Science News

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A scientific breakthrough that could eventually become as important as X-ray and radar technologies may soon make it possible to see images of diseased tissue, electric fields, plastic explosives hidden in a suitcase, and much more that is undetected by other imaging systems. Called real-time electro-optic terahertz sensing, the technology was invented under the leadership of Xi-Cheng Zhang, associate professor of physics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

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The idea that problem drinkers can simply cut back instead of cutting themselves off is the premise behind, the Guided Self-Change Clinic at Nova Southeastern University.

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Organizations use hazing because "induction-begets devotion." Research by Caroline Keating, professor of psychology at Colgate University in Hamilton, NY, shows that severe treatment of initiates seems to enhance their commitment to the group. Her research shows that the harsher the hazing, the more attractive and competent group members seem to the initiates and the more initiates conform to the group.

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ARS Tip sheet for 4-28-97: 1- Intercepting exotic pests; 2- Irrigating on computer schedule; 3- Killing whiteflies with fungi; 4- Pond meltwater and spring; 5- Hard white wheats.

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A retiree who scavenged a radiation-proof door has cheapened the price for the U.S. to visualize world peace.

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Forty engineers from Sandia National Laboratories are directing security activities in laboratories and power plants of the former Soviet Union to protect nuclear materials that have interested terrorists, thieves and extortionists.

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NSF Tipsheet for April 25: 1- cloning a mature sheep demands extensive public discussion and debate; 2- site of intense, continuing earthquake activity, and home to 15 million people, needs scientific assistance; 3- lip seals.

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A new device may help researchers better understand environmental events such as global warming by measuring individual aerosol particles as small as 10 nanometers--roughly one order of magnitude smaller than existing transportable instruments, say University of Delaware researchers who recently filed a patent disclosure. The instrument analyzes particles "at the critical early stages of their growth," before they accumulate in clouds, says Anthony S. Wexler, associate professor of mechanical engineering.

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Because virtually all of today's information technology is computer-driven, there is a huge demand for computer software engineers in just about any field a college-bound high school student can name.

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Purdue University researcher Samuel Wagstaff is using powerful computers to divide and conquer numbers that have more than 100 digits. Results from the latest round, factoring a record-setting 167-digit number, may help scientists develop secret codes for computer security.

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A team of University of Minnesota researchers has regenerated functioning nerve cells from cervical (neck) nerve tissue taken from young rats, whose spinal cords were once thought unable to grow new nerve cells.

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Hormones are being found to have impacts beyond the individual animal that produces them. They reach from one generation to effect the very survival of the next. In addition, they communicate messages about the environmental conditions affecting the parent generation to the offspring -- which may help the new generation adapt to their environment.

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A pending patent, filed for by two researchers at the University of Georgiaπs Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, could reduce cleanup costs by millions of dollars at U.S. Department of Energy facilities across the country and make the most commonly used groundwater remediation technology process much more effective.

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Highlights of News Scientist for 4-26-97

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Nova Southeastern University and the town of Davie have turned an abandoned sewer plant in Florida into the largest fish-breeding facility in the country, and one of only a few in the nation built from an old utility plant. They're breeding thousands of tilapia--a light, white fish that tastes similar to trout--at the Davie Aquaculture Research Center plant.

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Researchers are developing techniques for using an ionized gas to remove uranium, plutonium and related radioactive isotopes from contaminated tools, gloveboxes, pipes and other materials.

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ASME International (The American Society of Mechanical Engineers) is a sponsor of the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC), to be held May 5 to May 8, at the Houston Astrodome. The following sessions are sponsored by ASME International:

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Global representatives from agricultural universities and research facilities met in Ithaca, N.Y., to hammer out details on diet and 'food systems' alliance to create agricultural demonstration projects that show how food systems could be improved in both developing and developed countries. An agreement also would begin the process of upgrading food-systems infrastructures and training within developing countries.

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Superintendents of the nationís largest urban school districts will announce the formation of a national coalition to develop and share solutions to common problems they face in improving mathematics and science education. Revitalizing urban schooling is a key to the success of national education reform programs because urban school systems enroll roughly half of all U.S. public school students.

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Leading researchers from the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities will convene at UC Santa Cruz on May 10 and 11 for a weekend conference on one of the hottest topics in higher education today: Is science just another cultural and political construct?

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Eric A. Cornell, 35, adjoint professor at the University of Colorado and physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, has been selected to receive the Alan T. Waterman Award, the National Science Boardís highest honor for young researchers.

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The Cornell University Institute for Animal Welfare has been established to foster discussion and research on issues concerning animals in agriculture, laboratories and the wild. Based in the College of Veterinary Medicine, the institute will provide financial support for studies by Cornell-affiliated researchers and will bring to campus speakers on a range of animal-welfare topics.

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Astronomers are having a difficult time explaining how a distant galaxy can emit gamma rays at extremely high energies. The galaxy, called Markarian 421, is challenging conventional astronomical theories of particl acceleration processes driven by black holes. The observations also indicate that the universe is not as opaque at these energies as previosuly thought.

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The solution to the growing environmental problem of scrap tires may well be found on the football field - or a golf course or a well-worn yard. The U.S. Patent Office on April 22 will issue a patent to Michigan State University to use crumb rubber as a turf topdressing. MSU turfgrass researchers discovered that working tires into the soil -- after grinding them into crumbs -- solves a thorny disposal problem while improving grass and athletic fields that get a lot of wear and tear.

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ARS News Service Tips for 4-19-97: 1- Estimates for Basal Metabolism Inaccurate for African American Girls; 2- Less Irradiation Would Still Stop Fruit Pests; 3- Commercial Traps Control Wayward Bees; 4- Corn, Crop Residues Offer Cleaner Environment; 5- Animal Disease Conference Comes to the Web.

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Scientists have discovered that there are fewer low-energy photons in the universe than previously thought, an observation that may alter the way astronomers think about how galaxies were formed. The findings were presented April 18 at the meeting of the American Physical Society.

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For years, scientists have been unable to account for all of the material they believe would have been needed to form the cosmos billions of years ago. Now two Johns Hopkins astrophysicists may have found much of the missing "dark matter." Their new analytical method is detailed in an article published April 20 in the "Astrophysical Journal."

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The National Science Board (NSB) has named H. Guyford Stever, a recently retired physicist, long-standing leader in science, technology and public policy and former National Science Foundation (NSF) director to receive the boardís1997 Vannevar Bush Award.

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Press release of issue dated April 19 for New Scientist, the international science and technology weekly news magazine

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The universe, like the Earth, may have its own axis, according to observational data collected by researchers at the University of Kansas and University of Rochester in New York. The research brings into question Albert Einstein's "Theory of Relativity," which is based on assumptions of a centerless, directionless universe, as well as upon the constancy of the speed of light.

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Production and consumption of R-22, the most widely used refrigerant in the United States, will be banned in the year 2020. Kansas State University is helping to prepare the United States, and countries such as Europe and Japan who rely heavily on R-22, for that cut-off point.

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Methyl-t-butyl ether (MTBE) has been added to gasoline in many areas of the United States, but its environmental impact has not yet been fully assessed.

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Ordinary people are much more adept at scientific reasoning than most psychological literature gives them credit for, argues a Cornell University expert in cognitive development in a new book, "Theory and Evidence: The Development of Scientific Reasoning."

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A new self-administered true-false questionnaire developed at Cornell University Medical College and tested at Cornell University by psychopathologist Mark Lenzenweger, reliably identified persons with personality pathology.

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How science-based nutrition information can be used to improve policy is focus of new book, "Beyond Nutritional Recommendations: Implementing Science for Healthier Populations," edited by Cornell nutritionists.

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In polymer chemistry, as in architecture, it's important to pay close attention to your builing base.

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By revealing exactly how oxygen and various organometallic molecules interact, fundamental studies at the University of Delaware may someday support the development of improved organometallic catalysts for making a variety of molecules--from plastics to hydrocarbon fuels, researchers reported April 15 during the American Chemical Society meeting. EMBARGOED: 5 p.m. EST, Tuesday, April 15, 1997

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The pollution control system in the United States is fragmented and inefficient, targetting the wrong problems, and lacking in all kinds of information needed for effective decisionmaking, according to a report released today by Resources for the Future. The report describes and evaluates the nine major federal environmental laws, the administrative decisionmaking system at the Environmental Protection Agency, and the federal-state division of labor that are the main elements of U.S. environmental policy. It is based on a comprehensive three-year examination of the pollution regulatory system, the first systematic evaluation of the nation's pollution control efforts to date.

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Novel techniques developed by Boston University researchers that allow computer users to assess the performance of their link to the Internet have been incorporated into Net.Medic, a new consumer software product which is being released today by VitalSigns Software, Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif. Embargoed: Monday, April 14, 1997 8 am EDT

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SAN FRANCISCO, CA--New information, based on molecular-scale studies of different metals in soils, may help environmental engineers immobilize these contaminants more effectively, University of Delaware researchers reported April 14 during the American Chemical Society meeting. At the soil's surface, key industrial metals including nickel, copper, chromium, cobalt and zinc--but not lead--form mixed metal compounds that dramatically diminish their mobility in the natural environment, says Donald L. Sparks. EMBARGOED: 11:00 a.m. EST, Monday, April 14, 1997

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University of Delaware research might someday help computer companies "grow" next-generation semiconductors faster while also achieving greater control over material properties, chemist Douglas J. Doren reported April 14 during the American Chemical Society meeting. EMBARGOED: 4 p.m. EST, Monday, April 14, 1997

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New research shows that fish in the Antarctic and Arctic oceans, at opposite ends of the earth, independently evolved nearly identical antifreeze glycoproteins.

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A material with fuel potential ten times greater than all known coal, gas, and oil reserves on the planet lies deep within the oceans or in the permafrost of the arctic tundra, according to Dr. Timothy S. Collett of the United States Geological Survey

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UC Santa Cruz news tips, American Chemical Society meeting: antibiotic- RNA interactions, active compounds from marine sponges, clues about aggregation of partially folded proteins.

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ARS News Service Tip Sheet for April 12, 1997: 1- Biocontrol Duo Gang up on Armyworms; 2- Snap Beans Fingered as Calcium Source for Youths; 3- Dieters' Responses Slowed in Study; 4- Berry Good Food for the Brain; 5- Too Little Magnesium Makes One Work Harder.

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University of Delaware researchers at the American Chemical Society's 213th national meeting April 13-17 will describe: 1- immobilizing metal contaminants in soils, 2- unlocking the secrets of natural compounds derived from red sea algae, 3- improving the "growth" of computer chips from chemical vapors, 4- new catalysts for oxidizing fuels and plastics, and 5- educational strategies to help science teachers interact effectively with both girls and boys. EMBARGOED: Monday, April 14, 1997

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A group of Bell Laboratories scientists have developed a 193-nanometer single-layer photoresist that will support the manufacture of integrated circuits with features just 0.13 microns wide. The scientists, reporting to the 213th annual meeting of the American Chemical Society Meeting April 13-17, 1997 in San Francisco, discuss their investigation on the design, formulation, and processing of the resist based on alternating copolymers of cycloolefins with maleic amhydride.

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How can one jury set O.J. Simpson free and another find him libel for the same crime? What does one jury see and hear when it acquits the police officers who beat Rodney King while another finds them guilty? "CBS Reports" wants to know; so on Wednesday, April 16, it will run a two-hour documentary titled, "Enter the Jury Room," which follows jury deliberations in three trials in an attempt to uncover how jurors think and act. For the documentary, the news crew turned to Valerie Hans, a University of Delaware professor of criminal justice who is nationally known for her expertise on how jurors interact. She is one of the experts interviewed by Ed Bradley for Wednesday's program.

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NSF Director Neal Lane is scheduled to speak at a National Press Club (NPC) luncheon later this month. The event is timed to coincide with the celebration of National Science and Technology Week (April 20-26), an annual public outreach program aimed at highlighting the role of science in people's everyday lives.

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One of the minor horrors of the computer age is to be working on a document not yet saved to the hard drive ìmemoryî and lose everything because of a power outage or a screen freeze-up that forces the operator to shut down the computer. Now scientists at Sandia National Laboratories and France Telecom have applied for a patent on a prototype memory-retention device that is inexpensive, low-powered, and simple to fabricate. The device, referred to as ìprotonic,î is reported in todayís issue of the journal Nature.