, an inch, or an inch and a half of rain will be a more common number for the Atlantic Coast. Once that rainfall amount has been surpassed, they say this beach is closed for 24 hours or so.
FLATOW: Well, I was headed to the beach this weekend. I have to - no, I'm going go out to the beach. I love the beach. Thank you. Thank you both for some very interesting information for us.
DOREVITCH: Thank you.
FLATOW: Have a - and have a great weekend. Rachel Noble, professor at the Institute of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and Samuel Dorevitch, occupational and environmental medicine specialist, University of Illinois in Chicago. Thanks again for joining us today.
NOBLE: Thank you, Ira. Thanks for the opportunity.
FLATOW: You're welcome. I'm Ira Flatow. This is SCIENCE FRIDAY, from NPR.
Copyright © 2013 NPR. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to NPR. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.Integration Minister Cecile Kyenge -- pictured in June -- is Italy's first black government minister.Cecile Kyenge has been the target of death threats and racist antics She became Italy's first black government minister in April Newspaper editor says the bad economy has contributed to racial tensions(CNN) -- Racist taunts against Italy's first black minister, Cecile Kyenge, took another ugly turn over the weekend when someone hurled bananas at her during a rally.
Kyenge's appointment as Italy's minister of integration three months ago isn't sitting well with right-wing radicals whose racial slurs and antics have overshadowed her tenure.The banana incident is just the latest.It took place Friday in Cervia, where Kyenge was speaking to supporters. A man popped up out of the crowd and launched two bananas toward the podium, Kyenge spokesman Cosimo Torlo said.The bananas fell short of the stage, landing between the first and second row of spectators.Giancarlo Mazzuca, chief editor of the daily newspaper Il Giorno, was sitting two chairs away from Kyenge.var currExpandable="expand17";if(typeof CNN.expandableMap==='object'){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);}var mObj={};mObj.type='video';mObj.contentId='';mObj.source='world/2013/05/03/pkg-wedeman-italy-first-black-pm-battles-racism.cnn';mObj.videoSource='CNN';mObj.videoSourceUrl='';mObj.lgImage="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130503152159-pkg-wedeman-italy-first-black-pm-battles-racism-00002403-story-body.jpg";mObj.lgImageX=300;mObj.lgImageY=169;mObj.origImageX="214";mObj.origImageY="120";mObj.contentType='video';CNN.expElements.expand17Store=mObj;"I was able to verify which levels can be reached by human stupidity," he wrote in a column.Police haven't found the person who hurled the bananas. There will be increased security around the minister, Torlo said.Kyenge shrugged off the episode -- as she has with the other incidents.In a Twitter post, she called it a sad waste of food when so many people are dying of hunger.Kyenge, who was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, moved to Italy in the 1980s to study medicine. She became an Italian citizen and is an ophthalmologist in Modena.While her ascent to a top government position reflects the success of immigrants, it also has stoked nativism.Ominous mannequinsJust before Kyenge arrived for Friday's rally, a group smeared blood-red paint and anti-immigrant messages onto mannequins."Immigration kills," read signs attached to the dummies.The far-right political group Forza Nuova ("New Force") claimed responsibility for the mannequins.The scene was also littered with fliers that said Italy's future growth depends on "protecting the Italian identity," according to the ANSA news agency.Insults from other politiciansTwo weeks ago, Italian Sen. Roberto Calderoli likened Kyenge to an orangutan. Calderoli, a member of the anti-immigration Northern League party, made the remarks at a political rally."I love animals -- bears and wolves, as everyone knows -- but when I see the pictures of Kyenge, I cannot but think of, even if I'm not saying she is one, the features of an orangutan," he was quoted as saying.After his comments were published, Calderoli said "if I've offended her, I apologize.""It was a joke, a comment in a joking way. There was nothing particularly against her," he said. "It was just my impression. ... It is all very well that she be a minister but in her own country. Given that this government needs to govern Italy, I hope that it is done by Italians."Kyenge responded diplomatically, saying Calderoli "does not need to ask forgiveness to me, but he should rather reflect on the political and institutional role that he carries. It is on this that he needs to make a profound reflection also to then apologize."She added, "Also, he must go beyond putting everything on a personal level. I think the time has come for us to study the problem of communication."Death threatsKyenge has also received death threats before visiting an area where the Northern League is powerful.A local politician recently said on Facebook that Kyenge should be raped so she can understand the pain felt by victims of crime, which some politicians blame on immigrants.She's been called a "Congolese monkey," "Zulu" and "the black anti-Italian." One Northern League official said "she seems like a great housekeeper" but "not a government minister."Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta appealed to Northern League leader Roberto Maroni to "close this chapter right away."Read more: Racist abuse of AC Milan star investigatedTensions over immigrantsItaly has been experiencing its highest level of unemployment in more than 20 years.In tough times, some Italians focus their anger on immigrants, Mazzuca, the newspaper editor, told CNN."The economic crisis is worsening the situation," he said. "Jobs that until a few years ago wouldn't have even been considered by Italians are now becoming precious."There have recently been more and more reports of Italians beating foreigners, particularly street vendors, Mazzuca said.He said doesn't believe that Italians generally are racists and hopes Kyenge will be able to ease racial tensions."I really think that Kyenge is the right person in the right place," he said. "As an eye doctor, she is able to see in the distance."Journalist Livia Borghese and CNN's Hada Messia contributed to this report. /* push in config for this share instance */cnn_shareconfig.push({"id" : "cnn_sharebar2","url" : "http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/28/world/europe/italy-politics-racism/index.html","title" : "Bananas thrown at Italy\'s first black minister Cecile Kyenge"});This story comes to us from our friends at the science desk. They produced the 7-minute video documentary you see above.
"Modern-day rappers — all they talk about is money, and all these unnecessary and irrelevant topics," says Victoria Richardson, a freshman at Bronx Compass High School. Richardson's rhymes tackle a much less-popular subject: DNA.
Richardson and her teammates were finalists at the Science Genius B.A.T.T.L.E.S. (Bring Attention to Transforming Teaching, Learning and Engagement in Science) competition, where she faced off against other science rappers from nine different New York public schools.
"Science Genius is about harvesting the power of urban youth culture," says Christopher Emdin, a professor of education at Columbia University's Teacher's College who created the program. "Once they are able to incorporate the arts and their culture into the science content, they take it and they run with [it]."
Jayda Neor and Kephra Shaw Meredith, seventh-graders from KIPP Bridge middle school in Oakland, Calif., perform a rap song about the discovery of DNA's structure in front of a green screen.
Tom McFaddenThe students researched and wrote rhymes about everything from gravity to evolution. Each school sent one group to the finals, where they were judged by a panel that included Wu-Tang Clan's GZA. (You can check out the finalists' lyrics here. Jabari Johnson, a senior, won the competition with his rap "Quest for Joulelry.")
This program is part of a national push to boost science education among minorities. A U.S. Department of Commerce study found that blacks and Latinos are half as likely as whites to have a job in science or engineering. Some educators hope that bringing hip-hop into the classroom can help change that.
"Science is something I always failed, which prevented me from getting into the specialized high school I wanted to go to," Richardson says.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, Tom McFadden also teaches science through rap with a slightly different approach. His students pen rap battles about conflicts from the history of science.
"When you incorporate these stories, it allows you not only to make the scientific information much more fun to digest," McFadden says. "It allows you to discuss scientific process."
A group of seventh-graders from Oakland, Calif., worked with McFadden to create a music video about the discovery of DNA's structure. They nail the science, and also delve into the shady behavior of the scientists involved.
Hip-hop education is still in its infancy, and it's gotten some resistance; teachers are hesitant to set aside class time for experimental programs.
But Emdin says if the current system isn't working, you have to try something different.
"Not every student is going to be a straight-A student, and go on to college and declare a science major and be the next Einstein," he says. "But through this project we definitely are going to have more scientifically literate young people."
Girls are more likely to take high school physics if they see women in their communities working in science, technology, engineering and math, a new study finds.
Dominik Pabis/iStockphoto.comYou don't need to be a social scientist to know there is a gender diversity problem in technology. The tech industry in Silicon Valley and across the nation is overwhelmingly male-dominated.
That isn't to say there aren't women working at tech firms. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook have raised the profile of women at high-tech firms. But those prominent exceptions do not accurately portray who makes up the engineering ranks at those and other tech companies.
Visit Silicon Valley and you will hear many people talk about the need to increase the number of female hackers. The conventional wisdom about why there are so few female coders usually points a finger at disparities in the talent pool, which is linked to disparities in tech education. In fact, starting as early as adolescence, girls and boys often choose different academic paths. When the time comes for young people to elect to go into engineering school, serious gender disparities become visible.
A new study by University of Texas sociologist Catherine Riegle-Crumb in the journal Social Science Quarterly offers an interesting new perspective on this divide. Along with co-author Chelsea Moore, Riegle-Crumb decided to dive into the gender divide in high school physics courses. (Even as the gender divide in some areas of science has diminished, a stubborn gap has persisted for decades in high school physics.)
Riegle-Crumb had a simple question: The national divide showed boys were more likely to take physics than girls. But was this divide constant across the country?
In an analysis of some 10,000 students at nearly 100 schools, Riegle-Crumb found that the divide was anything but constant.
"What we find is that there are many schools where boys and girls take high school physics at the same rate," Riegle-Crumb said in an interview. "And that there are many other schools where more girls actually take physics than boys. And so when you look at the aggregate, you see a pattern where boys are taking physics more than girls, but there is a lot of variation around that."
There are some obvious things that could cause those variations. If parents of some kids are scientists, or highly educated, they might push their daughters to take tough courses in high school. Wealthy families might be able to afford tutoring, or have one parent stay home to help kids with homework. Better funded suburban schools might be at an advantage over inner-city schools.
But when Riegle-Crumb controlled for those and other possibilities, she found one reason remained: "What we found is that in communities that had a higher percentage of women in the labor force who are working in science, technology, engineering and math, that in those schools, girls were as likely as boys to take physics, or even more likely."
Riegle-Crumb's finding about the importance of local role models meshes with a broad range of earlier work that shows the decision to pursue math and science is not about innate differences between boys and girls, but about social context and norms. Countries with greater gender equality, for example, reveal more equal math test scores among boys and girls.
Teenage girls growing up in communities where women are better represented in tech are more likely to see women commenting on tech issues in public forums and in school discussions — and more likely to run into a friend's astrophysicist mom at a birthday party.
By contrast, Riegle-Crumb said, girls growing up in communities where most working women are in jobs traditionally held by women such as child care or nursing might not see the possibilities that exist.
"If I am a young woman growing up in a community or culture like that, then that's what I see as, 'Well, this is what I am expected to do,' " Riegle-Crumb said. "And so it may not ever occur to me, that, 'Oh, you know, I don't actually have to do that. There's a vast array of things I could choose to do.' But if no one around me is doing those things, it's hard for me to even consider that possibility."
Have you ever touched mercury? I'll admit that, back in the day, my science classmates and I used to push it around with pencils and fingers. We didn't think anything of it and we didn't seem to suffer any ill effects. Yet, touching mercury or breathing vapors that accompany the metal does leave lasting effects and can cause serious and lasting organ impairment, plus it can harm an unborn fetus. I've put together a quick summary of what can happen if you touch mercury and what you should do. You are welcome to add your own experiences with mercury, too. 
As a young RAF pilot, David Raikes wrote movingly about his World War II comrades who didn't come back. Then shortly before the end of the war, he and his crewmen failed to return themselves after their plane was shot down. On the day the airmen are finally laid to rest, Alan Johnston looks at the poignancy of a poem he left behind. Nearly 70 years after they died, the four men of the crew of an RAF bomber have been buried with military honours at a ceremony in Italy.
The four men served in 18 Squadron, based near Rimini, in the north of the country, in the last days of World War ll.
One evening in April 1945, they took off on a mission to attack a bridge on the River Po, then carry out a wider reconnaissance.
By this time, the Allies had been fighting their way up through Sicily and the Italian peninsula for nearly two years.
Rome had fallen the previous summer.
Now, further north, German resistance was finally collapsing, and soon the Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini would be dead.
The men aboard the Boston bomber were all very young. The oldest was only 21.
If they could have survived just 10 more days they would have seen the Allied victory in Italy.
And with the coming of peace in Europe shortly afterwards, their lives would have stretched out before them.
But they never returned from their mission. It is believed their plane was brought down by German anti-aircraft fire, and that everyone on board died in the crash.
Now, 68 years after they were killed, the crew have been laid to rest at a Commonwealth war cemetery in the city of Padua.
A Boston bomber of the kind flown on the fateful mission to the Po valley As relatives of the men looked on, the strains of the Last Post drifted across the hundreds of white headstones in the cemetery.
Three of the flyers were British - the pilot, Sergeant David Raikes, the navigator, Flight Sergeant David Perkins, and the wireless operator and gunner, Flight Sergeant Alexander Bostock. They were all aged 20.
The crew's other gunner was an Australian - Warrant Officer John Hunt, of the Royal Australian Air Force - who was a year older.
The wreck of the plane was found by an Italian group called Archeologi dell'Aria - amateur enthusiasts who have so far found 16 missing aircraft.
The organisation's founder, Fabio Raimondi says a local man in his hometown of Copparo, near Ferrara, once told him a story about a plane coming down in nearby farmland at the end of the war.
The wreck had burned for two days, then the carcass was picked over for some of its more valuable metal.
But at some point it seems that either German or Italian forces covered much of the wreckage in the crater that the crash had caused.
Items recovered from the wreckage Continue reading the main story "During the search, we found - in among the melted aluminium - a watch," says Raimondi."To my amazement, I discovered that on its back there was a number.
"I went online, typed it in, and I got to the Australian National Archive. I found out who he was... and that he had been missing in action."
Raimondi says that as he and his team dug down and worked to retrieve the remains of the crew, he thought of the relatives of the men who had never come home.
"It was very emotional, the work of several months for us volunteers," he says.
"To find and identify the remains of four flyers is very important. With the funeral we close this circle."The pilot, David Raikes, was an aspiring poet, and his family published some of his work posthumously.
Among the poems was a piece called Let it be hushed, in which he reflected on the loss of comrades - other crews that had failed to return from missions.
Raikes wrote:These men knew moments you have never known,
Nor ever will; we knew those moments too,
And talked of them in whispers late at night;
Such confidence was born of danger shared.
We shared their targets, too; but we came back.
As the poem continues, it touches on the black humour that helped the crews cope with the continual danger of death, as in this joke about a dead flyer's watch.
... Someone said
'It was a pity that he wore his watch;
It was a good one, twenty pounds he said
He'd paid for it in Egypt. Now, let's see,
Who's on tonight. Ah, Taffy - you've a good one!
You'd better leave it with me.' And we laughed.
Cold were we? Cold at heart. You get that way.
Towards the end of the poem, Raikes writes about the rituals that were followed when a crew failed to come back to base.
... At first just overdue,
Continue reading the main story 1940: Mussolini declares war on Britain and FranceJuly 1943: Allies invade Sicily; Mussolini ousted as Italian leaderSeptember 1943: Armistice signed between Italian king and Allies; country in state of civil war as Allies push Germans north1944: Rome liberated1945: Mussolini executed by partisans while trying to flee Italy for SwitzerlandTill minutes changed to hours, and still no news.One went to bed; but roused by later crews,
Asked 'were they back yet?' And being answered 'No',
Went back to sleep
One's waking eyes sought out the empty beds,
And 'Damn', you said, 'another kit to pack.'
I never liked that part. You never knew
What privacies your sorting might lay bare.
I always tried to leave my kit arranged
In decent tidiness. You never knew.
On the night of that raid on the bridge on the Po, back at base, as the "minutes changed to hours", comrades would have asked of David Raikes and his crew, "were they back yet?"
A poetry prize honouring Raikes is awarded at his old school, Radley College And, eventually, the time would have come to pack his kit.
Raikes' poem was read out at the funeral by his nephew, and his brothers Roger and Tim were among those listening at the graveside.
The piece begins with the words:
Let it be hushed, let the deep ocean close
Upon these dead...
Now, in that cemetery in Padua, where they will lie forever, the Italian earth has closed upon David Raikes and his fellow flyers.
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A previous version of this story incorrectly said Henrietta Lacks had ovarian cancer. She had cervical cancer.
The family of the late Henrietta Lacks finally got the chance to weigh in on how scientists use cells taken from her — without consent — more than 60 years ago.
The National Institutes of Health and the Lacks family have agreed to give scientists access to the genetic sequence of the cells, with some restrictions to safeguard her relatives' privacy. NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins described the agreement covering these so-called HeLa cells Wednesday, and how it came to be in the journal Nature.
The situation, he says, shines a bright light on a rising ethical issue in biomedicine: How do researchers protect people's privacy when they donate samples for genomic sequencing and scientific experiments?
HeLa cells have been mentioned in more than 70,000 published scientific papers.
Tom Deerinck/NCMIRThe guidelines governing this issue were drawn up in the 1970s. And they clearly lag behind the technology. The ability to decode a whole genome quickly and cheaply makes it virtually impossible to hide a donor's identity when they give specimens for research.
"Science moves forward, advances happen in biology based upon resources that have been donated," Collins tells NPR. "Policy reforms have to be undertaken in order to keep up with the science."
The same was true back in 1951 when Henrietta Lacks unwittingly made available to scientists one of the most useful tools in research: cells that replicate and grew indefinitely in the lab. These cells are among the most widely used in biomedical research worldwide.
At age 31, the African-American mother of five had an unusually aggressive form of cervical cancer. The doctors treating her passed a piece of her tumor along to researchers down the hall, without permission from her or her family.
Henrietta died shortly afterward. But her cells lived on and have helped scientists develop the polio vaccine, in vitro fertilization and an array of treatments for cancer and other diseases. More than 70,000 published scientific papers mention these cells.
These HeLa cells are so important that several laboratories have spent years trying to sequence their DNA.
Last March, German scientists published the HeLa genome — again without consent from Henrietta's family — and controversy erupted.
The scientists hadn't broken any laws. But they did trample on the Lacks family's privacy.
Hidden in the sequence is potential biomedical information about Henrietta's descendents, such as their risk for getting Alzheimer's disease or bipolar disorder.
"The cells contain within them the original information that Henrietta was born with," Collins says. "And it is possible to go back and discern some of the hereditary information, which, of course, is then information she may have passed on to her children and grandchildren."
The German group quickly apologized and took down the DNA sequence from the Web.
The NIH then set up a committee that included the Lacks family to figure out a way to publish the HeLa genome, while still respecting the family's privacy.
The committee agreed to provide the DNA sequence to researchers on a case-by-case basis. Scientists will apply to get access to the code, and a group at NIH that includes Collins and two members of the Lacks family will review each request.
This controlled-access strategy is already used for other genomes deposited in NIH databases. But in many cases, donors give up their rights to know how their genomes will be used and distributed.
Catherine has been closely watched throughout her pregnancy -- her new baby will be subject to similar scrutiny.All eyes have been on Duchess of Cambridge ahead of the birth of her first babyBritain's royal family is closely watched by the media and the publicSimon Hooper: New royal should be "first to embrace the cause of republicanism"Editor's note: Simon Hooper has worked as a journalist covering international news, politics and sports for websites and publications, including CNN, Al Jazeera, the New Statesman and Sports Illustrated.London (CNN) -- As Britain segues seamlessly through feelgood summer heat from Andy Murray mania to royal baby euphoria, let us at least spare a thought for the unfortunate newborn caught, through no fault other than his ancestry, in the global spotlight.
No royal arrival has been so closely scrutinized since 1688 when Mary of Modena, wife of the widely disliked James II, gave birth watched by dozens of officials amid speculation that her pregnancy was a Catholic conspiracy intended to fabricate a male heir.Even their presence was not enough to quash rumors that the child had been smuggled into the birthing chamber in a bedpan, and within months James had been deposed; his son was destined to spend his life in bitter exile in France and Rome.
At least the newborn prince and his parents are unlikely to be run out of the country, even if the flag-waving royalists celebrating the birth are hardly representative of a silent majority largely apathetic about the monarchy and more inclined to treat its modern incarnation as a publicly-subsidized soap opera largely staged for the amusement of American tourists.'Wicked' author: Royal baby stands for hopeNor did his mother suffer the indignity of having the home secretary in the vicinity of the delivery room, a custom for royal births only formally ended in 1948.And there have undoubtedly been worse times in history to be born into one of Europe's great royal dynasties. Paris in 1789 springs to mind, or St. Petersburg in 1917.var currExpandable="expand18";if(typeof CNN.expandableMap==='object'){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);}var mObj={};mObj.type='video';mObj.contentId='';mObj.source='bestoftv/2013/07/23/ac-life-for-the-royal-baby.cnn';mObj.videoSource='CNN';mObj.videoSourceUrl='http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com';mObj.lgImage="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130722220451-ac-life-for-the-royal-baby-00000000-story-body.jpg";mObj.lgImageX=300;mObj.lgImageY=169;mObj.origImageX="214";mObj.origImageY="120";mObj.contentType='video';CNN.expElements.expand18Store=mObj;var currExpandable="expand28";if(typeof CNN.expandableMap==='object'){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);}var mObj={};mObj.type='video';mObj.contentId='';mObj.source='bestoftv/2013/07/23/ac-britains-baby-bash.cnn';mObj.videoSource='CNN';mObj.videoSourceUrl='http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com';mObj.lgImage="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130722220107-ac-britains-baby-bash-00022407-story-body.jpg";mObj.lgImageX=300;mObj.lgImageY=169;mObj.origImageX="214";mObj.origImageY="120";mObj.contentType='video';CNN.expElements.expand28Store=mObj;var currExpandable="expand38";if(typeof CNN.expandableMap==='object'){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);}var mObj={};mObj.type='video';mObj.contentId='';mObj.source='business/2013/07/09/soares-royal-baby-business-boom.cnn';mObj.videoSource='CNN';mObj.videoSourceUrl='';mObj.lgImage="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130709044232-soares-royal-baby-business-boom-00010617-story-body.jpg";mObj.lgImageX=300;mObj.lgImageY=169;mObj.origImageX="214";mObj.origImageY="120";mObj.contentType='video';CNN.expElements.expand38Store=mObj;var currExpandable="expand48";if(typeof CNN.expandableMap==='object'){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);}var mObj={};mObj.type='video';mObj.contentId='';mObj.source='world/2013/07/11/pkg-santos-uk-royal-nursery.cnn';mObj.videoSource='CNN';mObj.videoSourceUrl='';mObj.lgImage="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130711024316-pkg-santos-uk-royal-nursery-00014712-story-body.jpg";mObj.lgImageX=300;mObj.lgImageY=169;mObj.origImageX="214";mObj.origImageY="120";mObj.contentType='video';CNN.expElements.expand48Store=mObj;Yet the life prospects of a boy now third in line to the British crown who, if as lucky in longevity as his paternal great-grandparents, might reasonably expect to see in the 22nd century on the throne, are hardly something to be envied.The Windsors may have recovered some of their respectability after the nadir in their fortunes in the 1990s that culminated in the 1997 death of Princess Diana, thanks in no small part to the fairy-tale mega-wedding of William and Kate in 2011 and Oscar-winning propaganda such as "The Queen" and "The King's Speech."To question the role of the monarchy and Britons' attachment to it is still to risk a public flogging from more reactionary sections of the British media, as author Hilary Mantel discovered when she found herself pilloried earlier this year for describing the Duchess of Cambridge as a "plastic princess designed to breed."The resulting furore missed the point that Mantel was trying to make, which was that members of the royal family, however privileged and luxurious their lives, are essentially prisoners of their own circumstances, trapped by their supposed obligations to an archaic and largely redundant institution."Our current royal family doesn't have the difficulties in breeding that pandas do, but pandas and royal persons alike are expensive to conserve and ill-adapted to any modern environment. But aren't they interesting? Aren't they nice to look at?" said Mantel.Opinion: Baby helps make a monarchy betterIf Mantel's point was essentially true of Kate Middleton, who, like a mafia wife, married into the firm of her own volition, how much worse must the situation be for her offspring, who will become public property from the moment he is displayed to the assembled world media on the hospital steps.var currExpandable="expand115";if(typeof CNN.expandableMap==='object'){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);}var mObj={};mObj.type='video';mObj.contentId='';mObj.source='world/2013/07/08/lok-foster-uk-royal-baby-betting-odds.cnn';mObj.videoSource='CNN';mObj.videoSourceUrl='';mObj.lgImage="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130704205622-william-and-catherine-baby-bump-story-body.jpg";mObj.lgImageX=300;mObj.lgImageY=169;mObj.origImageX="214";mObj.origImageY="120";mObj.contentType='video';CNN.expElements.expand115Store=mObj;var currExpandable="expand215";if(typeof CNN.expandableMap==='object'){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);}var mObj={};mObj.type='video';mObj.contentId='';mObj.source='international/2013/06/11/uk-open-mic-royal-baby.cnn';mObj.videoSource='CNN';mObj.videoSourceUrl='http://www.cnn.com/';mObj.lgImage="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130611110329-uk-open-mic-royal-baby-00000910-story-body.jpg";mObj.lgImageX=300;mObj.lgImageY=169;mObj.origImageX="214";mObj.origImageY="120";mObj.contentType='video';CNN.expElements.expand215Store=mObj;var currExpandable="expand315";if(typeof CNN.expandableMap==='object'){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);}var mObj={};mObj.type='video';mObj.contentId='';mObj.source='bestoftv/2013/07/04/exp-foster-royal-baby-birth.cnn';mObj.videoSource='CNN';mObj.videoSourceUrl='';mObj.lgImage="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130704112353-exp-foster-royal-baby-birth-00002506-story-body.jpg";mObj.lgImageX=300;mObj.lgImageY=169;mObj.origImageX="214";mObj.origImageY="120";mObj.contentType='video';CNN.expElements.expand315Store=mObj;The mainstream media may feign responsibility, keeping a respectful distance as the young family find their feet and honoring royal requests to leave the child alone, but he will still face near constant public intrusion, living a life framed by the ubiquitous lens of the camera phone.And in an age obsessed with the oxymoronic phenomena of "reality" and celebrity, the young royal will be forced to perform a gilded simulation of a normality that he will never experience for real, ultimately embracing the stiflingly conservatism of a British establishment of which the monarchy remains the apex, and allowing their personality to be airbrushed according to public tastes. It will be "The Truman Show" with footmen.Royals, for better or worse, once inhabited worlds of intrigue, conspiracy and high drama, their lives, relationships and deaths entwined with the rise and fall of nations and empires. The feats and misdeeds of kings, queens and their progeny were fodder for Shakespearean epics.Yet it is centuries since the British royal family played anything more than a decorative role in the life of the nation -- and this new heir may have to wait the best part of this century before assuming even those diminished duties.Opinion: How to raise a royal babyRoyal heirs have traditionally passed the years waiting for their relatives to die by becoming champions of worthy causes. Prince Charles is famed for his woolly opinions on environmentalism and architecture, while Prince William has leant his support to the campaign to tackle homelessness.Perhaps, out of enlightened self-interest alone and with time on his side, the prince could one day become the first royal to embrace the cause of republicanism.The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Simon Hooper./* push in config for this share instance */cnn_shareconfig.push({"id" : "cnn_sharebar2","url" : "http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/23/opinion/opinion-pity-the-new-royal-arrival/index.html","title" : "Why I wouldn\'t want to be royal baby"});
July 23, 2013 -- Updated 2047 GMT (0447 HKT) 
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William introduced their son to the world as they left the hospital. July 23, 2013 -- Updated 1627 GMT (0027 HKT) 
It's a boy! Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and husband Prince William welcomed their first child - baby son.July 17, 2013 -- Updated 2022 GMT (0422 HKT) 
Think you know all you could ever want to about royal babies amid all the excitement about the new arrival? Well did you know this...July 23, 2013 -- Updated 1546 GMT (2346 HKT) 
Let us least spare a thought for the unfortunate newborn caught, through no fault other than his ancestry, in the global spotlight, Simon Hooper writes.July 5, 2013 -- Updated 0942 GMT (1742 HKT) 
Britain's royals are a pretty traditional bunch when it comes to picking baby names -- so what are the chances of a Queen Ella or King Terry?
Confused by who's linked to who in the royal family? Explore the Middleton and Windsor branches of our interactive family tree.July 10, 2013 -- Updated 1604 GMT (0004 HKT) 
Here's a look at some interesting statistics about royal births in Britain.July 5, 2013 -- Updated 1902 GMT (0302 HKT) 
There's a treat in store for anyone in Britain whose baby arrives on the same day Catherine delivers a royal heir -- the gift of a silver coin.July 22, 2013 -- Updated 2040 GMT (0440 HKT) 
All eyes have been on the Duchess of Cambridge since she and Prince William announced they were expecting a baby.July 4, 2013 -- Updated 1748 GMT (0148 HKT) 
The world watched when they were married in the wedding of the year -- now all eyes are on William and Kate ahead of their new arrival.June 25, 2013 -- Updated 1358 GMT (2158 HKT) 
As well as being wonderful news for the royal couple the new baby will have positive implications for the future of the UK monarchy.July 24, 2013 -- Updated 2302 GMT (0702 HKT) 
Prince William has spent decades in the public eye. Follow the royal's life in pictures, from baby to proud father-to-be.June 25, 2013 -- Updated 1407 GMT (2207 HKT) 
Changes to the law mean Prince William and Catherine's new baby will be heir to the British throne, whether it is a boy or a girl.July 22, 2013 -- Updated 2050 GMT (0450 HKT) 
Catherine has proved quite the fashionista since being catapulted into the limelight thanks to her appearance in a university catwalk show.
Get all the latest news, photos and videos on Kate and William's baby and the rest of the royal family.
Today's five most popular stories
Aviation manufacturers are turning older aircraft into dronesAn agricultural crop-duster can be transformed into an airborne surveillance machineIt takes just four hours to switch the Centaur aircraft from a plane into a UAVA new breed of "transformers" could change the whole industryCNN's Bryony Jones reports from the 50th Paris Airshow at Le Bourget. Follow CNN coverage of this year's Paris Airshow. Le Bourget, France (CNN) -- Is it a plane? Is it a drone? Next time you look up and see vapor trails spreading across the sky, bear in mind that the aircraft you're looking at might just be both.
As the aviation industry tightens its belt, its attempts to save money and stay relevant have led to a new rise of "transformers" -- including crop-dusters and business jets given a new lease of life as surveillance aircraft.With the financial crisis continuing to bite -- not least in the U.S. defense sector -- more and more aircraft manufacturers are trying to secure their future by turning older aviation staples into innovative new ones, creating a new breed of "transformers."In a former life, Piaggio Aero's HammerHead was a business jet (the Avanti II), used to ferry well-to-do travelers to and from high-powered meetings or red carpet events.Today the twin-engine turboprop is being turned into a drone, with surveillance equipment and remote flying systems replacing the nine passengers and pilot.Unveiling the new-look aircraft at last week's Paris Airshow, Piaggio Aero's CEO Alberto Galassi said the HammerHead -- which the company expects to be approved for use by 2014 -- offered "an insight into what an advanced UAS [Unmanned Aerial System] of the future will look like."Read: The new age of the airshipIomax's ArchAngel, also on display at Le Bourget is, the company says, a border patrol aircraft designed to provide "airborne surveillance for intelligence and security."But in its slightly more down-to-earth pre-modification past, the aircraft was originally conceived as the Thrush, an agricultural crop-duster.Also joining the hybrid ranks at the Paris Airshow was Centaur, the plane that thinks it is a drone. Or is that be the other way around?The aircraft, designed for surveillance missions, can be flown remotely as a UAV by a ground-based operator, or in the traditional way with a pilot at the controls.Its creators, U.S.-based Aurora Flight Services, say it takes Centaur's two-man crew just four hours to switch the plane from one mode of flying to the other.Bill Sweetman, international defense editor of Aviation Week, said the trend for turning existing aircraft into others, rather than creating them from scratch, was down to two main reasons: the financial crisis, and the end of the Cold War.Both mean that completely new aircraft are not being designed as often as they have done in the past.Read: Test your aviation knowledge"Instead companies are modernizing, adapting aircraft they've already got to allow them to do something different, because the industry's needs now are very different to what they were during the Cold War, and they will be something different again in the next 10 years or so," he told CNN."It is proving very hard to get the FAA to approve a simpler, cheaper aircraft designed from the start to be unmanned," said Graham Warwick, Aviation Week's technology editor."Instead it is easier to take an aircraft that the FAA has already certificated for manned flight, and take the pilot out of it," he said."If a company takes an existing aircraft -- which they know flies, works, is safe and reliable -- and converts that into an unmanned vehicle, that allows them to develop it much more quickly," said Sweetman.And then there's Project Zero, an entirely different sort of "transformer." This super-futuristic looking electric-powered aircraft is formed of a graceful aerodynamic swoosh of carbon fibre enclosing a cockpit (like the drones above, it has so far only been flown unmanned) and two massive rotor blades.It is these rotor blades which are the secret to the aircraft's groundbreaking nature. Facing the ground, they allow Project Zero to take off vertically, like a helicopter. But once in the air, the rotors can be tilted, enabling it to fly forwards like a traditional plane.Read: Can BRIC nations shape aviation?Project Zero, which has been in the works -- but firmly under wraps -- for several years, was unveiled at this week's Paris Air Show.James Wang, Agusta Westland's vice president of research and technology, who oversaw work on the aircraft, said it was designed "to be as radical as possible," reflecting the motto of the advanced project group behind it: "'Live to Dream' - if it can be dreamed, it can be built."Just how high and how fast the aircraft is capable of flying is still a closely-guarded secret, but Wang insists "it works, we have flown this thing."There's just one catch though -- despite being proven to work in flight tests, Project Zero is not likely to go into production any time soon. Instead it is intended as a "technology incubator," a way of trialing and showcasing all the latest innovations at once.Still, the company hopes that even if we're not going to be flying a Project Zero within the next 10 years, some of the technology it has helped develop will become the norm on more everyday aircraft."Project Zero might or might not make the basis for a future UAV or form of transport, but it's the parts in there that are important, that have potential," says Sweetman.And that could help to transform the whole industry, not just one aircraft./* push in config for this share instance */cnn_shareconfig.push({"id" : "cnn_sharebar2","url" : "http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/24/business/the-real-transformers-drone-doubles/index.html","title" : "The real transformers: Drone doubles on the rise"});June 24, 2013 -- Updated 1327 GMT (2127 HKT) 
Is it a plane? Is it a drone? Next time you look up and see vapor trails spreading across the sky, bear in mind that the aircraft you're looking at might just be both.June 21, 2013 -- Updated 1736 GMT (0136 HKT) 
Previously the airship was hailed as the future of flight: as glamorous, luxurious and fashionable. Is it the new dawn of the dirigible?
CNN's Richard Quest and Bryony Jones have been at the 50th International Airshow this week. Here's what they've seen and heard.June 19, 2013 -- Updated 1853 GMT (0253 HKT) 
I am always being asked "'what makes the best airline?" Richard Quest reveals what airlines can do to become a frequent flyer favorite. 
From stunning aerial displays to solar flight, CNN flies through time with some of the show's best moments.June 19, 2013 -- Updated 0936 GMT (1736 HKT) 
Emirates has been voted the world's best airline by passengers at the annual Skytrax World Airline Awards.June 18, 2013 -- Updated 1252 GMT (2052 HKT) 
From Charles Lindbergh's record-breaking landing to solar flight, CNN takes a look back at the Paris Airshow's most memorable moments June 12, 2013 -- Updated 0936 GMT (1736 HKT) 
Hollywood's stars may have left Cannes, but the real "jet set" will descend upon Paris for the 50th International Air and Space show. June 13, 2013 -- Updated 1320 GMT (2120 HKT) 
Aviation expert Tim Robinson looks at how the BRIC countries are entering the elite club of aerospace manufacturing.June 13, 2013 -- Updated 1325 GMT (2125 HKT) 
Are drones being used for pizza deliveries? When did the first commercial jet plane make its maiden voyage? Find out if you are a plane geek.
Police and military forces are increasingly reliant on unmanned aerial vehicles to carry out risky tasks. So just how easy is it to pilot one?
Supersonic aircraft are just like buses: You wait years for one, and then two come along at once: rival "son of supersonic" concepts have been revealed.June 7, 2013 -- Updated 2033 GMT (0433 HKT) 
Some things you just know for a fact. First man on the moon: Neil Armstrong. First to achieve powered flight: Orville and Wilbur Wright. Or were they?
Aircraft maker Boeing and parts manufacturer Honeywell both flew planes to the 2011 Paris Airshow using a mixt of biofuels and jet fuel.
See the full coverage, including all the aerial acrobatics and business buzz, of the 2013 international airshow at Le Bourget airfield in Paris. Today's five most popular stories
Jayda Neor and Kephra Shaw Meredith, seventh-graders from KIPP Bridge middle school in Oakland, Calif., perform a rap song about the discovery of DNA's structure in front of a green screen.Tom McFadden 
Girls are more likely to take high school physics if they see women in their communities working in science, technology, engineering and math, a new study finds.Dominik Pabis/iStockphoto.com 
HeLa cells have been mentioned in more than 70,000 published scientific papers.Tom Deerinck/NCMIR