At AAAS annual conference – Feeding the world can be a constant battle between opposing forces.
Agriculture is often seen as being in conflict with natural resources as farmers attempt to feed the world without poisoning the Earth, said Charles W. Rice, a Kansas State University soil microbiologist and professor of agronomy. Excessive tillage, low productivity, soil erosion and residue removal result in loss of soil structure, organic matter, nutrients and biodiversity.
More than twenty years after the historic Chesapeake Bay Agreement set out a roadmap for a coordinated clean-up effort at state and federal levels, the region is struggling to follow it, scientists say.
Panelists speaking at a February 20 session of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington, DC emphasized the importance of an adaptive approach to restoration in the Chesapeake––which scientists call adaptive management, in which ideas and approac
Advanced computational methods and supporting experiments, including work performed at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, are giving scientists a better understanding of the nature and stability of superheavy nuclei and the heaviest elements that lie beyond the borders of the periodic table.
Nature magazine on Thursday published a review article that describes collaborative work by researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Te
The crystallized form of a molecular machine that can cut and paste genetic material is revealing possible new paths for treating diseases such as some forms of cancer and opportunistic infections that plague HIV patients.
Purdue University researchers froze one of these molecular machines, which are chemical complexes known as a Group I intron, at mid-point in its work cycle. When frozen, crystallized introns reveal their structure and the sites at which they bind with various mo
Researchers have discovered that marine seaweeds have a remarkable and previously unknown capacity to detoxify serious organic pollutants such as TNT or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and they may therefore be able to play an important role in protecting the ecological health of marine life.
The studies, conducted by scientists from the College of Engineering at Oregon State University and the Marine Science Center at Northeastern University, were presented today at the annual m
More potent and highly selective therapy effective in treating Gleevec-resistant disease
A laboratory study led by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has shown that a potent and highly selective therapy for chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) may ultimately be more effective than Gleevec®, the current standard of care. The researchers report in the February issue of Cancer Cell that the new compound, AMN107, is about 20 times more potent than Gleevec and is effective in t
Researchers have created a way to transform the dead bone of a transplanted skeletal graft into living tissue in an experiment involving mice. The advance, which uses gene therapy to stimulate the body into treating the foreign splint as living bone, is a promising development for the thousands of cancer and trauma patients each year who suffer with fragile and failing bone grafts. The findings were posted online Feb. 13 and will appear in the March 1 issue of Nature Medicine.
The
Computer simulations will improve understanding of faults and power surges
Scientists at Cardiff University, UK have been called in to help improve the already high levels of safety and reliability on the UK’s electrical transmission system. A team of experts in Cardiff School of Engineering will run sophisticated computer simulations, laboratory experiments and field tests on the National Grid electricity network to develop a better understanding of what happens when faults a
Astronomers around the world recorded late last year the brightest explosion ever of high-energy X-rays and gamma rays – a split-second flash from the other side of our galaxy that was strong enough to affect the Earth’s atmosphere.
The flash, called a soft gamma repeater flare, reached Earth on Dec. 27 and was detected by at least 15 satellites and spacecraft between Earth and Saturn, swamping most of their detectors. Some of the best observations were recorded by the Reuven
A simple saliva test can predict for the first time whether children will get cavities, how many cavities they will get and even which teeth are most vulnerable, University of Southern California researchers say.
Developed by a USC School of Dentistry team led by professor Paul Denny, the test quantifies the genetic component of tooth decay (caries). Dentists have long known that even in areas with fluoridation and good oral hygiene education, some people just have bad teeth. T
Cassini-Huygens supplied new evidence about why Titan has an atmosphere, making it unique among all solar system moons, a University of Arizona planetary scientist says.
Scientists can infer from Cassini-Huygens results that Titan has ammonia, said Jonathan I. Lunine, an interdisciplinary scientist for the European Space Agency’s Huygens probe that landed on Titan last month. “I think what’s clear from the data is that Titan has accreted or acquired significant amounts
A leading Canadian fish farming scientist is stirring the scientific waters by arguing that it may be safer to risk introducing exotic salmon into a marine ecosystem than to farm native ones there.
“The biggest environmental danger we face from salmon escapes is when farming species within their native range, such as Atlantic salmon in the Atlantic Ocean,” says Dr. Ian Fleming, Director of the Ocean Sciences Centre at Memorial University of Newfoundland.
He is prese
Distributed computing project to search for gravitational waves.
A new grassroots computing project dubbed Einstein@Home, which will let anyone with a personal computer contribute to cutting edge astrophysics research, will be officially announced at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington DC on Saturday, February 19. LIGO Laboratory Director Barry Barish of Caltech and Einstein@Home Principal Investigator Bruce Allen
For the last few years evidence that we are living on a very “weird” universe has been growing: the expansion of the universe is accelerating, and one theory proposed to account for this acceleration is what has been termed “dark energy.”
In order to find out what this mysterious energy really is, astronomers need to compare astrophysical observations that are at first sight completely unrelated. At a session on dark energy at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for
The next big way to clean up toxic sites may be coaxing plants to become janitors, a Michigan State University scientist says.
Clayton Rugh, an assistant professor of crop and soil sciences, explains that phytoremediation – using plants to remove contaminants from the soil – is evolving.
In the early stages of this technology, plants were used like sponges, soaking up toxic substances so they can be safely discarded. The next step, Rugh says, is plants that act like a g
Expert says the government must do more to eliminate lead from the environment
Exposure to lead may be one of the most significant causes of violent crime in young people, according to one of the nation’s leading researchers on the subject. “When environmental lead finds its way into the developing brain, it disturbs neural mechanisms responsible for regulation of impulse. That can lead to antisocial and criminal behavior,” reported Herbert L. Needleman, M.D., professor of psychiat
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