Inflatable structures are ideal for many space applications, but very small wrinkles may make enormous mirrors impractical, says a University of Arkansas researcher.
Media are invited to attend the Potato Late Blight Field Day in Warsaw, Poland from June 6 to 8 2001. The field day is being sponsored by the Cornell Eastern Europe-Mexico late blight research program and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Thomas Gold, professor emeritus of astronomy at Cornell University, argues that static electricity causes dust grains to levitate downhill into the bottom of craters on asteroid Eros -- the same process, he believes, that has filled craters on the moon.
The first comprehensive study of apple growing systems provides evidence that there are financial as well as environmental rewards for apple growers who go organic.
About 130 million years ago the first flowering plants suddenly appeared -- an event Charles Darwin described as an 'abominable mystery.' Now, scientists using chemical fossils are unraveling this ancient puzzle.
In late April, two NSF icebreaking research ships will sail to the Antarctic Peninsula in a precedent-setting oceanographic survey to determine how small shrimp-like animals called krill survive in the frozen ocean.
The U.S. Army and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory will create a national biotechnology "Center of Excellence" - focusing some of the nation's top minds and research facilities on several critical Army needs.
A previously unknown class of proteins chemically related to snake venom and frog skin secretions may lead to the development of new treatments for a range of stubborn digestive disorders, a UC Irvine College of Medicine research team has found.
Dimitrios Dardalis, a mechanical engineering graduate student at The University of Texas at Austin, has patented a design that holds promise for dramatic fuel savings in heavy duty diesel engines of the future.
NASA research has shown that increasing water vapor in the stratosphere, which results partially from greenhouse gases, may delay ozone recovery and increase the rate of climate change.
Climate researchers are warning that efforts to reduce air pollution could, if not well designed, make global warming worse. Limiting emissions of man-made nitrogen oxides, a strategy to control ozone in the lower atmosphere, would result in increased methane abundance and lead to additional greenhouse warming.
Have the cows gone mad? Are the ice caps melting? Is a woman raped every nine seconds? If you answered yes to all of these questions, it means you've been listening to the media. If you answered no, you've been listening to the experts.
With Earth Day approaching Sunday, April 22, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison can offer fresh perspectives for your environmental coverage and describe current research that is helping better understand the environment or solve environmental problems.
Air-borne particles have been found to significantly reduce the effectiveness of laser beams, such as those being developed as antiballistic weapons by the U.S. Air Force.
By using genetic fingerprinting techniques such as those used to identify criminals, a forestry and natural resources professor at Purdue University and his colleagues, have been able to glean new knowledge about an underwater world of peculiar liaisons.
A team of scientists including members of the NASA Astrobiology Institute are sailing the high seas on a daring expedition to explore this strange new world.
After a winter of unusually heavy snow, several rivers may surge out of their banks across North Dakota and Minnesota in the next week and across northern New England later this month. Experts and Web sites from the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research help shed light on America's deadly flood and flash-flood risks.
Scientists have long predicted that tuna, with their highly streamlined body and elevated internal temperatures, are equipped with a "high performance" muscle system. Tuna, researchers suspected, power their swimming by projecting muscle force from the mid-body, where the muscle is concentrated, back to the tail, which essentially acts as a natural, thrust-producing hydrofoil.
Inspired by nature's own building blocks, Purdue University researchers are using the same principle that makes DNA strands link together to create tiny structures that may someday be used to manufacture molecular wires and other components for use in nanometer-sized electronic devices.
Scientists have long known that plants and certain microorganisms use an important protein to convert carbon dioxide from the air into useable carbon. Now, researchers investigating green sulfur bacteria - microbes capable of breaking down sulfur compounds - have uncovered a new link they believe to be an ancestor of that carbon-fixing protein.
Scientist Tullis Onstott of Princeton University will speak on subsurface microbial communities that live deep within the gold mines of South Africa at the National Science Foundation on April 24.
Two tests have been conducted to demonstrate the feasibility of burning a combination of subbituminous coal and sunflower hulls to produce heat for the campus at the University of North Dakota. What was once considered a waste material can now be used to produce clean energy from an alternative, renewable fuel source.
Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have used a new form of laser technology called single molecule spectroscopy to make important contributions to understanding the motion of molecules in supercooled liquids, a problem of interest to scientists for more than half a century.
Using a novel detector attached to the submarine Alvin, a research team led by University of Delaware marine scientists has determined that water chemistry controls the location and distribution of two species of weird worms that inhabit deep-sea hydrothermal vent sites.
Although the Human Genome Project grabs headlines, perhaps the bigger story in biology will be in plant and animal genomics: the first benefits to society are likely to come from these areas, where it is generally easier and less controversial to utilize genetic information, according to the director of Purdue University's Office of Agricultural Research Programs.
"Egypt is the gift of the Nile," wrote Herodotus in 450 B.C. But according to research by Boston University Professor, the Greek historian got it only half right.
Robots are headed for your house. A U of A robotics researcher predicts that this Christmas season parents will bring home robots in unprecedented numbers, and many of them won't even realize it.
U of A robotics researchers have designed and demonstrated systems that significantly reduce the cost of hearing and vision systems for intelligent robots.
Major development and construction planned for China's Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, especially the Three Gorges Dam, could dramatically alter the salt content of the Sea of Japan and thereby change the climate in regions near these ocean waters.
Breaking research conducted by Tim Barnett and David Pierce of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, has shown preliminary evidence of human-produced warming in the upper 3,000 meters of the world's oceans.
If current trends in the growth of global population and wealth continue, the planet will lose a billion hectares of natural ecosystems--an area the size of the United States--to agriculture by the year 2050, according to projections by a team of scientists.
A University of Arkansas physicist has discovered a "quantum fractal" pattern -- with unforeseen mathematical capabilities -- that results when you "squeeze" the spatial uncertainty of a quantum wave. This space-time interference pattern repeats itself at discrete intervals, creating a sub-atomic quantum counter that could potentially be used in quantum computers.
A working quantum computer could be so powerful that it would solve in seconds certain problems that would take the fastest existing supercomputer millions of years to complete.
A new technique developed by researchers at Sandia National Laboratories using an inexpensive disposable fiber optics telemetry system to relay real-time information about the drilling process is capturing oil and gas industry attention.
Researchers from Pennsylvania State University supported by the National Science Foundation have performed an important step in the drive to remove environmentally harmful materials from waste streams and drinking water.
Engineers at The University of Texas are working with a Massachusetts-based startup firm to improve a leading-edge technology for cleaning up contaminated soil.
Prairie plots with greater plant biodiversity respond to augmented carbon dioxide and nitrogen more vigorously than plots with fewer plant species. Results imply that simplification of ecosystems may hamper ecosystems' ability to remove carbon dioxide from circulation.
Joseph Duncan, formerly of Oracle Corp. and Borland International, has joined the University of Washington's Cell Systems Initiative as chief of operations and information technology.
1) "Dive and Discover" Website Puts Classrooms On Frontier Of Ocean Exploration; 2) Students Vital To Future Workforce; 3) Hotspots No Panacea For Endangered Species Or Biodiversity.
NASA scientists are learning how to grow plants in space. Such far-out crops will eventually take their place alongside people, microbes and machines in self-contained habitats for astronauts.
Winners of the Johns Hopkins Young Investigators' awards cite different reasons for becoming scientists, but have in common a knack for elegant research, a keen discipline to see it through and an unusual ability to communicate what they're doing.
Classroom activities designed by teachers, for teachers, to enhance middle schoolers' skills in science and math are now available on the Web. "Cycles of the Earth and Atmosphere" builds the excitement of scientific discovery into the curriculum, along with the basic concepts middle school students are expected to master.
As of early April, the Colorado State University hurricane forecast team led by William Gray has upped the numbers for 2001 just slightly, suggesting a normal season. For the June 1-Nov. 30, 2001 season, the scientists are calling for 10 named storms, six hurricanes and two intense (Saffir-Simpson category 3 or higher) hurricanes.
Timothy Fisher is taking a Tiffany's approach to converting sunlight into electricity. He is exploring the use of polycrystalline diamond as a replacement for the silicon solar cells currently used in many space applications.
Despite one restart and one human intervention, the Purdue student chapter of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers won the 13th annual National Rube Goldberg Machine Contest today (Saturday, 4/7) with a machine that paid tribute to New York City. The team's were challenged to build a machine that could select, clean and peel an apple using at least 20 steps and within a time limit.