Microscope Probes Nano-electronicsA new form of scanning microscopy that simultaneously reveals physical and electronic profiles of metal nanostructures has been demonstrated at JILA, a joint institute of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and University of Colorado at Boulder. The new instrument is expected to be particularly useful for analyzing the make-up and properties of nanoscale electronics and nanoparticles.
Scanning photoionization microscopy........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 11/1/2006 7:45:02 PM)
Why Wolves Not Dispersing As Fast As ExpectedIn 1995, 14 wolves were transferred to Yellowstone National Park in the U.S. from the Canadian Rocky Mountains, with 17 more joining them the following year. More than 1,000 healthy wolves have descended from the original 31, with about 150 of them still residing in the park boundaries.
However, wolves have been known to disperse at a rate of 100 km a year, but the Yellowstone wolves have only spread at one-tenth that rate. The slow........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 11/1/2006 5:12:45 PM)
Antidepressants Linked To Lower Child Suicide RatesScientists report an inverse relationship between antidepressant prescriptions and the rates of suicide in children and adolescents -- a finding that contradicts the Food and Drug Administration's "black box" warning for selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor medications, also known as SSRI drugs.
The University of Illinois at Chicago epidemiologic study appears in the recent issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry.
The scientists........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 11/1/2006 4:31:24 AM)
Amniocentesis Safe For Pregnant WomenAmniocentesis is the most commonly prescribed invasive test performed during pregnancies in the United States. Most women fear them while doctors recommend them based on guidelines from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. These guidelines stem from past research studies and recommendations by the CDC that were based only on maternal age. Studies that are decades old have suggested that amniocentesis increases the rate of........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 11/1/2006 4:23:21 AM)
Warmer, Wetter World this CenturyRecent episodes of deadly heat in the United States and Europe, long dry spells across the U.S. West, and heavy bursts of rain and snow across much of North America and Eurasia hint at longer-term changes to come, according to a new study based on several of the world's most advanced climate models. Much of the world will face an enhanced risk of heat waves, intense precipitation, and other weather extremes, conclude scientists from the........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/31/2006 7:52:46 PM)
Snake on a Galactic Plane!Something scary appears to be slithering across the plane of our Milky Way galaxy in this new Halloween image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The snake-like object is actually the core of a thick, sooty cloud large enough to swallow dozens of solar systems. In fact, astronomers say its "belly" may be harboring beastly stars in the process of forming.
"The snake is an ideal place to hunt for massive forming stars as they have not had........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/31/2006 6:59:23 PM)
Grasslands To Go NativeMontana rancher and inventor Lee Arbuckle may soon change the nation's market for native grass seed, a tricky-to-harvest crop worth hundreds of millions and vital to restoring wildlands.
With the help of the Montana Manufacturing Extension Center at Montana State University, Arbuckle and his wife Maggie have spent the last five years researching and developing a native grass seed harvester. The Arbuckle Native Seedster will be manufactured........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/31/2006 4:57:45 AM)
Laptops Will Link Global LearnersThe real star at an Oct. 19 lecture by Nicholas Negroponte was not the Media Lab co-founder and computer-aided design pioneer himself but what he brought to the Department of Architecture classroom at MIT--a model from his One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project.
After Negroponte finished outlining plans for creating and distributing the inexpensive computer to children in developing nations, the audience crowded the podium to examine the........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/31/2006 4:35:21 AM)
Insights Into Spiders' Polymer ArtA team of MIT engineers has identified two key physical processes that lend spider silk its unrivaled strength and durability, bringing closer to reality the long-sought goal of spinning artificial spider silk.
Manufactured spider silk could be used for artificial tendons and ligaments, sutures, parachutes and bulletproof vests. But engineers have not managed to do what spiders do effortlessly.
As per a research findings reported in the........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/31/2006 4:22:44 AM)
Microwave Your French Fries Before You Fry ThemMicrowaving your French fries before you fry them reduces the levels of a cancer-causing substance, reveals findings published recently in the SCI's Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.
The discovery of acrylamide - a possible carcinogenic in humans - has led to much research being done to investigate the benefits of alternative cooking methods. Acrylamide forms during processes such as frying, baking and roasting where........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/31/2006 4:09:48 AM)
Dad Or Mom?In families with two working parents, fathers had greater impact than mothers on their children's language development between ages 2 and 3, as per a research studyby the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Frank Porter Graham (FPG) Child Development Institute and UNC's School of Education.
Scientists videotaped pairs of parents and their 2-year-old children in their homes during playtime. The children whose fathers used more........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/30/2006 8:16:15 PM)
Nightmares, demons and slavesWorkplace bullying negatively impacts employees' physical and mental health, leading to higher company costs including increased employee illness, use of sick days, and medical costs, ultimately affecting productivity. Studies report that 25-30% of employees experience bullying and emotional abuse sometime during their work life.
In a recent study researching organizational conflict, emotion, wellness and work-life balance, reported in the........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/29/2006 7:15:23 PM)
Racial discrimination against African-American in HealthcareThe experience of racial discrimination may be a key factor in explaining why African Americans have higher rates of obesity and suffer at higher rates from such diseases as diabetes and cardiovascular disorders, according to UCLA researchers.
Repeated responses to such discrimination -- which include elevated blood pressure and heart rate -- can cause enormous stress on a person's mental and physical health, according to research scheduled........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/29/2006 7:04:42 PM)
Vitamin C and Water Healthy for Plastics, TooTwo new laboratory breakthroughs are poised to dramatically improve how plastics are made by assembling molecular chains more quickly and with less waste. Using such environmentally friendly substances as vitamin C or pure water, the two approaches present attractive alternatives to the common plastic manufacturing technique called free radical polymerization (FRP).
"The methods both present novel and complementary ways to dramatically........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/27/2006 9:28:23 PM)
How Oceans Emit Sulfur Into AtmosphereScientists have discovered a bacterial "switch gene" in two groups of microscopic plankton common in the oceans. The gene helps determine whether certain marine plankton convert a sulfur compound to one that rises into the atmosphere, where it can affect the earth's temperature, or remain in the sea, where it can be used as a nutrient.
"This new gene offers a powerful tool to study the question of how these plankton are involved with sulfur........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/27/2006 9:20:38 PM)
What Killed Dinosaurs 65 Million Years AgoGrowing evidence shows that the dinosaurs and their contemporaries were not wiped out by the famed Chicxulub meteor impact alone, according to a paleontologist who says multiple meteor impacts, massive volcanism in India and climate changes culminated in the end of the Cretaceous Period.
The Chicxulub impact may have been the lesser and earlier of a series of meteor impacts and volcanic eruptions that pounded life on Earth for more than........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/27/2006 5:19:55 AM)
Latest views of the V838Hubble has returned to the intriguing V838 Monocerotis a number of times since its initial outburst in 2002 to follow the evolution of its light echo. Two new images provide the most astonishing views of V838 to date.
The unusual variable star V838 Monocerotis (V838 Mon) continues to puzzle astronomers. This previously inconspicuous star underwent an outburst early in 2002, during which it temporarily increased in brightness to become........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/27/2006 5:04:53 AM)
Media And Body-imageNew research explores the relationship between so called "thin-ideal" images in the media and body-image issues among young women. Female undergraduates who viewed advertisements displaying ultra-thin women exhibited increases in body dissatisfaction, negative mood, levels of depression and lowered self-esteem. These findings were especially true for women who have negative views of their current body image and believe themselves to be........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/27/2006 4:54:56 AM)
Cracking The Stellar EvolutionUsing 3D models run on some of the fastest computers in the world, Laboratory physicists have created a mathematical code that cracks a mystery surrounding stellar evolution.
For years, physicists have theorized that low-mass stars (about one to two times the size of our sun) produce great amounts of helium 3 (³He). When they exhaust the hydrogen in their cores to become red giants, most of their makeup is ejected, substantially enriching........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/27/2006 4:34:11 AM)
3-D monitor vision test for childrenA new random-dot stereotest using a 3D display and infrared oculography has been found to objectively assess stereopsis in children older than three years as per an article reported in the November 2006 issue of Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science (IOVS).
The study involved 56 children, 38 with various visual impairments and 18 with normal vision. Study participants were seated on their mother's lap or alone with their heads........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/26/2006 5:14:27 AM)
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Why There Are More Species In The Tropics?Why are there more species in the tropics than in the temperate regions of the globe? A number of of the world's species live in the tropics (perhaps more than half), but the reason has been debated for more than 100 years.
A number of scientists have hypothesized that climatic factors somehow cause species to originate more quickly in tropical regions. In a paper appearing in the recent issue of The American Naturalist, John Wiens and a........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 11/1/2006 5:25:41 PM)
Old Leaves Need To Die In TimeIn a study from the recent issue of The American Naturalist, scientists Alex Boonman and co-workers from the Netherlands show that it is beneficial for plants growing in a dense stand to shed their oldest, lower leaves once these become shaded. By using transgenic tobacco plants that do not shed their lower leaves, they were able to show that shaded old leaves become a burden to a plant because they no longer photosynthesize but still require........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 11/1/2006 4:20:30 PM)
Rock Climbing Does Not Increase Risk Of OsteoarthritisA study in the US has found there is no greater risk of osteoarthritis in rock climbers compared to non climbers, contrary to previous theory.
The study, published in the recent issue of Journal of Anatomy, examined osteological changes in the hands and fingers of rock climbers that result from intense, long-term mechanical stress placed on these bones. Specifically, whether rock climbing leads to increased cortical bone thickness and joint........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 11/1/2006 4:43:46 AM)
Recovering PompeiiArtists in ancient Pompeii painted the town red 2,000 years ago with a brilliant crimson pigment that dominated many of the doomed city's wall paintings. Now scientists from France and Italy are reporting in the journal Analytical Chemistry why those paintings are undergoing a mysterious darkening. The synchrotron light of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble (France) has provided new insight into this process and what........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 11/1/2006 4:05:28 AM)
Save Threatened TurtlesEcology and conservation experts from the University of Exeter today urge international governments to work together to protect threatened Caribbean sea turtle populations.
The Cayman Islands, a UK Overseas Territory, once supported one of the world's largest sea turtle rookeries, which comprised some 6.5 million adult green and loggerhead turtles. These populations were driven into decline from the mid-1600s onwards, when massive harvesting........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/31/2006 9:26:39 PM)
Business Innovations And Creative PeopleAmerican companies continue to grapple with staying competitive in the global economy. Increasingly, companies and business gurus are citing innovation as the key to sustaining American business' strength. What's not clear is what it means for a company to be innovative. How can firms foster innovation? Can organizations cope with the changes necessary to produce advancements?
"It's important for Western companies to compete on innovation........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/31/2006 7:13:57 PM)
Global Warming And Insect Population GrowthInsects have proven to be highly adaptable organisms, able through evolution to cope with a variety of environmental changes, including relatively recent changes in the world's climate. But like something out of a scary Halloween tale, new University of Washington research suggests insects' ability to adapt to warmer temperatures carries an unexpected consequence - more insects.
It appears that insect species that adapt to warmer climates........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/31/2006 4:51:35 AM)
Teenage Girls' Use Of Diet PillsA study released recently by the University of Minnesota's "Project EAT" (Eating Among Teens) shows startling results of 2,500 female teenagers studied over a five-year period. The study observed that high school-aged females' use of diet pills nearly doubled from 7.5 to 14.2 percent. By the ages of 19 and 20, 20 percent of females surveyed used diet pills.
"These numbers are startling, and they tell us we need to do a better job of helping........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/31/2006 4:44:29 AM)
Technique Harnesses 3-D Game EnginesStudent researchers working with Beth Coleman, assistant professor in comparative media studies and in the Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies, are exploring machinima, one branch of the rapidly evolving world of computer animation. As members of the Machinima Work Group, they are experimenting in the medium to find new modes of cinematic expression.
Machinima (pronounced "machine-ima," the word is coined from "machine" and "cinema")........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/31/2006 4:27:43 AM)
Brain's Response To PleasingWe all have tastes we love, and tastes we hate. And yet, our "taste" for certain flavors and foods can change over time, as we get older or we get tired of eating the same old thing.
Now, a new University of Michigan study gives new evidence about what's going on in the brain when we taste something we like, or develop a liking for something we once hated.
And although the study used rats instead of people, it has direct implications for........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/30/2006 8:47:17 PM)
3-D ultrasound and robotic surgeryDuke University engineers have shown that a three-dimensional ultrasound scanner they developed can successfully guide a surgical robot.
The scanner could find application in various medical settings, as per the researchers. They said the scanner ultimately might enable surgeries to be performed without surgeons, a capability that could prove valuable in space stations or other remote locations.
"It's the first time, to our knowledge,........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/30/2006 8:30:38 PM)
Untold Stories Of Elk SkeletonSeeing the well-preserved antlers, skull and partial skeleton of a very large elk that was found in northern Wisconsin was impressive enough. But what really intrigued Jean Hudson was what was found nearby - a Clovis point, a type of spearhead used by hunters from about 10,000 years ago.
Very few have been found this far north, and this spearhead may be the one that doomed the animal all those millennia ago, says Hudson, an associate........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/29/2006 7:46:42 PM)
Lighter And Cheaper AlloysCar engines that consume less energy and can keep running on low oil, lead-free plumbing fixtures, and tanks that are light enough to be airlifted, but are just as rugged as the much heavier varieties.
They sound futuristic, but these products are already realities thanks to materials that stretch the limits of performance. Called cast metal matrix composites (MMCs), they are cheaper, lighter and stronger than their original alloys. In fact,........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/29/2006 6:59:14 PM)
Flight of the BumblebeeRebecca Flanagan has probably come as close as a human can to reading the mind of a bumblebee.
Flanagan, a graduate student in biological sciences, and Associate Professor Jeffrey Karron are studying the behaviors of bees as they gather pollen - which plant species the bees forage on, which flowers they probe and in what order, and how many blooms they visit before moving on to another plant. In doing so, the bees make plant reproduction........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/29/2006 6:53:05 PM)
How Female Pronghorns Choose Mate?When a female animal compares males to choose a mate, she can't order a laboratory genetic screen for each suitor. Instead, she has to rely on external cues that may indicate genetic quality. Until now, biologists have focused on elaborate ornaments, such as the peacock's tail, as cues that females might use.
The thorny problem has been to explain how the correlation between male genetic quality and ornament quality can be maintained. If an........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/27/2006 9:23:51 PM)
Profiles Of Serial Killers Have LimitationsDennis Rader, the notorious BTK murderer who eluded capture for more than 30 years until his arrest in 2005, did not fit precisely into the FBI's method for profiling serial killers on the basis of crime scenes.
And Aileen Wuornos, the Florida prostitute executed in 2002 for slaying seven men over a two-year period in the early 1990s, didn't fit at all because the database of convicted serial killers used by the FBI in developing their........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/27/2006 9:13:45 PM)
Survivors of organized violenceA series of studies, conducted by a psychotraumatology research group headed by Thomas Elbert in collaboration with Penn State psychology expert William Ray, has examined a group of people who have been exposed to different magnitudes of torture and found the appearance of dissociation (mental separation from the incident) long after the event. The research is reported in the latest issue of Psychological Science.
Those who experienced........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/27/2006 5:01:00 AM)
Gene Target Against Crohn's Disease And Ulcerative ColitisThe discovery by a six-member Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Genetics Consortium of a genetic risk factor for IBD has been reported in Science Express, the online publication of the journal Science. As per one of the Canadian principal investigators, director of the Laboratory in Genetics and Genomic Medicine of Inflammation at the Montreal Heart Institute, Dr. John D. Rioux, "This discovery may lead to a paradigm shift in our thinking from........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/27/2006 4:45:16 AM)
What Makes A Bee A He Or A She?Three years ago, researchers pinpointed a gene called csd that determines gender in honey bees, and now a research team led by University of Michigan evolutionary biologist Jianzhi "George" Zhang has unraveled details of how the gene evolved. The new insights could prove useful in designing strategies for breeding honey bees, which are major pollinators of economically important crops-and notoriously tricky to breed.
The findings of Zhang........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/27/2006 4:40:31 AM)
Moderate Drinking May Boost MemoryIn the long run, a drink or two a day may be good for the brain.
Scientists observed that moderate amounts of alcohol - amounts equivalent to a couple of drinks a day for a human - improved the memories of laboratory rats.
Such a finding may have implications for serious neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's, said Matthew During, the study's senior author and a professor of molecular virology, immunology and cancer genetics at Ohio........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/26/2006 5:19:14 AM)
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