http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/science-blog.html Science blog From What is this Thu, 30 Oct 2008 04:29:29 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/10-2008/sniffing-out-a-better-chemical-sensor.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2008/sniffing-out-a-better-chemical-sensor.html Thu, 30 Oct 2008 04:29:29 GMT Marrying a sensitive detector technology capable of distinguishing hundreds of different chemical compounds with a pattern-recognition module that mimics the way animals recognize odors, scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have created a new approach for electronic noses. Described in a recent paper,* their electronic nose is more adept than conventional methodologies at recognizing molecular features even for chemicals it has not been trained to detect and is also robust enough to deal with changes in sensor response that come with wear and tear. The detector could be a potent tool for applications such as sniffing out nerve agents, environmental contaminants, and trace indicators of disease, in addition to monitoring industrial processes and aiding in space exploration........ ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2008/declining-amphibian-species.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2008/declining-amphibian-species.html Thu, 30 Oct 2008 04:29:29 GMT Amphibians around the world are on the decline from disease. In an article in this week's issue of the journal Nature, Jason Rohr of the University of South Florida (USF) and his colleagues revealed that chemical pollution can increase often deadly trematode (parasitic flatworm) infections in the northern leopard frog, a declining amphibian species........ ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2008/deprived-of-a-sense-of-smell-worms-live-longer.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2008/deprived-of-a-sense-of-smell-worms-live-longer.html Thu, 30 Oct 2008 04:29:29 GMT A number of animals live longer when raised on low calorie diets. But now scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown that they can extend the life spans of roundworms even when the worms are well fed - it just takes a chemical that blocks their sense of smell. Three years ago, the researchers, led by Kerry Kornfeld, M.D., Ph.D., reported they observed that a class of anticonvulsant medications made the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans live longer. But until now, they didn't quite know what the drugs did to give the worms their longevity. They report their latest findings in the Oct. 24 issue of the Public Library of Science Genetics........ ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2008/stress-affects-older-adults-more-than-young-adults.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2008/stress-affects-older-adults-more-than-young-adults.html Thu, 30 Oct 2008 04:29:29 GMT Life can be stressful, whether you're an individual watching the stock market crash or a commuter stuck in traffic. A new study, forthcoming in the journal Psychological Science, examines how stress affects decision-making and finds that elderly adults alter their behavior more than young adults when under stress especially in situations involving risk........ ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2008/david-c-lam-asian-garden.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2008/david-c-lam-asian-garden.html Thu, 30 Oct 2008 04:29:29 GMT I''m on vacation, so please accept my apologies for the brief entries. -- ......... ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2008/as-sticky-as-a-gecko-but-ten-times-stronger.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2008/as-sticky-as-a-gecko-but-ten-times-stronger.html Wed, 15 Oct 2008 23:29:26 GMT The gecko's amazing ability to stick to surfaces and walk up walls has inspired many researchers to manufacture materials that mimic the special surface of a gecko's foot. The secret behind the gecko's ability to stick so well is a forest of pillars at the micro-/nano-scale on the underside of the gecko's foot. Because there are so many pillars so close together, they are held tightly to the surface the gecko is walking on by a molecular force called the Van der Waals force. This relatively weak force causes uncharged molecules to attract each other........ ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2008/optical-behavior-of-nanotubes.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2008/optical-behavior-of-nanotubes.html Wed, 15 Oct 2008 23:29:26 GMT Using highly uniform samples of carbon nanotubessorted by centrifuge for lengthmaterials researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have made some of the most precise measurements yet of the concentrations at which delicate mats of nanotubes become transparent, conducting sheets. Their recent experiments* point up the importance of using relatively homogeneousnot overly short, but uniform in length nanotubes for making high performance conducting films........ ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2008/merendera-montana.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2008/merendera-montana.html Wed, 15 Oct 2008 23:29:26 GMT .....and another thank you to Paulo Araújo of Portugal for sharing a few of his photographs. Paulo submitted these images via this thread in the Botany Photo of the Day Submissions Forum. Much ......... ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2008/egg-whites-solve-the-3-d-problem.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2008/egg-whites-solve-the-3-d-problem.html Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:35:11 GMT The real world is three-dimensional. That's true even in the laboratory, where researchers have to grow cells to study how they develop and what happens when their growth is abnormal. More and more laboratories are seeking to develop three-dimensional cell culture systems that allow them to test their new techniques and drugs in a system that more closely mimics the way in which cells grow. However, a big sticking point is the cost of commercial media for growing such cultures........ ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2008/ferocactus-cylindraceus.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2008/ferocactus-cylindraceus.html Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:35:11 GMT Thanks to Ruth for both today''s write-up and ......... ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/9-2008/doppler-on-wheels-deployed-at-hurricane-ike.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/9-2008/doppler-on-wheels-deployed-at-hurricane-ike.html Fri, 19 Sep 2008 03:12:26 GMT The only scientific team to successfully brave Hurricane Ike's knock-down winds and swells in Galveston was the DOW, the Doppler on Wheels mobile weather radar operated by the Center for Severe Weather Research (CSWR) in Boulder, Colo. "The DOW mission to Ike provided, for the first time, high-resolution radar data collected from the ground of the inside of a hurricane eye strengthening during landfall, and from a hurricane that directly impacted a large urban area," said scientist Josh Wurman of CWSR........ ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/9-2008/brunsvigia-josephinae.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/9-2008/brunsvigia-josephinae.html Fri, 19 Sep 2008 03:12:26 GMT Thanks again to Ruth S. for today''s write-up. Also, big thanks to J.G. in S.F.@Flickr for sharing two of his photographs with us today (original 1 | original 2 via the BPotD Flickr Group Pool). Appreciated once ......... ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/9-2008/did-you-read-your-toast-this-morning.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/9-2008/did-you-read-your-toast-this-morning.html Wed, 17 Sep 2008 03:49:37 GMT Let me start by saying that this is only a concept - but it is a freaking cool one. Imagine being able to print on toast. You read correctly - what if you could take images from from the internet or your computer and print (burn them into) toast. Hear me out; it is not as silly as it ......... ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/9-2008/first-beam-for-large-hadron-collider.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/9-2008/first-beam-for-large-hadron-collider.html Thu, 11 Sep 2008 02:46:15 GMT An international collaboration of researchers today sent the first beam of protons zooming at nearly the speed of light around the world's most powerful particle acceleratorthe Large Hadron Collider (LHC)located at the CERN laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) invested a total $531 million in the construction of the accelerator and its detectors, which researchers believe could help unlock extraordinary discoveries about the nature of the physical universe........ ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2008/ice-age-lesson-predicts-a-faster-rise-in-sea-level.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2008/ice-age-lesson-predicts-a-faster-rise-in-sea-level.html Thu, 11 Sep 2008 02:46:15 GMT if the lessons being learned by researchers about the demise of the last great North American ice sheet are correct, estimates of global sea level rise from a melting Greenland ice sheet may be seriously underestimated. Writing this week (Aug. 31) in the journal Nature Geoscience, a team of scientists led by University of Wisconsin-Madison geologist Anders Carlson reports that sea level rise from greenhouse-induced warming of the Greenland ice sheet could be double or triple current estimates over the next century........ ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2008/research-breeder-develops-drought-tolerant-corn.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2008/research-breeder-develops-drought-tolerant-corn.html Thu, 11 Sep 2008 02:46:15 GMT At the end of the day, drought tolerance in corn has to equate to good yields and good quality, not just good looks, said a Texas AgriLife Research scientist. Dr. Wenwei Xu, AgriLife Research corn breeder from Lubbock, is working with crosses between temperate and tropically adapted varieties of corn to find a drought-tolerant plant that performs well under reduced irrigation........ ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2008/new-nano-positioners-may-have-atomic-scale-precision.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2008/new-nano-positioners-may-have-atomic-scale-precision.html Thu, 11 Sep 2008 02:46:15 GMT Engineers have created a tiny motorized positioning device that has twice the dexterity of similar devices being developed for applications that include biological sensors and more compact, powerful computer hard drives. The device, called a monolithic comb drive, might be used as a "nanoscale manipulator" that precisely moves or senses movement and forces. The devices also can be used in watery environments for probing biological molecules, said Jason Vaughn Clark, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and mechanical engineering, who created the design........ ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2008/transition-from-home-to-college.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2008/transition-from-home-to-college.html Thu, 11 Sep 2008 02:46:15 GMT An increasing number of students are packing more than their computers and iPods when leaving for college. They are bringing along prescribed psychiatric medications. And once on campus, experiencing new freedom from supervision by mom, dad and hometown mental health providers in taking those medications may present an opportunity to experiment with stopping those meds........ ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2008/fungus-helps-beetles-to-digest-hard-wood.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2008/fungus-helps-beetles-to-digest-hard-wood.html Thu, 11 Sep 2008 02:46:15 GMT A little known fungus tucked away in the gut of Asian longhorned beetles helps the insect munch through the hardest of woods as per a team of entomologists and biochemists. Scientists say the discovery could lead to innovative methods of controlling the invasive pest, and potentially offer more efficient ways of breaking down plant biomass for generating biofuels........ ]]> http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2008/novel-fungus-helps-beetles-to-digest-hard-wood.html http://www.what-is-this.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2008/novel-fungus-helps-beetles-to-digest-hard-wood.html Thu, 11 Sep 2008 02:46:15 GMT University Park, Pa. -- A little known fungus tucked away in the gut of Asian longhorned beetles helps the insect munch through the hardest of woods according to a team of entomologists and biochemists. Researchers say the discovery could lead to innovative methods of controlling the invasive pest, and potentially offer more efficient ways of breaking down plant biomass for generating biofuels........ ]]>