Newswise

Surgeons Meet Challenge of Treating Combat Injuries of the Knee

The ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have resulted in uniquely destructive patterns of combat injuries, including limb-threatening injuries to the knee. In the March special issue of Techniques in Knee Surgery (www.techknee.com), military surgeons serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom share their experience with managing these high-energy injuries of the knee.

Coachtalk: Research on Post-Game Comments

Whether they win or lose in the upcoming NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, one outcome is certain: coaches will follow predictable patterns in what they say after the game. Wake Forest professor John Llewellyn has studied those patterns for years and calls it coachtalk.

Public Roundtable: “Quest for a Living World”

Join Discover magazine and author-blogger-astronomer Phil Plait (of Bad Astronomy fame) as they bring together the new breed of planet hunters to debate what’s next in the search for earthlike worlds. Produced in partnership with the Thirty Meter Telescope Project (TMT) and hosted by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), “The Quest for a Living World” will be held April 21 at Caltech’s Beckman Auditorium beginning at 7:30 p.m.

New Asteroid Threat Reports Highlight Legal and Institutional Issues

International experts have outlined needed steps and concerns in establishing a global detection and warning network to deal with possible Near Earth Object (NEO) threats to Earth.

Science, Journalism Professors Join Forces to Examine the Space Program

Two Washington and Lee University faculty members from very different disciplines — chemistry and journalism — have joined forces this semester to teach a course on the space program as a way of examining how the media cover science topics.

Gone With the Galactic Wind: 10 Years of Chandra

The 10th anniversary of NASA’s Chandra X-ray observing telescope hails new knowledge about multi-million-degree gas clouds, or galactic wind, streaming out from galaxies like ours. Chandra data at last explain how galaxies lose mass and energy, says UMass astronomer Daniel Wang in PNAS this week.

Scientist Explains Whistler Turbulence in Space

A new fluid model developed by Professor Dastgeer Shaikh from The University of Alabama in Huntsville links turbulence in solar wind to the transfer of energy in space and might help shed light on this mysterious process.

Some Older ER Patients Are Getting the Wrong Medicines

According to a U-M study, it is common for patients 65 and older to receive potentially inappropriate medications when treated in an emergency room. Nearly 19.5 million older patients, or 16.8 percent of eligible emergency visits from 2000-2006, received one or more of these medications.