http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/science-blog.html Science blog From What is this Sat, 28 Aug 2010 05:08:36 GMT en-us http://www.what-is-this.com/images/blogs/science-blog-57820.jpg http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/science-blog.html 100 75 http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2010/calla-palustris.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2010/calla-palustris.html Sat, 28 Aug 2010 05:08:36 GMT I suppose if one wanted to be pedantic, this would be the only species one could call a calla lily (though it"s not a lily), as Calla palustris is the sole member of its genus. What many English-speaking people generally call calla lilies are members of the related genus, Zantedeschia. To be fair, though, species now named Zantedeschia were (all?) formerly in Calla.Calla palustris is native to cool temperate areas of the northern hemisphere. Its North American range nearly overlaps the expanse of taiga in North America, so one could draw the same conclusion about its presence in Eurasia ......... ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2010/artificial-enzyme-removes-natural-poison.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2010/artificial-enzyme-removes-natural-poison.html Fri, 27 Aug 2010 05:17:50 GMT For the first time ever, a completely man-made chemical enzyme has been successfully used to neutralise a toxin found naturally in fruits and vegetables. Proof of concept for artificial enzymes. Chemzymes are designed molecules emulating the targeting and efficiency of naturally occurring enzymes and the recently graduated Dr. Bjerre is pleased about her results........ ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2010/evolution-writ-small.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2010/evolution-writ-small.html Fri, 27 Aug 2010 05:17:50 GMT A unique experiment at Rice University that forces bacteria into a head-to-head competition for evolutionary dominance has yielded new insights about the way Darwinian selection plays out at the molecular level. An exacting new analysis of the experiment has revealed precisely how specific genetic mutations impart a physical edge in the competition for survival........ ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2010/fuel-treatments-reduce-wildfire-severity.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2010/fuel-treatments-reduce-wildfire-severity.html Fri, 27 Aug 2010 05:17:50 GMT A study conducted by U.S. Forest Service and University of Washington (UW) researchers has observed that fuel therapyseven of only a few acrescan reduce fire severity and protect older trees desirable for their timber, wildlife, and carbon-storage value. The finding is part of a three-year study of the 175,000-acre Tripod Fire and is reported in the recent issue of Canadian Journal of Forest Research....... ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2010/explaining-graphene-mystery.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2010/explaining-graphene-mystery.html Fri, 27 Aug 2010 05:17:50 GMT Nanoscale simulations and theoretical research performed at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory are bringing researchers closer to realizing graphene's potential in electronic applications. A research team led by ORNL's Bobby Sumpter, Vincent Meunier and Eduardo Cruz-Silva has discovered how loops develop in graphene, an electrically conductive high-strength low-weight material that resembles an atomic-scale honeycomb........ ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2010/building-muscle.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2010/building-muscle.html Fri, 27 Aug 2010 05:17:50 GMT Current gym dogma holds that to build muscle size you need to lift heavy weights. However, a newly released study conducted at McMaster University has shown that a similar degree of muscle building can be achieved by using lighter weights. The secret is to pump iron until you reach muscle fatigue. The findings are published in PLoS ONE....... ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2010/interview-with-victor-ambros.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2010/interview-with-victor-ambros.html Fri, 27 Aug 2010 05:17:50 GMT There is an interesting interview with Victor Ambros in the latest edition of PLoS Genetics.

Here"s his thoughts on his Lasker Award:
And so it has very little to do, frankly, with the particular person getting the award. What the award represents is a process that involves interactions amongst many, many people. And the end, one person ends up getting the award. It"s really important to try to acknowledge that and understand the fact that really everything that happens in science, including the discoveries that people try to acknowledge by awards, are really the products of this ......... ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2010/butomus-umbellatus.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2010/butomus-umbellatus.html Mon, 09 Aug 2010 03:25:01 GMT Thank you once again to Marianne, aka marcella2@Flickr, for contributing a photograph to Botany Photo of the Day (original image | Botany Photo of the Day Flickr Pool). Always glad to have an image from a vascular plant family that hasn"t yet been featured on ......... ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2010/nanowick-at-heart-of-new-system.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2010/nanowick-at-heart-of-new-system.html Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:01:59 GMT Scientists have shown that an advanced cooling technology being developed for high-power electronics in military and automotive systems is capable of handling roughly 10 times the heat generated by conventional computer chips. The miniature, lightweight device uses tiny copper spheres and carbon nanotubes to passively wick a coolant toward hot electronics, said Suresh V. Garimella, the R. Eugene and Susie E. Goodson Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University........ ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2010/new-clue-into-cellular-aging.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2010/new-clue-into-cellular-aging.html Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:01:59 GMT The ability to combat some age-related diseases, such as cancer and diabetes, may rest with researchers unlocking clues about the molecular and cellular processes governing aging. The underlying theory is that if the healthy portion of an individual's life span can be extended, it may delay the onset of certain age-related diseases. In the search to understand these molecular processes, scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School have uncovered an important new DAF-16 isoform - DAF-16d/f - that collaborates with other DAF-16 protein isoforms to regulate longevity........ ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2010/unpeeling-atoms-and-molecules-from-the-inside-out.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2010/unpeeling-atoms-and-molecules-from-the-inside-out.html Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:01:59 GMT Menlo Park, Calif.-The first published scientific results from the world's most powerful hard X-ray laser, located at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, show its unique ability to control the behaviors of individual electrons within simple atoms and molecules by stripping them away, one by one-in some cases creating hollow atoms........ ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2010/robotic-fish-gives-clues-about-group-dynamics.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2010/robotic-fish-gives-clues-about-group-dynamics.html Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:01:59 GMT To gain insights into group dynamics for the study of collective animal behavior in moving groups, robots have a valuable role to play. Enter "Robofish", a computer-controlled replica stickleback that can be programmed to move around a tank. The brainchild of biologists from the University of Leeds in the UK, Robofish can both recruit and lead fish and shed light on what motivates fish in a shoal to change direction - in this case, the number of neighboring fish is more influential than the absolute distance from the shoal leader. The findings have just been published in Springer's journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology........ ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2010/translating-language-of-nanopores.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2010/translating-language-of-nanopores.html Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:01:59 GMT National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researchers have moved a step closer to developing the means for a rapid diagnostic blood test that can scan for thousands of disease markers and other chemical indicators of health. The team reports* it has learned how to decode the electrical signals generated by a nanopore-a "gate" less than 2 nanometers wide in an artificial cell membrane........ ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2010/green-bio-based-process.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2010/green-bio-based-process.html Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:01:59 GMT A new green, bio-based method for producing a much-used fuel additive and industrial chemical that is currently made from petroleum products has been developed by an Iowa State University researcher. Thomas Bobik, professor of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology, invented a process for manufacturing isobutene (isobutylene) by identifying a new, natural enzyme that produces the fuel organically........ ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2010/beading-saliva-mystery.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2010/beading-saliva-mystery.html Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:01:59 GMT Scientists have discovered precisely why strands of some fluids containing long molecules called polymers form beads when stretched, findings that could be used to improve industrial processes and for administering drugs in "personalized medicine". "Any kindergartner is familiar with this beading phenomenon, which you can demonstrate by stretching a glob of saliva between your thumb and forefinger," said Osman Basaran, Purdue's Burton and Kathryn Gedge Professor of Chemical Engineering........ ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/3-2010/new-smart-roof-reads-the-thermometer.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/3-2010/new-smart-roof-reads-the-thermometer.html Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:01:59 GMT Top a building with a light-colored "cool roof," and it reflects sunlight, cutting air conditioning bills in summer, but increasing winter heating costs. Choose black shingles, and the roof soaks up sunlight to cut winter heating costs but makes the roof bake in the summer sun. One or the other. You can't have it both ways........ ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/3-2010/kennedia-nigricans.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/3-2010/kennedia-nigricans.html Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:01:59 GMT It"s early March, so it"s time for my mind to drift to thoughts of visiting California for wildflowers and gardens. This photograph is from my 2008 foray, when I visited the Arboretum at the University of California Santa ......... ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/2-2010/transforming-skin-cells-into-stem-cells.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/2-2010/transforming-skin-cells-into-stem-cells.html Fri, 19 Feb 2010 03:47:09 GMT In an effort to sidestep the ethical dilemma involved in using human embryonic stem cells to treat diseases, researchers are in the process of developing non-controversial alternatives: In particular, they are looking for drug-like chemical compounds that can transform adult skin cells into the stem cells now obtained from human embryos. That's the topic of a fascinating article in Chemical and Engineering News (CandEN), ACS' weekly newsmagazine........ ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/2-2010/gene-associated-with-endurance-running.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/2-2010/gene-associated-with-endurance-running.html Fri, 19 Feb 2010 03:47:09 GMT A few minor variations in one gene may make a difference in athletic endurance, as per a newly released study from Physiological Genomics. The study observed that elite endurance athletes were more likely to have variations of the NRF2 gene than elite sprinters. Non-elite endurance athletes were also more likely to have the genetic variations in comparison to sprinters, eventhough the difference was not as pronounced........ ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/2-2010/magnetisms-role-in-superconductors.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/2-2010/magnetisms-role-in-superconductors.html Fri, 19 Feb 2010 03:47:09 GMT Neutron scattering experiments performed at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory give good evidence that, if superconductivity is correlation to a material's magnetic properties, the same mechanisms are behind both copper-based high-temperature superconductors and the newly discovered iron-based superconductors........ ]]>