He’s no Butthead: Each year, as the Amazon River overflows its banks, the South American continent sinks by nearly eight centimetres as a result, Dr. Michael Bevis, a civil engineering professor at Ohio State University reports. Bevis calculated the rise and fall of the earth’s crust using global positioning system (GPS) sensors.
In labour: One in every 250 Canadian women die during childbirth, researchers at Ottawa Hospital have found, by tracking hospital births from 1991-2000. The main causes include uterine rupture and respiratory illnesses.
Forecasting gloom: Mathematical modelers at the Max Planck Institute for Meterology predict drastic climates changes in the next 100 years including the complete melting of Arctic sea ice, a 30-centimeter rise in sea level, and intense rains and flooding. Humans are to blame.
Hot potato: Using DNA markers and genetic profiles, Dr. David Spooner, at the University of Wisconsin, has determined a single site for the origin of potato domestication: Peru. The discovery conflicts with the “multiple-origins” theory of potato domestication and will force scientists to re-evaluate how the potato crop spread throughout the world.
