New theory on drizzle formation says a few big drops get all the water
In research that could lead to more accurate weather forecasts and climate models, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory say a physical limit on the number of cloud droplets that grow big enough to form drizzle paradoxically makes drizzle form faster. That’s because those few droplets that cross the drizzle “barrier” readily collect enough surrounding droplets to
New research from the University of Warwick is set to reveal some striking similarities between the actions of groups of people who travel on flagship airlines, seemingly at random, between the major cities of the world. An ongoing research project into airlines and international tourism shows in many cases it is only motivation that distinguishes the terrorist from the tourist, and may be the cause of big headaches for the world’s national carriers.
What’s more failure to appreciat
University of Warwick Medical School researchers are concerned that the health service could fail to learn important lessons from a crucial series of ambulance and emergency trials that increase the skills of paramedics and help reduce unnecessary emergency hospital admissions.
Dr Matthew Cooke, Head of the Emergency Care & Rehabilitation research group at the University of Warwick’s Medical School, will outline his concern at the “Emergency Care Conference”, at the University of W
Software Defined Radios (SDRs) are mobile devices that can be reconfigured over the air. Users could download new services from network operators, and even have voice and email services provided by different networks. The SCOUT project has studied how SDRs will be regulated and marketed.
“From the high level perspective, mobile terminal evolution will drive network evolution,” says Markus Dillinger of Siemens AG and SCOUT coordinator. “SDR Mobile terminals will evolve more and more
Scientists at the University of Sheffield are part of an international team that has become the first to successfully discover how the component parts of photosynthesis fit together within the cell membrane. In a paper, The native architecture of a photosynthetic membrane, published in Nature on 26 August 2004, they describe how the configuration of the three structures that allow photosynthesis to occur fit together, and find that Mother Nature has developed a much more complex and effective
Wonder where the fuel will come from for tomorrow’s hydrogen-powered vehicles? Virginia Tech researchers are developing catalysts that will convert water to hydrogen gas. The research will be presented at the 228th American Chemical Society National Meeting in Philadelphia August 22-26, 2004
Supramolecular complexes created by Karen Brewer’s group at Virginia Tech convert light energy (solar energy) into a fuel that can be transported, stored, and dispensed, such as hydro
Researchers in England have found a promising method for producing hydrogen from sunflower oil, a development that could lead to cleaner and more efficient hydrogen production for powering automobile fuel cells as well as homes, factories and offices. The development was described today at the 228th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.
Fuel cells show much promise for supplying the energy needs of the future, and their demand is
Researchers have developed a powdered form of an anthrax vaccine that could potentially be inhaled through the nose and eliminate the need for needle injections. The new vaccine, which appears promising in preliminary animal studies, may offer a faster and easier way to protect the general population as well as soldiers on the battlefield in the event of a deadly bioterror attack, the researchers say.
The development, a joint project of BD Technologies and the U.S. Army Medical Res
Study of kidney condition challenges conventional view of steroid effects
Children who take steroid drugs for a kidney condition called nephrotic syndrome do not suffer bone loss, a common side effect of steroid treatments in adults. A new study sheds light on the steroid’s mixed effects: the drug frequently causes obesity, which seems to protect children against bone loss.
Childhood nephrotic syndrome, which affects 3 out of 100,000 children, is the most common chronic ki
Soil beside the stream can remove harmful microbes and organic material, researchers find
Harmful contaminants often taint drinking water drawn directly from a river, but a low-cost natural filter may lie just beyond the banks. Johns Hopkins researchers have found that the soil alongside a river can remove dangerous microbes and organic material as water flows through it. The cleaner water is then pumped to the surface through wells drilled a short distance from the river.
Given the number of human pharmaceuticals and hormones that make their way into wastewater, some people are concerned about how well treatment plants that turn sewage into reusable water remove these chemicals.
New research shows that wastewater treatment plants that employ a combination of purifying techniques followed by reverse osmosis – a process by which water is forced through a barrier that only water can pass – do a good job of removing chemicals that may elicit health effe
Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have discovered a new component of the machinery immune cells use to generate a remarkably diverse array of antibodies from a relatively small number of genes.
The discovery reveals important links in the molecular pathway by which complex genetic alterations arm the immune system to target myriad potential bacterial and viral invaders with swiftness and precision. The discovery may also provide welcome new information about lymphoma, a fo
Large, nutrient-poor expanses of the open ocean are getting a substantial nitrogen influx from an abundant group of unicellular organisms that “fix,” or chemically alter, nitrogen into a form usable for biological productivity.
First identified about five years ago, these organisms – about 7 microns in diameter – are fixing nitrogen at rates up to three times higher than previously reported for the Pacific Ocean, according to research published in the Aug. 26, 2004 edition of th
Dynamic ice
A technique borrowed from the surface physics community is helping chemists and atmospheric scientists understand the complex chemical reactions that occur on low-temperature ice.
Known as electron-stimulated desorption (ESD), the technique uses low-energy electrons to locally probe surfaces, differentiating their characteristics from those of the bulk material below them. Using ESD, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have demonstrated that hyd
Only 300 Delacour’s langurs remain; majority likely to die by 2014
The Delacour’s langur (Trachypithecus delacouri), a charismatic monkey found only in a tiny area of northern Vietnam, is close to extinction, scientists at the International Primatological Society’s 20th Congress reported today. New research suggests that as many as 200 of the remaining 300 individuals, one of the most threatened primates in the world, are likely to disappear within the next decade.
Infinitesimal particles of gold have enabled neurobiologists to track down key molecules in the machinery of “entry points” in neurons — offering clues to the organization of a region that has thus far remained largely unknown neuronal territory.
The researchers — from Duke University Medical Center and the University of North Carolina — used electron microscopy to locate molecules tagged with targeted antibodies attached to gold particles — rendering the molecules’ precise
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