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 general election, Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday will highlight the research stories from the public universities in states with competitive contests for the U.S. Senate and Governor. Competitive states will be determined based on the percentage chance to win at Daily Kos Election Outlook. Those that show the two major party candidates having probabilities to win between 20% and 80% inclusive will count as competitive states. According to the latest diary entry using this tag, the states with competitive races for the U.S. Senate are Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, and North Carolina, and the states with competitive races for Governor include Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. Tonight's edition features the research and outreach stories from Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, and Wisconsin.
This week's featured stories come from the University of Colorado.
NASA mission led by CU-Boulder achieves Martian orbit Sept. 21
September 21, 2014
The spacecraft for a NASA mission to probe the climate history of Mars led by the University of Colorado Boulder slid seamlessly into orbit at about 8:24 p.m. MDT on Sunday, Sept. 21, the last major hurdle of the 10-month, 442-million-mile journey.
The orbit insertion included the firing of several thruster engines to shed velocity from the spacecraft, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN, or MAVEN mission. The maneuver allowed the gravity of Mars to capture the MAVEN spacecraft into an elongated, 35-hour orbit. In the coming weeks MAVEN’s orbit will be reduced to an elliptical, 4.5-hour orbit in order to collect science data.
MAVEN will now begin a six-week commissioning phase that includes testing the instruments and science-mapping sequences. After that, MAVEN will begin its one-Earth-year primary mission, taking key measurements of Mars’ upper atmosphere.
CU-Boulder instrument onboard MAVEN sends back first images of Mars
September 24, 2014
NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft has obtained its first observations of the extended upper atmosphere surrounding Mars.
The Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) instrument obtained these false-color images eight hours after the successful completion of Mars orbit insertion by the spacecraft at 10:24 p.m. EDT Sunday, Sept. 21 after a 10-month journey.
The image shows the planet from an altitude of 36,500 kilometers, or 22,680 miles, in three ultraviolet wavelength bands. Blue shows the ultraviolet light from the sun scattered from atomic hydrogen gas in an extended cloud that goes to thousands of kilometers above the planet’s surface. Green shows a different wavelength of ultraviolet light that is primarily sunlight reflected off of atomic oxygen, showing the smaller oxygen cloud. Red shows ultraviolet sunlight reflected from the planet’s surface; the bright spot in the lower right is light reflected either from polar ice or clouds.
More stories after the jump.
Recent Science Diaries and Stories
WATCH THIS SPACE!
Erick Erickson: People Who Believe In Evolution Are Dumb And Jealous, Worship Science
by librarisingnsf
Spotlight on green news & views: What's next in climate change activism?
by Meteor Blades
This week in science: the red, white & green
by DarkSyde
Bárðarbunga: Shutting It Down
by Rei
Slideshows/Videos
The Morning Call: Check out what archaeologists uncover in Nazareth
Archaeologists in Nazareth dug only a couple of feet Wednesday when they hit rock — large limestone chunks back-filled with soil mixed with pottery shards, buttons and a horse bell..
The rocks make up the foundation of the First House in Nazareth, built in 1740, the first structure on a property that local historians describe as the oldest surviving Moravian settlement not only in the Lehigh Valley but all of North America.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
University of Arizona: Live Bugs Tell of a Bug's Life at Insect Festival
UA students brought the hidden world of insects to the community at the annual event, which showcases the Southwest as a hotspot of arthropod diversity.
By Daniel Stolte, University Relations - Communications
September 24, 2014
Ask any entomologist, and you might be told that bugs rule the world. Each year in September, they certainly rule the show during the Arizona Insect Festival. Now in its fourth year, the event has the University of Arizona Student Union Memorial Center crawling with an estimated 5,000 people, wanting to learn about insects, interact with them and marvel at their incredible diversity.
"Insects play very important roles — for example, as recyclers of biological matter and in pollination ecology — and they're a hugely important resource in the form of prey to larger animals, so they're key to many ecosystem processes that hold everything together," said Wendy Moore, an assistant professor in the UA Department of Entomology and one of the organizers of the festival along with Kathleen Walker, also an assistant professor in entomology.
Insects are among the most diverse groups of animals, accounting for more than half of all known living organisms. Southern Arizona is one of the most diverse areas for arthropods — insects, spiders and their kin — in the United States, according to Moore, who is the curator of the UA's insect collection and runs the "arthropod zoo" at the festival.
Colorado State University: Testing the water: New CSU system monitors water quality at oil and gas sites in real time
by Kortny Rolston
24 Sep, 2014
A steady stream of data collected at oil and natural gas sites in the Denver-Julesburg Basin flows into a server at CSU, where researchers use it to analyze groundwater quality.
Complex algorithms sift through the raw data, scanning for any anomalies or sudden shifts in water composition that could indicate contamination in a groundwater well. The data is analyzed and displayed as charts and graphs on a CSU website for the public to view, updated with new field data posted every hour.
The network of monitoring stations and website are part of the Colorado Water Watch, a project spearheaded by CSU researchers to provide the public with real-time information about water quality at oil and gas sites throughout the basin that underlies northeastern Colorado and the Nebraska Panhandle.
Georgia Tech: New RFID technology helps robots find household objects
Mobile robots could be much more useful in homes, if they could locate people, places and objects. Today’s robots usually see the world with cameras and lasers, which have difficulty reliably recognizing things and can miss objects that are hidden in clutter. A complementary way robots can “sense” what is around them is through the use of small ultra-high frequency radio-frequency identification (UHF RFID) tags. Inexpensive self-adhesive tags can be stuck on objects, allowing an RFID-equipped robot to search a room for the correct tag’s signal, even when the object is hidden out of sight. Once the tag is detected, the robot knows the object it’s trying to find isn’t far away.
Michigan State University: MSU doctor solves deadly mystery of malaria; will lead to life-saving treatments
Cerebral malaria is the deadliest type of malaria and kills more than one-half million children under age five each year. However, knowing how it kills has eluded physicians from finding a treatment for centuries, until now. In groundbreaking research, Michigan State University’s Dr. Terrie Taylor and Dr. Karl Seydel, have found that children who die from cerebral malaria have massively swollen brains.
NASA: New Crew Launches to the ISS on This Week @NASA
On September 25, Eastern time, NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore and his Expedition 41/42 crewmates, Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova of the Russian Federal Space Agency, launched to the International Space Station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. They arrived six hours later and were welcomed by the crew onboard the station, including NASA’s Reid Wiseman. Expedition 41/42 will spend about five-and-a-half months on the ISS. Also, Clinton Global Initiative, SpaceX Dragon arrives at ISS, MAVEN’s first Mars images, Curiosity drills at Mt. Sharp, New aeronautics technologies and more!
Science at NASA: ScienceCasts: A Giant Among Earth Satellites
The weekend launch of ISS-RapidScat onboard SpaceX-4 has kickstarted a new era for the International Space Station as a giant Earth-observing satellite.
Science at NASA: ScienceCasts: A Colorful Lunar Eclipse
Mark your calendar: On Oct. 8th, the Moon will pass through the shadow of Earth for a total lunar eclipse. Sky watchers in the USA will see the Moon turn a beautiful shade of celestial red and maybe turquoise, too.
JPL: Curiosity Rover Report: A Taste of Mount Sharp (Sept. 25, 2014)
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has collected its first drill sample from the base of Mount Sharp. The scientific allure of the layered mountain inside a crater drew the team to choose this part Mars as its landing site.
Discovery News: What Happens Inside A Black Hole?
We were recently wondering what would happen to you if you fall into a black hole. Julian decided to tackle this tough question based on what we know.
Astronomy/Space
University of Arizona: Using the Force: UA Police Officer Completes NASA Project
University of Arizona Police Officer Andrew Lincowski joined planetary scientists at NASA this summer to search for exoplanets that might have the potential to harbor life.
By Raymond Sanchez, University Relations - Communications
September 26, 2014
One night on patrol at the Posada San Pedro residence hall on the University of Arizona campus, UA Police Officer Andrew Lincowski found himself stopping to help a student in need. This was not the kind of aid that police officers normally perform: Lincowski was summoned to assist with physics homework.
If this seems unusual for an on-duty officer, that's because it is. Lincowski is also an undergraduate student at the UA studying physics and astronomy, and recently he completed a summer-long internship at NASA.
University of Central Florida: Space Launch to Carry Experiments of UCF Professor, Graduate
September 18, 2014
Two payloads on Saturday morning’s SpaceX-4 launch at Cape Kennedy will have UCF ties.
The launch is scheduled for 2:16 a.m. from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and will deliver cargo and crew supplies to the International Space Station. Several experiments on the flight will include:
- Physics professor Joshua Colwell’s research to explore low-energy collisions of dust particles to better understand the conditions that lead to the formation of the building blocks of planets.
- Engineering alumnus Jason Dunn’s 3-D printer that was developed for space. Dunn’s vision for the printer is to produce whatever is needed for space operations in space via the printer.
University of Michigan: The water in your bottle might be older than the sun
September 25, 2014
ANN ARBOR—Up to half of the water on Earth is likely older than the solar system itself, University of Michigan astronomers theorize.
The researchers' work, published in the current issue of Science, helps to settle a debate about just how far back in galactic history our planet and our solar system's water formed. Were the molecules in comet ices and terrestrial oceans born with the system itself—in the planet-forming disk of dust and gas that circled the young sun 4.6 billion years ago? Or did the water originate even earlier—in the cold, ancient molecular cloud that spawned the sun and that planet-forming disk?
Between 30 and 50 percent came from the molecular cloud, says Ilse Cleeves, a doctoral student in astronomy at the U-M College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. That would make it roughly a million years older than the solar system.
Climate/Environment
University of Colorado: Colorado’s Front Range fire severity today not much different than in past, says CU-Boulder study
September 24, 2014
The perception that Colorado’s Front Range wildfires are becoming increasingly severe does not hold much water scientifically, according to a massive new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder and Humboldt State University in Arcata, Calif.
The study authors, who looked at 1.3 million acres of ponderosa pine and mixed conifer forest from Teller County west of Colorado Springs through Larimer County west and north of Fort Collins, reconstructed the timing and severity of past fires using fire-scarred trees and tree-ring data going back to the 1600s. Only 16 percent of the study area showed a shift from historically low-severity fires to severe, potential crown fires that can jump from treetop to treetop.
The idea that modern fires are larger and more severe as a result of fire suppression that allowed forest fuels to build up in the past century is still prevalent among some, said CU-Boulder geography Professor Thomas Veblen, a study co-author. “The key point here is that modern fires in these Front Range forests are not radically different from the fire severity of the region prior to any effects of fire suppression,” he said.
Michigan State University: Robofish gets a new mission: Finding Nemo
September 24, 2014
Grace the gliding robotic fish is getting a few new bells and whistles. And a new mission.
The robot, developed by researchers in Michigan State University’s College of Engineering, was designed to cruise lakes and rivers collecting data on water quality, temperature and other important environmental factors.
Now, using a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation, the MSU team will collaborate with the U.S. Geological Survey to use a school of these robots to locate and “stalk” fish of interest in the Great Lakes.
University of Wisconsin: Actions on climate change bring better health, study says
by Kelly April Tyrrell
Sept. 22, 2014
The number of extremely hot days in eastern and midwestern U.S. cities is projected to triple by mid-century, according to a new study led by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers and published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Milwaukee and New York City could experience three times as many 90-degree days by 2046; Dallas could see twice as many days topping 100 degrees. The new analysis offers climate data through the lens of public health, in a study that represents a synthesis of the latest science at the intersection of climate change and human health.
In presenting their synthesis, the study authors seek to encourage efforts that benefit both the health of the planet and the health of people, the so-called co-benefits of reducing fossil fuel consumption and adapting to changes that are already underway.
"Climate change already is affecting global health," says Jonathan Patz, director of the UW-Madison Global Health Institute and lead author of the new study. "The good news is that clear health benefits are immediately available, from low-carbon strategies that today could result in cleaner air or to more active transport options that can improve physical fitness, ultimately saving lives and averting disease."
Biodiversity
North Carolina State University: Molting Tougher on the Mayfly Than Previously Thought
Mick Kulikowski
September 25, 2014
It’s not easy being a mayfly.
Mayflies are insects that spend most of their life in water and provide clues about the health of our streams and other waterways.
Because they are often sensitive to environmental change, such as water pollution, they serve – in simple terms – as canaries in the coal mine.
Not much is known about how or when they shed their skins, or molt, in the water, but mayflies are unusual in that they molt a lot more – 14 to 50 times more, depending on the species – than most other insects.
University of Florida: UF/IFAS scientists count record number of threatened crocodile hatchlings in Everglades
September 23 2014
GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- A record number of American crocodile hatchlings have been counted in the Everglades National Park this summer -- a positive development for the threatened species, University of Florida scientists say.
The American crocodile was listed as a federally endangered species in 1975, and while reclassified as threatened in 2007, the species still faces problems from habitat loss and environmental changes.
Frank Mazzotti, a UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences professor, has monitored the South Florida crocodile population since 1978.
Biotechnology/Health
University of Arizona: A New Method for Healing Hearts
A UA surgeon is exploring how amniotic tissue, with its anti-inflammatory and anti-scarring properties, may help prevent complications after heart surgery.
By Alexis Blue, University Relations - Communications
September 26, 2014
In a cutting-edge new clinical trial, the University of Arizona's Dr. Zain Khalpey is using tissue from the human placenta to help heal hearts after surgery.
Khalpey, a cardiothoracic surgeon, has been applying amniotic tissue, which has powerful anti-inflammatory and anti-scarring effects, to human hearts since last year.
He was the first in the world to practice the technique, which he says appears to significantly reduce risk for postsurgical complications such as atrial fibrillation, or abnormal heart rhythm.
Iowa State University: ISU research team developing new measurement tool for schools and research
September 25, 2014
AMES, Iowa – To improve health and help combat childhood obesity, more schools are changing physical education requirements and finding new ways to keep children active throughout the day. It’s recommended that children get at least 60 minutes of physical activity a day. Schools are generally expected to provide at least half of this, or 150 minutes of physical activity a week, said Greg Welk, a professor of kinesiology at Iowa State University.
However, the challenge for both educators and researchers is accurately measuring the time children spend performing physical activity. That’s why Welk and a team of Iowa State researchers are working to improve the Youth Activity Profile, a tool designed to help schools assess children’s physical activity behavior. The unique aspect of this online tool is that it is calibrated with objective monitors to enable it to accurately estimate time spent in physical activity and time spent in sedentary behavior.
The ISU research team was recently awarded a $400,000 National Institutes of Health grant to improve the methodology and measurement of the Youth Activity Profile. Welk said factors such as climate, socioeconomic status and living in rural or urban areas all impact physical activity behaviors. The grant will specifically allow the team to refine the calibration to ensure that it can work in different regions and different seasons.
University of Michigan: Workers who exercise lower health risks, cost less
September 24, 2014
ANN ARBOR—Get moving: just 20 minutes of exercise a day dramatically lowers the risk of diabetes and heart disease, even for employees with a high risk of developing those conditions.
A University of Michigan study looked at the impact of exercise on 4,345 employees in a financial services company that had just started a workplace wellness program. Roughly 30 percent of employees were high risk and suffering from metabolic syndrome, a dangerous cluster of risk factors associated with diabetes and heart disease. Overall, about 34 percent of U.S. adults have metabolic syndrome.
The study found that when the high-risk employees accumulated the government-recommended 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a week, their health care costs and productivity equaled that of healthy employees who didn't exercise enough, said Alyssa Schultz, a researcher at the Health Management Research Center in the U-M School of Kinesiology.
Michigan State University: Not all Hispanics are the same when it comes to drinking
September 25, 2014
Hispanics are often grouped into a single category when it comes to alcohol use. Yet a new Michigan State University study indicates that the risk of alcohol abuse and dependence can vary significantly among different subgroups within the population.
Using pre-existing national data which looked at the incident rate of alcohol use disorders, or AUDs, over a period of time, Carlos F. Ríos-Bedoya, an assistant professor in the College of Human Medicine, is the first to determine that the annual incidence rate isn’t the same among all Hispanics and prevention efforts shouldn’t be the same either. Subgroups include Mexican-American, Puerto Rican and Cuban-American.
The study can be found in the most recent issue of the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism.
Psychology/Behavior
University of Arizona: How New Social Movements Take Root
Contemporary movements, such as those initiated after the recent shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, can be born seemingly overnight in the digital age. UA researchers point to several factors.
By La Monica Everett-Haynes, University Relations - Communications
September 23, 2014
After the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, #BlackLifeMatters — first used after the shooting death of Trayvon Martin — re-emerged in popular media and social media platforms, reigniting national conversations about policing practices, particularly in African-American communities.
Much like campaigns such as #YesAllWomen, #OccupyWallStreet, #BringBackOurGirls and #AllMenCan, the handle also has been used to animate community-based action, political debate and state agency response. The same can be said of #BlackLivesMatter, which has led to the organization of initiatives and protests similar to those of the Freedom Riders in the 1960s.
At a minimum, such campaigns have helped to get people talking about societal ills. In some cases, they have led to social reforms and policy shifts, suggesting that the role of technology and social media is revolutionizing contemporary movements, said Susan Shaw, an associate professor in the UA School of Anthropology.
Northern Arizona University: Brain research guides online classroom design
September 19, 2014
With online enrollment on the rise and more teachers incorporating digital technology in traditional classrooms, Professor Michelle Miller’s research offers practical ideas for instructors.
The latest brain research can be used to design online information for better learning outcomes, said Miller. “For example, understanding attention drives a great deal of what we think and how we prioritize in the moment.”
Miller’s applied memory research uncovered methods for improving online learning; the testing effect improves comprehension with frequent low-stake tests. Other processes shown to improve retention include spacing, which is splitting up study time across more sessions, and interweaving or alternating between topics.
University of Colorado: Surveys may assess language more than attitudes, says study involving CU-Boulder
September 23, 2014
Scientists who study patterns in survey results might be dealing with data on language rather than what they’re really after -- attitudes -- according to an international study involving the University of Colorado Boulder.
The study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, found that people naturally responded to surveys by selecting answer options that were similar in language to each other as they navigated from one question to another, even when the similarities were subtle.
For the study, researchers looked specifically at surveys on organizational behavior, such as leadership, motivation and job satisfaction.
“The findings suggest many survey participants likely fit the first question into their language understanding and, when they get to the next question, move in their language network to figure out how close it is to the previous question in order to respond,” said Kai Larsen, information scientist and associate professor of management and entrepreneurship at CU-Boulder’s Leeds School of Business. Larsen is a co-author of the paper.
University of Georgia: UGA study shows what happens when employees feel excluded at work
Research suggests accountability systems can keep excluded employers from acting out, cheating
September 22, 2014
Athens, Ga. - When employees feel left out, they act out.
That's the message that new research from the University of Georgia Terry College of Business delivers as it explains why employees can become weasels to benefit their work group.
"Everybody has a need for social approval. It's the basis of our human functioning," said Marie Mitchell, co-author of the research and professor of management at UGA. "But when individuals are faced with a risk of social exclusion, it motivates some pretty unsavory behaviors. We already know how people react when they're definitely being excluded from a group, when someone is mistreating them or abusing them. But what we sought to examine this time is: What if you're not sure?"
University of Iowa: Alzheimer's patients can still feel the emotion long after the memories have vanished
UI study offers good news for caregivers, health care workers
By: John Riehl
2014.09.24 | 10:31 AM
A new University of Iowa study further supports an inescapable message: caregivers have a profound influence—good or bad—on the emotional state of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease. Patients may not remember a recent visit by a loved one or having been neglected by staff at a nursing home, but those actions can have a lasting impact on how they feel.
The findings of this study are published in the September 2014 issue of the journal Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, and can be viewed online for free here.
UI researchers showed individuals with Alzheimer’s disease clips of sad and happy movies. The patients experienced sustained states of sadness and happiness despite not being able to remember the movies.
Archeology/Anthropology
Cambridge University (UK): They weren’t wimps: how modern humans, like Neanderthals, braved the northern cold
Recent finds at Willendorf in Austria reveal that modern humans were living in cool steppe-like conditions some 43,500 years ago – and that their presence overlapped with that of Neanderthals for far longer than we thought.
In 1908 the famously plump Venus of Willendorf, thought to be a symbol of fecundity, was discovered during an excavation near the Austrian town of Melk. The statuette, on display at the Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna, has been dated to 30,000 years ago and is one of the world’s earliest examples of figurative art.
Calgary Herald (Canada): Haida Gwaii underwater expedition may have revealed earliest site of human habitation in Canada
VANCOUVER - Researchers using a robotic underwater vehicle off British Columbia's northern coast believe they may have found the earliest evidence of human habitation in Canada.
Unfortunately, the site that could date back almost 14,000 years lies beneath more than 100 of metres of water in the ocean around the Haida Gwaii archipelago.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Pacific settlers developed gardens to survive
Anna Salleh
Monday, 22 September 2014
ABC
Analysis of ancient human bones supports the idea that the first inhabitants of Vanuatu developed horticulture as they ran out of wild resources.
Around 2500 years ago there was a shift in the Lapita people towards a greater reliance on cultivated plants such as yam, taro and banana, according to an isotopic analysis of bones reported in a recent issue of PLOS ONE.
"It contributes to a debate that's been going on for generations," says co-author Dr Stuart Bedford, an archaeologist from the Australian National University.
LiveScience: Nazca Lines of Kazakhstan: More Than 50 Geoglyphs Discovered
By Owen Jarus, Live Science
September 23, 2014 07:34am ET
More than 50 geoglyphs with various shapes and sizes, including a massive swastika, have been discovered across northern Kazakhstan in Central Asia, say archaeologists.
These sprawling structures, mostly earthen mounds, create the type of landscape art most famously seen in the Nazca region of Peru.
The Telegraph (UK): Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Great Western Railway foundations uncovered at Paddington
Foundations exposed near London Paddington station by Crossrail workers include a 200m engine shed and 45ft turntable.
Victorian railway foundations laid by Isambard Kingdom Brunel have been uncovered for the first time in a century by engineers working on the Crossrail project.
Remains of train turntables, a workshop and a 200m long engine shed dating from the 1850s were uncovered near London’s Paddington Station.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Paleontology/Evolution
LiveScience: Humanity Has More Mothers Than Fathers, DNA Reveals
Laura Geggel
September 24, 2014 07:24am ET
Mothers outnumbered fathers throughout much of human history, a new DNA analysis of people around the world shows.
The genetic findings offer evidence for polygyny, when one man has many wives, and other reproductive customs, as people migrated out of Africa.
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona via Science Daily: Iberian pig genome remains unchanged after five centuries
A team of Spanish researchers have obtained the first partial genome sequence of an ancient pig. Extracted from a sixteenth century pig found at the site of the Montsoriu Castle in Girona, the data obtained indicates that this ancient pig is closely related to today's Iberian pig. Researchers also discard the hypothesis that Asian pigs were crossed with modern Iberian pigs.
The study, published in Heredity, sheds new light on evolutionary aspects of pig species, and particularly on that of the Iberian breed, considered to be representative of original European Mediterranean populations. The study was led by Miguel Pérez-Enciso, ICREA researcher at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and at the Centre for Research in Agrigenomics (CRAG). Researchers from the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-Pompeu Fabra University) and the National Centre for Genome Analysis (CNAG) also participated in the study.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
University of Arizona: Meteorite That Doomed Dinosaurs Remade Forests
The impact decimated slow-growing evergreens and made way for fast-growing, deciduous plants, UA researchers say, and that provides an explanation for those fall colors.
By Daniel Stolte, University Relations - Communications
September 16, 2014
The meteorite impact that spelled doom for the dinosaurs 66 million years ago decimated the evergreens among the flowering plants to a much greater extent than their deciduous peers, according to a study led by UA researchers. The results are published in the journal PLoS Biology.
Applying biomechanical formulas to a treasure trove of thousands of fossilized leaves of angiosperms — flowering plants excluding conifers — the team was able to reconstruct the ecology of a diverse plant community thriving during a 2.2 million-year period spanning the cataclysmic impact event, believed to have wiped out more than half of plant species living at the time.
The researchers found evidence that after the event, fast-growing, deciduous angiosperms had replaced their slow-growing, evergreen peers to a large extent. Living examples of evergreen angiosperms, such as holly and ivy, tend to prefer shade, don't grow very fast and sport dark-colored leaves.
University of Florida: UF: Answer to restoring lost island biodiversity found in fossils
September 22, 2014
GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- Many native species have vanished from tropical islands because of human impact, but University of Florida scientists have discovered how fossils can be used to restore lost biodiversity.
The key lies in organic materials found in fossil bones, which contain evidence for how ancient ecosystems functioned, according to a new study available online and in the September issue of the Journal of Herpetology. Pre-human island ecosystems provide vital clues for saving endangered island species and re-establishing native species, said lead author Alex Hastings, who conducted work for the study as graduate student at the Florida Museum of Natural History and UF department of geological sciences.
“Our work is particularly relevant to endangered species that are currently living in marginal environments,” said Hastings, currently a postdoctoral researcher at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. “A better understanding of species’ natural roles in ecosystems untouched by people might improve their prospects for survival.”
Geology
University of Michigan: Drilling into an active earthquake fault in New Zealand
September 23, 2014
ANN ARBOR—Three University of Michigan geologists are participating in an international effort to drill nearly a mile beneath the surface of New Zealand this fall to bring back rock samples from an active fault known to generate major earthquakes.
The goal of the Deep Fault Drilling Project is to better understand earthquake processes by sampling the Alpine Fault, which is expected to trigger a large event in the coming decades.
"We're trying to understand why some faults are more earthquake-prone than others, and that requires fundamental knowledge about the processes at work," said Ben van der Pluijm, the Bruce R. Clark Collegiate Professor of Geology in the U-M Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.
Energy
University of Michigan: Live long and phosphor: Blue LED breakthrough for efficient electronics
September 25, 2014
ANN ARBOR—In a step that could lead to longer battery life in smartphones and lower power consumption for large-screen televisions, researchers at the University of Michigan have extended the lifetime of blue organic light emitting diodes by a factor of 10.
Blue OLEDs are one of a trio of colors used in OLED displays such as smartphone screens and high-end TVs. The improvement means that the efficiencies of blue OLEDs in these devices could jump from about 5 percent to 20 percent or better in the near future.
Physics
North Carolina State University: This Is What Science Looks Like At NC State: Sasha Ishmael
Written by Sasha Ishmael, posted by Matt Shipman
September 22, 2014
Around the age of 15 I had to make a decision on what field of study to pursue. I decided to concentrate on physics, mathematics and biology, core areas that would eventually lead me to where and who I am today. After graduating from high school I opted for a field that felt challenging and exciting to me, electrical and computer engineering. Out of the many diverse areas in this field of study, I fell in love with the theory of electromagnetics. Little did I know that this love would shine even brighter, when I was introduced to the field of superconductivity.
We all know that normally metals are very good at carrying an electrical current. Superconductors are materials that, when cooled to very low temperatures, are in fact SUPER at carrying electrical currents and can ideally do so with zero losses in energy. Applications that use superconducting devices are in the areas of medicine for internal imaging of the body (MRI), in high energy physics like particle accelerators (Large Hadron Collider) and electrical power and energy devices that can generate, use and transmit electrical power.
Wait a minute…devices made with superconducting materials can help transfer electrical power with zero losses??? The idea of lossless power transmission was, to me, like finding the Holy Grail!! If this was the case why was it not being done everywhere? I soon learned that there were a challenging set of complex issues that were preventing widespread application. Challenge accepted! If I could help bring superconducting devices like electrical generators and power transmission lines to reality, no one would ever have to miss out on doing the things they love; feeling connected to the world and keeping the light of hope shining. I became dedicated to help.
Chemistry
Arizona State University: ASU engineer helps produce new material to prevent excessive bleeding
September 19, 2014
Development of a new synthetic material that promises to aid the natural process of blood clotting and the emergency treatment of traumatic injuries was reported on recently in the research journal Nature Materials.
Arizona State University biomedical engineer Sarah Stabenfeldt was on the team of physicians, scientists and engineers that created the new class of synthetic platelet-like particles, which are based on soft hydrogel materials. Stabenfeldt, a co-first author of the paper in Nature Materials, is an assistant professor in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, one of ASU's Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.
The new particles are proving to be effective in slowing bleeding and circulating safely in the bloodstream. The advancement could potentially help reduce the number of deaths from excessive bleeding, according the lead author of the paper.
University of Georgia: UGA discovery opens doors to building better plants
September 24, 2014
Athens, Ga. - The survival of the vast majority of plants, including those that people rely on for food, depends on their ability to build strong but flexible cell walls. A key component of these walls is a polysaccharide called xylan.
Now, researchers at the University of Georgia have discovered two proteins that play a critical role in the formation of this fundamental component of plant life, opening the doors for a new toolkit that may one day help scientists engineer improved plants for biofuels, construction materials, medicine and food production.
"The scientific community has identified a large number of proteins that the plant uses to assemble its cell walls, but it has been very difficult to identify those few proteins that are directly involved in the construction of key polysaccharides like xylan," said Will York, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology in UGA's Complex Carbohydrate Research Center and principal investigator of a CCRC research team that recently published the paper describing its results in The Plant Journal.
Georgia Tech: New technology tracks tiniest pollutants in real time
September 25, 2014
Researchers may soon have a better idea of how tiny particles of pollution are formed in the atmosphere. These particles, called aerosols, or particulate matter (PM), are hazardous to human health and contribute to climate change, but researchers know little about how their properties are shaped by chemical reactions in the atmosphere. Unraveling this chemistry could someday lead to more effective policies to protect human health and the Earth’s climate.
A team of six faculty members at the Georgia Institute of Technology has been awarded a Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The award, totaling approximately $700,000 from NSF and Georgia Tech’s office of the Executive Vice President for Research, will allow the research team to purchase a state-of-art, gas-particle high resolution mass spectrometer that can identify the components of gases and aerosol particles in real time.
“It’s a dream instrument,” said Nga Lee (Sally) Ng, principal investigator of the NSF award and an assistant professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. “It gives us real-time, molecular-level information both in the gas and the particle phase, simultaneously. It’s a very powerful instrument to let us learn about the detailed composition of these nanoparticles.”
Science Crime Scenes
Gates of Ninenveh on Wordpress: “Heritage in Peril: Iraq and Syria” (Metropolitan Museum of Art, September 22)
September 23, 2014
Last night I was invited to attend an event at the Metropolitan Museum of Art titled “Heritage in Peril: Iraq and Syria” where I took a seat in front of the Temple of Dendur amongst an audience of journalists, professors and diplomats and listened to a number of speakers outline plans for doing something to save historic and cultural sites in Iraq and Syria.
First to speak was Michael Danti, co-director of the American School of Oriental Research (ASOR) Syrian Heritage Initiative. The initiative seeks to improve monitoring of heritage destruction and pursue mitigation wherever possible. ASOR and the American Association for the Advancement of Science have done some excellent work on this, including commissioning satellite photographs of threatened sites.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Arizona State University: Study finds senior citizens receive lighter sentences in federal court
September 23, 2014
New research shows older people sentenced in federal district courts receive more leniency than younger offenders. The study was published Sept. 23 in the online edition of Criminal Justice Studies: A Critical Journal of Crime, Law and Society.
Besides receiving a "senior citizen discount" in sentencing, the research discovered that older women are treated with greater leniency than men. Interestingly, it found that Latinos over the age of 60 were sentenced more harshly, while older blacks received shorter sentences on average.
ASU researchers Weston Morrow, Sam Vickovic and Hank Fradella used data from the United States Sentencing Commission from fiscal years 2009 and 2010. The data covered more than 95,000 people sentenced in 89 district courts. Immigrations cases were excluded.
University of Central Florida: Drivers, Don't Trade in Your Smartphone for Google Glass ... Yet
September 24, 2014
Texting while driving with Google Glass is clearly a distraction, a new University of Central Florida study has concluded — but there is a twist. In the study, texting Glass users outperformed smartphone users when regaining control of their vehicles after a traffic incident.
“Texting with either a smartphone or Glass will cause distraction and should be avoided while driving” said UCF researcher Ben Sawyer. “Glass did help drivers in our study recover more quickly than those texting on a smartphone. We hope that Glass points the way to technology that can help deliver information with minimal risk.”
The study, conducted in cooperation with the Air Force Research Laboratory, is the first scientific look at using Google Glass to text while driving.
Georgia Tech: Sports and domestic abuse
Mary McDonald
September 23, 2014
The stories of former Baltimore Raven Ray Rice’s elevator assault of then-fiancé Janay Palmer and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s indecisive leadership in response to intimate partner violence (IPV) committed by several other NFL players continue to evolve. These include questions about whether or not elite male sports figures commit violence against intimate female partners at higher rates than their non-athlete counterparts. There is some evidence to suggest this may be the case, although this is difficult to establish given that most cases of intimate partner assault – involving both athletes and non-athletes – are never reported to the police. There remains an epidemic of violence. The FBI’s crime reports estimate that more than three women die every day after being assaulted by male current or former partners.
University of Iowa: Study examines servicewomen's reporting of sexual assault in the military
Actual and perceived reporting consequences deter servicewomen from reporting, researchers find
By: Deb Venzke
2014.09.26 | 10:58 AM
Sexual assault in the military has come under increasing public and congressional attention in recent years, as studies show sexual assault is significantly underreported, both in U.S. civilian and military populations. While the Department of Defense has promoted greater reporting of sexual assault, service women remain reluctant to come forward due to perceived and real barriers, according to a new study by the University of Iowa and the VA health-care system in Iowa City.
The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, examined why military sexual assault reporting remains low. The researchers interviewed 1,339 currently serving and veteran service women about experiences throughout their military careers and compared nonreporters’ barriers to reporting with actual reporter experiences.
Among the research participants, 15 percent had experienced sexual assault in the service, but only a quarter of victims reported the crime. Knowledge of how to report a sexual assault had increased compared to previous research, with 65 percent of participants saying they knew how to report, yet knowledge did not lead to increased reporting, they found.
Science, Space, Health, Environment, and Energy Policy
Arizona State University: Award helps ASU advance urban, environmental solutions
September 25, 2014
Signaling a new chapter in its study of urban systems, the Urbanization and Global Environmental Change (UGEC) project – hosted by Arizona State University’s Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability – has received a significant award from the Future Earth initiative.
In this so-called Century of the City, UGEC recognizes the opportunity embedded in urban environments. Often associated with environmental ills, cities can serve as an excellent source of innovative, sustainable solutions. UGEC has dedicated over eight years to uncovering these solutions, primarily by fostering promising research collaborations in the social sciences.
The Future Earth award, supported by a National Science Foundation grant, represents a chance to expand UGEC’s efforts. Through a two-year visioning process titled “Critical Knowledge Pathways to Liveable Urban Futures,” an entirely new project to address urbanization and global environmental change will take shape.
Arizona State University: Growing Phoenix's urban forest offers cooling potential
September 23, 2014
Scientists from ASU, in partnership with the City of Phoenix, released a study this summer evaluating the city’s Cool Urban Spaces work. The report, Urban forestry and cool roofs: Assessment of heat mitigation strategies in Phoenix, evaluated two initiatives – the Phoenix Cool Roofs project and the Tree and Shade Master Plan – that aim to reduce extreme heat in Phoenix.
City officials will use the results of the report to take their next steps in addressing urban heat impacts.
University of Colorado: State policies are effective in reducing power plant emissions, CU-Boulder-led analysis finds
September 23, 2014
A new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder found that different strategies used by states to reduce power plant emissions -- direct ones such as emission caps and indirect ones like encouraging renewable energy -- are both effective. The study is the first analysis of its kind.
The findings are important because the success of the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed Clean Power Plan depends on the effectiveness of states’ policies in reducing power plants’ carbon dioxide emissions. The plan would require each state to cut CO2 pollution from power plants by 30 percent from their 2005 levels by 2030.
“In addition to suggesting that the EPA’s Clean Power Plan can work, our results have important implications for the U.N. Climate Summit,” said Professor Don Grant, chair of the CU-Boulder sociology department and lead author of the study. “They indicate that while the world’s nations have struggled to agree on how to reduce emissions, sub-national governments have been developing several effective mitigation measures. Leaders at the United Nations, therefore, would be wise to shift from a top-down strategy that focuses on forging international treaties to a more bottom-up approach that builds upon established policy successes.”
University of Georgia: UGA researcher recommends public health officials tailor messaging about bed sharing
September 23, 2014
Athens, Ga. - Bed sharing, a practice where mother and infant sleep on the same surface, remains popular all over the world despite potential health risks for the infant. According to a new University of Georgia study, bed sharing can likely be decreased if public health officials tailor messaging to their unique population.
Trina Salm Ward, assistant professor in the UGA School of Social Work and assistant professor of health promotion and behavior in the College of Public Health, reviewed literature on bed sharing in "Reasons for Mother-Infant Bed-Sharing: A Systematic Narrative" in the Maternal and Child Health Journal, published online ahead of the January/February print issue.
The biggest risk of bed sharing is sudden infant death syndrome, the third leading cause of infant mortality in the U.S.
In her research, Salm Ward discovered the main reasons mothers chose to bed share included breastfeeding, emotional comfort and reassurance, monitoring, better sleep for infant, family traditions and bonding. Since mothers elect to bed-share for a variety of reasons, Salm Ward suggests that the issue is more complex than it was originally thought.
Georgia Tech: Georgia manufacturers boost profits, but reduce long-term investment
September 24, 2014
Georgia manufacturers are enjoying higher profits, but in the rush to meet the demands of a rebounding economy, they may be shortchanging investment in future-focused technology and innovation, a new survey of the state’s manufacturing companies has found.
The 2014 Georgia Manufacturing Survey found that profits of Georgia manufacturers grew, on average, 13 percent between 2012 and 2014 – compared to an overall decline reported between 2010 and 2012. Despite this good news, however, the survey found fewer companies planning to invest in new technologies such as robotics, and a reduced reliance on innovation as a competitive strategy.
"Manufacturing companies in Georgia are more profitable than they have been for years," said Jan Youtie, director of policy research services at Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute and the survey’s director. "However, we are seeing less investment in the kinds of things we would normally recommend as good practices in preparing for the future. This may indicate too much attention to the present and not enough on sustaining success in the future."
University of Michigan: Dentists meet increased demand as health care act widens
September 25, 2014
ANN ARBOR—Can dentists and doctors cope with the increased patient traffic since the Affordable Care Act took effect?
University of Michigan professors Thomas Buchmueller and Sarah Miller researched the question, given that more than 20 million Americans are expected to buy private health care insurance on exchanges. They found out how dentists could meet this sudden demand without working unreasonably long hours. But in some states, the solution may also mean a policy change.
"The concern out there, and what motivated our research, is that we're going to overwhelm doctors and facilities," said Buchmueller, professor of business economics and public policy at the U-M Ross School of Business. "But for the most part, we didn't see that in our study."
North Carolina State University: Engineering A Better Food Bank
By Matt Shipman
September 24, 2014
For the past few years, a team of engineers has spent long hours poring over data files and complex computer models. They weren’t designing nuclear reactors or high-tech cars – they were using their technology and expertise to improve programs that feed the hungry.
Food banks are enormous enterprises, serving as the linchpin for hunger relief efforts across the United States. But they are as complex as the nation’s food system itself, collecting food from sources ranging from local farmers to charitable donations and distributing it to myriad agencies that then share it with people in need. Their goal is to do this as fairly and efficiently as possible. But, like many complicated systems, this is easier said than done. That’s where engineering comes in.
Julie Ivy is an industrial and systems engineer at NC State. Industrial and systems engineering (ISE) focuses on understanding processes (like those at a food bank) and using computational models to find ways to improve them.
In 2009, an ISE researcher at North Carolina A&T State University named Lauren Davis contacted Ivy with an idea. One of Davis’s students was volunteering at an area food bank and had noticed inefficiencies in the system. What did Ivy think about working with food banks to make them run more smoothly?
Science Education
Arizona State University: ASU students commit to boosting global health, starting with Uganda
September 24, 2014
Arizona State University is on a mission to empower its students to enact powerful and positive social change. One outgrowth is its relatively new GlobeMed chapter, helmed by undergraduate honors students Megan Atencia and Anna Simperova.
Atencia, a global health major, and Simperova, who is pursuing a bachelor’s in biological studies and a minor in family and human development, serve as co-presidents of the nonprofit. One day, they hope to work as physicians – an intensive care doctor and a pediatrician, respectively. In the meantime, they are getting community health experience while taking their spirit of service to the next level.
GlobeMed partners its chapters with communities to create sustainable health solutions specific to the communities’ needs. ASU’s chapter is matched with ICOD Action Network in Lyantonde, Uganda, and focuses on families and orphans affected by HIV/AIDS.
Arizona State University: ASU leads initiative to increase diversity in fields where science, society intersect
September 18, 2014
Sometimes choosing to pursue a career or graduate education path comes down to imagination.
Most undergraduates probably have an idea of the day in the life of a nurse, doctor, teacher, firefighter or other careers they’ve likely been exposed to in their communities growing up. But what about a science policy analyst, a research ethicist, a science historian or an environmental justice researcher?
Few undergraduates, unless they have a parent or know someone in the field, are likely aware of – let alone able to imagine themselves in – these and the many other career possibilities available in science and technology studies and science policy fields at the intersection of natural and social sciences.
Colorado State University: Veterinary communication has breakout year
by Coleman Cornelius
26 Sep, 2014
Bedside manner? Check!
Veterinary students and practicing professionals from across the country learn essential communication skills through a 30-year-old program that has grown to help define veterinary teaching and practice at Colorado State University.
“In the past, veterinary schools, like medical schools, focused on teaching students excellent technical skills while ignoring the communication component, which was considered a ‘soft’ skill,” said Dr. Jane Shaw, director of the CSU veterinary communication program. “We now see that communication is a core clinical skill, essential to clinical competence, alongside physical examination, medical knowledge and problem-solving.”
Colorado State University: Students help older adults navigate technology
by Jeff Dodge
23 Sep, 2014
CSU students volunteered at a technology workshop for older adults at the Fort Collins Senior Center on Sept. 17.
Students from the Department of Human Development and Family Studies and the gerontology interdisciplinary studies minor lent their time and talent to helping older adults with their technology in order to get hands-on experience as a part of their gerontology class.
Science Writing and Reporting
Iowa State University: Gender barriers: ISU professor looks at history of discrimination against women in engineering
September 24, 2014
AMES, Iowa – To better understand the striking gender divide that still exists today in engineering, it is necessary to look at the history of the field, said Amy Bix, an associate professor of history at Iowa State University. Unlike other fields, such as science and medicine, in which women slowly gained access by starting as research assistants or nurses, it was more difficult to get a foot in the door in engineering.
The fact that engineering started as a military profession is a primary reason why. West Point, which did not admit women until 1976, was the first place in the U.S. to teach engineering, Bix said. Plus, most engineering jobs did not require a degree and instead grew out of on-the-job-training in construction and industry, jobs predominantly held by men. Bix said all these factors contributed to the image of engineering as a field dominated by males.
“In the late 1800s and early 20th century, they even had radio programs and books that talked about engineers clearing roads through the African jungle, bringing civilization and bridges to South America, and irrigation to California, so they really emphasized the macho nature of field work,” Bix said. “Basically, engineering became this group of traditions that associate engineering with masculinity and that really persisted well into the 20th century.”
In her book, “Girls Coming to Tech!: A History of American Engineering Education for Women,” Bix looks at how women fought to overcome these stereotypes by gaining acceptance to engineering programs at MIT, Cal Tech and Georgia Tech. The push started following World War II, after women, who had filled engineering and production roles during the war, lost those jobs when men returned home.
Iowa State University: Communicating science through storytelling in film is topic of talk at ISU Sept. 30
September 23, 2014
AMES, Iowa -- A filmmaker and a soil scientist who worked in partnership on a creative film about soil science and its role in tackling today's most difficult environmental issues will speak at Iowa State University.
Deborah Koons Garcia and Kate Scow will present "Communicating Science through Stories in Film: A Dialogue about Agricultural Sustainability and Soil" at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 30, in the Memorial Union Great Hall. The lecture is ISU's 2014 Pesek-Pierre Colloquium on Agricultural Sustainability and Soil Science. It is free and open to the public.
Scow, a professor of soil science and a soil microbial ecologist, was one of several scientists who worked with filmmaker Garcia on the film "Symphony of the Soil." Drawing from ancient knowledge and new scientific discoveries, their film is an artistic exploration of the miraculous substance called soil. It also examines our human relationship with soil, the use and misuse of soil in agriculture, deforestation and development, and the latest scientific research on soil’s key role in ameliorating the most challenging environmental issues of our time.
Science is Cool
Agence France Presse via Art Daily: Roman Emperor Augustus' frescoed rooms unveiled for first time after years of restoration
ROME (AFP).- Lavishly frescoed rooms in the houses of the Roman Emperor Augustus and his wife Livia are opening for the first time to the public Thursday, after years of painstaking restoration.
The houses on Rome's Palatine hill where the emperor lived with his family are re-opening after a 2.5 million euro ($3.22 million) restoration to mark the 2,000 anniversary of Augustus's death -- with previously off-limit chambers on show for the first time.
The Guardian: London archaeologists seek public’s help to restore Temple of Mithras
Experts hope to recover memories of site when it was first excavated 60 years ago to help reconstruct it accurately
Maev Kennedy
Archaeologists working on an ancient Roman site in the centre of London are calling on members of the public to share their memories, memorabilia and photographs of the site when it was first excavated 60 years ago.
The Temple of Mithras was discovered on a Saturday afternoon in September 1954, in the last hour of a rather dull and muddy excavation on the site of a dull office block in the heart of the City of London.
In the drab postwar city, its glamour caught the public imagination and it became front-page and cinema documentary news. Police had to be called in to control the crowds, and after the furore over its proposed destruction was discussed at cabinet, the ruins were moved and haphazardly reconstructed on another part of the site.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Arizona State University: Michael Angilletta named ASU's Funniest Teacher
September 22, 2014
More than any faculty member at Arizona State University, Michael Angilletta, associate director of undergraduate programs in the School of Life Sciences, can claim to have the best sense of humor after winning the second annual Funniest Teacher Contest on Sept. 15.
The contest was hosted by Project Humanities, an ASU initiative striving to instill passion for and understanding of humanities study, research and humanist thought in individuals and communities within and around ASU.
Initially, students had the opportunity to nominate professors by writing 100-word letters of support. The teachers then made videos to demonstrate their dedication to keeping humor in the classroom, and students could later vote for their favorite online.
