The images, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, show pits and tectonic ‘grabens’ in the Phlegethon Catena region of Mars.
The HRSC obtained these images during orbit 1217 with a ground resolution of approximately 11.9 metres per pixel. The scenes show the region of Phlegethon Catena, centred at approximately 33.9° South and 253.1° East.
Located south-east of the Alba Patera volcano, Phlegethon Catena is a region exhibit
Marketta Henriksson’s dissertation examines issues related to the adoption of the euro by the new Central and Eastern European EU Member States.
The first essay studies the interaction between fiscal policy and the price level in different exchange rate regimes. The theoretical framework is based on the Fiscal Theory of the Price Level (FTPL). The results show that a credibly fixed exchange rate is inconsistent with fiscal irresponsibility, which implies that fiscal discipli
The temperature of the northern hemisphere has increased over a larger area in the last century than at any time in the past millennium a report published in Science reveals this week.
The study finds that the number of “hot spots” has increased dramatically in the Northern Hemisphere in the last century compared to the past 1200 years – adding to the growing evidence of wide-scale global warming.
Dr Tim Osborn and Prof Keith Briffa, of the Climatic Research Unit team
Teaching a machine to sense its environment is one of the most intractable problems of computer science, but one European project is looking to nature for help in cracking the conundrum. It combined streams of sensory data to produce an adaptive, composite impression of surroundings in near real-time.
The team brought together electronic engineers, computer scientists, neuroscientists, physicists, and biologists. It looked at basic neural models for perception and then sought t
A grapefruit a day — particularly the red variety — can help keep heart disease at bay, according to a new study by Israeli researchers. In a controlled study group of patients with heart disease, the scientists found that feeding some patients the equivalent of one grapefruit daily significantly reduced levels of cholesterol in comparison to patients that did not eat grapefruit. Chronic high blood cholesterol is a major risk factor for heart disease.
The study, which strengthens a gr
New technology allows for more versatile portable spectrometers
Being the delicate optical instruments that they are, spectrometers are pretty picky about light.
But Georgia Tech researchers have developed a technology to help spectrometers — instruments that can be used as the main parts of sensors that can detect substances present in even ultra-small concentrations — analyze substances using fewer parts in a wider variety of environments, regardless of lighting. The te
Vitamin D can inhibit the spread of prostate cancer cells by limiting the activity of two specific enzymes, University of Rochester Medical Center scientists report.
The finding means that vitamin D could provide beneficial treatment to prostate cancer patients with high levels of the enzymes, the scientists said.
“We wanted to know the targets of vitamin D so we would know which patients would respond better,” said Yi-Fen Lee, Ph.D., an assistant professor of Urology a
New composites could remove buzz from speakers, sting from golf clubs
A new study suggests that integrating nanotubes into traditional materials dramatically improves their ability to reduce vibration, especially at high temperatures. The findings could pave the way for a new class of materials with a multitude of applications, from high-performance parts for spacecraft and automobile engines, to golf clubs that don’t sting and stereo speakers that don’t buzz.
The mate
One on one relationships key to employee commitment
Companies that cut middle managers jeopardize their productivity more than save costs, a study from McMaster University suggests.
“Middle managers are the front line communicators with employees,” says Rick Hackett, Canada Research Chair in Organizational Behaviour and Human Performance at the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University. “One-on-one social exchanges between bosses and their workers have a real i
A newly published report by the National Research Council (NRC) urging educators to teach K-12 students to think spatially and to use geographic information systems (GIS) to do so underscores the importance of educational research underway at Northwestern University.
Because geographic information systems are designed for use by scientists and are too complex for classroom use, the NRC report calls for the development of GIS software specifically designed to meet the needs of eleme
A 25-year-old man will undergo Western Australia’s first ever simultaneous bilateral cochlear implant operation on Thursday 9 February at St John of God Hospital in Subiaco.
Danny Clarke will have two cochlear hearing devices implanted in both his ears at the same time.
Danny, who became a successful search and rescue helicopter air crewman despite losing his hearing in his right ear due to a fall at the age of 11, became permanently deaf last year after being at
A solar cell, made of titania nanotubes and natural dye, may be the answer to making solar electricity production cost-effective, according to a Penn State researcher.
“Solar cell technology has not changed very much over time and is still predominantly silicon solar cells,” says Dr. Craig Grimes, professor of electrical engineering and materials science and engineering. “It takes a great deal of energy, 5 gigajoules per square meter, to make silicon solar cells. It can be ar
Geologists have learned that the height of the Tibetan Plateau, a vast, elevated region of central Asia sometimes called “the roof of the world,” has remained remarkably constant for at least 35 million years.
David Rowley from the University of Chicago and Brian Currie of Miami University in Ohio report their finding in the Feb. 9 issue of the journal Nature.
Before their last expedition to Tibet, the geologists expected to find evidence that the plateau was rising
When graduate student Pengpeng Zhang successfully imaged a piece of silicon just 10 nanometers-or a millionth of a centimeter-in thickness, she and her University of Wisconsin-Madison co-researchers were puzzled. According to established thinking, the feat should be impossible because her microscopy method required samples that conduct electricity.
“After she did it, we realized, ’Hey, this silicon layer is really thin-it’s much thinner than what people normally use,&
A recent decrease in Rocky Mountain snowpack has slowed the release of heat-trapping carbon dioxide gases from forest soils into the atmosphere during the dead of winter, according to a new University of Colorado at Boulder study.
Professor Russell Monson of CU-Boulder’s ecology and evolutionary biology department said the lack of snow has decreased the winter insulation of the soils, cooling them and slowing the metabolism of microbes that release large amounts of CO2. Bu
A statistical review of the past medical files of more than 300 couples in Uganda, in which the female partner was HIV negative and the male was HIV positive, provides solid documentation of the protective effects of male circumcision in reducing the risk of infection among women. Male circumcision also reduced rates of trichomonas and bacterial vaginosis in female partners. The study is believed to be the first to demonstrate the benefits to female partners of male circumcision.
Speci
Feedback
