Newswise

Gulf Oil Spill: Officials Want to Minimize Toxic Health Effects, Researcher Says

Some of the short-term health effects of the April accident are known – watery and irritated eyes, skin itching and redness, coughing and shortness or breath or wheezing – there also are many unknown health effects, says a UAB School of Public Health researcher. Nalini Sathiakumar, M.D., Dr.P.H., an associate professor of epidemiology and a pediatric nephrologist, is part of a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ad-hoc team formed in July. The team is working to anticipate, outline and minimize the disaster’s potential health risks.

Some Like It Hot: How to Heat a 'Nano Bathtub' the JILA Way

Researchers at JILA have demonstrated the use of infrared laser light to quickly and precisely heat the water in "nano bathtubs" -- tiny sample containers -- for microscopy studies of the biochemistry of single molecules and nanoparticles.

Body of Evidence: New Fast, Reliable Method to Detect Gravesoil

Finding bodies buried by someone who wanted them to stay undiscovered can be difficult. However a new technique developed by scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, can reliably detect biochemical changes in a decomposing cadaver.

Nano 'Pin Art': NIST Arrays are Step To Mass Produced Nanowires

NIST researchers have cultivated many thousands of nanocrystals in what looks like a pinscreen or "pin art" on silicon, a step toward reliable mass production of semiconductor nanowires for millionths-of-a-meter-scale devices such as sensors and lasers.

Breaking the Language Barrier: NIST Tests Translation Devices

For the past four years, NIST has been conducting detailed performance evaluations for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of two-way, real-time, voice-translation devices designed to improve communications between the U.S. military and non-English speakers in foreign countries.