In a new book, an anthropologist has found that shamans on all five continents talk of a cosmic serpent, a very long single and double entity that is the key to life. Jeremy Narby speculates that "the global network of DNA-based life" is conscious and communicates with humans and that we perceive DNA signals in halluncinations and dreams. "...DNA in particular and nature in general are minded."
US and Russian scientists have teamed up to provide a needed radioisotope used in heart-imaging procedures.
Scientists from Southern Methodist University and the University of Colorado have found stone monuments in the Sahara Desert that may represent the earliest known efforts to mark astronomical events.
The Academy of Natural Sciences Hosts Paleontological Symposium--Paleontologists from around the world will assemble at the Philadelphia Civic Center from April 17 through April 19 to explore the world of the Mesozoic at the Dinofest Symposium, a component of Dinofest, "The World's Fair of Dinosaurs."
Farmers one day may be able to flip the molecular switch that makes plants tolerate freezing temperatures, thanks to new insight Michigan State University scientists have gained about plants' mechanisms to cope with cold. According to a report published in the April 3 edition of Science Magazine, molecular geneticist Michael Thomashow and his associates report that increasing a plant's expression of a specific regulatory gene helps throw the plant into cold-coping mode, beefing up its defenses against freezing.
1) NSF Aircraft Tests New Clear-Air Turbulence Sensor, 2) El Nino Rains Bring Bonanza of Spring Flowers, 3) Scientists Discover Massive Jet Streams Inside the Sun
Purdue University research is helping farmers choreograph a balancing act with phosphorus, giving plants and livestock just enough of the nutrient so they grow properly, but no more.
LSU researchers have found a way to make sugarcane waste into biodegradeable erosion control mats.
A $1.8 million federal research grant to develop sensors which can detect chemical and biological warfare agents in the environment has received final authorization at the University of Maine. The grant from the Office of Naval Research will support activities at UMaine and two private firms, Sensor Research and Development Corporation (SRD) in Orono and BIODE, Inc. in Hermon and Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Researchers will develop prototypes for portable sensors capable of detecting toxic agents and distinguishing these agents from other chemicals such as smoke and airplane fuel vapors.
Columbia, Mo. -- For the first time ever, American researchers, scientists and private companies will have a chance to look into the world of Russian research, which has been closed to the Western world until this year, through a University of Missouri-Columbia satellite series featuring 12 top Russian scientists.
The statistics are harrowing: 6,500 young adults between the ages of 16 and 20 die annually in the United States -- aproximately 18 per day -- as a result of motor vehicle accidents, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. A collaboration between the University of Massachusetts and the American Automobile Association is aimed at giving young drivers the experience needed to drive safely -- without actually putting them on the road.
A small, gentle shorebird, hunted nearly to extinction earlier this century as an adornment for women's hats, is perched on the brink again. A new study by University of Georgia wildlife researchers has found that nearly all of Georgia's surviving least tern pairs are nesting on some type of artificial site.
A year ago, the Energy & Environmental Research Center at the University of North Dakota was ravaged by one of the most destructive floods in United States history.
DALLAS --Like the flashing yellow sign on a road under construction, glowing molecular markers might help computer-chip makers avoid 'potholes' on super-flat blueprinting materials, a University of Delaware researcher reported today during the American Chemical Society meeting.
Say "glass" and most people think of window panes. But, under the right conditions, metal can also form glass, and it can have very useful properties for products from transformers to golf clubs. A Johns Hopkins engineer is working on new metallic glasses with superior strength, elasticity and magnetic properties.
DALLAS--The properties of materials synthesized by strongly bonding together segments of different "homopolymers"--long-chain plastics composed of a single repeating chemical unit--are significantly better than would be predicted, a University of Delaware researcher reported March 31 during the American Chemical Society meeting.
New images of the inner coma, or gassy head, of Comet Hyakutake are now available. The computer-generated color pictures were taken with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in April 1996, during observations made using Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, as part of a study of water photochemistry in comets.
Until laboratory tests identify sources of a bacterial disease killing songbirds in the East and Midwest, Cornell University scientists say people who feed birds should not blame themselves for the recent outbreak of salmonellosis in redpolls and other flocking species.
A Dartmouth physicist who has taken a molecular approach to the problem of icing has discovered that applying a small electric voltage across an ice-metal interface can break the bond between ice and metal surfaces.
UC Irvine researchers have found a way to introduce foreign genes into mosquito chromosomes, a technique with the potential to transform future generations of the insects so they can no longer carry deadly diseases such as malaria. The researchers report their work in the March 31 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- There are some good, good vibrations coming out of the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory at the Vanderbilt Engineering School.
Researchers have embarked on fabricating multi-layer assemblies that they hope will capture the sun's energy for useful purposes much as the process of photosynthesis does in plants.
Media Advisory about Sea Grant-sponsored symposium on wetland and marsh ecology and restoration issues using the largest wetland restoration project in the U.S. as a backdrop and example.
University of Delaware geographer John R. Mather received the Association of American Geographers (AAG) Lifetime Career Honor at the group's 94th annual meeting in Boston on March 28.
A gene that has a large effect on the aggressive stinging behavior in Africanized honey bees ó the so-called "killer bees" ó has been identified by a group of scientists at three institutions. Greg Hunt, a bee specialist with Purdue University and principal investigator on the research project, says finding the mean gene in honey bees "may help us understand what makes Africanized bees so aggressive."
Researchers at Ohio State University are developing an early warning system for aircraft degradation -- paint that changes color when the metal beneath it begins to corrode.
The dilemma: how to allow fruit to ripen naturally on the tree or vine to get the maximum in phytonutrients while retarding the softening that occurs after the fruit is picked.
ASME International (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) was honored today by the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) for promoting the participation of minorities in ASME and in mechanical engineering. Carolyn Meyers, ASME vice president of Minorities and Women, accepted the first-ever "Golden Torch Award" in the category of Association Diversity at NSBE's 24th Annual Convention in Anaheim, Calif.
El Nino may be responsible for severe weather conditions across North America, but an Ohio State University study has revealed that El NiÃ’o weather systems don't always spawn severe hurricanes in the North Pacific.
A mathematics researcher at Ohio State University and his colleagues have discovered two new patterns of electrochemical activity among brain cells.
NASA has opened the way for the signing of a $24.8 million contract between Cornell University and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for building an infrared spectrograph that will be sent into orbit to detect and analyze some of the most distant objects in the universe. The contract announcement was made as NASA authorized the start of work on the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF), an observatory that will be launched into orbit around the sun in 2001.
Gas hydrates which have been found on all the world's oceans like a ring around a bathtub, are estimated to contain more gas than has ever been produced by man or identified in conventional reservoirs.
The National Sea Grant College Program marks 30 years of marine science and coastal outreach with Congressional reauthorization for up to $290 million in research funding over the next five years. Historical Background, Congressional, NOAA quotes, and selected accomplishments provided in story.
Sea Grant News & Notes Story Ideas: 1) Survey: Delmarva Residents Committed to Keeping Bays Clean 2) Students to Conduct Water Research Without Getting Wet 3) Treating Sewage Naturally: Constructed Wetlands Help Clean Up Texas Coast
A faint image of mysterious ancient Egyptian nomads living in the Sahara Desert has emerged from thousands of stone artifacts painstakingly collected and reassembled by a University of Washington archaeologist. The stone tools and fragments offer clues to a people who lived 5,500 to 8,000 years ago and harvested wild grass seed.
Tip Sheet from New Scientist for 3-25-98
Virginia Tech's Fiber and Electro-Optics Research Center (FEORC) has received a $9.6 million grant from the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) for an Optical Sciences Research program. The five-year research project will focus on optical fiber materials, optoelectronics and fundamental optical materials science related in part to microelectronics, including optical microchips.
Peter Fong prescribes Prozac to fingernail clams and zebra mussels. The popular antidepressant might not cheer up the clams or mussels, but it did jump-start their reproductive behavior, prompting the fingernail clams to spawn in synchrony.
Two hundred years after the essay by T.R. Malthus that put "Malthusian" in the lexicon, the consequences of overpopulation are more dire than ever, says anthropologist David Price, a research associate in Cornell University's Population and Development Program. A disastrous Malthusian correction looms ahead, Price warns.
Nuclear Energy Institute Criticizes Administration For Absence of Effective Domestic Energy Policy
By studying how goats and spiders get around, a biomedical engineer at the University of Pennsylvania has designed and patented an all-terrain wheelchair that can climb up to 12-inch steps and amble over obstacles.
If you're in the media, you know how important it is to find the precise science expert for a deadline story or feature. That effort has been made a lot easier with the creation of the University of California Science Experts directory, now available on the World Wide Web.
Citing the "inspirational and dignified" primate studies of Jane Goodall and the "renowned and standard-setting" Public Broadcasting Service's NOVA television series, the National Science Board (NSB) today announced the winners of its first annual Public Service Award for contributions to public understanding of science and engineering.
Sarcon Microsystems sees a bright future in infrared imaging, a technology developed in part at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory that could ultimately save lives on roads, in buildings and in the sky.
Worried about food safety? A new Web site launched at North Carolina State University makes it easy for you to quickly get answers to your questions, in language you can understand. The site is located at http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/foodsci/agentinfo.
Cornell University researchers have isolated a single oxygen molecule adsobed on a platinum and caused it to rotate on command by applying pulses of current from a scanning tunneling microscope. The principle could some day be applied for data storage in ultra-small devices.
When newborns are exposed to the odor of their own amniotic fluid during the separation period following birth, infant distress can be lessened, according to Vanderbilt University researcher Richard Porter, whose previous studies found that babies locate their mother's nipple by its scent.
The national and global environmental challenges we face are acute. Federal support for environmental research is a critical investment in this country's future and in the health of our children.
New studies on water supplies in Europe are finding evidence of cholesterol-lowering drugs, antibiotics, analgesics, antiseptics, beta-blocker heart drugs, and other pharmaceuticals in drinking water, lakes, rivers, and streams, according to an article published in today's issue of Science News.The European scientists have ascertained that the drugs are coming from human wastes.
Tip Sheet from New Scientist for 3-18-98
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