Whenever a hurricane races across the Atlantic Ocean, chances are phytoplankton will bloom behind it. According to a new study using NASA satellite data, these phytoplankton blooms may also affect the Earth’s climate and carbon cycle.
Dr. Steven Babin, a researcher at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., studied 13 North Atlantic hurricanes between 1998 and 2001. Ocean color data from the SeaWiFS instrument on the SeaStar satellite were used to analyze l
By carving specks of single crystal silicon from a bulk wafer and casting them onto sheets of plastic, scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have demonstrated a route to ultrahigh performance, mechanically flexible thin-film transistors. The process could enable new applications in consumer electronics – such as inexpensive wall-to-wall displays and intelligent but disposable radio frequency identification tags – and could even be used in applications that require significant
Long before a Hollywood blockbuster about catastrophic climate change packed cinema multiplexes this spring, researchers at the top of the world, supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), were using an array of scientific tools to build a comprehensive scientific picture of environmental change in the Arctic and what it may mean for the rest of the globe. Led by oceanographer James Morison, of the University of Washington, NSF-supported scientists from Oregon State University, as we
The commercial launch of the first ever fool-proof document security system is planned for 2006, reports Marina Murphy in Chemistry & Industry magazine. The system, which uses DNA fingerprinting, will allow documents to be authenticated with an accuracy of billions to one against duplication, according to the Australian scientists working on the system.
The scientists plan to use human DNA in documents such as government bonds, securities, bearer bonds, shares and wills for authentication o
A new computer cluster funded by the University of Sheffield and located within the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, will help scientists to improve their understanding of how human cells and organs work. This will ultimately lead to more effective ways of treating cardiovascular disease and cancer as well as other diseases. It will also eventually allow doctors to tailor treatment in a way specific to that patient rather than a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach.
Two of the current uses for the comput
“Nanodumbells” – gold-tipped nanocrystals which can be used as highly-efficient building blocks for devices in the emerging nanotechnology revolution – have been developed by researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The technology, developed by a research group headed by Prof. Uri Banin of the Department of Physical Chemistry and the Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology of the Hebrew University, is described in an article in the current issue of Science magazine.
The
A significant milestone in the development of ESA’s Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission was reached last week when the contract to build the payload was signed between ESA and EADS (European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company)-CASA from Spain.
The contract, worth 62 million euros, was signed in Madrid, Spain on 11 June 2004 at the premises of the CDTI (Centre for Development of Industrial Technology). EADS-CASA now heads an industrial consortium of more than 20 companie
Researchers Provide Boost For Nanotechnology Appplicatons
“Nanodumbells” – gold-tipped nanocrystals which can be used as highly-efficient building blocks for devices in the emerging nanotechnology revolution – have been developed by researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The technology, developed by a research group headed by Prof. Uri Banin of the Department of Physical Chemistry and the Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology of the Hebrew University, is des
Every hour counts for stroke victims. The sooner they get to hospital, the better their outcome. The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) and Urgences Santé announced today a new initiative to get stroke victims to the hospital and treated as fast as possible. This programme builds on an initiative started more than a year ago by the Centre Hospitalier l’Université de Montréal (CHUM) where the Stroke Centre was launched in August 2002. “By the time an individual arrive
Archaeologists have found a trio of extraordinary stone carvings while charting the phenomenon of prehistoric rock markings in Northumberland, close to the Scottish border in the United Kingdom.
Records and examples of over 950 prehistoric rock art panels exist in Northumberland, which are of the traditional ’cup and ring’ variety, with a typical specimen featuring a series of cups and concentric circles pecked into sandstone outcrops and boulders.
However, archaeologists at the U
The commercial launch of the first ever fool-proof document security system is planned for 2006, reports Marina Murphy in Chemistry & Industry magazine. The system, which uses DNA fingerprinting, will allow documents to be authenticated with an accuracy of billions to one against duplication, according to the Australian scientists working on the system.
The scientists plan to use human DNA in documents such as government bonds, securities, bearer bonds, shares and wills for authentication of docu
In recent years the consumer market for candles has grown dramatically, as candles of all shapes, sizes, colours and fragrances have been used increasingly in homes and restaurants to create atmosphere and enhance mood.
Now two researchers at the University of Southampton have taken the potential uses of fragranced candles one step further, by demonstrating that they can also have valuable and effective bactericidal properties.
The researchers, Dr Lindsey Gaunt and Sabrina Higgins,
Angel Montero Carcaboso’s research work, “Lecciones nuevas con una vieja vacuna” (New lessons for an old vaccine) is the prizewinner in the Thesis Award Competition. The Users’ Award, on the other hand, goes to, Pedro Ilundain Aranburu’s work, “Producción de pinturas vinílicas y acrílicas ecológicas” (Production of ecological vinyl and acrylic paintings).
The Thesis Award Competition organised by the Basque Research portal has been judged. This year a total of 40 theses were presente
Fagor is working in three lines of research of solar energy, one of which involves a system for cooling household temperatures. Trials are being carried out in the experimental house installed in the Miñano Technological Park.
Perhaps it is the photoelectric energy that is the best known of the three. For years the production photoelectric energy has had the sole aim of on-site consumption for personal use, and thus were often installed in places lacking power supply lines. However, in the l
Even before marble-shaped pebbles nicknamed “blueberries” were discovered on Mars by the Opportunity rover, University of Utah geologists studied similar rocks in Utah’s national parks and predicted such stones would be found on the Red Planet.
In a study published in the June 17 issue of the journal Nature, the Utah researchers suggest both the Martian and Utah rocks – known as hematite concretions – formed underground when minerals precipitated from flowing groundwater.
“We came
A new approach to therapy can avoid most of the debilitating effects of preparing for critical, postsurgical treatment for patients with thyroid cancer, according to an international study led by researchers from Johns Hopkins and the University of Pisa.
Using a genetically engineered thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) – called thyrotropin alfa, or rTSH – doctors were able to ablate, or destroy, the small amount of thyroid gland tissue that often remains after thyroidectomy, without the need
Feedback
