Welcome to Science Saturday, where the Overnight News Digest crew informs and entertains you with this week's news about science, space, and the environment. In keeping with the theme of the two months, Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday is featuring science and other news from the major public research universities in the midwestern states where Republican governors and legislatures are threatening the collective bargaining rights of public employees.
Speaking of Republican governors, this week's featured story comes from WXYZ-TV on You Tube:
Hundreds protest as Governor Snyder delivers address
Bonus coverage from WOOD-TV on YouTube.
Science, space, and environment stories after the jump.
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Recent Science Diaries and Stories
Green diary rescue: Republicans won't make environmental deals worth having
by Meteor Blades
Daily Bucket - Towhees and such
by enhydra lutris
Owl Barf - the extended version
by bwren
This week in science
by DarkSyde
Top Climate Scientist On Killer Tornadoes: 'It Is Irresponsible Not To Mention Climate Change'
by The Cunctator
Science, Predictions and Possibilities
by David Brin
Slideshows/Videos
Despite the scrubbed launch attempt of shuttle Endeavour, President Obama and family members visited and toured facilities at the Kennedy Space Center. The Obamas got an up-close look at orbiter Atlantis inside the Orbiter Processing Facility and met with STS-134 crew members at the Launch Control Center. Also, why Endeavour's launch was scrubbed; NASA, USAID partner for solutions; Alan Shepard honored; spaceflight symposium; Voyagers continue on; and Pharell promotes STEM for students.
Above from NASA Television on YouTube.
University of Michigan: Black churches teach kids about safe sex, disease prevention
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—When 10th-grader Quintin Scott learned that only physicians could diagnose AIDS, he wasn't in sex education class and he wasn't overhearing locker room talk: Scott was in church.
Such open discussion about sexual health in the African-American church where Scott learned this information would have been unthinkable even a few years ago, but at the time Scott was taking a test to become a peer counselor in one of the 55 churches in Flint, Mich., that participate in YOUR Blessed Health, a youth program now in its fifth year.
The primary goal of YOUR Blessed Health is to provide African-American faith leaders with the knowledge and communication tools to educate young members about HIV and sexually transmitted infections.
Astronomy/Space
Red Orbit: Endeavor Launch Date No Earlier Than May 2
Posted on: Saturday, 30 April 2011, 14:45 CDT
NASA said on Friday that the next launch attempt for the space shuttle Endeavour would be no earlier than Monday, May 2.
Endeavour's final launch was postponed due to a heater issue associated with the shuttle's hydraulic power system.
NASA said the shuttle has three Auxiliary Power Units (APUs) that provide hydraulic power to steer the vehicle during ascent and entry.
Red Orbit: China/US Should Cooperate In Space: Astronaut
Posted on: Saturday, 30 April 2011, 05:40 CDT
China’s most well-known astronaut said Friday that his country and the United States should make good on promises of cooperation in space made by their respective presidents, reports Reuters.
“I think the two countries should proactively implement the intent expressed in the joint communiqué to eliminate obstacles and promote exchange and cooperation in our space programs,” said Yang Liwei, now the vice director of the country's Manned Space Engineering Office.
Efforts in the past to bring a US-China space coalition have failed, foiled by economic, diplomatic and security tensions, despite a 2009 attempt by US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao to launch a partnership.
The two leaders, in a joint statement in November 2009, called for “the initiation of a joint dialogue on human spaceflight and space exploration, based on the principles of transparency, reciprocity and mutual benefit.”
Red Orbit: Russia Replaces Head Of Space Agency
Posted on: Friday, 29 April 2011, 14:10 CDT
On Friday, Russia replaced Anatoly Perminov, the head of its space agency, after being reprimanded over a failed satellite launch in December.
Russia lost three satellites when a rocket crashed into the Pacific Ocean.
A government statement said Prime Minister Vladimir Putin removed Perminov because he had "reached the age limit for civil servants."
Red Orbit: Astronomers Unveil Portrait Of 'Super-Exotic Super-Earth'
Posted on: Friday, 29 April 2011, 08:55 CDT
An international team of astronomers have revealed details of a "super-exotic" exoplanet that would make the planet Pandora in the movie Avatar pale in comparison.
The planet, named 55 Cancri e, is 60 percent larger in diameter than Earth but eight times as massive. Twice as dense as Earth – almost as dense as lead – it is the densest solid planet known, according to a team led by astronomers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of British Columbia (UBC), the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC).
The research, based on observations from Canada's MOST (Microvariability & Oscillations of STars) space telescope, was released online April 28 at arXiv.org and has been submitted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. MOST is a Canadian Space Agency mission.
Approximately 40 light years from Earth, 55 Cancri e orbits a star – called 55 Cancri A – so closely that its year is less than 18 hours long. "You could set dates on this world by your wrist watch, not a calendar," says UBC astronomer Jaymie Matthews.
Evolution/Paleontology
Red Orbit: Evolution In The Back Yard -- Census Of 750,000 Banded Snails Leads To Surprising Results
Posted on: Friday, 29 April 2011, 11:47 CDT
Thousands of members of the public across Europe have taken part in one of the largest evolutionary studies ever, by observing banded snails in their gardens and open public spaces.
More than 6,000 people in 15 European countries took part in the Open University's citizen science project between April and October 2009.
The project, Evolution MegaLab, is an online mass public experiment aimed at bringing Darwinian theory to life. It was launched in April 2009 to mark the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth.
...
The aim of the research was to find out whether the creatures have evolved in the past 40 years in response to known changes in temperature. It involved comparing samples collected by the general public with data collected predominantly between the 1950 and 1990, with heavy sampling in the 1960s and 70s.
Biodiversity
Nature (UK): Chimps give birth like humans
Humans are not alone in having infants that emerge facing backwards.
A key feature of human childbirth, long thought to be unique to Homo sapiens — the arrival of the baby facing backwards relative to its mother — has been observed in our closest living relatives, chimpanzees.
The discovery, reported today in Biology Letters1, calls into question the argument that backwards-facing babies were an important factor in the evolution of midwifery in humans. Rather than searching for assistance when they go into labour, pregnant chimps seek solitude.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for this story.
Biotechnology/Health
University of Wisconsin: Avastin Works Well Against Age-Related Macular Degeneration
April 29, 2011
Madison, Wisconsin - University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health researchers call it "wonderful news" that a much less expensive cancer drug seems to work well to treat the leading cause of blindness in people over the age of 50.
Dr. Suresh Chandra, professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences, led the UW-Madison center of the national clinical trial, which released its first year's worth of results Thursday. Of 1,208 patients who participated in the trial, 26 were treated at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.
The National Eye Institute study compared Avastin, a cancer drug that is commonly used off-label to treat age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and Lucentis, the Food and Drug Administration-approved drug for treating AMD. The Comparison of AMD Treatments Trials (CATT) found that the two drugs had similar effectiveness.
But they don't have similar prices: Avastin costs about $50 a dose, while Lucentis costs about $2,000.
Indiana University: IU study finds flame retardants at high levels in pet dogs
April 26, 2011
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University scientists have found chemical flame retardants in the blood of pet dogs at concentrations five to 10 times higher than in humans, but lower than levels found in a previous study of cats.
Their study, "Flame Retardants in the Serum of Pet Dogs and in their Food," appears this month in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. Authors are Marta Venier, an assistant research scientist in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and Ronald Hites, a Distinguished Professor in SPEA.
Venier and Hites explore whether pets could serve as "biosentinels" for monitoring human exposure to compounds present in the households that they share. Dogs may be better proxies than cats, they say, because a dog's metabolism is better equipped to break down the chemicals.
Purdue University: Study: Reasonable quantities of red pepper may help curb appetite
April 25, 2011
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Spicing up your daily diet with some red pepper can curb appetite, especially for those who don't normally eat the popular spice, according to research from Purdue University.
"We found that consuming red pepper can help manage appetite and burn more calories after a meal, especially for individuals who do not consume the spice regularly," said Richard Mattes, distinguished professor of foods and nutrition who collaborated with doctoral student Mary-Jon Ludy. "This finding should be considered a piece of the puzzle because the idea that one small change will reverse the obesity epidemic is simply not true. However, if a number of small changes are added together, they may be meaningful in terms of weight management. Dietary changes that don't require great effort to implement, like sprinkling red pepper on your meal, may be sustainable and beneficial in the long run, especially when paired with exercise and healthy eating."
Other studies have found that capsaicin, the component that gives chili peppers their heat, can reduce hunger and increase energy expenditure - burning calories. The amounts tested, however, were not realistic for most people in the U. S. population, Mattes said.
Ohio State University: STUDY SHOWS HOW MOSQUITOES HANDLE THE HEAT OF A HOT BLOOD MEAL
April 20, 2011
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Mosquitoes make proteins to help them handle the stressful spike in body temperature that’s prompted by their hot blood meals, a new study has found.
The mosquito’s eating pattern is inherently risky: Taking a blood meal involves finding warm-blooded hosts, avoiding detection, penetrating tough skin and evading any host immune response, not to mention the slap of a human hand.
Until now, the stress of the hot blood meal itself has been overlooked, researchers say.
Scientists have determined in female mosquitoes that the insects protect themselves from the stress of the change in body temperature during and after a meal by producing heat shock proteins. These proteins protect the integrity of other proteins and enzymes, in turn helping the mosquitoes digest the blood meal and maintain their ability to produce eggs.
Ohio State University: FOR TESTING SKIN CREAM, SYNTHETIC SKIN MAY BE AS GOOD AS THE REAL THING
April 18, 2011
COLUMBUS, Ohio – New research suggests that currently available types of synthetic skin may now be good enough to imitate animal skin in laboratory tests, and may be on their way to truly simulating human skin in the future.
Researchers compared the response of synthetic skins to rat skin when they were both exposed to a generic skin cream treatment, and the results indicated they both reacted similarly.
The scientists used high-resolution images of two types of synthetic skin and samples of rat skin to discover similarities on microscopic scales.
The findings have implications for the treatment of burn victims.
Climate/Environment
Baltic Times (Latvia): Baltic seabed’s chemical weapon cemetery is torpid but can explode at any time
Apr 28, 2011
By Linas Jegelevicius
KLAIPEDA - Strollers along the serene Baltic seashore on the Lithuanian coast, can usually pick up tiny amber nubs. Some strollers once in a while bump into washed-ashore World War II training or still-live torpedoes, missiles or other ammunition from the war. One cannot miss a precarious rusty war-time grenade. However, the utmost danger mostly lurks disguised, in little tins, cans or containers. Although rusty and shapeless, they contain lethal chemicals. These are both on the seashore and out in the sea.
A few years ago, some fishermen burnt their hands severely while picking up a metal-scrap-looking rusty canister. Under thorough scrutiny, it turned out the fishing nets had gotten entangled with a serial killer. Seventy years ago, the cannister might have suffocated thousands: it was a container of the chemical warfare agent yperite, commonly known as mustard gas. Luckily for the fishermen, it was an empty one. However, still dangerous.
How many tons of lethal chemical weapons, the remnants of the gruesome war, doze on the seabed, torpid but explosive, capable of annihilating everything?
Cleaning up the Baltic Sea of chemical weapons has been a debate for several decades now, but it seems no one gets things moving. Seemingly, so far, only historians, ship masters and oceanographers keep ringing the danger bell.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for this story.
Red Orbit: Wind, Not Climate Change, To Blame For Twisters
Posted on: Friday, 29 April 2011, 10:40 CDT
Experts suggest that the deadly tornadoes that whipped across the South may have been the largest and most powerful ever to be recorded, leaving behind total destruction and a rising death toll.
The increase in tornadoes in the wake of deadly storms should not be mistakenly blamed on climate change, say U.S. meteorologists.
"If you look at the past 60 years of data, the number of tornadoes is increasing significantly, but it's agreed upon by the tornado community that it's not a real increase," Grady Dixon, assistant professor of meteorology and climatology at Mississippi State University, told the AFP news agency.
"It's having to do with better (weather tracking) technology, more population, the fact that the population is better educated and more aware. So we're seeing them more often," he says.
University of Wisconsin: Scientists detect early warning signal for ecosystem collapse
April 28, 2011
by Terry Devitt
Researchers eavesdropping on complex signals emanating from a remote Wisconsin lake have detected what they say is an unmistakable warning — a death knell — of the impending collapse of the lake's aquatic ecosystem.
The finding, reported in the journal Science by a team of researchers led by Stephen Carpenter, a limnologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is the first experimental evidence that radical change in an ecosystem can be detected in advance, possibly in time to prevent ecological catastrophe.
"For a long time, ecologists thought these changes couldn't be predicted," says Carpenter, a UW-Madison professor of zoology and one of the world's foremost ecologists. "But we've now shown that they can be foreseen. The early warning is clear. It is a strong signal."
The implications of the National Science Foundation-supported study are big, says Carpenter. They suggest that, with the right kind of monitoring, it may be possible to track the vital signs of any ecosystem and intervene in time to prevent what is often irreversible damage to the environment.
Purdue University: Concrete recycling may cut highway construction cost, landfill use
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University civil engineers are working with the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) to perfect the use of recycled concrete for highway construction, a strategy that could reduce material costs by as much as 20 percent.
Concrete pavements are made by mixing cement with water, sand, and "virgin aggregates" obtained from rock quarries located in the proximity of the construction site. In Indiana most of these aggregates are quarried limestone.
"Some parts of Indiana have plenty of quarries near highway construction sites," said Nancy Whiting, a scientist with the Applied Concrete Research Initiative at Purdue's School of Civil Engineering. "In other places, it's more difficult to find quality aggregate. If you have to drive 50 or 100 miles to get a good quality aggregate, it's going to be much more cost effective to use recycled materials by crushing the concrete you have in place."
Geology
Purdue University: Purdue-led team studies Earth's recovery from prehistoric global warming
April 21, 2011
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Earth may be able to recover from rising carbon dioxide emissions faster than previously thought, according to evidence from a prehistoric event analyzed by a Purdue University-led team.
When faced with high levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide and rising temperatures 56 million years ago, the Earth increased its ability to pull carbon from the air. This led to a recovery that was quicker than anticipated by many models of the carbon cycle – though still on the order of tens of thousands of years, said Gabriel Bowen, the associate professor of earth and atmospheric sciences who led the study.
"We found that more than half of the added carbon dioxide was pulled from the atmosphere within 30,000 to 40,000 years, which is one-third of the time span previously thought," said Bowen, who also is a member of the Purdue Climate Change Research Center. "We still don't know exactly where this carbon went, but the evidence suggests it was a much more dynamic response than traditional models represent."
Psychology/Behavior
Ohio State University: DOES VIDEO GAME VIOLENCE HARM TEENS? NEW STUDY WEIGHS THE EVIDENCE
April 20, 2011
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- How much scientific evidence is there for and against the assertion that exposure to video game violence can harm teens?
Three researchers have developed a novel method to consider that question: they analyzed the research output of experts who filed a brief in a U.S. Supreme Court case involving violent video games and teens.
Their conclusion? Experts who say violent video games are harmful to teens have published much more evidence supporting their claims than have experts on the other side of the debate.
“We took what I think is a very objective approach: we looked at the individuals on both sides of the debate and determined if they actually have expertise in the subjects in which they call themselves experts,” said Brad Bushman, co-author of the study and professor of communication and psychology at Ohio State University.
Ohio State University: QUALITY OF PARENT-TODDLER RELATIONSHIPS COULD AFFECT RISK FOR CHILDHOOD OBESITY
April 19, 2011
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Toddlers who do not have a secure emotional relationship with their parents, and particularly their mothers, could be at increased risk for obesity by age 4 ½, according to new research.
The study suggests that children at age 24 months who show insecure attachment patterns have at least 30 percent higher odds for obesity by age 4 ½.
The association persisted even after researchers accounted for other family-related factors that could provide alternative explanations for the children’s obesity.
Psychologists describe securely attached children as those who rely on their parents as a “safe haven,” which allows them to explore their environments freely, adapt easily to new people and be comforted in stressful situations. Toddlers who are insecurely attached tend to have experienced negative or unpredictable parenting, and may respond to stress with extreme anger, fear or anxiety, or avoid or refuse interactions with others.
Archeology/Anthropology
Science: Four Individuals Caught in 'Death Trap' May Shed Light on Human Ancestors
by Ann Gibbons on 19 April 2011, 5:45 PM
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA—Finding one partial skeleton of an ancient member of the human family is the rarest of rare discoveries in human evolution. So, paleoanthropologists murmured in surprise at a meeting here Saturday when South African researchers announced that they had found at least four individuals of a new species of early human, Australopithecus sediba. The discoverers say that this hominin shows some surprisingly modern traits and its species may even be an ancestor of our own genus. “We really have found something very, very odd and very unexpected,” says discovery team leader Lee Berger of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. But other paleoanthropologists are waiting for more detailed analysis of the still-unpublished fossils before they agree on its identity or place in the human family tree.
The four hominin individuals died when they fell into a “death trap” in a cave about 2 million years ago at Malapa, South Africa, according to new dates reported by Berger in his talk at the annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists (AAPA). In addition to the articulated partial skeletons of a youth and an older female unveiled last year in Science, the team members reported the discovery of bones of an 18-month-old infant and at least one other adult. This means they are getting a good look at Au. sediba’s development from infancy to old age. “It is going to be a remarkable record,” Berger said. “And we still haven’t found everything!”
University of Kansas: New research suggests right-handedness prevailed 500,000 years ago
LAWRENCE — Right-handedness is a distinctively human characteristic, with right-handers outnumbering lefties nine-to-one. But how far back does right-handedness reach in the human story?
Researchers have tried to determine the answer by looking at ancient tools, prehistoric art and human bones, but the results have not been definitive.
Now, David Frayer, professor of anthropology at the University of Kansas, has used markings on fossilized front teeth to show that right-handedness goes back more than 500,000 years. He is the lead author (with colleagues in Croatia, Italy and Spain) of a paper published this month in the British journal Laterality.
His research shows that distinctive markings on fossilized teeth correlate to the right or left-handedness of individual prehistoric humans.
“The patterns seen on the fossil teeth are directly and consistently produced by right or left hand manipulation in experimental work,” Frayer said.
Red Orbit: Early Somali Life Depicted In Cave Paintings
Posted on: Monday, 25 April 2011, 11:30 CDT
Known today for its bloody conflicts and instability, Somalia’s little known history can be found in the colorful cave paintings of animals and humans discovered in 2002 by a French archaeology team.
Laas Gaal, Somalia (also known as Laas Geel), just outside of Haregeisa, the capital of Somalia’s self-declared Somaliland state, contains 10 caves that show vivid depictions of a pastoralist history which dates back to some 5,000 years or more, reports AFP.
A French archaeology team was sent in 2002 to survey Somalia in search of rock shelters and caves that might contain stratified archaeological infills that could document the period when production economy appeared in this part of the Horn of Africa, according to Wikipedia.
During the survey, the Laas Geel cave paintings were discovered. The paintings were in excellent condition, depicting ancient humans who lived in the area raising their hands and worshipping humpless cows with large lyre-shaped horns.
BBC: Girl 'murdered' by Roman soldiers in north Kent
The body of a girl thought to have been murdered by Roman soldiers has been discovered in north Kent.
Archaeologists working on the site of a Roman settlement near the A2 uncovered the girl who died almost 2,000 years ago.
"She was killed by a Roman sword stabbing her in the back of the head," said Dr Paul Wilkinson, director of the excavation.
"By the position of the entry wound she would have been kneeling at the time."
Billings Gazette: Archaeological research gives glimpse of life on Maine coast
By Jason Wimbiscus | Apr 23, 2011
An archaeological research project focusing on the food remnants left by pre-Columbian inhabitants of coastal Maine is shedding new light on the diet and habits of some of Maine’s earliest citizens. The big find: indigenous people in Maine held to the coast during the winter until the arrival of Europeans changed their long established migratory patterns.
A team of researchers led by Dr. Arthur Spiess — who is both the lead archaeologist for the Maine Historic Preservation Commission and a board member with Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor — have since the summer of 2010 been examining items recovered from a coastal shell midden within Acadia National Park. The project was funded by the L.L. Bean Acadia Research Fellowship and was facilitated by Acadia National Park staff.
Washington Post: Another Smithsonian debate: Should the Sackler Gallery show artifacts from a commercially excavated shipwreck?
By Jacqueline Trescott
In a few weeks the Smithsonian Institution and its Freer Gallery of Art and Sackler Gallery will decide whether to show the rare bounty that was excavated by a commercial enterprise in the shallow waters off Indonesia.
The center of the debate is the Belitung shipwreck that was excavated in 1998 by a salvage company, under the authorization of the Indonesian government. This action has been condemned by some authorities in the underwater archeology field as a breach of scholarly guidelines.
Contained in the ancient Arab ship were approximately 60,000 objects, mostly ceramics from the Tang Dynasty, considered a treasure trove and a window into the methods of Chinese ceramics and the country’s interaction with other traders in the 9th Century.
Besides the importance of the artifacts, the museum wants to mount the exhibition as a way of opening up a conversation on underwater cultural heritage, and all the complex questions surrounding that preservation. Julian Raby, the director of the Freer and Sackler, says the salvage was legal but there is room to discuss whether it was ethical. One of the advantages of the salvage is that the cargo was kept largely intact.
The Capital (Maryland): Amazing artifacts unearthed at Pig Point
'It's like stepping down into a time machine'
By E.B. FURGURSON III, Staff Writer
By the time Capt. John Smith rowed up the Patuxent River in the summer of 1608, indigenous people had been gathering at present-day Pig Point for thousands of years.
By Joshua McKerrow — The Capital
Erin Cullen of the Lost Towns Project lifts a bucket of excavated earth, perhaps laden with artifacts, out of a pit at Pig Point last fall. Notice the layers of earth marked by different shades and texture and the line of artifacts in the wall. She had just excavated the rounded depression in front of her, which might have been a fire pit hundreds of years old.
Had Smith gone another couple miles up river, he might have come upon what Anne Arundel County's Lost Towns Project has uncovered - a mother lode of evidence indicating generations of settlement, fishing and hunting on a knoll overlooking Jug Bay.
Multiple excavations at the site have borne some of the oldest artifacts found in the Mid-Atlantic states - pottery, arrow and spear points and remnants of wigwams, fires and foodways - and there likely is more to come.
LiveScience: Titanic's Unknown Child Given New, Final Identity
by Wynne Parry, LiveScience Senior Writer
Date: 25 April 2011 Time: 10:28 AM ET
Five days after the passenger ship the Titanic sank, the crew of the rescue ship Mackay-Bennett pulled the body of a fair-haired, roughly 2-year-old boy out of the Atlantic Ocean on April 21, 1912. Along with many other victims, his body went to a cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where the crew of the Mackay-Bennett had a headstone dedicated to the "unknown child" placed over his grave.
When it sank, the Titanic took the lives of 1,497 of the 2,209 people aboard with it. Some bodies were recovered, but names remained elusive, while others are still missing. But researchers believe that they have finally resolved the identity of the unknown child -- concluding that he was 19-month-old Sidney Leslie Goodwin from England. [Photo of Sidney Goodwin]
Though the unknown child was incorrectly identified twice before, researchers believe they have now conclusively determined the child was Goodwin. After his recovery, he was initially believed to be a 2-year-old Swedish boy, Gösta Leonard Pålsson, who was seen being washed overboard as the ship sank. This boy's mother, Alma Pålsson, was recovered with the tickets for all four of her children in her pocket, and buried in a grave behind the unknown child.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman, who sent in the above articles.
Physics
Red Orbit: Heaviest Antimatter Found
Posted on: Thursday, 28 April 2011, 08:45 CDT
The antimatter equivalent of helium nuclei has been produced by an international team of physicists working with the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York. Two University of California, Davis professors are members of the team. A paper describing their results is published online this week by the journal Nature.
"This is the heaviest antimatter anyone has ever created," said Manuel Calderon de la Barca Sanchez, professor of physics at UC Davis and an author of the paper. Authors also include Daniel Cebra, a professor of physics at UC Davis, and scientists from 54 other institutions in 12 countries.
The discovery will help physicists test theories about matter and antimatter, Calderon said. So far, the antihelium nuclei appear to have generally the same properties as regular helium, confirming existing theories, he said.
University of Wisconsin: Antarctic neutrino telescope celebrates completion with conferences, public events
April 27, 2011
by Jill Sakai
Like the billions of tiny neutrinos that zip through the Earth every second, scientific exchanges will be flying thick and fast in Madison.
But unlike those elusive neutrinos, which rarely interact with anything, the scientists and engineers descending next week on Madison will be interacting as much as possible — with the public, with local teachers and students, and, of course, with each other.
This week, researchers from around the world are gathering in Madison to mark the completion of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole.
Composed of 5,160 detectors embedded 1.5 miles deep in pristine Antarctic ice, IceCube is designed to look through the Earth to search the sky above the Northern Hemisphere for evidence of high-energy neutrinos, subatomic particles that emanate from some of the most violent events in the cosmos — exploding stars, gamma ray bursts, and cataclysmic smash ups involving black holes and neutron stars. Under construction for more than a decade, IceCube was completed in late 2010 as the last string of optical sensors was deployed in polar ice during the brief Antarctic summer.
Chemistry
Michigan State University: Scorpion venom – bad for bugs, good for pesticides
April 27, 2011
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Fables have long cast scorpions as bad-natured killers of hapless turtles that naively agree to ferry them across rivers. Michigan State University scientists, however, see them in a different light.
Ke Dong, MSU insect toxicologist and neurobiologist, studied the effects of scorpion venom with the hopes of finding new ways to protect plants from bugs. The results, which are published in the current issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, have revealed new ways in which the venom works.
Past research identified scorpion toxin’s usefulness in the development of insecticides. Its venom attacks various channels and receptors that control their prey’s nervous and muscular systems. One major target of scorpion toxins is the voltage-gated sodium channel, a protein found in nerve and muscle cells used for rapid electrical signaling.
Energy
University of Michigan: Most powerful millimeter-scale energy harvester generates electricity from vibrations
April 25, 2011
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Electrical engineers at the University of Michigan have built a device that can harness energy from vibrations and convert it to electricity with five to 10 times greater efficiency and power than other devices in its class. And it's smaller than a penny.
"In a tiny amount of space, we've been able to make a device that generates more power for a given input than anything else out there on the market," said Khalil Najafi, one of the system's developers and chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
This new vibration energy harvester is specifically designed to turn the cyclic motions of factory machines into energy to power wireless sensor networks. These sensor networks monitor machines' performance and let operators know about any malfunctions.
Michigan State University: MSU nets $2.9 million from USDA to further biofuel research
April 27, 2011
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State University scientists will use three 5-year grants totaling $2.9 million to focus on various aspects of producing biofuels, which are made from renewable plant materials instead of petroleum.
Awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the grants are part of $36.3 million in competitive funding allocated to advance sustainable bioenergy research.
MSU microbiology and molecular genetics assistant professor Claire Vieille, MSU plant biology associate professor Carolyn Malmstrom and MSU forestry associate professor David Rothstein received $957,582, $991,219 and $998,630, respectively, from the USDA to support their research efforts.
The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 mandates the use of 1 billion gallons of biodiesel by 2012. The production of the biodiesel will also entail the production of 100 million gallons of glycerol, its direct byproduct. The overall goal of Vieille’s grant is to develop a microbial process that converts glycerol into succinate (an organic salt), which can be used in everything from noncorrosive airport deicers to food and drug additives, and as a precursor to nontoxic solvents, plastics and polyesters.
Purdue University: 'Smart' power grid needed for electric vehicles
April 21, 2011
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - While an upcoming Electric Vehicle Grand Prix may reflect a growing popularity of electric vehicles, their widespread adoption will require innovations to the power grid, say researchers at Purdue University.
The researchers are working in areas related to the development of a "smart" power grid capable of handling the demands posed by thousands of charging electric vehicles.
A smart grid would use computers and sensors to coordinate the distribution of power and accommodate the increased demand caused by electric vehicles. The innovation also would help optimize the use of electricity from renewable sources, including solar and wind power, said J. Eric Dietz, an associate professor of computer and information technology.
"It will use better dynamic modeling and the ability to predict what's happening on the grid," he said. "It will, for example, coordinate the use of wind turbines and solar sources and take into consideration when air conditioning and major appliances are being used."
If such factors aren't properly coordinated, the system could overload.
Science, Space, Environment, and Energy Policy
Red Orbit: US Can Continue To Fund Stem Cell Research
Posted on: Saturday, 30 April 2011, 05:50 CDT
A U.S. federal appeals court overturned a federal judge ruling which found that the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) guidelines on stem cell research violated the law because embryos were destroyed and it put other researchers working with adult stem cells at a disadvantage to win federal grants.
The case began when two researchers, Dr. James Sherley, a biological engineer at Boston Biomedical Research Institute, and Theresa Deisher, of Washington-based AVM Biotechnology, who were opposed to working with embryonic stem cells sued to block federal funding.
They argued that they were at risk of being squeezed out of federal grants for their own work with adult stem cells, which do not involve the destruction of embryos.
The 2-1 decision said that opponents of the research were not likely to win their legal battle.
"We conclude the plaintiffs are unlikely to prevail," the decision read, referring to a coalition of groups that challenged the legality of the research.
Red Orbit: Agency Warns Countries To Promote Clean Energy
Posted on: Friday, 29 April 2011, 05:35 CDT
The International Energy Agency (IEA) warned Thursday that a global warming target could be missed three times over if countries fail to promote clean energy.
Nuclear fuel does not emit carbon dioxide, making it a serious option for "clean energy" proponents over fossil fuels, but governments around the world have turned more cautious on it in the wake of the Fukushima crisis in Japan.
However, the IEA's deputy head Richard Jones cautioned that global warming could accelerate much faster and lead to catastrophic consequences if the international community fails to adopt a more aggressive clean energy policy.
"We are not on the pathway to limit global temperatures," he told the Foreign Correspondents Club in Hong Kong, referring to an international goal to restrict warming to two degrees Celsius by the end of the century.
Michigan State University: State director to discuss Snyder administration’s health priorities
April 29, 2011
EAST LANSING, Mich. — The point person for Gov. Rick Snyder's health care policies is the guest speaker for the Michigan Health Policy Spring Forum, set for May 16 at the Kellogg Conference Center on Michigan State University's campus.
Olga Dazzo, director of the Michigan Department of Community Health, will outline the health care priorities of the Snyder administration as the state continues to battle turbulent economic conditions.
The forum runs from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Kellogg Center's Lincoln Room. Following Dazzo's presentation, panelists will discuss how the following issues will shape Michigan's future: health information technology, health insurance exchanges, childhood obesity and infant mortality.
University of Wisconsin: Teachers' Role in Health Care Reform Headlines Healthy Classrooms Symposium
April 26, 2011
Madison, Wisconsin - With the United States having enacted the most comprehensive health care reform in decades, teachers will have a more vital role in encouraging their students to adopt healthier lifestyles and create healthier communities.
Martha Gaines, University of Wisconsin-Madison law professor and founder and director of the Center for Patient Partnerships, will address that issue as the keynote speaker during the Fourth Annual Healthy Classrooms Symposium 5pm Wednesday at the Health Sciences Learning Center, adjacent to UW Hospital and Clinics.
"Teachers play a decisive role in forming citizens who will both use and help shape a more just, effective and economical health care system," says Gaines.
Indiana University: IU Bloomington climate scientist Sara C. Pryor to advise U.S. government
April 19, 2011
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Atmospheric scientist and Provost's Professor Sara C. Pryor has been named to the new National Climate Assessment and Development Committee, convened by the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to help the U.S. government prepare for and deal with climate change.
The committee, composed of 40 of America's best climate scientists and 13 ex-officio members representing federal agencies, has been tasked with developing a National Climate Assessment report no later than June 2013. The Obama Administration published a white paper earlier this year stating the National Climate Assessment report was one of two top climate science priorities for the 2012 fiscal year. A budget supporting the committee's work was approved by the Office of Management and Budget last fall.
Science Education
http://www.statenews.com/...
Archaeology students explore old campus life
At an MSU archaeology field school last summer, Chris Stawski helped lead a team of archaeology students to uncover evidence that MSU students of 100 years ago are very similar to ones today — finding a trash pit on campus dating from the late 1800s that contained everything from a pocketknife to discarded inkwells to clay smoking pipes.
“Even though (smoking) was banned, they were still breaking the laws like they do today,” Stawski said.
Stawski, a doctoral student in archaeology, currently serves as campus archaeologist in the MSU Campus Archaeology Program.
Last week he worked with a team at Walter Adams Memorial Field — near the Music Building and Cowles House — to survey the area before construction crews began putting in a new irrigation system.
Anthropology professor Lynne Goldstein, director of the Campus Archaeology Program, said the work at the field isn’t the most “exciting” the team has done, but the program is responsible for checking to see if anything is beneath the surface before construction or landscaping teams disturb university grounds.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for this story.
University of Michigan: U-M's Coppola a finalist for $250,000 Cherry Award for Great Teaching
April 26, 2011
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—University of Michigan chemistry professor Brian Coppola, frequently honored for his teaching talents and techniques, is one of three finalists for the 2012 Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching.
Conferred biennially by Baylor University, the accolade is the only national teaching award presented by a college or university to an individual for exceptional teaching and carries a monetary reward of $250,000. The winner will be announced in spring 2012.
"I am obviously pleased and proud to have been selected as a finalist," said Coppola, who in 2001 was named an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor at U-M—a distinction that honors faculty whose commitment to and investment in undergraduate teaching has had significant impact on students. "I think awards like this are important because, at least for a little while, our core missions of teaching and learning come into the spotlight."
Michigan State University: MSU receives STARS silver rating for sustainability achievements
April 28, 2011
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State University has been honored by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education for its sustainability achievements.
MSU earned a silver rating from the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System, or STARS, a new AASHE program that measures and encourages sustainability in all aspects of higher education.
The STARS program is the only one of its kind that involves publicly reporting comprehensive information related to a college or university’s sustainability performance. Participants report achievements in three overall areas: Education and research; operations; and planning, administration and engagement.
“STARS was developed by the campus sustainability community to provide high standards for recognizing campus sustainability efforts,” said AASHE Executive Director Paul Rowland. “MSU has demonstrated a substantial commitment to sustainability by achieving a STARS Silver Rating and is to be congratulated for their efforts.”
Michigan State University: Design Day features student engineering projects
April 28, 2011
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Sparty would be cooler, MSU’s Facility for Rare Isotope Beams would be one step closer to becoming a reality, and life could become a little easier for some persons with disabilities, thanks to the innovations of teams of Michigan State University engineering students.
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MSU students from throughout the college will be presenting design projects from a variety of courses, projects that demand the integration of engineering theory and practice.
The senior capstone teams design and build projects for corporate sponsors and others. This semester’s projects include an incident-reporting system for a health care provider; preliminary design elements for MSU’s FRIB project; a wall-mounted kitchen robotic arm with a wireless control module that can provide independence for quadriplegics; and an apparatus that will keep Sparty, or at least the person inside the MSU mascot, a bit cooler.
Wayne State University: Wayne State student awarded prestigious NSF graduate research fellowship
April 27, 2011
DETROIT - Keith Zabel, a psychology doctoral student in Wayne State University's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, current resident of Royal Oak, Mich., and formerly of Three Oaks, Mich., has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship.
The prestigious award provides three years of support for graduate education to outstanding individuals who have demonstrated their potential for significant achievements in research. The program is focused on ensuring the vitality and diversity of the human resource base of science and engineering in the United States
Zabel plans to study the role of race in mentoring relationships. Research has shown that in both educational and workplace environments, students and employees are more likely to succeed if they have had a mentor. Additional research indicates that whites are more likely to initiate mentoring relationships with white mentors, and less or not at all with black mentors. This same trend holds for blacks in terms of preferring to initiate same-race mentoring relationships. Probable reasons for this may be attraction, similarity or even racial prejudice.
University of Wisconsin: UW-Madison biology program marks 50 years with special conference
April 28, 2011
by Jill Sakai
The Cellular and Molecular Biology (CMB) graduate program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has too much science to fit into a single department.
Try three dozen departments instead.
University of Wisconsin: UW-Madison students face off in expanding business plan competition
April 28, 2011
by Melissa Anderson
From high-tech anti-theft systems and eco-friendly gardening products to smartphone applications and biotechnology devices, students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are pursuing solutions to everyday problems as part of the annual G. Steven Burrill Business Plan Competition at the Wisconsin School of Business.
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Eligible entries include both high-technology businesses and ideas for companies where technology doesn't play a vital role. This year the competition will feature a new tracks model to accommodate the record number of entries. Tracks include Emerging Technologies, Software and Services, Online Communities and Social Networks, and Innovative Retail. A panel of 15 judges drawn from Wisconsin startup companies, nonprofit organizations, investment groups, law firms, and industry will evaluate the students' plans and presentations.
University of Michigan: Runner tracking app wins inaugural Qualcomm Wireless prize
April 29, 2011
by Sandra Knisely
A smartphone application that will allow running race observers to keep track of particular runners in real time has won $10,000 and top prize at the inaugural University of Wisconsin-Madison Qualcomm Wireless Innovation Prize.
The idea for the app, called Runner's Fan, came when master's degree in business administration (MBA) student Eric Baum got separated from his girlfriend while the two were participating in a half marathon. When Baum finished, he had no way of knowing where his girlfriend was or if she was still even on the course. On the hot, humid summer day, he was concerned about her condition.
Though his girlfriend was fine, the situation inspired Baum to team up with fellow MBA students Tyler Heslinga, Vinothkumar Narasimhan and Stephen Ranjan to find a way to prevent his sense of helplessness from happening again.
Science Writing and Reporting
University of Michigan: Firms use media coverage to influence merger negotiations
April 25, 2011
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Companies involved in merger talks manipulate their stock prices during negotiations by releasing more news than usual, according to a University of Michigan study.
"Media coverage has a significant effect on stock trading and returns," said Kenneth Ahern, assistant professor of finance at U-M's Ross School of Business. "Even stale news, if widely publicized, can dramatically raise short-term returns and influence prices of large and widely followed stocks in the S&P 500."
In their study, "Who Writes the News? Corporate Press Releases during Merger Negotiations," Ahern and Ross School colleague Denis Sosyura examined more than 500 completed stock mergers of large U.S. publicly traded firms from 2000 to 2008. They studied the frequency and content of news releases issued by acquiring firms, and analyzed more than 617,000 articles in 421 newspapers and newswires worldwide.
"We find that bidders in stock mergers originate substantially more news stories after the start of merger negotiations, but before the public announcement," said Sosyura, assistant professor of finance at the Ross School. "This strategy generates a short-lived run-up in bidders' stock prices precisely during the period when the stock-exchange ratio is determined, which leads to a lower takeover price."
So it isn't really writing about science. It's science about journalism and behavior. Close enough.
Science is Cool
University of Michigan: Before the Indy 500's 100th anniversary race, U-M's solar car Quantum will roll in the Formula Sun Grand Prix
April 26, 2011
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—The University of Michigan's 2011 solar car is set to compete in May in the American Solar Car Challenge: Formula Sun Grand Prix at the100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race.
Quantum will race for three days beginning May 5, the finish culminating on May 7 as part of the Emerging Tech Day event. Emerging Tech Day represents the commitment of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to automotive innovation. The Formula Sun Grand Prix represents the first true test of the new Quantum.
"We're proud to be a part of the Indy 500's centennial event and Emerging Tech Day," said Caitlin Sadler, who handles communications for the team. "The Formula Sun Grand Prix will be a great opportunity to put Quantum through its paces a full six months before the World Solar Car Challenge in Australia."
Indiana University: CACR: PlayStation breach presents massive security threat
April 27, 2011
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A massive data breach following the hacking of Sony's PlayStation network is affecting an estimated 77 million people, crippling the popular gaming pipeline and leaving victims at serious risk for identity theft and other frauds.
Fred H. Cate, director of Indiana University's Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research, said the attack presents a "massive security threat," with the potential to affect millions of people, including children.
Sony disclosed on Tuesday (April 26) that its gaming network -- which had been down for more than a week -- was the victim of a cyberattack, with user information such as names, addresses, birth dates, usernames and passwords, and e-mail addresses compromised. Sony remains unsure if credit card information was taken.
"This is one of the biggest data heists we have ever seen, both in terms of the number of people affected and the wide variety of data that appear to have been compromised," Cate said. "Even if it turns out credit card data wasn't stolen, the consequences of this attack are huge."
Ohio State University: TELEVISION ‘BREAKUPS’ CAUSE SOME VIEWERS DISTRESS, LEAD TO MORE MEDIA USE
April 18, 2011
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Even temporary “breakups” can be distressing for some people – at least when it comes to their favorite television programs.
A new study examined how college-aged television viewers reacted when their favorite shows went off the air or were replaced with reruns as a result of the television writers’ strike of 2007-08.
The results revealed the important role television plays in the lives of some viewers – particularly those who use television for companionship and those who feel they have a strong “relationship” with their favorite TV characters.
But for those who think that less time spent with the media may be a good thing for some people, the results may be disappointing.