voa special english--Science in the News.pdf

1 How Changes on the Sun Can Affect Our Climate Also: New findings about attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. And music for monkeys. Transcript of radio broadcast: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I’m Bob Doughty. And I’m Faith Lapidus. This week, we will tell about a study linking activity on the sun to changes in Earth’s climate. We will also tell about a discovery involving patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. And, we will hear some music written especially for monkeys. An American study has shown a link between activity on the surface of the sun and weather conditions on Earth. Scientists say small changes in the sun’s brightness can produce effects on Earth similar to two weather events in warm waters of the Pacific Ocean. The two events are commonly known as La Nina and El Nino. Reports say the study may lead to better predictions of temperatures, rainfall and the intensity of weather systems. Scientists measure solar activity by counting dark areas on the sun’s surface. These sun spots produce bursts of energy. Other scientists have shown that sun spot activity can be measured in periods of time that last about eleven years. The total energy reaching Earth from the sun rises and falls by just one tenth of one percent across this solar cycle. In the new study, scientists examined more than one hundred years A drawing of the Earth and Sun VOA Special English 2 of ocean temperature records. They also used computer programs designed to reproduce the world’s climate. They found the highest levels of solar activity cause small, but far-reaching effects on weather systems around the world. These periods of high activity are known as solar maximum. Gerald Meehl was the lead writer of a report about the study. He says his team showed the effects of a new process to understand what happens in the Pacific’s warm waters where there is a