This week's "Science" magazine features a major article by Washington State University Professor of Biochemistry Norman G. Lewis and co-workers on their discovery of the first member of an apparent new class of proteins. These proteins help explain how nature controls free- radical chemistry, something scientists in laboratories have had difficulty doing.
Researchers at West Virginia University have developed a computer-based flight data recorder (FDR), commonly called a "black box," they say would cost a fraction of what new proposed FDRs with extended recording capabilities would cost the nation's airlines.
More than 40 experts on risk management, land use and the nation's nuclear weapons complex gathered at Resources for the Future to discuss the challenges faced in assuring protection from risks to human health and the environment posed by hazards remaining at the nation's nuclear weapons production sites once the United States Department of Energy completes its major cleanup activities.
Powerful winter storms that strike the U.S. West Coast often occur in series, like the ones that recently raked Washington, Oregon, and California. These storms have their counterparts in the North Atlantic Ocean, and scientists supported in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF) are hot on their trail.
Landmarks in Mechanical Engineering compiles 135 inventions and other technological achievements set apart for their contribution to scientific growth, industrial development and human progress. The new book is announced jointly by ASME International (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) and Purdue University Press, the publisher.
Wildlife Conservation Society African-born biologist acts as a wildlife traffic cop outside of Nairobi National Park.
The scientific battle against the devastating fungal strain Phytophthora infestans -- commonly known as potato late blight -- has been elevated on international fronts, according to a report released this month by the Cornell-Eastern Europe-Mexico (CEEM) International Collaborative Project in Potato Late Blight Control. P. infestans, the fungus blamed for the Irish potato famine of the 1840s, is currently staging a resurgence . Scientists agree the new strains are far more aggressive than the original outbreak 150 years ago.
Acting as the world's most powerful telescopic tandem, the Hubble Space Telescope and the W.M. Keck Telescope are starting to unravel the evolutionary histories of galaxies dating back to when the universe was just 10 percent of its current age. Embargoed * For release at 9:20 a.m. EST Thursday, January 16, 1997, in conjunction with the presentation of paper #103.05 at the American Astronomical Society meeting.
U-M computer model detects "fingerprint" of massive black holes in three nearby galaxies.
People called upon to sit on juries for capital crimes often do not understand the language of the law, the factors they are supposed to weigh in considering a sentence, or even that they have final responsibility for imposing punishment. New research funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) seeks ways to improve the judgment of jurors who literally make life and death decisions.
Powerful winter storms that strike the U.S. West Coast often occur in series, like the ones that recently raked Washington, Oregon, and California. These storms have their counterparts in the North Atlantic, and scientists are hot on their trail. A major field program involving NCAR, UCAR and researchers from 11 countries is straddling the Atlantic from Newfoundland to Ireland to study fierce oceanic winter storms.
The first international conference on computational molecular biology will be held at the Eldorado Hotel in Santa Fe, N.M., from January 20-23, 1997. Among the expected 200 participants are Nobel laureate Rich Roberts and Turing Award winner Richard Karp. If that werenÃt enough reknown, "Interestingly, some of the scientists involved in this conference are so famous in their fields that they were tapped to testify at the O. J. Simpson criminal trial," said Sorin Istrail, a Sandia National Laboratories scientist and one of the conference organizers.
Giant balloons floating around the Antarctic helped UAH scientists gather what may be the first evidence of specific sources of cosmis rays, especially the cosmic rays which carry the most energy
Image-guided software developed at The University of Alabama in Huntsville may help doctors better diagnose cancer and plan surgery by allowing the more effective use of information collected from computerized axial tomography (CAT) scanned images.
A slightly cooler than normal December ended a slightly cooler than normal year. December's Global Temperature Report includes a special advisory relating to a new analysis of satellite data.
A new approach for manipulating laser light on the microscopic scale was announced Jan.2 in the journal Nature in a cover story by Yale University applied physicist A. Douglas Stone. It could expand traffic on fiber-optic networks, speed up computers, improve video displays and lead to better laser printers.
Fewer sunspots will erupt on the sun's surface during the next decade, indicating an unexpected decrease in the activity of magnetic fields that churn the sun's hot gases, Yale University and NASA astronomers predict. The milder "space weather" -- marked by a decrease in magnetic storms, cosmic rays and ionspheric disturbances -- could bring cooler temperatures on earth, fewer power blackouts and less interference with radio waves. Embargo: Jan. 14, 1997, 10 a.m. edt
Called sonoluminescence, the enigma has intrigued scientists since it was discovered in the 1930's. Today, researchers are trying to harness the process for possible commercial applications ranging from broad-band underwater sonar to pollution-free energy. A Yale mechanical engineer challenged colleagues around the world to come up with new experiments to test the growing list of theories.
Yale University has entered a dark horse in the international race to find dark matter, the 90 percent or more of the universe's mass that is unseen and unknown but exerts a profound influence on the distribution and shape of visible galaxies. Theories about the composition of this missing matter range from exotic new kinds of subatomic particles to black holes, burned out stars or intergalactic dust and gas.
An array of new ideas are being explored by the Yale Center for Computational Vision and Control ranging from a three-dimensional computer mouse that can control the motion of a robotic arm to a visual tracking system that can superimpose a clown face over a human face on a television monitor.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is now determining whether mercury emissions should be regulated under the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. If the decision is made to regulate mercury emissions from electric power plants, what's the best way to control the emissions? Do methods exist to accurately measure the type and amount of mercury in exhaust gases emitted from power plants?
Today, at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Toronto, Canada, astronomers Kurt Slinglend, David Batuski, and Chris Miller of the University of Maine, presented evidence for what appears to be the longest single structure yet seen in the universe, a supercluster of galaxies about one billion light-years in length.
Platynus indecentis, a "bog beetle" misidentified for 85 years, has been discovered in a Cornell insect collection and given proper species identification.
Student ethnobotany expeditions to the Venezuelan Amazon and Mexican Yucatan are identifying plant-based medicinals used by indigenous peoples for centuries. Potential antibiotics, contraceptives and insect-bite remedies are among the chemical compounds under analysis by Cornell University students, whose expenses are paid by the Minority International Research Training Program of the National Institutes of Health.
What educators can teach young parents about becoming good parents is the topic of a new and revised curriculum from Cornell University.
Many quasars, the most luminous objects in the universe, are swaddled by galaxies containing ordinary stars that lie at the same distances from earth as the quasars themselves, according to new research that used the Keck Telescopes in Hawaii.
A high-engery power source hidden inside a galaxy 660 million light years from Earth has provided new evidence supporting a theory that all such "active galaxies" harbor quasars in their nuclei. The findings are being released Jan. 13 at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society. EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE AT 9:20 A.M. EST ON MONDAY, JAN. 13, 1997
According to recent measurements by Purdue University physicists, an electron may not be a simple negative point charge, as scientists often describe it. "Science and engineering students have learned for years that the electron has a constant electronic strength, but now we've seen that this may not be the case," says David Koltick, professor of physics at Purdue.
Wildlife Conservation Society researcher develops a new trawl net that drastrically reduces the number of undersized fish caught in the high-volume commercial pollock fishery -- the world's largest trawl fishery. In the U.S. alone, pollock catches $6 billion in 1994. This new net will affect this industry with in the next year.
Johns Hopkins chemist David Draper says he works in an "RNA world." He considers DNA "this monotonous double helix," and has chosen instead to focus on the multi-folded, complex, and important shape and structure of RNA.
Chancellor M.R.C. Greenwood of UC Santa Cruz, a nationally recognized biologist, spokesperson for higher education, and an experienced voice in the arena of national scientific policy, has been chosen by her peers as the next president-elect of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The new Intel Pentium MMX microprocessor may lure buyers because a new study shows a majority of current World Wide Web users have begun to experience hardware and software problems when attempting to test new innovations.
National tax reform may have a substantial impact on the environment as well as on economic growth, researchers at Resources for the Future and Stanford University suggest. They have recently launched a study of the environmental implications of three alternative tax plans -- the flat tax, the national sales tax, and the unlimited savings account tax -- now under discussion in Congress.
A University of Minnesota entomologist has found that a line of "hygienic" bees can defend their hives against the huge Varroa mite and also against two common honeybee diseases, a finding that spells hope in the face of a 100 percent Varroa infestation rate in hives nationwide. The work is published in the current Apidologie.
ASME International (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) is contributing 12 technical sessions and symposia at National Manufacturing Week, to be held March 10-13, 1997, in Chicago, Ill. The sessions will explore energy conservation, asset management, problem solving and other issues impacting the safety, reliability and maintenance of plant facilities and their systems. Speakers include members of the ASME Plant Engineering and Maintenance Division.
Dr. John Lienhard, the MD Anderson Professor of Mechanical Engineering and History at the University of Houston, invites those attending Energy Week to travel with him down "The Highways of the 30's," on Wed., Jan. 29, at 6:00 p.m., at the George R. Brown Convention Center, 3rd Level. An honorary member of ASME International, Dr. Lienhard will describe how engineering advancements in automotive technology, fuels and service have changed our society.
ATHENS, Ga. -- The steady warming of the Earth's atmosphere, along with increased concentrations of carbon dioxide, could one day bring cataclysmic changes to the planet, some scientists believe. They have suggested global warming could cause anything from the widespread elimination of species to the melting of polar ice caps. But new studies in USDA's Southern Global Change Program indicate there is at least one hidden advantage to increased CO2 concentrations: much better tree growth due to improved photosynthesis.
Beginning early January, a new FAA/NCAR system being demonstrated at LaGuardia and O'Hare airports will provide snowfall "nowcasts" up to 30 minutes in advance for participating airlines to help reduce takeoff delays, increase safety, and save money on deicing procedures. United, USAir, and Delta are testing the new system.
More than 500 space technology scientists from around the world are expected to attend the University of New Mexico Space Technology and Applications International Forum scheduled for Jan. 26-30 at the Hyatt Regency in Albuquerque, NM.
A Johns Hopkins engineer has developed "magnetic tweezers," a joystick-controlled device he uses to grab and manipulate single molecules of DNA. He is developing the device for such uses as non-invasive transportation of medicine through a patient's veins directly to diseased cells.
Experiments with hamsters show that exposure to bright light blocks the effects of serotonin in the brain, acording to a letter in Thursday's Nature.
The benefits of Redux (d-fenfluramine) don't outweigh the risks, according to Cornell University nutritionist David Levitsky,who has examined the 40 studies on long-term use of the diet pill. "People do lose weight more easily with than with a placebo, but the advantage of taking the medication over a placebo after a year is less than 5-and-a-half pounds."
The 12-state Northeast was sopping, soggy, soaked and sodden as the region sloshed its way to the wettest year in more than a century -- 102 years of official records -- with 53.89 inches of precipitation. This easily broke the old record set in 1972 by 2.55 inches, according to the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University.
Concerned that raccoon rabies could infect wildlife and humans, Canadian authorities are reaching across the border to help support oral vaccination programs in Northeastern states by veterinarians and wildlife biologists from the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine.
Men and women taking selenium supplements for 10 years had 41 percent less total cancer than those taking a placebo, a new study by Cornell University and the University of Arizona shows. This is the first double-blind, placebo-controlled cancer prevention study with humans that directly supports the thesis that a nutritional supplement of selenium, as a single agent, can reduce the risk of cancer
A relatively new theory that may better enable scientists to predict the effects of pollution and contamination on the environment will be discussed at a symposium at the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory from Jan. 20-23.
It is one of those last gorgeous days of October, and John Fellman is leading me through the variety block of WSU's Tukey Orchard, 392 trees of 97 different varieties. The tastes are doing extraordinary things to my nose and taste buds. We are in apple heaven.
Review copies are available of a new Johns Hopkins University Press book on biodiversity. "The Idea of Biodiversity: Philosophies of Paradise" examines the concept of biodiversity, its origins and its impact on society.
A small gold oven sent to Russia's MIR space station may give scientists valuable insights into diffusive transport in liquids, a fundamental physical process that is so little understood that there are a half dozen conflicting theories about how the process actually works.
A process that bonds the stuff from which bones are made onto the surface of artificial bone and joint implants may give longer life to as many as 600,000 implants a year.
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