Winter has already begun for a crew of four who will spend the entire season atop the Greenland ice sheet studying the weather at a remote outpost called Summit. The camp at the apex of the ice sheet, where the sun will set in November and not reappear until late January, is the first attempt supported by the National Science Foundation to over-winter in Greenland.
Whether you perm, straighten, style or just brush your hair, you're eroding its protective cuticle layer and, eventually, breaking hair strands. Now scientists have, for the first time, figured out the step-by-step chemical effect of hair relaxers on curly hair, leading to new uses for polymers to protect your hair. The new research was presented here today at a national meeting of the American Chemical Society. Embargoed for 9-9-97, 7:00 PM EDT
People are always amazed at what they find in their attics, but the latest discovery is that dust in the attics of some older homes in Nevada and Utah contain trace amounts of radioactivity left over from above-ground nuclear testing northwest of Las Vegas in the 1940s and 1950s. The researchers stressed that the radioactivity is low enough that the dust poses no direct danger to area residents. Embargoed for 9-10-97, 1:00 PM EDT
If there is life on Mars, it won't include those insensitive men popularized in best-selling books and on talk shows, a Purdue University communication expert says. "The popular notion that men and women are from different planets so to speak ó and thus they have trouble communicating with each other ó is a fallacy," says Brant Burleson, professor of communication.
Honey has been used to cure meat for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. In modern times, food chemist Paul Dawson and his group at Clemson University in South Carolina are discovering this natural preservative also confers excellent protection against oxidation and boosts shelf life in popular processed meats. Their research was presented here today at a national meeting of the American Chemical Society. Embargoed for 9-8-97, 11:00 PM EDT
Paracel Inc. today announced a new class of scientific computing for drug discovery that accelerates the analysis of genes that cause disease by as much as 1,000 times over traditional computing alternatives. The GeneMatcherô computer system will be introduced at the Ninth Genome Sequencing and Analysis Conference, Hilton Head, S.C., Sept. 13-16. Embargoed: Sept. 13
Chemist and former U.S. Department of Commerce Undersecretary Mary L. Good, Ph.D., will address a historic gathering of women chemists at the national meeting of the world's largest scientific society, the American Chemical Society, in Las Vegas Sept. 9. To honor 70 years of actions by the Society's Women Chemists Committee, Dr. Good, a past president of the Society, will speak on the historic and future challenges faced by women chemists as they enter the 21st century.
A new application of a chemical process called sol-gel technology shows promise for making automobile catalytic converters dramatically more efficient in reducing harmful air pollution emissions, by targeting the first minute-and-a-half in which your car is running after a cold start, according to research presented here today at a national meeting of the American Chemical Society. Embargoed for 9-9-97, 1 PM EDT
Emerging chemistry challenges -- from new, incurable diseases to global climate change -- may have few solutions today. But they're just what tomorrow's chemists will face in the year 2020. What will the young chemists of today need to learn to be prepared for the chemistry challenges of tomorrow? That's the subject of a special Presidential symposium to be held Sept. 8 at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society, in Las Vegas.
Border and customs agents from Hungary, Slovakia and the former Soviet Union will be coming to Washington state this fall to participate in a new training program designed to prevent smuggling of items ranging from blue jeans to nuclear eactor components.
Press release of issue dated 6 September for New Scientist, the international science and technology weekly news magazine.
Proving that even minor planets can survive cosmic fender-benders, astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have discovered a large crater - with an estimated diameter at 285 miles and about 8 miles deep - on the asteroid Vesta. The crater is roughly the diameter of Ohio, and may be the source of many meteorites that reach the earth.
When it comes to reproductive fitness, it seems that mother knows best -- at least when mother is the common fruit fly. But two scientists have found that the act of mating is far more harmful to females than the act of egg laying. The study may give clues to how females help control their own reproductive fitness, according to a University of Georgia geneticist who is co-author of the research, to be published in the journal Evolution.
As computers get faster and communication networks expand, two electrical engineers at the University of Maine are helping to develop the next generation of radios, televisions and other communication devices. If they and their colleagues are successful, they may do for broadcasting, the military and other parts of American society what compact disc players have done for the audio entertainment industry.
Plant scientists from Cornell University and the University of Tasmania, Australia, have successfully cloned one of history's first-studied genes -- the gene found for stem growth in peas, according to a report in the journal The Plant Cell.
Complex computing problems as different as modeling Earth's climate system or predicting effects of regulatory change in the dairy industry -- which once required massively parallel supercomputers -- will run on a scalable distributed network of powerful desktop computers, thanks in part to a $6 million grant from Intel Corporation to Cornell University. The grant from the Santa Clara, Calif., computing equipment manufacturer is one of 12 to American universities in Intel's three-year, $85 million "Technology for Education 2000" program .
East Lansing, Mich. - Until now, the classroom has been an ugly showdown between the blink-and-you-miss-it world of computers and the sedate pace of textbooks. Michigan State University's computer science department has become the first in the nation to use texts produced by a new printing method that not only keeps computer textbooks current to the month classes start, but also allows instructors to customize text selections down to the sentence.
Doctors needing chemical analyses such as blood tests to make life-saving diagnosis and treatment decisions soon won't have to lose precious time waiting for results to come back from the lab. New hand-held sensor technology developed at the University of Washington will allow physicians to bring a sophisticated "laboratory" directly to their patients for instant, on-site chemical analysis.
Zero emission vehicles, as mandated in California, New York and Massachusetts, have the potential to replace large central utilities as the major source of power generation in the U.S.
The Texas Medical Center area faces continued severe flooding problems unless steps are taken to provide an adequate warning system, says Rice University professor Philip Bedient, a surface and groundwater hydrology expert.
A team of scientists headed by Frederick R. Blattner of the E. coli Genome Project in the Laboratory of Genetics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has determined the complete genome sequence of the E. coli bacterium, it was reported today (Sept. 5) in the journal Science. (Note: Embargoed for release until 4 p.m. EST, 9/4/97.)
NASA's top administrator, Daniel S. Goldin, is scheduled to speak at the New England Regional Climate Change Impacts Workshop hosted by the University of New Hampshire's Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space (EOS) Sept. 3-5.
News Tips for Sept. 2, 1997 from the USDA Agricultural Research Service: 1) Do Children's Growth Standards Need Refinement? 2) Eastern Gamagrass Surviving Drought, 3) Squeezing Fat Out of Foods, 4) Smoking Out Bee Mites, 5) Mouth-Watering New Fruits
There's a world of life waiting to be decoded from the three-sided white pine needle. Just ask Gary Lauten, research scientist and coordinators of Earthday: Forest Watch Program at the University of New Hampshire's Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space (EOS). The program lets K-12 students study the health of New England forests for clues to atmopsheric and climate change impacts.
Evidence of a new subnuclear particle ó an exotic meson ó has been discovered by a team of physicists from the University of Notre Dame and six other institutions. Long theorized, the particle had been undetected until now, said Neal Cason, professor of physics at Notre Dame and a cospokesman on the project.
Flavorful new peaches and nectarines from California should please growers and shoppers alike. The treefruits are the latest from the Horticultural Crops Research Laboratory in Fresno, where scientists have produced 26 flavorful new fruits in the past 25 years. The lab is part of USDA's Agricultural Research Service.
It sounds like a dieter's dream: finding a way to squeeze the fat out of foods we love, like big juicy hamburgers. Scientists with USDA's Agricultural Research Service have developed a way to do just that--not for the sake of counting calories, but for food analysis.
Complex, self-organizing polymers will have a profound effect on our lives, perhaps keeping airplane wings free of ice, according to a Cornell materials engineer in the latest edition of the journal "Science." These complex polymers are now seen as useful for creating films, replete with multiple, self-ordering layers, and each layer with different functions.
Four tips from Los Alamos: 1) Plasma "roots" coatings for better adhesion. 2) A safe way to sample contents of mystery containers. 3) Computer tracks elk movement patterns. 4) New company to market laser-based tool for prospecting, mining and environmental remediation.
Mars is a peaceful planet, say University of Michigan geologists. Limited plate motion, no giant impacts, and no large-scale mixing for 4.53 billion years according to an analysis of Mars rocks here on Earth.
University of Minnesota ecologist David Tilman and several colleagues have discovered why a diversity of species controls ecosystem sustainability. Working with plots of prairie plants, the researchers found that what counts most is not the number of species per se, but the number of different ways species perform a variety of functions such as growing, cycling nutrients or producing seed.
LSU researcher Bob Carney was a member of a team of university scientists led by chief scientist Chuck Fisher of Pennsylvania State University who discovered what appears to be a new species of centipede-like worms that live on and within mounds of methane ice on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico.
Press release of issue dated 30 August for New Scientist, the international science and technology weekly news magazine
1) Research Shows Drops In Crab Population Probably Not Attributed To Fishery; 2) Computer Software Evaluates Costs And Benefits Of Sediment Remediation; 3) Burgeoning North Carolina Bluefin Tuna Fishery Attracts Scientists, Fishermen
The Hudson Foods hamburger recall may be just what it takes to convince Americans that it's time to accept irradiation as another technique to safeguard their food supply, two Purdue experts say. Irradiation can destroy the microorganisms responsible for food-borne illnesses and extend the shelf life of perishable foods.
Monkeys on the African island of Zanzibar have learned that ingesting charcoal will counteract the adverse affects of toxic substances in their diet, say Duke University and University of Wyoming scientists.
Now that vaccination barrier zones are halting the northward spread of raccoon rabies in New York, Vermont and Ohio, Cornell University rabies-fighters are ready to extend the barriers across New Hampshire and Maine. Then the raccoon rabies vaccination could move southward, they predict, to turn back the viral disease in already-infected states.
The characteristic light flashes that summon male fireflies of the genus Photinus could come from female Photinus fireflies. Just as likely, the signaling females are from a different genus. The femmes fatales fireflies are luring unrelated males close enough to eat them. The males contain defensive chemicals that females need to repel predators, such as spiders.
BACK TO SCHOOL WITH NSF--The National Science Foundation funds an array of programs to improve the quality of science and math education for all Americans and to ensure a steady supply of the world's best-educated scientists, mathematicians and engineers. Roughly 20 percent of the NSF's $3.3 billion annual budget is allocated to its education and human resources programs. NSF's investment represents one-third of all federal spending on math and science education.
Scientists are one step closer to identifying one of the major toxins produced by the fish-killing organism Pfiesteria piscicida, which has been blamed for killing millions of fish along the East Coast. In a series of experiments completed earlier this month, researchers at North Carolina State University have for the first time successfully isolated and purified a water-soluble toxin component from Pfiesteria.
A new computing concept--patterned after successful space missions--may soon help UD researchers complete the blueprint for a supercomputer 1 million times more powerful than the most advanced PC now on the market. Capable of processing 1 million billion commands or "floating point operations" per second, the world's first "petaflops" machine may feature superconducting microprocessors and 3-D holographic data storage.
Scientists working on nuclear weapons have developed expertise and knowledge of exotic alloys. Now they are trying to improve the steel used in train wheels, with the potential to save the railroad industry millions annually.
Tens of millions of monarch butterflies will stampede through Kansas in September, and a researcher at the University of Kansas is ready for the show.
1) Huddled over a 20-gallon tank, counting thousands of tiny swimmers, an NSF-funded psychologist got more than she bargained for. 2) Scientists have discovered how 3 genes work together to regulate the development of nerve cells. 3) While some parts of the United States have been sweltering this summer, the South Pole just recorded the coldest July ever.
The FORTE satellite is set for launch Aug. 28 to gather new data on electromagnetic emissions from natural and manmade sources and to demonstrate new technologies for nuclear weapons treaty monitoring.
The UNH Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space will host the New England Regional Climate Change Impacts Workshop Sept. 3-5. This important regional gathering will bring together stakeholders interested in identifying climage change issues that impact their communities and possible local solutions for responding to global warming. The workshop is part of a federal initiative to define the nation's research agenda in the area of climate change.
University of New Hampshire researchers think some of the Earth's smallest organisms can tell us some big things about what we're doing to our planet. That's why Barry Rock, UNH associate professor of natural resources, and graduate student Katrina Maloney focus part of their research on lichen, which can be found on rocks, trees--even roof shingles.
In an effort to inform the 130,000 people living in New York's Adirondacks State Park where wolves may soon be sharing the landscape, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) released a report today answering many of the commonly asked questions by residents about the big canines.
Purdue University engineers have developed a new type of fire detector that senses temperature to detect flames, and that has several advantages over conventional smoke detectors.
With the aid of light pulsating from a star, the creation of organic molecules that may ultimately lead to the formation of life could be happening throughout the universe in a relatively simple process.
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