Science News
Geomagnetic field flip-flops in a flash
Scientists unearth more evidence of superfast changes in Earth’s magnetic polarity By Alexandra Witze
Web edition : 1:22 pm
Just north of a truck stop along Interstate 80 in Battle Mountain, Nev., lies evidence that the Earth’s magnetic field once went haywire.
Magnetic minerals in 15-million-year-old rocks appear to preserve a moment when the magnetic north pole was rapidly on its way to becoming the south pole, and vice versa. Such "geomagnetic field reversals" occur every couple hundred thousand years, normally taking about 4,000 years to make the change. The Nevada rocks suggest that this particular switch happened at a remarkably fast clip. |
They Crawl, They Bite, They Baffle Scientists
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
Published: August 30, 2010
Don’t be too quick to dismiss the common bedbug as merely a pestiferous six-legged blood-sucker.
Think of it, rather, as Cimex lectularius, international arthropod of mystery.
In comparison to other insects that bite man, or even only walk across man’s food, nibble man’s crops or bite man’s farm animals, very little is known about the creature whose Latin name means — go figure — "bug of the bed." Only a handful of entomologists specialize in it, and until recently it has been low on the government’s research agenda because it does not transmit disease. Most study grants come from the pesticide industry and ask only one question: What kills it? |
Iowa State chemists discover method to create high-value chemicals from biomass
09-02-10
AMES, Iowa - Iowa State University researchers have found a way to produce high-value chemicals such as ethylene glycol and propylene glycol from biomass rather than petroleum sources.
Walter Trahanovsky, an Iowa State professor of chemistry who likes to write out the chemical structures of compounds when he talks about his science, was looking to produce sugar derivatives from cellulose and other forms of biomass using high-temperature chemistry. And so he and members of his research group studied the reactions of cellulosic materials in alcohols at high temperatures and pressures.
They analyzed the products of the reactions using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Early experiments produced the expected sugar derivatives. Additional work, however, clearly revealed significant yields of ethylene glycol and propylene glycol. |
Sight-saving research halted by stem cell ruling
ARVO opposes the Federal District Court injunction that froze federal funding for human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research 2-Sep-2010
The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), a professional organization of member scientists, opposes the Federal District Court injunction that froze federal funding for human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research. ARVO is troubled by this barrier to research that has the potential to restore sight and mitigate eye damage.
ARVO members investigate hESC therapies for treating diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and corneal disease, along with studies related to eye tissue transplantation, regeneration and engineering. ARVO's policy supports technological developments and policies that encourage all facets of stem cell research, including research utilizing hESCs. |
Technology News
IETF: AT&T's Net neutrality claim is 'misleading'
September 2, 2010 3:53 PM PDT
by Declan McCullagh
The head of the Internet's leading standards body said Thursday that it is "misleading" for AT&T to claim that its push to charge customers for high-priority service is technically justified.
Internet Engineering Task Force chairman Russ Housley told CNET that AT&T's arguments to federal regulators, which cited networking standards to justify "paid prioritization" of network traffic, were invalid.
"AT&T in their letter (to the Federal Communications Commission) says the IETF envisioned this," Housley said. "That's not my view." |
Paris Hilton busted by Twitter pic?
September 2, 2010 5:47 PM PDT
by Chris Matyszczyk
It is not easy being Paris Hilton. You have to spend so much of your time focused on the "being Paris Hilton" part that it leaves very little time for much else. Like considering the state of the nation. Or remembering what pictures you tweeted a month ago.
My fingers flicker with sympathy because Hilton seems to have got herself into a slight pickle. A slight pickle that might be less slight than her much-loved sex video.
An SUV in which she was accompanied by her boyfriend was stopped Friday in Las Vegas when police reportedly detected the niff of pot. The police also reported finding 0.8 gram of cocaine in a purse. |
Gmail Gets an Algorithmic Mail Sorter
By Patrick Reilly
TechNewsWorld
08/31/10 1:35 PM PT
Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) is reaching out to help those who just don't have the time to wade through hundreds of emails each day.
The company unveiled Priority Inbox, an application that aims to automatically identify important incoming messages and separate them from more general, tedious emails.
"It's about time," Scott Steinberg, president and CEO of Digital Trends, told TechNewsWorld. "The vast majority of our emails are not pressing concerns. It shouldn't be difficult to prioritize these." |
Video Artist Transforms YouTube’s TOS Into a Paranoid Nightmare
By Michael Calore
September 2, 2010
5:59 pm
This extremely odd video, titled "Iterating My Way Into Oblivion," features a guy listening to a computer voice reading YouTube’s terms of service. It slowly drives him insane.
It’s actually an ongoing, auto-generative piece of digital art. According to the artist, Carlo Zanni, the basic narrative is filmed, and whenever YouTube changes its terms of service, the new text is rendered as audio by text-to-speech software and inserted into the film. As the company continues to update the legalese, new audio will be inserted and the film will change. |
Environmental News
Top Climate Skeptic Reverses Course, Now Urges Bold Action
From: RP Siegel, Triple Pundit
Published September 2, 2010 08:57 AM
Bjørn Lomborg may not be a household name around here, but that's through no fault of his. In November 2001, this Danish environmental author and economics professor was selected "Global Leader for Tomorrow" by the World Economic Forum. Lomborg was selected as one of TIME magazine's 100 most influential people of 2004. In June 2002, Business Week named Lomborg one of the "50 Stars of Europe" in the Agenda Setters category. The magazine noted, "No matter what they think of his views, nobody denies that Bjørn Lomborg has shaken the environmental movement to its core." |
The Environmentalist’s Paradox
From: David A Gabel, ENN
Published September 1, 2010 10:06 AM
The signs are all around. Many places in the world show degradation of the air, water, and soil. Species becoming extinct as natural habitats are being destroyed. The emissions
of greenhouse gases that can alter the planet's climate are unacceptable. All the environmental issues
put together amount to a very serious threat to human welfare. Yet at the same time, all accepted measures of well-being show that, on average, quality of life is improving around the globe. How does an environmentalist call society into action under such conditions? |
UN: Climate funds shouldn't divert poverty aid
Associated Press
Thu Sep 2, 7:22 am ET
GENEVA – The U.N.'s climate chief says poor countries are right to expect that any funding they receive to combat global warming be kept separate from development aid or poverty relief. |
U.S. offshore oil fire may delay lift of drill ban
By Ayesha Rascoe Ayesha Rascoe
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama Administration is likely to stay focused on toughening regulatory oversight of the U.S. offshore oil industry and may push back lifting a ban on deepwater drilling after the latest accident in the Gulf of Mexico, analysts said on Thursday.
The fire on a Mariner Energy oil and gas platform in shallow waters of the U.S. Gulf on Thursday was a major setback for companies hoping for an early end to the government's drilling moratorium and raised more questions about the safety of offshore drilling.
"This explosion will make it less likely that the moratorium on offshore drilling will be lifted," said Rick Muller, senior analyst for Energy Security Analysis Inc in Boston. |
Medical News
Alzheimer’s trade-off for mentally active seniors
Stimulation delays cognitive decline, but disease advances quickly once it starts By Bruce Bower
Web edition : Wednesday, September 1st, 2010
Mental exercise lets seniors outrun Alzheimer’s disease — for a while. Then the race takes a tragic turn for the sharp-minded, a new study finds, as declines in memory and other thinking skills kick into high gear.
After age 65, regular participation in mentally stimulating activities, including doing crossword puzzles and reading, delays intellectual decay caused by Alzheimer’s disease, say neuropsychologist Robert Wilson of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and his colleagues. But when this debilitating condition finally breaks through the defenses of a mentally fortified brain, it rapidly makes up for lost time, the scientists report in a paper published online September 1 in Neurology. |
Short Sleep And Chronic Insomnia Linked To Four-Fold Risk Of Early Death In Men
Article Date: 02 Sep 2010 - 9:00 PDT
US researchers found that short sleep and insomnia was linked to a four times higher risk of early death in men; they urged public health policy makers to emphasize earlier diagnosis and treament of chronic insomnia.
You can read how researchers from the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, in Hershey, Pennsylvania, came to these findings in a paper they wrote that was published on 1 September in the journal SLEEP. |
Biologists find daily exercise as a heritable trait
Finding suggests pharmaceutical drugs can be used to alter activity levels in humans 2 September 2010 09:37
Biologists at the University of California, Riverside have found that voluntary activity, such as daily exercise, is a highly heritable trait that can be passed down genetically to successive generations.
Working on mice in the lab, they found that activity level can be enhanced with "selective breeding" - the process of breeding plants and animals for particular genetic traits. Their experiments showed that mice that were bred to be high runners produced high-running offspring, indicating that the offspring had inherited the trait for activity. |
Cedric – the Tasmanian devil - dies of facial tumors
By Dr Ananya Mandal, MD
2 September 2010 17:33
Cedric, a captive born Tasmanian devil climbed to fame in 2007 when it was shown that he was genetically resistant to facial tumors. Initially he and his half-brother Clinky were given a vaccine of sorts containing dead tumor cells and later "challenged" with live tumor cells by the University of Tasmania researchers in 2007. Clinky developed the cancer, but Cedric did not - starting hopes that he had an immunity that could help scientists develop a vaccine. |
Space News
Nobel Winners Sign Letter Backing Obama Space Plan
By KENNETH CHANG
Published: August 31, 2010
Fourteen Nobel laureates have signed a letter supporting President Obama’s proposed strategy for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and criticizing a NASA authorization bill under consideration in the House of Representatives.
The House bill, the writers said, would leave "substantially underfunded" the areas of technology development, commercial spaceflight, robotic missions, and university and student research. |
Supernova blast wave could shape galaxy evolution
Hubble observes aftermath of giant star explosion offering new glimpse into events that follow collapse of massive star By Denise Chow
updated 9/2/2010 3:12:26 PM ET
Hubble Space Telescope observations of the aftermath of a giant star explosion are offering a new glimpse into the events that follow the collapse of a massive dying star.
This well-known supernova remnant in a neighboring galaxy has been studied for more than 10 years, but the recent observations could glean new knowledge of how such stellar debris helps shape the evolution of galaxies. |
September brings new night sky
For star-gazers, month means passing of Summer Triangle and arrival of autumn constellations By Geoff Gaherty
updated 9/1/2010 2:29:07 PM ET
The month of September marks many changes. For skywatchers it means the passing of the season's trademark Summer Triangle of stars and the arrival of the autumn constellations.
Flying high in the autumn sky is the mythical winged horse Pegasus.
Although one of the largest constellations in area, it boasts no bright stars. Its most noticeable star pattern is the Great Square of Pegasus : four second magnitude stars marking the body of the horse. Ironically, the brightest of those stars, Alpheratz, isn't even an official member of the Pegasus constellation, being part of the neighboring constellation Andromeda. |
A Traffic Cop for Satellites
Satellite crashes may be rare, but when they happen, the impact can be long-lasting. By Irene Klotz
Wed Sep 1, 2010 07:00 AM ET
Collisions in space don't happen very often, but when they do the impact is long-lasting. A coalition of satellite traffic cops, however, aims to prevent these episodes from occurring at all.
In orbit, chunks and fragments from a crash won't settle down. They'll keep moving -- extremely rapidly -- upping the odds of additional crashes.
"You don't just sweep up the debris and haul it away on a tow truck. That's why we're having to take all these precautions," said Tobias Nassif, vice president of satellite operations and engineering for Intelsat and a director of the newly formed Space Data Association. |
Odd News
Doctors Heed Call for Books for Afghanistan
By IRENE M. WIELAWSKI
Published: August 30, 2010
Imagine cutting out a diseased appendix without ever having seen a Gray’s Anatomy diagram, or calculating drug doses without a Physicians’ Desk Reference, and you’ll have an idea what it’s like to practice medicine in Afghanistan.
Nearly three decades of war and religious extremism have devastated medical libraries and crippled the educational system for doctors, nurses and other health professionals. Factions of the Taliban, which ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, singled out medical texts for destruction, military medical personnel say, because anatomical depictions of the human body were considered blasphemous. |