September 2009
66 posts
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Tunnels Concentrate Air Pollution By Up To 1,000... →
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British Plan to Tackle Asteroids →
A team of British scientists are developing plans for a spacecraft that could stop large asteroids from destroying the Earth. The 10 tonne “gravity tractor” would deflect any orbiting rocks years before any potential collision could happen. The device, which would rely on the force of gravity, is being developed by Stevenage space company, EADS Atrium. However the idea is still in...
August 2009
56 posts
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Scientists Identify Stomach’s Timekeepers Of... →
New York collaborators at Columbia and Rockefeller Universities have identified cells in the stomach that time the release of a hormone that makes animals anticipate food and eat even when they are not hungry. The finding, which has implications for the treatment of obesity, marks a landmark in the decades-long search for the timekeepers of hunger. The work reveals what the stomach “tells” the...
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Mysterious Glaciers That Grew When Asia Heated Up →
As Central Asia’s summer climate warmed as much as 6 degrees Celsius, shifting weather patterns brought more clouds to the Southeast Himalayas. The additional shade created a pocket of cooler temperatures. Temperatures also dropped when higher winds spurred more evaporation in this typically humid area, the same process behind household swamp coolers.
The story of these seemingly anomalous...
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Florida court OKs sale of Everglades debt →
A Florida judge cleared the way for a state authority to issue $650 million of debt to finance the purchase of Everglades land now owned by a big sugar company under an effort to preserve the vast wetlands, a government spokesman said on Thursday.
In a written ruling, Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge Donald Hafale gave the South Florida Water Management District power to sell as much as...
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Bugs Pretending To Be Ants Are Protected Against... →
A classic example of a mutualism, or a mutually beneficial relationship between two species, is that of warm-climate Acacia plants and their ant tenants. The plants provide the ants with shelter within their hollowed-out thorns and food in the form of nectar and protein. The ants, in return, defend the tree viciously, attacking anything that comes near – from other insects to birds and small...
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That's No Vestigial Organ, That's My Appendix:... →
A study in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology finds that many more animals have appendixes than was thought, and that the appendix is not merely a remnant of a digestive organ called the cecum. All of which means that the appendix might not be so useless….
Two years ago, Duke University Medical Center researchers said that the supposedly useless appendix is actually where good gut...
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Perceptual Rivalry: Nostrils Alternate To Process... →
When the nose encounters two different scents simultaneously, the brain processes them separately through each nostril in an alternating fashion.
For the study, 12 volunteers sampled smells from two bottles containing distinctively different odors. One bottle had phenyl ethyl alcohol, which smells like a rose, and the other had n-butanol, which smells like a marker pen. The bottles were fitted...
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Is The MPG Claim Still Relevant? →
In light of General Motors recent claim of 230 mpg for the fuel economy of the upcoming gas/electric Chevrolet Volt, Consumer Reports and the XPrize Foundation, sponsor of the Progressive Automotive XPrize for vehicles that achieve 100 mpg, think a more inclusive, technology-neutral measurement needs to be devised. Many teams competing for the Automotive XPrize have entered cars that run on...
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DNA Evidence Can Be Fabricated →
The scientists fabricated blood and saliva samples containing DNA from a person other than the donor of the blood and saliva. They also showed that if they had access to a DNA profile in a database, they could construct a sample of DNA to match that profile without obtaining any tissue from that person…. (more @ NY Times)
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Orangutan ruse misleads predators →
Wild orangutans in Borneo hold leaves to their mouths to make their voices sound deeper than they actually are, a new study shows. The apes employ the leaf trick when they are threatened by predators, according to scientists observing them. By holding leaves to their mouths, the orangutans lower the frequency of the sounds they produce. This is used to ward off predators, giving them the...
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Ghostwriting Scientific Papers →
There’s a very disturbing article by Natasha Stringer in today’s New York Times. In it, she outlines how a pharmaceutical company paid to have a review article written by a consulting company, got a well placed physician to agree to sign on as the “author” (with minimal input as to its content), and then submitted the article to a medical journal as though it had been written by the physician...
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DNA computer solves logic queries →
Strands of DNA are designed to give off a green light corresponding to “yes”. The system devised by the researchers uses molecules to represent facts and rules. In this way, the team was able to use it to answer simple molecular “questions”….
First, they tried the system with simple “if… then…” propositions. One of these went as follows: “All men...
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Cannibalistic Cells May Help Prevent Infections →
Salmonella, the causative agent of salmonellosis, causes many of the intestinal infections and food-related illnesses reported in the U.S. About 600 people die each year as a result of these infections, accounting for roughly 30 percent of all reported food-related deaths. It is particularly dangerous among the elderly.
The new findings, available online and in an upcoming issue of the...
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