Researchers at universities and government labs are testing new software that aims to provide data-transmission rates of 100 megabits per second. Web100 is a joint effort by the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications.
Using flying insects, scientists have discovered the details of how airborne odors dictate brain activity and behavior. Although moths have antennae that are a million times more sensitive to odor than is the human nose, researchers believe that the basic principles of this model olfactory system apply to all animals, including humans. (Nature, 3-22-01)
In a strange new world where hot air doesn't rise and heat doesn't conduct, the International Space Station's thermal control systems maintain a delicate balance between the deep-freeze of space and the Sun's blazing heat.
A University of Arkansas researcher has received almost $1.2M for the purchase and operation of a powerful mass spectrometer, creating a critical mass of equipment at the University that will allow scientists from all over the nation to run one-of-a-kind experiments.
The recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease is having a devastating impact on Great Britain and is putting other western European nations on high alert. What are the chances of it showing up in the United States? What are some of the other consequences of this disease?
Scientists at North Carolina State University have found new ways to make protective fabrics -- such as those used in flame-retardant children's clothing or odor-inhibiting socks and shirts -- last longer and work better.
Brain scans are an important tool for medical science, basic research and education, but this expensive technology is often out of reach for many institutions. Now a team at Dartmouth College has developed a repository for images of human brain scans that is available free to researchers and educators worldwide.
During a nine-nation study of Asian pollution this spring, the National Center for Atmospheric Research will guide aircraft, enhance climate models, and untangle the mysteries of highly toxic atmospheric mercury.
Time and the sea are taking apart the remains of the USS Monitor. Teams of divers, led by UNC Wilmington's National Undersea Research Center, will soon begin the final stages of retrieving major portions of the wreck for permanent display in a safer home ashore.
A star survey by an international team of astronomers has concluded that part of the dark matter that forms an invisible halo around the Milky Way galaxy is made up of something very prosaic: dead stars, dim celestial objects called cool white dwarfs. (Science, 3-23-01)
Whether they're wings, fins or legs, those appendages generally known as limbs play a critical role for lifting, grasping, moving and other activities needed to sustain life. (Cell)
Trees in old-growth tropical forests in the Amazon region of Brazil live longer than previously thought, which adds to their importance in the effort to control increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide, UC Irvine researchers have found. (Nature, 3-22-01)
1)Eathquake research reveals new information; 2) Limited Damage from Seattle area's "nisqually" earthquake due to its deep "hypocenter"; 3)Underground infrastructure vulnerable to quakes; 4)Scientists look further, see deeper into Seattle "nisqually" quake; 5)Recon teams hit the ground running to learn from quakes; 6)Seattle quake offers new research opportunities; 7)Virtual displays pinpoint quake centers.
Snakes faking dangerous colors to protect themselves from predators can successfully get away with this strategy -- but only in areas where truly deadly snakes are found, according to researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The research adds new weight to the evidence for natural selection. (Nature, 3-15-01)
There appears to be a new crack in the Antarctic's icy armor. The massive iceberg-to-be was captured by a NASA satellite that's also tracing hidden continental features that shape the future of the world's largest ice sheets.
Dip a chunk of a gold and silver alloy into acid, and the silver quickly dissolves. This process leaves behind an unusual form of gold with a spongelike surface. Now researchers have solved this materials science mystery. (Nature, 3-22-01)
The world's largest particle detector, located deep in the Antarctic ice cap, has yielded data on high-energy neutrinos--among the lightest and most elusive particles in the universe--that can provide a greater understanding of the cataclysmic activity of quasars, gamma ray bursts and other cosmic turbulence. (Nature, 3-22-01)
A scientific expedition on a submarine in the Arctic has found the footprints of ancient floating ice sheets -- possibly the largest masses of ice ever to cover the earth's oceans. (Nature, 3-22-01)
Biologists placed male moths in small wind tunnels and let them smell the odor of female moths' sexual attractant in a study that revealed clues about how odors are converted into nerve impulses in the brain. (Nature, 3-22-01)
Scientists working in Kenya have found the skull and partial jaw of a new genus and species of early human relative. The fossils raise the question of whether modern humans descended from the new species or from the species typified by the fossil known as Lucy. (Nature, 3-22-01)
The University of Washington's research into understanding and finding life in the universe received a major boost with a multimillion-dollar grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and membership in NASA's Astrobiology Institute.
Blue mussels cling to life by a thread, and a URI professor is investigating the strength of those threads in the face of violent storms and increasingly stronger waves caused by global warming.
Concerned by a critical shortage of engineers, leading CEOs and educators will gather at Smith College -- home to the first engineering program at a women's college -- to forefront the need for more women in the engineering pipeline.
NASA's latest mission to Mars, an orbiter scheduled for launch on April 7, 2001, will seek out underground water-ice and explore space weather around the Red Planet -- and that's not all!
To biologists, they have been one of the most enigmatic groups of animals in the world. They're the parasitic horsehair worms of the phylum Nematomorpha. Until last year, no one had a clue about their life cycle, which has been unraveled by research to indicate a cyst carries the worm from larva to host.
Jere E. Goyan, Ph.D., Past-President of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) and former FDA Commissioner, declared AAPS' support for the continual efforts to increase the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget by 16.5 percent for Fiscal Year 2002.
Using portable fiber optic biosensors, lasers and a computer, researchers at the University of South Florida can immediately find diseases that can threaten public health, including those caused by E. coli, Listeria, Salmonella, Cryptosporidium and Camphylobacter. (National Food Processors Association Journal, 10-00)
Using mathematical equations, a Cornell University scientist and his colleagues have found evidence of a fourth spatial dimension in plants. In short, size matters. (PNAS, forthcoming)
Building on recent discovery of a potent potential antibiotic, University of Michigan College of Pharmacy researchers have found a previously unknown family of metal-requiring enzymes in bacteria. The antibiotic compound inhibits enzymes in this family. (Journal of Biological Chemistry, 3-16-01)
By measuring how long it takes phonons (lattice vibrations) to travel through a thin crystal, University of Illinois researchers have found experimental evidence of an unusual spin-density-wave ground state in lead superconductors.
Millions of monarch butterflies wintering in Mexico were killed this month, but there are conflicting reports whether humans or Mother Nature are to blame, says a leader of Monarch Watch.
Storm water runoff containing fertilizer from homes and golf courses can cause just as much damage to rivers and streams as toxic waste from industry and untreated sewage discharge, according to UAB biologists.
A new study shows that a government program--if properly implemented--may be helping to restore native birds to habitats. (The Auk)
Why are most textbooks used in U.S. middle-school science classrooms so bad -- and what alternatives exist? In a two-part series, Science News magazine explores the problem, identifies factors that have contributed to the error-ridden texts typically used, and points to innovative curricula, many of which avoid textbooks entirely.
New research sponsored by NASA may soon help scientists do a better job of tracking pollution plumes around the world and help provide people more advance warning of unhealthy air. (Science, 3-16-01)
Scientists are examining ways to encourage farmers to store carbon in their soil as a means of offsetting the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.
Your mother was right; a good night's sleep will keep you healthy. A Washington State University scientist who studies sleep, says adequate slumber appears to be a key factor in our ability to fight illness.
NASA scientists have combined starlight from the two largest telescopes on Earth to form an extraordinary optical interferometer -- a powerful tool in the search for planets outside the solar system.
On the ground, the International Space Station would be an odd looking building -- but space is an odd place to live!
Researchers have devised a new method of analyzing DNA molecules that can rapidly discriminate between nearly identical DNA strands using an instrument called a nanopore detector. (Nature Biotechnology, 3-01)
High-energy physicists from across the United States will gather at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore March 19-21 to consider and refine a proposal for a major new U.S. particle collider.
Physics - Looking for a break. Engineering - Paying dividends for businesses. Medical - The digital pig. Environment - Zebrafish is perfect guinea pig.
Now there's no place for corrosion to hide. Physicists at Vanderbilt University have developed a new remote sensing technique that can detect corrosion hidden deep within metal joints where conventional electrochemical-detection methods fail.
Astronomy's "most wanted" list has shortened by one. Researchers have spotted the first type II quasar, an object on the fringes of the known universe whose existence they had suspected for two decades.
If a monkey could talk -- he'd probably say, "Huh? Speak up!" Now physics is providing answers to why monkey ears, while so similar to our own, work differently.
1) Why surfaces stick: no longer a dirty secret, 2) Computer scientists honored by National Academy and leading professional society, 3) Biologists uncover Darwin's "missing evidence" for divergence of species--in a warbler's song
Researchers have discovered that rats with spinal cord injuries show some motor-function recovery several weeks after injury based on spontaneous re-growth of spared nerves. (PNAS, 3-13-01)
UCSD Cancer Center researchers have obtained evidence that the common anticoagulant drug heparin diminishes metastasis of certain cancers in mice by interfering with interactions between platelets and specific molecules on tumor cell surfaces. (PNAS, 3-13-01)
Together, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the University of Maryland are creating a Joint Global Change Research Institute in College Park that will investigate the scientific, social and economic implications of climate change, both nationally and globally.
RSS
Medicine keyboard_arrow_right
Sciencekeyboard_arrow_right
Life keyboard_arrow_right
Business keyboard_arrow_right
Journal News keyboard_arrow_right
By Location keyboard_arrow_right
Meetings, Grants, and Events keyboard_arrow_right