New research published in the September 17 issue of the journal Science sheds light on the evolution of Earth’s climate system by identifying changes in temperature, ocean circulation, and global carbon cycling associated with the rapid growth of Antarctic ice sheets approximately 14 million years ago.
By studying chemical changes in deep sea sediments, scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara discovered that high-latitude Southern Ocean cooling helped to trigg
For the first time, an international team of astronomers led by Guy Perrin from the Paris Observatory/LESIA, (Meudon, France) and Stephen Ridgway from the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (Tucson, Arizona, USA) has observed the close environment of five so-called red giant Mira stars, using astronomical interferometric techniques. They found that the observed Mira stars are embedded in a shell of water vapor and possibly of carbon monoxide that extends to twice the stellar radius. Studying the
ENVIRONNEMENT SA, which specialises in instrumentation for the environment sector, has just secured its largest ever contract, which entails providing a turnkey air-quality monitoring network for Poland. The French specialist company is due to install 31 monitoring stations across the country as part of the deal.
ENVIRONNEMENT SA will be participating in the POLLUTEC trade fair in November in Vienna (Austria). ENVIRONNEMENT SA manufactures automated equipment and systems for contin
Results of a randomised trial in this week’s issue of THE LANCET suggest that a more aggressive approach involving coronary angioplasty soon after anti-clotting medical therapy is safe and could offer a better prognosis than more conservative treatment for patients who have had heart attack.
Medical therapy to reduce blood clotting (fibrinolysis) is widely used to treat people after heart attack. Coronary angioplasty is also effective for patients with heart attack, although the ti
In response to the alarming rise in obesity across the developed world, a University of Sussex food policy researcher is leading a project to find out how European governments could fight the flab.
Next week (21 September) Dr Erik Millstone will meet senior public health representatives from nine European countries at the University’s Science and Technology Policy Research Unit to launch a cross-national comparative study.
During the next two and a half years the researcher
Remote ‘marine deserts’ and dense plankton blooms could provide scientists with clues for understanding climate change.
A research team will set sail from Southampton, Friday, 17th September 2004, for the start of an expedition to study the interaction between the atmosphere and plankton – tiny floating marine organisms. By monitoring these organisms and the influence of changing climate on their growth, they hope to discover whether they act as a source of carbon dioxide, or a ‘sink’ in
A novel Antarctic telescope with 16-m diameter mirrors would far outperform the Hubble Space Telescope, and could be built at a tiny fraction of its cost, says a scientist from the Anglo-Australian Observatory in Sydney, Australia.
Tests by a team from the University of New South Wales, reported in the journal ‘Nature’ this week [16 September], show that the ‘Dome C’ site in the Australian Antarctic Territory is by far the best place ever tested on Earth for doing infrared and optic
Adults eat around twice the amount of fruit and vegetables and less fat and sugar than they did as children, a new study suggests.
Contrary to popular opinion, nutritionists at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne found that most people’s diets get healthier from childhood to young adulthood. However, the research team, who were funded by the Wellcome Trust and who have published their results in the academic journal, Appetite*, also discovered that many people perceive barriers
Malaria affects around 600 million people in the world and leads to an annual death toll of over 2 million. It is the world’s most widespread parasitic disease. It is caused by Plasmodium falciparum, a pathogen transmitted to humans by a mosquito. In Africa, where malaria is endemic, mosquitoes of the Anopheles genus are the only vectors of the disease. The many studies which have been devoted to them have led to the characterization of different species and the identification, among these, of vect
You’ve been married before. Your mate hasn’t. According to a University of Michigan study, this kind of mixed marriage is becoming more common even though potential partners in the modern mating game continue to gravitate to others with similar marital histories. “Marital history is something that’s every bit as important in choosing a mate as age, education, religion, and race,” said Hiromi Ono, a sociologist at the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR), the world’s largest academic survey and re
Using a carbon nanotube, Cornell University researchers have produced a tiny electromechanical oscillator that might be capable of weighing a single atom. The device, perhaps the smallest of its kind ever produced, can be tuned across a wide range of radio frequencies, and one day might replace bulky power-hungry elements in electronic circuits.
Recent research in nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) has focused on vibrating silicon rods so small that they oscillate at radio frequenc
Males pirate and fertilize egg clutches
One of Europe’s most common backyard frogs has been keeping a secret that, despite centuries of study and thousands of published papers, has only now been discovered in ponds in the Pyrenees. The European common frog, Rana temporaria, has long been thought to have a straightforward breeding strategy — one lucky male grabs the female and fertilizes her eggs as soon as she releases them into the water. End of story.
But that&#
In these days when it costs nearly $50 a barrel, spilled oil – unlike milk – could be worth crying about, especially in Texas.
A team of Texas A&M University researchers has developed – and continues to refine – a system of buoys in the Gulf of Mexico that can accurately predict the movement of oil spills. Such spills can present Texas-sized problems, both environmentally and economically, to the state’s coastline.
The buoys can even be used to locate ship passengers
A genetically engineered ’mighty mouse’ is helping Medical College of Georgia researchers find the best way for young people to build bone and avoid osteoporosis.
“We are interested in kids; we want to know how to maximize their bone during peak periods of growth while they still can,” says Dr. Mark Hamrick, bone biologist. “One of the best predictors of who is going to get osteoporosis and who is not is how much bone you have at sexual maturity. So we want to know what
By combining stem cell science with orthopedic surgery, a team of researchers at the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute aims to reduce the 10 per cent failure rate in hip replacements and make repeat replacements and other joint repairs obsolete within 10-15 years .
With $1.5 million over five years in funding from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, a group of seven UBC scientists will explore how stem cells – the body’s “mast
Disease genes, important regulatory elements populate vast terrain
Four years after publicly revealing the official draft human genetic sequence, researchers have reached the halfway point in dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s of the genetic sentences describing how to build a human. The newly finalized chromosome 5 is the 12th chromosome polished off, with 12 more to go. As the new sequence reveals, this chromosome is a genetic behemoth containing key disease genes an
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