Feature Channels: Story Ideas: Science

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Airborne dust and microbial matter appear to play large role in ice formation in clouds.

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Food waste generated at Kansas State University dining centers may end up back on students' plates through composting efforts that are combining K-State's excellence in agriculture with the university's commitment to sustainability.

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Sound has a long history in medicine, from the earliest 19th century stethoscopes to the latest ultrasound techniques that image growing fetuses and beating hearts. These days, sound waves are emerging as the basis of many new medical technologies -- helping to deliver genes and drugs to specific tissues, detecting bacterial infections and kidney stones, trimming the prostate, and many other applications. Acoustics is also blending with other disciplines such as neuroscience to help people with speech and hearing problems.

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The global composite temperature during April revealed an increase above the 20-year average for that month. The report is issued monthly as part of an ongoing joint project between The University of Alabama in Huntsville, NOAA and NASA.

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Driving Miranda, a protein in fruit flies crucial to switch a stem cell's fate, is not as complex as biologists thought, according to University of Oregon biochemists. They've found that one enzyme (aPKC) stands alone and acts as a traffic cop that directs which roads daughter cells will take.

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The 157th Acoustical Society of America (ASA) meeting convenes next week at the Hilton Portland & Executive Tower in Portland, Oregon. Some specific highlights include: 1) What makes a good harp? 2) Harvesting energy from airplane noise; 3) CAN Noise from race cars break glass? 4) Absolute pitch: language beats genetics.; 5) Are hybrid cars too quiet?

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Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have built a test facility to evaluate and enhance sensors designed to detect buried land mines. The unique automated system measures the response of individual electromagnetic induction sensors or arrays of sensors against land mines buried at many possible angles.

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Parachute cords, climbing ropes, and smart coatings for bridges that change color when overstressed are several possible uses for force-sensitive polymers being developed by researchers at the University of Illinois.

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Authors of a new book explain why grassland should be a permanent component of our ecosystem for ensuring the future of sustainable agriculture.

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Researchers identify a protein that regulates the physical state of blood vessels. The biochemical processes involved in this regulation are important in the study of cardiovascular health.

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The Illinois Soil Nitrogen Test was recently studied at the University of Illinois to clarify the chemical nature of what the test measures and its relationship to microbial growth in soils, determining that the test does not estimate total soil nitrogen and is selective for certain forms of microbial nitrogen.

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A student's remarkable problem -- seeing objects on the opposite side from where they actually were -- led to discoveries about how the brain pieces together what we see.

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Researchers at the University of California, San Diego "“ led by 2008 Nobel-Prize winner Roger Tsien, PhD "“ have shown that bacterial proteins called phytochromes can be engineered into infrared-fluorescent proteins (IFPs). Because the wavelength of IFPs is able to penetrate tissue, these proteins are suitable for whole-body imaging in small animals.

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NIST last week issued its first reference materials to support the new and growing field of tissue engineering for medicine.

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By modifying a commonly used commercial infrared spectrometer to allow operation at long-wave terahertz frequencies, researchers at NIST discovered an efficient new approach to measure key structural properties of nanoscale metal-oxide films used in high-speed integrated circuits.

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A clever materials science technique that uses a silicon crystal as a sort of nanoscale vise to squeeze another crystal into a more useful shape may launch a new class of electronic devices that remember their last state even after power is turned off.

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Fire researchers at NIST have just published two reports providing details of how wind affects fires in high-rise buildings.

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Scientific search in Arkansas to find ways to grow food in space produces patent-ready process for increase drought tolerance of crops while increasing nutritional values.

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The SNS has added another instrument to its eventual suite of 25. Wide tires on tractor-trailers can reduce the weight of a rig. In one of the largest experiments of its kind, thousands of cottonwood cuttings planted in common gardens in British Columbia, Oregon and California will help scientists determine which strains are best suited for cellulosic ethanol production. Fusion energy took a small step forward with a successful simulation performed on ORNL's Jaguar supercomputer.

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The desert lands of Abu Dhabi are subjected to various land degradation stresses, including wind erosion, salinization, waterlogging, landfilling, and overgrazing. Sustaining these lands has become an urgent matter, a recent article in Soil Survey Horizons suggests better conservation strategies and management options.

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New research reveals that white blood cells "crawl" in order to travel the endothelium and get to the site of infection or injury. This motion is different than was commonly assumed. In future work, the scientists plan to study whether aggressive immune reactions can be regulated by interrupting the "digging" of immune cell legs.

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The "characteristic curvature" is not a new fashion trend or some fantastic new superhero. But in the world of soap and detergent research, it can help tell you how much a surfactant hates or loves water. Three University of Toronto scientists behind this research were honored with the 2008 Soap and Detergent Association (SDA) Distinguished Paper Award, which recognizes the most outstanding article published in the Journal of Surfactants and Detergents.

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Texas Tech' process to create nonwoven toxic chemical decontamination wipes recently receives a patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

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For decades, microbiologists assumed that macrophages, immune cells that can engulf and poison bacteria and other pathogens, killed microbes by damaging their DNA. A new study from the University of Illinois disproves that.

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A recently released publication, Modification of Seed Composition to Promote Health and Nutrition, addresses ways that researchers are working towards securing the world's future food supply.

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In regions with limited water resources, maximizing crop water productivity is important for producing high yields. A new computer model, AquaCrop, was developed as a way to predict crop water use efficiency, as traditional methods tend to overestimate or underestimate this measure under conditions of water stress.

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In a new study, cognitive scientists have shown that when aware of both a negative and positive stereotype related to performance, women will identify more closely with the positive stereotype, avoiding the harmful impact the negative stereotype unwittingly can have on their performance.

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What happened in the first trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second after the Big Bang? Super-sensitive microwave detectors, built at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), may soon help scientists find out.

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When its rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral, FL on June 11, 2008, the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (formerly called GLAST) began its active life with short trip into orbit above the Earth, where it was safely delivered 75 minutes later. From a vantage 350 miles high, the Fermi telescope surveys the entire sky every three hours, detecting gamma rays, the highest-energy light in the universe.

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The April Meeting of the American Physical Society (APS) will take place from May 2-5, 2009 at the Sheraton Denver Hotel in downtown Denver. This is the second of the two largest general physics meetings of the year and is focused on cutting edge research in particle physics, nuclear physics, astrophysics, and plasma physics. In addition, there will be a wide variety of sessions devoted to education, national security, energy research, and other social issues.

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A species of slug (Arion subfuscus) produces a defensive gel it can chemically convert into a remarkably strong glue. Similar gel-based glues attach some snails firmly onto slippery rocks; tools are needed to pry them off. The tenacity of these glues on wet surfaces is difficult to match with artificial adhesives. Following up on their original research identifying the key characteristics controlling this transition from a water-based gel into a powerful yet flexible adhesive, researchers at Ithaca College have shed new light on the nature of the adhesive mechanism.

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A first-of-its kind, long-term study of hurricane impact on U.S. trees shows that hurricane damage can diminish a forest's ability to absorb carbon dioxide, a major contributor to global warming, from the atmosphere.

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When a jet is flying faster than the speed of sound, one small mistake can tear it apart. And when the jet is so experimental that it must fly unmanned, only a computer control system can pilot it. Ohio State University engineers have designed control system software that can do just that -- by adapting to changing conditions during a flight.

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Two geologists are debunking the recent notion that 'chevrons,' large U- or V-shaped formations found in some of the world's coastal areas, are evidence of megatsunamis caused by asteroids or comets slamming into the ocean.

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Paleontologists have completed a rigorous study that has culminated in a new approach to reconciling the conflict between fossil and molecular data in evolutionary studies.

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The University of Washington has surpassed its own world record for operating a glider under the ice, this time by successfully operating one of its seagliders for six months as it made round trips hundreds of miles in length under the ice at Davis Strait.

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Virginia Tech students have invented Spice n Easy, flavor spikes to quickly and easily flavor meat. No overnight soaking. No cleanup.

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As part of the most ambitious study ever launched to find out how tornadoes form and how to predict them more accurately, engineers from the Microwave Remote Sensing Laboratory are deploying mobile Doppler radar systems, one of which offers the highest spatial resolution ever, to the Great Plains.

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Deteriorating screws in bridges, fish that listen in the dark, medical devices that use sound to treat disease, the detected comeback of a long-gone whale, the sound of hyenas, cheese, and bagpipes, and what evolution can teach us about cowardice.

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Mississippi State University research into sea-based missile defense interceptors is giving the Defense Department flexibility to deal with a variety of international threats.

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A concrete material developed at the University of Michigan can heal itself when it cracks. No human intervention is necessary---just water and carbon dioxide.

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International research collaborators have identified a new family of proteins, TPC2 (two-pore channels), that facilitates calcium signaling from specialized subcellular organelles. The study, to be published April 22 in Nature, is the first to isolate TPC2 as a channel that binds to NAADP, a second-signaling messenger, resulting in the release of calcium from intracellular stores.

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The potential for an outbreak of the phenomenon commonly called "red tide" is expected to be "moderately large" this spring and summer, according to researchers with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and North Carolina State University (NCSU).

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Physicists have measured and controlled seemingly forbidden collisions between neutral strontium atoms, an advance that makes possible a significant boost in the accuracy of atomic clocks based on hundreds or thousands of neutral atoms.

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NIST has announced a three-phase plan to expedite development of key standards for a Smart Grid, a nationwide network that uses information technology to deliver electricity efficiently, reliably and securely.

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Overworked crime scene investigators can take heart at the results of recent tests at NIST of new technologies that automate the manual portion of latent fingerprint identification.

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Utah and Texas researchers have learned how quiet sounds are magnified by bundles of tiny, hair-like tubes atop "hair cells" in the ear: when the tubes dance back and forth, they act as "flexoelectric motors" that amplify sound mechanically. "We are reporting discovery of a new nanoscale motor in the ear," says Richard Rabbitt, professor and chair of bioengineering at the University of Utah.

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From head-banging termites to laughing hyenas, from noisy rocket launches to silent hybrid cars, and from bacteria that cause heart attacks to the acoustics of wind turbines, few fields span as many subjects as acoustics, the study of sound.

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After years of biting and chewing, how are human teeth able to remain intact and functional? A team of researchers from The George Washington University and other international scholars have discovered several features in enamel"”the outermost tooth tissue"”that contribute to the resiliency of human teeth.

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Physicists have measured and controlled seemingly forbidden collisions between neutral strontium atoms"”a class of antisocial atoms known as fermions that are not supposed to collide when in identical energy states. The advance makes possible a significant boost in the accuracy of atomic clocks based on hundreds or thousands of neutral atoms.