To time has come to gather around and take a well deserved hiatus from all the politics of the day. Science talk is here. New discoveries, new takes on old knowledge, and other bits of news are all available for the perusing in today's information world. Over the fold are selections from the past week from a few of the many excellent science news sites around the world. Today's tidbits include cool roofs can mitigate global warming, vaccine patch with dissolving needles, the most massive star ever discovered, seeking better biofuels by examining leaf structure, Born's rule in quantum physics confirmed, climate change causes larger and more plentiful marmots, and diabetes monitoring device benefits man and dog. Pull up a chair. There is plenty of room for everyone. Get comfy and settle in for one more session of Dr. Possum's science education and entertainment.
Featured Stories
In the face of continuing climate change cool roofs may play a part in reducing global warming.
Because white roofs reflect far more of the sun’s heat than black ones, buildings with white roofs will stay cooler. If the building is air conditioned, less air conditioning will be required, thus saving energy. Even if there is no air conditioning, the heat absorbed by a black roof both heats the space below, making the space less comfortable, and is also carried into the city air by wind—raising the ambient temperature in what is known as the urban heat island effect. Additionally, there’s a third, less familiar way in which a black roof heats the world: it radiates energy directly into the atmosphere, which is then absorbed by the nearest clouds and ends up trapped by the greenhouse effect, contributing to global warming.
Delivery of vaccines in developing nations may be easier now with the advent of a patch with dissolving needles. No more sharps to discard. Even ordinary people with minimal training can use the system.
Patches containing micron-scale needles that carry vaccine with them as they dissolve into the skin could simplify immunization programs by eliminating the use of hypodermic needles – and their "sharps" disposal and re-use concerns. Applied easily to the skin, the microneedle patches could allow self-administration of vaccine during pandemics and simplify large-scale immunization programs in developing nations.
The modern generation of telescopes continue to provide new and interesting findings. This week comes a report of the most massive star found to date
Using a combination of instruments on ESO's Very Large Telescope, astronomers have discovered the most massive stars to date, one weighing at birth more than 300 times the mass of the sun, or twice as much as the currently accepted limit of 150 solar masses. The existence of these monsters -- millions of times more luminous than the sun, losing weight through very powerful winds -- may provide an answer to the question, "how massive can stars be?"
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Better biofuels are a constant search as scientists seek better ways to release energy from plant sources.
To make fuels from plant biomass requires a thorough understanding of the organization of cell walls before determining the best methods for cell wall deconstruction into its components.
Zinnia is a common garden annual plant with solitary daisy like flower heads on long stems and sandpapery, lace shaped leaves. The leaves of seedlings provide a rich source of single cells that are dark green with chloroplasts and can be cultured in liquid for several days at a time. During the culturing process, the cells change in shape to resemble the tube-like cells that carry water from roots to leaves. Known as xylem, these cells hold the bulk of cellulose and lignin in plants, which are both major targets of recent biofuel research.
Using different microscopy methods, the (research) team was able to visualize single cells in detail, cellular substructures, fine-scale organization of the cell wall, and even chemical composition of single zinnia cells, indicating that they contain an abundance of lignocellulose.
The foundations of quantum physics remain stable with confirmation of Born's rule.
When waves -- regardless of whether light or sound -- collide, they overlap creating interferences. Austrian and Canadian quantum physicists have now been able to rule out the existence of higher-order interferences experimentally and thereby confirmed an axiom in quantum physics: Born's rule.
Mountain rodents called marmots are growing larger and more plentiful with the advent of climate change.
Using data collected between 1976 and 2008, the authors conclude that a longer growing season has boosted marmots' individual size, overall strength and general population. The average weight of fully grown marmots jumped from 6.82 pounds in the early years of the study to 7.56 pounds in the later half of the study.
Additionally, the population growth of marmots increased from 0.56 marmots per year from 1976 to 2001 to 14.2 marmots per year from 2001 to 2008.
Diabetes is as serious in the dog as in the human.
Many of the symptoms of diabetes in dogs are similar to the symptoms in humans, including excessive water consumption, increased urination, or unexplained weight loss. For dogs, treatment typically involves insulin shots twice a day. Dogs get complications from diabetes, but they are not as severe as human complications, (researcher) Wiedmeyer said. Older, female dogs and some breeds, such as schnauzers and poodles, are more prone to diabetes.
Close monitoring of blood glucose concentrations allows better control and fewer ill effects in both dog and human.
Other Worthy Stories of the Week
New frog species disappearing to fungal disease in Panama almost as fast as they can be found
First pictures of the Loris, a primate thought to be extinct
Flower power makes tropics cooler, wetter
Beach umbrellas do not block out all solar radiation
Simple "recipe" for fungus-free horseradish
Primitive frogs do a belly flop instead of a controlled landing
Radio waves an alternate power source?
Why some plants in summer, autumn and some in summer
Graphene organic photovoltaics
CO2 reduction policies in Spain strengthen the services sector
Charging up car batteries in an environmentally friendly way
Caterpillars crawl like none other
Key compound of ozone destruction detected
Meteor crater discovered with Google Earth
How do cells die? Biophotonic Tools Reveal Real-Time Dynamics in Living Color
Nanowick at heart of new system to cool "power electronics"
Warmer climate entails increased release of carbon dioxide by inland lakes
For even more science news:
General Science Collectors:
Alpha-Galileo
BBC News Science and Environment
Eureka Science News
LiveScience
New Scientist
PhysOrg.com
SciDev.net
Science/AAAS
Science Alert
Science Centric
Science Daily
Scientific American
Space Daily
Blogs:
A Few Things Ill Considered Techie and Science News
Cantauri Dreams space exploration
Coctail Party Physics Physics with a twist.
Deep Sea News marine biology
Laelaps more vertebrate paleontology
List of Geoscience Blogs
ScienceBlogs
Space Review
Techonology Review
Tetrapod Zoologyvertebrate paleontology
Science Insider
Scientific Blogging.
Wired News
Science RSS Feed: Medworm
The Skeptics Guide to the Universe--a combination of hard science and debunking crap
Daily Kos regular series:
Daily Kos University, a regular series by plf515
This Week in Science by DarkSyde
This Week in Space by nellaselim
Overnight News Digest:Science Saturday by Neon Vincent. This week OND by palantir.
Weekend Science by AKMask
All diaries with the DK GreenRoots Tag.
All diaries with the eKos Tag
NASA picture of the day. For more see the NASA image gallery or the Astronomy Picture of the Day Archive.
Crescent Earth, NASA, Public Domain