NASA scientists discovered pollution could catch an airborne “express train,” or wind current, from Asia all the way to the southern Atlantic Ocean.
Scientists believe during certain seasons, as much as half of the ozone pollution above the Atlantic Ocean may be speeding down a “train” track of air from the Indian Ocean. As it rolls along, it picks up more smog from air peppered with thunderstorms that bring it up from the Earth’s surface.
Bob Chatfield, a scientist at NASA
Clue to how virus avoids immune system activity may lead to new treatment strategy
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers may have provided another clue to the mystery of how HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, evades the defenses of the immune system. In the May issue of the Journal of Virology, a team from the Partners AIDS Research Center at MGH describes finding how a key protein that helps the virus enter its target T helper cells may also keep away the T killer cells that
The United States Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute (JGI) announces today the publication of a high-quality draft genome sequence of the white rot fungus, Phanerochaete chrysosporium. These are the only known microbes capable of efficiently degrading the recalcitrant aromatic plant polymer lignin, one of the most abundant natural materials on earth. White rot fungi such as Phanerochaete chrysosporium play a pivotal role in the carbon cycle–the circulation of carbon from the atmospher
’Chemical thumbprint’ can help determine if tumor is returning or dying
Brain tumor survivors live with the constant worry that their cancer might come back. And even if they have a brain scan every few months to check, doctors often can’t tell the difference between new cancer growth and tissue changes related to their treatment with radiation or chemotherapy.
That leaves patients with a tricky choice. Do they wait and watch? Let doctors take a brain biopsy? Or, in some cas
First demonstration that ’MAP’ laser technique can be used non-destructively on biomaterials; potential applications range from medical research to fiber optics
Researchers in the laboratory of Boston College Chemistry Professor John T. Fourkas have demonstrated the fabrication of microscopic polymeric structures on top of a human hair.
Fourkas, in collaboration with Boston College Physics Professor Michael J. Naughton and Professors Malvin C. Teich and Bahaa E. A.
CDMS II presents new results on Weakly Interacting Massive Particles that could make up most of the matter of our universe
With the first data from their underground observatory in Northern Minnesota, scientists of the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search have peered with greater sensitivity than ever before into the suspected realm of the WIMPS. The sighting of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles could solve the double mystery of dark matter on the cosmic scale and of supersymmetry on the
Elastic titanium nails help children recover faster from a broken leg than the traditional treatment with weeks of traction and a body cast, according to a new study from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Children with the implanted nails got out of bed within days after surgery, were less dependent on their parents for help in moving, and had fewer complications than children in body casts.
“We’ve shown that although both treatments usually have good outcomes, treatment wi
Learning more about job applicant testing
“My approach to pre-employment personality tests has been zero tolerance vis-à-vis the obvious “crimes”–drug use and theft–but to leave a little wriggle room elsewhere, just so it doesn’t look like I’m faking out the test. My approach was wrong. When presenting yourself as a potential employee, you can never be too much of a suck-up.”
Nickel & Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich, page 124.
Learning if job applicants are faking and fin
The Younger Dryas period, about 12 000 years ago, was marked by a sharp cooling event in the Northern Hemisphere. Temperatures there fell by between 2 and 10°C. The East Antarctic in contrast experienced an episode of warming. Data have up to now been insufficient or too inconclusive to enable palaeoclimatologists to track this climatic event in the southern temperate regions and the tropics. An IRD researcher campaign took a 2 m drill core sample from the isle of Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu, found to co
Staying close to mother helps baby dolphins swim – but they can’t keep together when fleeing from fishing boats
Why has the introduction of dolphin-friendly tuna-fishing methods not led to a recovery of dolphin populations? A new study shows how chase by tuna fishermen may sever the link between mother and baby dolphins, to disastrous effect.
Young dolphins keep up with their mothers, who are more powerful swimmers, by adopting the ideal position to get a ’free ride’ in th
Technology experts may claim that ground breaking virtual reality (VR) may greatly benefit industry, but in reality how can it be implemented in the workplace and be used to its best advantage? VIEW OF THE FUTURE provides some answers.
This recently completed IST programme-funded project was initiated “to translate the theoretical value of VR into a practical tool in the workplace whilst at the same time looking into how to make systems more useable for the end users,” explains John Wilson,
The World Health Organization (WHO) is hosting a three-day consultation to identify the factors that allow diseases to jump from animals to humans (zoonoses), as well as to improve surveillance systems for their monitoring and control. The consultation, held jointly with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Office International des Epizooties (OIE), in collaboration with the Dutch Health Council, will take place at WHO’s Geneva Headquarters, from 3-5 May.
The transmission
Rice-Los Alamos team find remarkable similarity between data from sky and computer
In the early years of the Space Age, astronomers made the startling discovery that short, transient flashes of gamma rays occurred randomly in the sky every night. Only within the past decade have scientists uncovered evidence to associate gamma-ray bursts with the death cries of massive stars from the edge of the universe. But they’ve had very few clues about how a “hypernova” or “collapsar” might
Malaria is a pernicious public health problem in many areas of the world. Sub-Saharan Africa, where cases recorded represent over 90% of the world total, is particularly badly hit. Modelling by IRD scientists has revealed a core feature in the life-cycle of Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite responsible for the disease. Its gametocytes, the pre-gamete sexual forms, aggregate in clusters in human blood capillaries and, once ingested, keep this form until they reach the ideal breeding ground the mosqu
An earthquake shook the South-West Pacific islands of Ambrym and Pentecost on 26 November 1999. It was the strongest thrust event ever recorded in central Vanuatu. Offshore and onshore data gathered by IRD researchers yielded clues as to the tectonic movements involved in the earthquake. A resulting model of the rupture mechanism showed that in this area of Vanuatu, slipping motions of the Australian oceanic plate under the Pacific plate are blocked to the West, which generates strong stresses to the
Something is missing in the analysis of emissions of volatile organic compounds from a Michigan forest, and, according to a team of atmospheric scientists, what they do not know can have a large impact on air pollution in areas in and near forests.
“Organic compounds emitted by some trees play a role in ozone and aerosol production in the lower atmosphere,” says Dr. William H. Brune, professor of meteorology and head of Penn State’s department of meteorology. “It appears that, at least
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