Welcome to Science Saturday, where the Overnight News Digest crew, consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors maggiejean, wader, Man Oh Man, side pocket, rfall, and JML9999, alumni editors palantir, Bentliberal, Oke, jlms qkw, Interceptor7, and ScottyUrb, guest editors annetteboardman and Doctor RJ, and current editor-in-chief Neon Vincent, along with anyone else who reads and comments, informs and entertains you with this week's news about science, space, health, energy, and the environment.
Between now and the end of the primary season, Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday will highlight the research stories from the public universities in each of the states having primary or special elections for federal or state office this year plus stories from all research universities in major cities having municipal elections as listed in the Green Papers or the 2014 Daily Kos Elections Calendar. Tonight's edition features the research and outreach stories from the District of Columbia and the states of Alabama, Florida, Massachusetts, and Texas.
This week's featured story comes from Space.com.
Will Ocean Discovery On Enceladus Spur Life-Hunting Missions to Icy Moons of Saturn, Jupiter?
By Mike Wall, Senior Writer
April 04, 2014 07:33am ET
Astronomers are hoping that the existence of a subsurface ocean on Saturn's icy moon Enceladus will build momentum for life-hunting missions to the outer solar system.
Researchers announced their discovery of the deep watery ocean on Enceladus on Thursday (April 3) in the journal Science, confirming suspicions held by many scientists since 2005, when NASA's Cassini spacecraft spied geysers of ice and water vapor erupting from Enceladus' south pole.
The discovery vaults Enceladus into the top tier of life-hosting candidates along with Europa, an ice-sheathed moon of Jupiter that also hosts a subterranean ocean. Both frigid satellites bear much closer investigation, researchers say.
More stories after the jump.
Recent Science Diaries and Stories
Green diary rescue: Climate and the fifth assessment, despite ruling, Japan not done whaling
by Meteor Blades
On the Joy of Reading Diaries NOT on the Rec List
by Steven D
This week in science: that's no moon!
by DarkSyde
Ebola death toll climbs to 85 out of 137 cases, in Mali, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone
by HoundDog
Slideshows/Videos
Discovery News: How Stripes Make Zebras Invisible To Bugs!
Zebras have stripes because it's a form of camouflage, right? Wrong! Trace takes a look at a few different animals in the wild that have prominent features with a weird purpose.
Discovery News: How Well Can We Predict Earthquakes?
A string of earthquakes have been occurring in Chile and Southern California. What causes earthquakes, is a bigger one coming, and can we predict them? Annie is here to give you a rundown of the current events, and lets you know how to stay safe during a disaster.
Discovery News: Why Japan Needs To Stop Whaling!
Some people in Japan have been whaling for years claiming they are doing it in the name of science. Recently, the UN ordered Japan to stop their annual whale hunt because it is not lawful. Trace explains the history of whaling, and why we don't need it anymore.
NASA: Underground water on Saturn moon on This Week @NASA
Thanks to NASA's Cassini spacecraft and the Deep Space Network, we have evidence that a large underground ocean of water exists on Saturn's moon Enceladus -- a theory formulated in 2005. Radio frequency and gravity measurements of Cassini flying by the moon indicate a large ocean about 6 miles deep, below an ice shell about 19 to 25 miles thick. This finding validates the inclusion of Enceladus to the list of possible places in our solar system to contain microbial life. Also, LADEE update, Women in Aerospace, Lightfoot visits Langley, Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board meetings, International students observing climate and New partner at Kennedy!
NASA: Bolden Testifies About the Budget on This Week @NASA
NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden responded to questions at a Congressional hearing about the agency's $17.5 billion FY2015 budget proposal, which affirms the bi-partisan plan agreed to by Congress and the President for NASA to carry out an ambitious deep space exploration program. One that includes sending humans to an asteroid and Mars, extending use of the International Space Station to at least 2024, developing the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket and fostering commercial partnerships. Also, Asteroid Initiative Opportunities Forum, Nyberg and Parmitano in DC, Welcome to space! GPM's first light, Exploration Design Challenge, Composite cryo tank delivered and Angry Nerd robot!
Science at NASA: ScienceCast: The Opposition of Mars
Earth and Mars are converging for a close encounter in April,
an event astronomers call "the opposition of Mars."
JPL/NASA: What's Up For April 2014
Mars at opposition, a lunar eclipse and April's Lyrid meteor shower.
Hubble Space Telescope: Tonight's Sky: April 2014
Backyard stargazers get a monthly guide to the northern hemisphere's skywatching events with "Tonight's Sky." April is a good month for eclipses. Lucky viewers will see a total lunar eclipse or a partial solar eclipse.
Astronomy/Space
Texas Tech: Physicist, Team Observe Closest Milemarker Supernova
Type Ia supernovae used to judge distances. This could improve future measurements.
Written by John Davis
March 25, 2014
Researchers including a Texas Tech University physicist have intently studied the closest type Ia supernova discovered in a generation. The proximity to Earth could yield better understanding of this particular type of supernova that astronomers use to gauge distances in the universe and learn about its expansion history.
The research was led by Stockholm University and published in the peer-reviewed journal, Astrophysical Journal Letters.
With the help of a special spectroscopic camera developed by David Sand, an assistant professor in Texas Tech’s Department of Physics, the team observed the supernova was a mere 12 million light years away from Earth. Finding one so close is important, he said, because astrophysicists use these stars to map distances in the universe.
American University: Forecasting Space Weather
By Abbey Becker
April 3, 2014
When he was young, Dhanesh Krishnarao, BS physics and mathematics ’14, took a family vacation to Disney World and to nearby Kennedy Space Center. That’s when he fell in love with space and astronomy.
Now Krishnarao’s dream job is to be an astronaut, but he’s taking it one step at a time to get there. Last summer he began an internship with NASA in the area of space weather forecasting. “These forecasts can predict the sun’s effects on Earth and its magnetic field, among other things,” he says, all of which is helpful information for NASA robotic missions, the military, and the government.
Last fall, he teleworked on his internship project from AU. This semester, he is traveling to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, one day a week to work on a new project: observing solar flares. “I always had an interest in astronomy,” he says. “Space weather wasn’t a focus until I started at NASA.”
Climate/Environment
Auburn University: Food Defense Begins with Food Intelligence
By Bob Norton
April 3, 2014
Consumers have largely lost an understanding of the traditional sources of food (such as farms, fields, ranches and orchards) and now tend to think of food’s origin as the grocery store or the fast-food restaurant. America has moved so far away from its agrarian past that most people cannot produce for themselves even the most simply grown foods.
Consumers need to understand the complexities of modern food production so they can prepare for disruptions caused by natural disasters or terrorist attacks. This can be accomplished in part by better understanding how food corporations plan for contingencies and then applying those lessons at the household level.
The average large city in the United States contains about three days’ supply of food, smaller communities often even less. Should the supply chain be disrupted, a readily available alternative supply might not exist. Some people think the government would step in to provide necessities in an emergency, but countless cases—including the disasters caused by tornadoes in the Oklahoma City region last year—have proven that the government is only marginally effective in providing even short-term solutions. Like companies, individuals should always consider food disruption as a distinct possibility when an emergency looms.
After the Oklahoma tornadoes and Hurricane Sandy, some people actually did go hungry, some for several days, because no one could get through the debris to offer assistance. This is one reason the Department of Homeland Security recommends that all households store at least a three-day supply of nonperishable food.
University of Texas: Crib Mattresses Emit High Rates of Potentially Harmful Chemicals, Cockrell School Engineers Find
April 2, 2014
AUSTIN, Texas — In a first-of-its-kind study, a team of environmental engineers from the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin found that infants are exposed to high levels of chemical emissions from crib mattresses while they sleep.
Analyzing the foam padding in crib mattresses, the team found that the mattresses release significant amounts of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), potentially harmful chemicals also found in household items such as cleaners and scented sprays.
The researchers studied samples of polyurethane foam and polyester foam padding from 20 new and old crib mattresses. Graduate student Brandon Boor, in the Cockrell School’s Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, conducted the study under the supervision of assistant professor Ying Xu and associate professor Atila Novoselac. Boor also worked with senior researcher Helena Järnström from the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. They reported their findings in the February issue of Environmental Science & Technology.
Biodiversity
Auburn University: We Can’t BBQ Our Way Out of This One
By Mark D. Smith and Stephen S. Ditchkoff
April 3, 2014
Wild pigs, frequently referred to as feral swine or feral hogs, have been in North American for a long time—since the late 1500s, in fact, when the first wild pigs were introduced by Europeans. Since that time, small isolated populations have persisted throughout the Southeast, whether from accidental escapes from swine production operations or remnants from the bygone days of free-ranging domestic swine. In the last 20 or so years, these wild pigs have steadily increased their range and numbers in Alabama and throughout the United States, where they are now found in 47 states.
The live trapping, transporting, and then releasing of wild pigs to new areas for hunting purposes, an activity that is now illegal in all but a couple of states, has been the primary cause for this recent, dramatic spread. Once these pigs find a new home, their high rate of reproduction, combined with their adaptability, allows them to gain a foothold in their new environment. Unfortunately, the damage wild pigs cause far outweighs their value as a recreational hunting species, something those unscrupulous people responsible for spreading wild pigs fail to understand. This is of grave concern to wildlife biologists and should also be of great concern to landowners, agricultural producers, forest owners, hunters, and livestock growers.
University of Massachusetts: Tracking Sperm Whales’ Ecology through Stomach Contents
UMass Amherst Expert Studies Biodiversity and Habitat
April 4, 2014
AMHERST, Mass. – In the largest regional study of its type to date, marine ecologist Michelle Staudinger and colleagues offer better understanding of the feeding ecologies of two very rare sperm whale species in waters off the southeast U.S. coast, adding baseline data they say are important as climate change, fishing and pollution alters the animals’ environment and food sources.
“Understanding what resources support populations of these incredibly rare animals is important to conservation,” Staudinger, adjunct assistant professor in environmental conservation at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, says of the pygmy and dwarf sperm whales she studied. “If there are changes in the environment or their prey, we can now hope to better anticipate the potential impacts. There had been quite a knowledge gap about these animals, but this work gives us an idea of their ecological niche and requirements in the current environment.”
For the investigation, which used two complementary methods to characterize whale foraging ecology, Staudinger and colleagues at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNC) analyzed stomach contents collected by the marine mammal stranding network from 22 pygmy and nine dwarf sperm whales found dead on the mid-Atlantic coast between 1998 and 2011. Study results appear in the April issue of Marine Mammal Science.
Biotechnology/Health
University of Alabama: UA Scientist Emphasizes Metabolites’ Role in Understanding Disease
April 2, 2014
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Overreliance on genetic-centered approaches in predicting, diagnosing and treating disease will lead to few future scientific breakthroughs, cautioned a University of Alabama researcher who co-authored an article in an early online issue of Genetics that advocates for a greater emphasis on the body’s metabolites in understanding illnesses.
“To augment the value of genetic data, the scientific community needs to add additional information from things like metabolomics – the analysis of metabolites within an organism,” said Dr. Laura Reed, a University of Alabama geneticist and the March 25 paper’s lead author.
“The Human Genome Project has been sold as something that is going to revolutionize medicine – that soon we will get our genomes sequenced, and we will be able to figure out exactly what diseases we are at risk for and, maybe, the best way to treat them,” said Reed. “While it’s true there are important innovations to come from that kind of information, it is much more limited than some may have hoped.”
Using fruit flies as animal models in the research publishing in Genetics, the multi-institution team demonstrated how genetics, in combination with metabolomics and gene expression — how genes are turned on — can be used to predict heart disease and the organism’s response to environmental change, said Reed.
University of Alambama at Birmingham: Disease-, age-related effects of HIV may impact driving abilities of middle-aged and older adults
by Tyler Greer
March 31, 2014
Nearly half of people living with HIV experience cognitive deficits that may impact instrumental activities of daily living, including driving, according to University of Alabama at BirminghamSchool of Nursing research published in the March issue of the Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care.
“As the number of people aging with HIV increases, concerns mount that disease-related cognitive deficits may be compounded by age-related deficits,” said David E. Vance, Ph.D., associate director of the Center for Nursing Research and principal investigator of the research. “Disease-related deficits may be compounded by age-related deficits, which may further compromise everyday functions such as driving.”
In a cross-sectional pilot study funded by a pilot grant from the National Institutes of Health-funded UAB Center for AIDS Research, 26 adults age 40 and older were administered demographic, health, psychosocial and driving habit questionnaires, as well as cognitive assessments and driving simulator tests. While the study participants’ viral load — the level of HIV in one’s blood — was unrelated to driving performance, older age was related to poorer driving.
Study results also found that poorer visual speed-of-processing performance, including useful field of view, was related to poorer driving performance, which included average reaction times.
University of Florida: Nanotubes made from plants could allow delivery of DNA into cells, improve chemotherapy treatment
April 3rd, 2014
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Researchers with the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences took what some would consider garbage and made a remarkable scientific tool, one that could someday help to correct genetic disorders or treat cancer without chemotherapy’s nasty side effects.
Wilfred Vermerris, an associate professor in UF’s department of microbiology and cell science, and Elena Ten, a postdoctoral research associate, created from plant waste a novel nanotube, one that is much more flexible than rigid carbon nanotubes currently used. The researchers say the lignin nanotubes – about 500 times smaller than a human eyelash – can deliver DNA directly into the nucleus of human cells in tissue culture, where this DNA could then correct genetic conditions. Experiments with DNA injection are currently being done with carbon nanotubes, as well.
“That was a surprising result,” Vermerris said. “If you can do this in actual human beings you could fix defective genes that cause disease symptoms and replace them with functional DNA delivered with these nanotubes.”
University of Florida: Patients rate pain care differently depending on locale, UF researchers find
April 2nd, 2014
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Hospital patients’ responses to a question about whether their pain is well-controlled may depend in part on where they live, University of Florida researchers report.
The findings could lead to system-level changes in patient care based on regional differences, said Dr. Patrick Tighe, an assistant professor of anesthesiology and the study’s first author.
“Acute pain management is a critically important factor in patient care,” he said. “Our data suggest that we may need to take regional differences in patient experience with pain management into account.”
Florida State University: Chowing down on watermelon could lower blood pressure, study suggests
March 25, 2014
Be sure to pick up a watermelon — or two — at your local grocery store.
It could save your life.
A new study by Florida State University Associate Professor Arturo Figueroa, published in the American Journal of Hypertension, found that watermelon could significantly reduce blood pressure in overweight individuals both at rest and while under stress.
“The pressure on the aorta and on the heart decreased after consuming watermelon extract,” Figueroa said.
University of Massachusetts Medical School: New clinical practice guideline for prostate cancer screening in Massachusetts
UMMS-led panel calls for shared decision making about PSA testing
By Sandra Gray
April 04, 2014
Men considering prostate cancer screening should receive a brief, basic message about the possible benefits and harms of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test, according to a new recommendation from the Massachusetts Prostate Cancer Screening Guideline Panel.
The panel, convened by UMass Medical School family physician and preventive health screening researcher Roger Luckmann, MD, MPH, concludes in its new Clinical Practice Guideline that a shared decision making process is the best approach to assuring that men are fully prepared to make an informed decision about whether to undergo PSA screening. The guideline was released by the Massachusetts Health Quality Partnership (MHQP).
“If a man goes through a well-designed, shared decision making process, there are known benefits, based on good evidence, that he feels less conflicted, understands the decision and is satisfied with it,” said Dr. Luckmann, associate professor of family medicine and community health. “These are soft but well-documented outcomes.”
Texas A&M: Tired? How caffeine is making you sleep less
Drinking too much caffeine could be making you go to sleep later and get less sleep each night.
by Kendall Cherry
April 3, 2014
More than 80 percent of Americans start their day with caffeine, and while it can be a healthy way to get going in the mornings, it can also hurt your sleeping patterns.
“Sometimes the effects of caffeine can persist for over six hours,” says David Earnest, Ph.D., assistant professor at the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine. He performs research on how dietary composition affects circadian rhythms and sleep cycles.
While caffeine can be helpful to jumpstart your day, it can also cause you to go to sleep later and get less sleep each night.
Psychology/Behavior
The Independent (UK): Dolphins ‘deliberately get high’ on puffer fish nerve toxins by carefully chewing and passing them around
Adam Withnall
Monday 30 December 2013
Dolphins are thought of as one of the most intelligent species in the animal kingdom – and experts believe they have put their ingenuity to use in the pursuit of getting “high”.
In extraordinary scenes filmed for a new documentary, young dolphins were seen carefully manipulating a certain kind of puffer fish which, if provoked, releases a nerve toxin.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Archeology/Anthropology
Polish Press Agency: Did the pharaohs know hieroglyphics? - Polish Egyptologist explains
31.03.2014
Could all the pharaohs read and write? Only 1-3 percent of the inhabitants of ancient Egypt mastered this exceptionally difficult art. Evidence of literacy of the rulers of Egypt are perhaps not numerous, but clear, argues Filip Taterka, Egyptologist, a doctoral student at the Institute of Prehistory, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan'.
In ancient Egypt, there were several types of handwriting. Currently, the best known are classical hieroglyphics, carved in stone on the walls of temples and tombs.
University of Chicago via PhysOrg: World's oldest weather report could revise Bronze Age chronology
by Susie Allen And William Harms
Apr 02, 2014
An inscription on a 3,500-year-old stone block from Egypt may be one of the world's oldest weather reports—and could provide new evidence about the chronology of events in the ancient Middle East.
A new translation of a 40-line inscription on the 6-foot-tall calcite block called the Tempest Stela describes rain, darkness and "the sky being in storm without cessation, louder than the cries of the masses."
LiveScience: 3,300-Year-Old Tomb with Pyramid Entrance Discovered in Egypt
By Owen Jarus, Live Science Contributor
March 30, 2014 01:27pm ET
A tomb newly excavated at an ancient cemetery in Egypt would have boasted a pyramid 7 meters (23 feet) high at its entrance, archaeologists say.
The tomb, found at the site of Abydos, dates back around 3,300 years. Within one of its vaulted burial chambers, a team of archaeologists found a finely crafted sandstone sarcophagus, painted red, which was created for a scribe named Horemheb. The sarcophagus has images of several Egyptian gods on it and hieroglyphic inscriptions recording spells from the Book of the Dead that helped one enter the afterlife.
The Times of Israel: 6th-century Byzantine monastery excavated in Negev
Mosaic floors bearing colorful designs, Greek inscriptions found during roadwork near Bedouin village of Hura
By Yifa Yaakov
A Byzantine monastery discovered in the northern Negev was revealed to the public on Tuesday.
The monastery, excavated near the entrance to the Bedouin village of Hura by the Israel Antiquities Authority, was uncovered during the construction of a new interchange on the road to the village, which was established in 1989 as part of Israeli efforts to settle the semi-nomadic Bedouin.
WBIR: Nashville ballpark build unearths ancient finds
Adam Tamburin, The Tennessean
Prehistoric artifacts found at the Sulphur Dell construction site are adding another chapter to Nashville's history.
State archaeologist Mike Moore said crews first unearthed the prehistoric deposits, which could date back as far as 1150 AD, last month in the area that will one day become left field for the Nashville Sounds. Archaeologists' work at the site wrapped Wednesday so that construction could continue.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Paleontology/Evolution
Jerusalem Post (Israel): Horses, fallow deer, rhinoceroses were foods of choice in prehistoric Ramle
Haifa University archaeologists dig up prehistoric remains near Ramle that date back to the Mousterian period.
By JPOST.COM STAFF
03/30/2014 14:48
Horses, fallow deer, aurochs and rhinoceros were part of the human diet for those who lived in the area of present- day Ramle over 170,000 years ago, Haifa University scientists have discovered.
In excavations near Ramle, archeologists have uncovered some of the earliest remains of human settlement in the Middle East, estimating that the findings date back to the Paleolithic era.
Science Magazine: Did Europeans Get Fat From Neandertals?
1 April 2014 11:30 am
Neandertals and modern Europeans had something in common: They were fatheads of the same ilk. A new genetic analysis reveals that our brawny cousins had a number of distinct genes involved in the buildup of certain types of fat in their brains and other tissues—a trait shared by today’s Europeans, but not Asians. Because two-thirds of our brains are built of fatty acids, or lipids, the differences in fat composition between Europeans and Asians might have functional consequences, perhaps in helping them adapt to colder climates or causing metabolic diseases.
Science Codex: Ancient nomads spread earliest domestic grains along Silk Road, study finds
Charred grains of barley, millet and wheat deposited nearly 5,000 years ago at campsites in the high plains of Kazakhstan show that nomadic sheepherders played a surprisingly important role in the early spread of domesticated crops throughout a mountainous east-west corridor along the historic Silk Road, suggests new research from Washington University in St. Louis.
"Our findings indicate that ancient nomadic pastoralists were key players in an east-west network that linked innovations and commodities between present-day China and southwest Asia," said study co-author Michael Frachetti, PhD, an associate professor of archaeology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University and principal investigator on the research project.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Geology
George Washington University: GW Students Safe in Chile
Seven students accounted for after 8.2-magnitude earthquake hits the country.
April 02, 2014
The seven George Washington students who are studying in Chile this semester are all safe and have been accounted for after a major earthquake struck off the coast of the South American country Tuesday.
Energy
University of Massachusetts: Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation and UMass Amherst Announce Renewable Chemicals Research with ExxonMobil
Chemical Engineer Paul J. Dauenhauer is Key Researcher
April 1, 2014
AMHERST, Mass – The Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation (CCEI), a U.S. Department of Energy – Energy Frontier Research Center, today announced a two-year program with ExxonMobil to research renewable chemicals from biomass. The research will focus on converting lignocellulosic (non-food) biomass such as trees and grasses to polymers, which are identical to existing petrochemical products.
Research strategies to replace fossil fuel feedstocks for polymers have initially focused on new chemicals derived from biomass that have the same function but new structure. However, functional-replacement chemicals for new polymers frequently have physical properties that can make processing challenging and can be expensive to develop into new products.
The CCEI’s research focuses on using high throughput and low cost thermochemical (non-biological) catalysts to yield direct-replacement chemicals. “You can mix our renewable chemicals with the petroleum-based material and the consumer will not be able to tell the difference,” says Professor Paul J. Dauenhauer of the CCEI and UMass Amherst. Bio-derived direct-replacement chemicals can be directly blended at any ratio with existing petrochemical products. Direct-replacement biomass-derived chemicals also provide increased economic and manufacturing flexibility. “Manufacturing of direct-replacement chemicals from biomass helps move towards renewable materials and a more diverse feedstock base for chemical producers,” says Professor Dionisios Vlachos, director of the CCEI.
University of Massachusetts: UMass Amherst Team Uses State Energy Grant to Conduct Smart Energy Meter Project at Holyoke Gas & Electric Co.
March 31, 2014
AMHERST, Mass. – Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst are conducting a pilot project with the Holyoke Gas & Electric Co. that will show the utility and its customers how smart electric meters can save money and power. The project is funded by a $200,000 grant from the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources.
Professors Prashant Shenoy, computer science, and David Irwin, electrical and computer engineering, are heading up a team of UMass Amherst researchers who will be using information from several dozen volunteers from HG&E’s customer base to demonstrate how to improve electricity use based on their metered use.
Shenoy says the key to the entire project is the smart meters that give a detailed record of electricity use in a home and allows the utility and the scientists to see what appliances, lights and heating and cooling equipment is being used during the day. The meters report electronically every five minutes so there is a detailed record from each house that uses the device.
Physics
University of Central Florida: NanoTech Leads to Break-Through in Stealth Technology
March 31, 2014
Controlling and bending light around an object so it appears invisible to the naked eye is the theory behind fictional invisibility cloaks.
It may seem easy in Hollywood movies, but is hard to create in real life because no material in nature has the properties necessary to bend light in such a way. Scientists have managed to create artificial nanostructures that can do the job, called metamaterials. But the challenge has been making enough of the material to turn science fiction into a practical reality.
The work of Debashis Chanda at the University of Central Florida, however, may have just cracked that barrier. The cover story in the March edition of the journal Advanced Optical Materials, explains how Chanda and fellow optical and nanotech experts were able to develop a larger swath of multilayer 3-D metamaterial operating in the visible spectral range. They accomplished this feat by using nanotransfer printing, which can potentially be engineered to modify surrounding refractive index needed for controlling propagation of light.
Chemistry
LiveScience: Monks' Secret: Asbestos Lurking Beneath Byzantine Wall Paintings
By Joseph Castro, Live Science Contributor
Hundreds of years before asbestos became ubiquitous in the construction industry, Byzantine monks used the fibrous material in plaster coatings underlying their wall paintings during the late 1100s, new research shows.
Asbestos is a type of natural, rock-forming mineral known for its ability to separate into long, flexible fibers. It has long been thought that asbestos fibers, which are corrosion- and combustion-resistant, were first integrated into such things as plaster, finish coatings and floors after the Industrial Revolution.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
American University: Chemistry Professors Improve Furniture Smoldering Test
By Rebecca Basu
April 4, 2014
American University chemistry researchers and scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) discovered a way to improve a test that gauges how well upholstered furniture can resist smoldering combustion to delay the possible onset of fire. The research results are available online in the scientific journal, Polymer Degradation and Stability.
In the United States, fires in which upholstered furniture is the first item ignited account for about 6,700 home fires annually and result in 480 deaths, according to the National Fire Protection Association. These fires can be started from an open-flame source, such as a candle, or from a smoldering source, such as a lit cigarette or incense.
In the smoldering test, two foam pieces about two-inches thick are covered with fabric and placed in a wooden frame to replicate a small-scale version of seat and back cushions. It mimics a scenario where furniture foam sits on a non-air-permeable substrate (e.g. the wooden frame). A cigarette (certified to burn consistently) is placed in the frame’s crevice. To pass the test, the lit cigarette should not cause sustained smoldering of the fabric or the underlying foam.
Science Crime Scenes
News24 (South Africa): Ancient statues stolen from Sudan heritage site
2014-04-02 11:00
Khartoum - Three statues linked to royal burial ceremonies in Sudan's ancient Napatan civilisation have been stolen from a museum near a Unesco World Heritage site, an official said on Tuesday.
Their disappearance underscores the lack of protection afforded Sudan's rich but under-developed archaeological heritage.
BBC: 'Looted' artefacts removed from auction
Two ancient artefacts have been withdrawn from auctions after suspicions were raised that they had been illegally smuggled out of Italy.
Christie's had been due to sell a Greek glass jug thought to date from the 2nd-1st Century BC, while Bonham's had listed a 3rd Century BC pottery box.
They were withdrawn after an antiquities expert identified them as having been sold by Italian smugglers.
Heritage Daily: Springtime for Hitler and “Nazi War [Death Porn] Diggers”
Andy Brockman discusses the issues raised by “Nazi War Diggers”.
March 31, 2014
UK Production Company ClearStory and National Geographic Channel have been accused of unethical practice and ignoring advice in a new battlefield metal detecting series.
The bitter fighting in Latvia, Poland and the Kurland Peninsula which took place in the Winter of 1944/45 became known as Nazi Germany’s Dunkirk. Last weekend, The National Geographic Channel and British television production company ClearStory; producers of the Channel 4 series “Sex Box”, as well as documentaries featuring Historian David Reynolds and Scientist Richard Dawkins; are facing their own ignominious retreat and bitter rearguard action over their new television series “Nazi War Diggers” [http://natgeotv.com/...], which was partly shot in Kurland and Poland and which is set to premier on the National Geographic Channel in April 2014.
The series of four programmes set out to “ to hunt for relics and bodies, uncovering a forgotten story of World War Two’s bloody front.” promising that the programme’s team of amateur talent would “come face to face with the dangers and cost of war.” However, hundreds of archaeologists from the USA, the UK and Europe as well as from across the blogsphere and social media, including many experts in human osteology and battlefield archaeology, are united in condemnation of the series.
N.Y. Times: National Geographic Channel Pulls ‘Nazi War Diggers’ Series
By TOM MASHBERG
March 31, 2014, 7:08 pm
National Geographic Channel said Monday that it would “indefinitely” pull a planned television series on unearthing Nazi war graves after days of blistering criticism from archeologists and others who said the show handled the dead with macabre disrespect.
The channel said that after “consulting with colleagues” at the National Geographic Society, it would not broadcast the series, “Nazi War Diggers,” in May as scheduled “while questions raised in recent days regarding accusations about the program can be properly reviewed.” The show was to have been broadcast globally except in the United States.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
George Washington University: Women Make Strides in Cybersecurity
Five top professionals trace their career achievements in the male-dominated field.
By Julyssa Lopez
April 02, 2014
Samara Moore’s grandfather co-owned an architecture firm when she was a child. From the time she was a toddler up until elementary school, she’d accompany him to work regularly. She made a home at his drafting table, where he would write out math problems for her to solve.
“Most parents would show off their kids doing a dance or some other cute thing, but my grandfather would put a complex problem in front of me and tell everyone, ‘Look! She can do it!’” Ms. Moore remembered.
This early introduction to math eventually led her to a career in information technology and cybersecurity. Today, Ms. Moore is an adjunct professor at the George Washington University and directs critical infrastructure at the National Security Council.
Science, Space, Health, Environment, and Energy Policy
The Guardian (UK): Augustus rules again as Rome acts to restore lost mausoleum
On the 2,000th anniversary of the emperor's death work will finally start to reopen historic site to visitors
Tom Kington in Rome
The Observer, Saturday 29 March 2014 08.14 EDT
He was Rome's first emperor, the founder of a world-dominating imperial dynasty, and a builder of roads and stunning temples who brought peace to a far-flung empire; a man so powerful the Roman senate named a month after him. Now, on the 2,000th anniversary of the death of the emperor Augustus, the city of Rome is getting ready to honour its favourite son by saving his mausoleum from shocking neglect.
Built in 28BC and as broad as a city block, the cylindrical mausoleum has seen better days after being sacked, bombed and built upon down the centuries. It was used as a bullfighting ring and a concert hall before it was finally abandoned, recently becoming a hangout for prostitutes and a handy toilet for tramps.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
University of Texas: Air Pollution and Hydraulic Fracturing: Better Monitoring, Planning and Tracking of Health Effects Needed in Texas
March 27, 2014
AUSTIN, Texas — A review by a University of Texas at Austin researcher highlights the rapid proliferation of gas industry operations in urban areas and questions whether state and federal air pollution regulatory programs are well designed to ensure health and safety. The review recommends increased government monitoring, health impact studies and regulation of air pollution.
The findings by Rachael Rawlins, faculty member in the UT Community and Regional Planning Program in the School of Architecture, were recently published in the Virginia Environmental Law Journal. They were based on a comprehensive review and analysis of air quality monitoring, regulation and health effect studies of hydraulic fracturing on the Barnett Shale in Texas.
The Barnett Shale is home to the most intensive hydraulic fracturing and gas production activities ever undertaken in a densely urbanized area. The Barnett Shale includes the Dallas/Fort Worth area, where thousands of oil and gas wells have been drilled in and around neighborhoods.
Texas A&M: Former Top Government Official on Science To Speak April 10
April 3, 2014
Neal Lane, former director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, will present “Giving Science Advice to the President – and Why It’s Getting Harder” at 4 p.m. Thursday (April 10) in Room 215 of the Animal Industries Building at Texas A&M University.
The lecture is sponsored by the Texas Center for Climate Studies and the College of Geosciences and is free and open to the public.
Lane’s lecture will focus on the role of science adviser to the president and how that role is affected by societal forces. He will also discuss current challenges to the United States science and technology enterprise.
Science Education
American University: AU First in Nation to Debut "Smells of Sustainability" Devices in Classrooms
By Joshua Kaplan
April 1, 2014
After recently being ranked #3 in the nation for sustainability by Niche.com, AU's Office of Sustainability began exploring new and innovative ways sustainability could be introduced into everyday campus life to help boost the university's ranking to #1. After reviewing nearly twenty pieces of cutting-edge technology, AU has purchased 75 "olfactoscopes", which will be installed in classrooms campus-wide before the end of the semester. Olfactoscopes use low-energy ionized pulses to create the illusion of smell, tapping into a sensory organ that is often missing in classroom instruction.
"For years, we have used technologies such as digital projectors to bring audio and video into the classroom experience. Now, we have the opportunity to grab education by the nose and run with it”, remarked Windy Powers, Technology Specialist in AU's Center for Aroma Awareness.
The first use of the olfactoscopes will be in courses teaching topics including environmental protection, conservation, social justice, and sustainability. Smells will include fresh-cut grass, a pile of compost, and the electrifying scent of a silicon-based photovoltaic panel converting sunlight into electricity.
University of Massachusetts, Boston: Ocean Science: The Final, Final Frontier
Anna Pinkert
March 28, 2014
Oceanographer and science education expert Bob Chen is happy to see Neil deGrasse Tyson talking up astrophysics in the new Fox miniseries Cosmos, and he dreams of a similar level of popular enthusiasm for ocean science. In a new report, Chen's colleagues present some unorthodox suggestions for how scientists and educators could increase the public’s understanding of the ocean’s impact on everyday life.
“We haven’t made a huge dent in ocean literacy. If you’re in Kansas, you could say ‘well, it’s raining today but that has nothing to do with the ocean,’” Chen said. We’re really good at telling people about the facts. What we’re not good at is getting them to care.”
In the report published by the School for the Environment at the University of Massachusetts Boston, Chen and his colleagues with COSEE Ocean Inquiry Group have made a wide range of recommendations to get more people, young and old, to take an interest in the world’s oceans. The authors of the report include scientists and educators from nationally recognized museums, aquaria, and academic institutions.
Science Writing and Reporting
American University: Third Edition of Chemistry Professor’s Book Published
By Abbey Becker
April 3, 2014
When chemistry professor James Girard was teaching a new honors course he’d designed in forensics a few years ago, called Criminalistics, Crime, and Society, he realized that the text material he’d chosen for the class wasn’t working. “A lot of it was written by ex-crime lab people, detectives, and prosecutors—not professors,” he says. “One of the things I’ve found to be very compelling for students is when I can connect the science material to real cases they might have heard about.” He decided a new book was needed that provided a scientific look at forensics, and he took on this challenge himself. His textbook, Criminalistics: Forensic Science and Crime, was published in 2008 by Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
In November of this year, the third edition was published with an extended title: Criminalistics: Forensic Science, Crime, and Terrorism. Girard made timely additions, including a section on the Supreme Court’s recent decision on taking DNA samples, a new section on bath salt drugs, and three chapters that focus on terrorism: cybercrime, explosives, and weapons of mass destruction. “I asked the FBI to review the weapons of mass destruction chapter, and they said I should include agroterrorism,” he says.
Girard understands the need to keep things fresh. “After a few years, everything’s considered old and stale,” he says. “If you don’t update every three years or so, faculty tend to go looking for a different book. I’m constantly drilling through information to try to make sure that I’m staying current.”
University of Alabama at Birmingham: UAB produces the first-ever Encyclopedia of Health, Illness, Behavior and Society
by Marie Sutton
April 02, 2014
A collaborative effort among UAB faculty has produced the first comprehensive, interdisciplinary and international reference work on all aspects of the social scientific study of health and illness.
Distinguished Professor William Cockerham, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Sociology, is editor-in-chief for “The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Health, Illness, Behavior and Society,” which is now available in a five-volume set and online.
Science is Cool
Discovery News: Medieval Poop Found: Still Stinks
by Rossella Lorenzi
Apr 1, 2014 11:19 AM ET
A number of Medieval wooden barrels have been uncovered in Denmark, revealing their less- than-glamorous contents.
Originally built to transport goods and store fish, the barrels were converted into latrines — still filled with their original contents.
"We are talking about 700-year-old latrines. And yes, they still smell bad," Maria Elisabeth Lauridsen, the archaeologist in charge of the excavation, told Discovery News.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Texas Tech: Climate Scientist to Appear with Don Cheadle on Showtime
Katharine Hayhoe will discuss findings in premier of "Years of Living Dangerously."
Written by John Davis
April 4, 2014
A Texas Tech university climate scientist will appear with Academy Award nominee Don Cheadle in a new nine-episode Showtime documentary series covering climate change and its effect on people around the globe.
Katharine Hayhoe, director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University, will discuss her climate findings with Cheadle, who serves as a U.N. Ambassador for the United Nations Environment Programme, during the premier episode at 9 p.m. (CDT) April 13 on the Showtime cable network.
On April 7, viewers can catch the full first episode of Years of Living Dangerously free at http://yearsoflivingdangerously.com/where-to-watch/.
“I hope this program will show us how climate change isn’t just some far-off issue that only matters to our children’s children, the polar bears in the Arctic or to islanders in the South Seas,” Hayhoe said. “Climate change is already affecting our lives today right here in the places where we live. It’s changing the birds, bugs and plants we see in our backyards. It’s affecting where we grow our food and how much water we have, altering the shape of our coastlines and increasing the risks of many types of extreme weather.”