Ascribe Higher Education News Service articles from October 2006

Ascribe Higher Education News Service archives from October 2006

Alaskan Storm Cracks Giant Iceberg to Pieces in Faraway Antarctica; Study Tracks Surprising Connection Between Distant Events.
October 2, 2006... Byline: University of Chicago CHICAGO, Oct. 2 (AScribe Newswire) -- A severe storm that occurred in the Gulf of Alaska in October 2005 generated an ocean swell that six days later broke apart a giant iceberg floating near the coast of...

Oregon State University Leading Major Research Effort to Track Carbon, Identify Dead Zone Processes.
October 3, 2006... Byline: Oregon State University CORVALLIS, Ore., Oct. 3 (AScribe Newswire) -- Every year, blooms of the plankton that feed the marine food chain in the Pacific Ocean off the Oregon coast draw enormous quantities of carbon dioxide out of the...

Economic Opportunity, Healthy Democracy Should Be Central to Election Year Debate, According to New Publication; Demos Publishes Policy Guide --'Fulfilling America's Promise'.
October 3, 2006... Byline: Demos NEW YORK, Oct. 3 (AScribe Newswire) -- Economic opportunity and a healthy democracy should be central focuses of America's political debate, according to a new policy briefing book published today by Demos: A Network for...

Researchers Discover Magnetic Islands Are Energy Source for Mysterious Super High Speed Electrons; Findings Could Help Protect Communications Satellites From Solar Storms.
October 4, 2006... Byline: University of Maryland, College Park COLLEGE PARK, Md., Oct. 4 (AScribe Newswire) -- A team of scientists led by University of Maryland physics professor James Drake appears to have solved a key remaining mystery about how the...

Study Finds Weak Link Between Workplace Diversity and Turnover.
October 5, 2006... Byline: Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley BERKELEY, Calif., Oct. 4 (AScribe Newswire) -- Contrary to popular thinking among some diversity consultants, employing workers of many different races does not affect average turnover in a...

Promising Non-Viral Alternative for Gene Therapy Involves 'Jumping Gene' From a Moth.
October 6, 2006... Byline: University of Hawaii HONOLULU, Oct. 6 (AScribe Newswire) -- A jumping gene first identified in a cabbage-eating moth may one day provide a safer, target-specific alternative to viruses for gene therapy, researchers say. Dr....

NASA's Mars Rover and Orbiter Team Examines Victoria Crater.
October 6, 2006... Byline: Jet Propulsion Laboratory PASADENA, Calif., Oct. 6 (AScribe Newswire) -- NASA's long-lived robotic rover Opportunity is beginning to explore layered rocks in cliffs ringing the massive Victoria crater on Mars. While Opportunity...

Penn Researchers Make Major Advancement in Lou Gehrig's Disease and Frontotemporal Dementia; Identifying Disease Protein for Two Common Neurodegenerative Disorders Will Mean Better Treatments.
October 6, 2006... Byline: University of Pennsylvania Health System PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 6 (AScribe Newswire) -- Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered the major disease protein for two neurodegenerative disorders: a...

Rapid Sea Level Rise in Arctic Ocean May Alter Views of Human Migration.
October 11, 2006... Byline: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution WOODS HOLE, Mass., Oct. 11 (AScribe Newswire) -- Scientists have found new evidence that the Bering Strait near Alaska flooded into the Arctic Ocean about 11,000 years ago, about 1,000 years...

Nanoparticle Assembly Enters Fast Lane; Method Borrows Instructions From Molecular Code of Life.
October 11, 2006... Byline: Brookhaven National Laboratory UPTON, N.Y., Oct. 11 (AScribe Newswire) -- The speed of nanoparticle assembly can be accelerated with the assistance of the molecule that carries life's genetic instructions, DNA, a team of...

Adult Survivors of Childhood Cancer Face Health Issues.
October 11, 2006... Byline: Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center NEW YORK, Oct. 11 (AScribe Newswire) -- Almost three-fourths of pediatric cancer survivors will have a chronic health problem within 30 years after the cancer diagnosis, with 40 percent...

A Ruler Made of Gold and DNA.
October 11, 2006... Byline: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory BERKELEY, Calif., Oct. 11 (AScribe Newswire) -- Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California at Berkeley...

From Rags to Riches? Barriers to Achieving the American Dream.
October 11, 2006... Byline: Council on Contemporary Families CHICAGO, Oct. 12 (AScribe Newswire) -- Individuals striving to achieve the American Dream have long been inspired by stories of men and women who were born into dire poverty yet grew up to be rich...

Johns Hopkins University in Science Consortium for Powerful New Telescope; Built to Hunt Earth-Bound Asteroids, Pan-STARRS Will Also Survey All Transient Phenomena.
October 12, 2006... Byline: Johns Hopkins University BALTIMORE, Oct. 12 (AScribe Newswire) -- The Johns Hopkins University is joining eight other institutions worldwide to utilize a revolutionary new telescope, funded by the U.S. Air Force to detect asteroids...

Penn Researchers Provide Insights Into How Immune System Avoids Attacking Itself; Discovery May Have Applications in Cancer Biology, Autoimmune Disease.
October 12, 2006... Byline: University of Pennsylvania Health System PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 12 (AScribe Newswire) -- A finding by University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researchers about how immune cells "decide" to become active or inactive may have...

Antique Whale Oil Provides Insights Into Origin of Pre-Industrial Chemicals; Samples From Whaling Ship Charles W. Morgan Helps Scientists Trace Sources.
October 12, 2006... Byline: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution WOODS HOLE, Mass., Oct. 12 (AScribe Newswire) -- One of the last remaining New England whaling ships has provided unexpected insights into the origin of halogenated organic compounds (HOCs) that...

Cancer Helps Itself by Sending Out Chemicals That Cripple Nearby Lymph Nodes, Making Them Unable to Resist Cancer Spread.
October 12, 2006... Byline: UCLA LOS ANGELES, Oct. 12 (AScribe Newswire) -- Melanomas aid themselves in their quest to invade other parts of the body by sending a chemical signal to the sentinel lymph node, the node most susceptible to early spread of the...

Only 16 Percent of Bereaved Parents Divorce, New Survey Reveals.
October 12, 2006... Byline: The Compassionate Friends OAK BROOK, Ill., Oct. 12 (AScribe Newswire) -- Flying in the face of the conventional belief that couples who experience the death of a child are virtually destined to divorce, a survey released today finds...

Hopkins Joins Ugandan Researchers to Study Pediatric AIDS Vaccine; Preliminary Phase I Research Could Help Prevent Mother-to-Child Transmission Through Breastfeeding.
October 13, 2006... Byline: Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions BALTIMORE, Oct. 13 (AScribe Newswire) -- Scientists at Makerere University, in Kampala, Uganda, along with scientists from Johns Hopkins and other institutions worldwide, have begun the first...

Improved Analysis of Potential Terrorist Attacks Is Project Goal: Rochester Institute of Technology, University at Buffalo Researchers Partnering to Improve U.S. Port Security.
October 13, 2006... Byline: Rochester Institute of Technology ROCHESTER, N.Y., Oct. 13 (AScribe Newswire) -- In what is believed to have been an accident, a private plane carrying New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle and his flight instructor smashed into a...

Earliest Fossils Are of Sponge-Like Animals; Amherst College Geologist Whitey Hagadorn Featured in Science Magazine.
October 13, 2006... Byline: Amherst College AMHERST, Mass., Oct. 13 (AScribe Newswire) -- The notion that an animal would need a hard skeleton to leave behind a fossil imprint is something of a fossil itself, according to Whitey Hagadorn, an assistant...

NASA Says: 'Build It and Infrared Surprises Will Come'.
October 13, 2006... Byline: Jet Propulsion Laboratory PASADENA, Calif., Oct. 13 (AScribe Newswire) -- Engineers are rolling up their sleeves in preparation for building a telescope that will find the nearest star-like objects and the brightest galaxies. NASA...

Human Stem Cells Delay Start of Lou Gehrig's Disease in Rats.
October 14, 2006... Byline: Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions BALTIMORE, Oct. 15 (AScribe Newswire) -- Researchers at Johns Hopkins have shown that transplanting human stem cells into spinal cords of rats bred to duplicate Lou Gehrig's disease delays the...

October-December 2006 California Agriculture Magazine: Weather Can Predict Crop Yields for Some California Crops.
October 16, 2006... Byline: University of California Division of Agriculture OAKLAND, Oct. 16 (AScribe Newswire) -- Historic weather data can be used to develop accurate yield predictions for a number of important California crops, according to a peer-reviewed...

Red Tide Models, Forecasts to Be Expanded in Gulf of Maine; New Program Could Reopen Valuable Offshore Shellfish Beds.
October 16, 2006... Byline: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution WOODS HOLE, Mass., Oct. 16 (AScribe Newswire) -- A new observation and modeling program focused on the southern Gulf of Maine and adjacent New England shelf waters could aid policy makers in...

Scientists to Begin Looking for Sources of E. coli in California's Salinas Valley.
October 16, 2006... Byline: University of California Division of Agriculture OAKLAND, Calif., Oct. 16 (AScribe Newswire) -- Before the year's end, a team of scientists will begin collecting data for a long-planned four-year study on the sources of E. coli...

Gene Variant Carries Increased Risk of Autism.
October 16, 2006... Byline: Vanderbilt Medical Center NASHVILLE, Tenn., Oct. 16 (AScribe Newswire) -- Researchers have identified a common gene variant that more than doubles the risk of autism. The research, led by investigators at the Vanderbilt Kennedy...

UCLA's J. Fraser Stoddart, Colleagues Make Interlocked Molecules Dress for Success; Research Is a Prelude to Building Artificial Systems Similar to the Living Cell.
October 17, 2006... Byline: UCLA LOS ANGELES, Oct. 17 (AScribe Newswire) -- An enormous challenge to science is the generation of two individual molecules that are not chemically bound to each other but are mechanically wedged together to form a tight link. A...

Public Broadly Uneasy About U.S. Foreign Policy, According to New 'Anxiety Indicator'; Survey Finds 8 in 10 Say the World Is Becoming More Dangerous for Americans.
October 17, 2006... Byline: Public Agenda NEW YORK, Oct. 18 (AScribe Newswire) -- Americans see a world of growing dangers, few solutions and little in U.S. foreign policy that seems to be working, according to the latest Public Agenda Confidence in U.S....

Earliest Fungi May Have Found Multiple Solutions to Propagation on Land, New Study Infers.
October 18, 2006... Byline: Duke University DURHAM. N.C., Oct. 18 (AScribe Newswire) -- In the latest installment of a major international effort to probe the origins of species, a team of scientists has reconstructed the early evolution of fungi, the...

Bentley College Professors Study 'Facebook' as 2006 Campaign Tool; Online Community Fertile Ground for Reaching Younger Voters.
October 18, 2006... Byline: Bentley College WALTHAM, Mass., Oct. 18 (AScribe Newswire) -- As the Internet increasingly transforms the way political candidates "do business," two Bentley College political science professors are analyzing the use of Facebook by...

NASA Approves Construction of Satellite to Scan Nearest Stars, Brightest Galaxies; UCLA Astronomer Serves as Principal Investigator.
October 18, 2006... Byline: UCLA LOS ANGELES, Oct. 18 (AScribe Newswire) -- After eight years of study, NASA has approved the construction of an unmanned satellite that will scan the entire sky in infrared light to reveal nearby cool stars, planetary...

Beaked Whales Perform Extreme Dives to Hunt Deepwater Prey.
October 19, 2006... Byline: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution WOODS HOLE, Mass., Oct. 19 (AScribe Newswire) -- A study of ten beaked whales of two poorly understood species shows their foraging dives are deeper and longer than those reported for any other...

New Biochip Helps Study Living Cells, May Speed Drug Development.
October 20, 2006... Byline: Purdue University WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Oct. 20 (AScribe Newswire) -- Purdue University researchers have developed a biochip that measures the electrical activities of cells and is capable of obtaining 60 times more data in just...

Biofuel Cells Without the Bio Cells: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Scientists First to Measure Electrical Charge Shuttled by Proteins Removed From Living Cells.
October 20, 2006... Byline: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory RICHLAND, Wash., Oct. 20 (AScribe Newswire) -- Proteins keep cells humming. Some are enzymes that taxi electrons to chemicals outside the cell to discharge excess energy generated during...

Johns Hopkins Study Shows Detailed Picture of Dropout Crisis.
October 20, 2006... Byline: Johns Hopkins University BALTIMORE, Oct. 20 (AScribe Newswire) -- Dropping out of high school is predictable and preventable, especially in large city public schools that produce many of the nations dropouts, according to a new...

Cougar Predation Important in Wildland Ecosystems.
October 24, 2006... Byline: Oregon State University CORVALLIS, Ore., Oct. 24 (AScribe Newswire) -- The general disappearance of cougars from a portion of Zion National Park in the past 70 years has allowed deer populations to dramatically increase, leading to...

Research Discovers Oldest Bee, Key to Evolution of Flowering Plants.
October 25, 2006... Byline: Oregon State University CORVALLIS, Ore., Oct. 25 (AScribe Newswire) -- Researchers at Oregon State University have discovered the oldest bee ever known, a 100 million year old specimen preserved in almost lifelike form in amber,...

Wealthy Weekend 'Amenity' Ranchers Taking Over the West.
October 25, 2006... Byline: Oregon State University CORVALLIS, Ore., Oct. 25 (AScribe Newswire) -- A new study suggests that in many parts of the American West, the grizzled, leathery rancher riding the range to take care of his cattle and make a buck is being...

Researchers Find Gene Linked to Crohn's Disease; Possible Target for Drug Therapies.
October 26, 2006... Byline: Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions BALTIMORE, Oct. 26 (AScribe Newswire) -- An international team of researchers has identified another gene mutation linked to the inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) Crohn's disease and ulcerative...

Michigan State Researcher Traces Evolution of Honey Bee Gender.
October 26, 2006... Byline: Michigan State University EAST LANSING, Mich., Oct. 26 (AScribe Newswire) -- A first-of-its-kind evolutionary strategy discovered among invertebrate organisms -- or honey bees -- shows how a complex genetic mechanism determines...

Rochester Institute of Technology Awarded $2.7 Million for Automotive Fuel-Cell Research; U.S. Department of Energy Grant Will Fund Study Into Enhanced Fuel-Cell Performance.
October 27, 2006... Byline: Rochester Institute of Technology ROCHESTER, N.Y., Oct. 27 (AScribe Newswire) -- The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded Rochester Institute of Technology $2.7 million to explore improving automotive fuel-cell performance. ...

Economic Instability for College Grads and Non-Grads, Despite Census Study's Findings; Rising Debt, Costs, Stagnant Wages Hitting Young Adults' Pocketbooks.
October 27, 2006... Byline: Demos NEW YORK, Oct. 27 (AScribe Newswire) -- Young adults, non-college grads and college grads alike, are experiencing destabilizing economic conditions and high levels of debt as they start their professional lives, in spite of...

Scientists Convert Modern Enzyme Into Its Hypothesized Ancestor; Single Amino Acid Substitution Supports Theory of Common Origin Some 2.5 Billion Years Ago.
October 30, 2006... Byline: Brookhaven National Laboratory UPTON, N.Y., Oct. 30 (AScribe Newswire) -- By making a single substitution in the amino acid sequence of a modern enzyme, scientists have changed its function into that of a theoretical distant...

Potential Biological Cause for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome: Defective Serotonin Pathways in Brainstem May Increase Infants' Vulnerability.
October 31, 2006... Byline: Children's Hospital Boston BOSTON, Oct. 31 (AScribe Newswire) -- New autopsy data provide the strongest evidence yet that sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is not a "mystery" disease but has a concrete biological basis. In the...