A bit of Earth-bound chemistry has led scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, to conclude that there is an unsuspected wind of low-energy cosmic ray particles blowing through the galaxy.
The cosmic rays aren’t energetic enough to make headway against the solar wind to reach Earth, but they appear to have a big impact on the chemistry within tenuous clouds of gas between stars, so-called diffuse interstellar clouds.
“This implies a new population of cosmic rays no
Is there life on Mars? It’s possible, but it may not be Martian, say scientists. New research, published in the open access journal BMC Microbiology, suggests that conditions on Mars are capable of supporting dormant bacteria, known as endospores. This raises concern about future attempts to detect Martian life forms because endospores originating on Earth could potentially hitch a ride to Mars and survive on its surface.
Soil on Mars is thought to be rich in oxidising chemicals that are known
Our post-ice-age climate is not nearly as stable as is commonly believed. New evidence for this is reported by geoscientists of the DFG Research Center Ocean Margins in the upcoming issue of the journal Science. Investigating marine sediments from the northern Red Sea, they discovered that this currently very dry region was influenced by a long wet period between 9,000 and 6,500 years ago. It was characterized by a monsoon-like system during that time. The possibility that this Mediterranean monsoon
Study shows surprisingly sophisticated nesting behavior in common marsh birds
Coots, the Rodney Dangerfields of the bird world, just might start to get some respect as a result of a new study showing that these common marsh birds are able to recognize and count their own eggs, even in the presence of eggs laid by other birds.
The counting ability of female coots is part of a sophisticated set of defense mechanisms used to thwart other coots who lay eggs in their neighbors
Andrei Linde lauds the new era of precision cosmology
For most of us, “inflation” is a term that comes up only in conversations about the economy or flat tires. But for many cosmologists, inflation is the ultimate word in understanding how the universe was created.
In the beginning, according to inflation theory, the universe was tinier than an atom. Then, in an unimaginably brief period of time – .00000000000000000000000000000001 second, to be precise – it expanded (“inflat
Scientists Identify a Protein Channel that Mediates the Body’s Ability to Feel Frigid
A group of researchers from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) have identified and isolated a novel protein that mediates the body’s ability to sense cold through the skin.
In an article that will appear in this week’s issue of the journal Cell, the group describes the “ion channel” protein, called ANKTM1, which is the
Results of a study by researchers at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) and Dartmouth Thayer School of Engineering could have implications for choosing which patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms should have surgery and which ones should simply have follow-up with noninvasive studies.
In an article published in the April issue of the Journal of Vascular Surgery, Dr. Mark Fillinger and colleagues describe a new noninvasive method for evaluating abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA). Th
New physical phenomenon will likely impact atomic physics, chemistry and nanotechnology
In a discovery that is likely to impact fields as diverse as atomic physics, chemistry and nanotechnology, researchers have identified a new physical phenomenon, electrostatic rotation, that, in the absence of friction, leads to spin. Because the electric force is one of the fundamental forces of nature, this leap forward in understanding may help reveal how the smallest building blocks in nature r
Special modification of reverse genetics created at St. Jude allowed vaccine to be custom-made within weeks of emergence of virus
Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital announced today the development of a vaccine against H5N1, a new lethal influenza virus that triggered the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a pandemic alert in February 2003.
The virus appeared in birds in Hong Kong late last year and subsequently killed one of two infected people
Scientists using NASA satellite data have found the most intense global pollution from fires occurred during droughts caused by El Niño. The most intense fires took place in 1997-1998 in association with the strongest El Niño event of the 20th century.
Bryan Duncan, Randall Martin, Amanda Staudt, Rosemarie Yevich and Jennifer Logan, from Harvard University, used data observed by NASA’s Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) satellite to quantify the amount of smoke pollution from biomass b
The exotic island of Madagascar, situated off the southeast coast of Africa, was a dangerous place to live 65 million to 70 million years ago. Crocodiles swarmed in the rivers, and a 30-foot-long, meat-eating dinosaur named Majungatholus atopus stalked the plains. Like most carnivorous dinosaurs, Majungatholus had teeth perfectly suited for ripping into flesh. But what was on the menu? Until now, this question has remained a mystery. In a report published in the April 3 issue of the Journal
The broad barred goby is a coward. A sweeping statement you may say, but even though the goby is poisonous to its predators, the cowardly fish still spends almost all its time cowering in an inaccessible coral home 20-30 cm in diameter. A new study, to be presented to the Society for Experimental biology on Wednesday 3rd April, reveals how the fish has adapted to extremely low oxygen concentrations (hypoxia) in order to avoid venturing out from its coral den.
Dr. Göran Nilsson, from the Univ
Many shark species, including the great white and mako, swim at speeds greater than their morphology should allow. Dr. Adam Summers (University of California) has discovered they achieve this speed by changing the stiffness of their body by pressurising their thick, inflexible skin. “This study could help answer questions about the evolution of the shark, especially why sharks abandoned a bony skeleton in favour of a cartilage structure,” said Dr. Summers who will be presenting his findings on Frida
Scientists at Horticulture Research International have been studying natural mutations in vegetables in the hope of identifying the genes responsible for limiting uptake of caesium. The results of their quest, to be presented at the annual SEB conference suggest ‘safe’ crops could one day be grown on radioactive soil.
Four million people in Belarus, Russia and the Ukraine currently live in areas where 137Cs deposition densities to soils exceeded 37 kBq m-2 following the Chernobyl accident in
Scientists have been studying mutant plants that take an unusually long time to flower. At the SEB conference on Thursday 3 April, researchers from Horticulture Research International will present the results of their investigation into a RING finger protein (RING stands for Really Interesting New Gene) involved in regulating when a plant will flower.
Dr Stephen Jackson and colleagues have been working with mutants that have altered flowering times. One particular mutant that takes a long ti
Results from the ASCOT (Anglo Scandinavian Cardiac Outcome Trial) study have shown that patients receiving the cholesterol controlling drug, atorvastatin, are more than a third less likely to have heart attacks, and more than a quarter less likely to suffer from strokes.
The results of the study, announced today at the American College of Cardiology annual scientific session in Chicago, USA, and simultaneously published online in the Lancet, show that in a study of more than 10,305 people w
Feedback
