AScribe Science News Service articles from October 2006

AScribe Science News Service archives from October 2006

George Smoot Wins Nobel Prize in Physics.
October 3, 2006... Byline: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory BERKELEY, Calif., Oct. 3 (AScribe Newswire) -- George F. Smoot, 61, leader of a research team that was able to image the infant universe, revealing a pattern of miniscule temperature variations...

Study: Nation's Air-Transportation System Must Become More 'Agile'.
October 5, 2006... Byline: Purdue University WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Oct. 5 (AScribe Newswire) -- Researchers at Purdue University have created a mathematical simulation that could be used in a new national strategy to ease airport congestion and improve the...

Tabletop Experiment Yields Bubbly Surprise; Physicists Study Equations Governing Texture of Everyday Life.
October 5, 2006... Byline: University of Chicago CHICAGO, Oct. 5 (AScribe Newswire) -- University of Chicago physicists have discovered a new class of behavior in air bubbles rising from an underwater nozzle. In this surprising behavior, the bubbles tear...

Images Develop Clinical Applications for New DESI Technology; Desorption Electrospray Ionization Measures Chemical Markers of Disease.
October 5, 2006... Byline: Purdue University WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Oct. 5 (AScribe Newswire) -- Purdue University researchers have created the first two-dimensional images of biological samples using a new mass spectrometry technique that furthers the...

Novel Pathway Regulates Timing of Brain-Cell Development; Findings May Aid in Understanding Alzheimer's, Schizophrenia, Autism.
October 5, 2006... Byline: Children's Hospital Boston BOSTON, Oct. 5 (AScribe Newswire) -- Brain formation involves the carefully timed production of different types of nerve cells by neural stem cells: neurons are produced first, then astrocytes. Making too...

Fossils Pinpoint Tropics as Earth's Most Fruitful Biodiversity Spawning Ground; Study Indicates Loss of Tropical Biodiversity Would Affect Entire Globe.
October 5, 2006... Byline: University of Chicago CHICAGO, Oct. 5 (AScribe Newswire) -- A team of scientists has completed a study that explains why the tropics are so much richer in biodiversity than higher latitudes. And they say that their work highlights...

Gilbert F. White, 'Father of Floodplain Management' and World-Renowned University of Colorado at Boulder Professor, Dies at 94.(Obituary)
October 6, 2006... Byline: University of Colorado, Boulder BOULDER, Colo., Oct. 6 (AScribe Newswire) -- Gilbert F. White, known worldwide as the "father of floodplain management" and one of the most distinguished and internationally recognized faculty...

News Tips From Johns Hopkins Medicine: 2006 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics, Oct. 9-13 in New Orleans.
October 8, 2006... Byline: Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions BALTIMORE, Oct. 9 (AScribe Newswire) -- Following are news tips from Johns Hopkins Medicine from the 2006 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics, Oct. 9-13 in New Orleans. For...

Nanocrystals Are Hot: Germanium Nanocrystals Embedded in Glass -- Hotter Before They Melt, Colder Before They Freeze.
October 9, 2006... Byline: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory BERKELEY, Calif., Oct. 9 (AScribe Newswire) -- Scientists at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have discovered that nanocrystals of germanium embedded in silica...

Ancient Canoe Found by Wichita State University Professor on Belize Research Dig.
October 10, 2006... Byline: Wichita State University WICHITA, Kan., Oct. 10 (AScribe Newswire) -- An ancient canoe -- more than likely the oldest canoe ever uncovered in Mesoamerica -- was discovered this summer in a cliff-top cave in Belize by an excavation...

$24 Million Research Laboratory and Public Science Museum to Open at Lake Tahoe Oct. 14.
October 11, 2006... Byline: University of California, Davis DAVIS, Calif., Oct. 11 (AScribe Newswire) -- Forty years ago, Lake Tahoe was turning green. University of California, Davis researcher Charles Goldman was studying how to keep it blue, working in a...

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Opens the National Center for X-Ray Tomography.
October 13, 2006... Byline: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory BERKELEY, Calif., Oct. 13 (AScribe Newswire) -- The National Center for X-ray Tomography (NCXT) has officially been dedicated at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National...

Tahoe Basin's New Heart of Environmental Discovery Opens Saturday, Oct. 14.
October 13, 2006... Byline: University of California, Davis INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev., Oct. 13 (AScribe Newswire) -- There's a new heart of learning and discovery in the Lake Tahoe Basin: the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences. It will be home to a...

Lessons From the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami Topic of Public Forum: First Elisabeth and Henry Morss Jr. Colloquium to Be Held Oct. 31 at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
October 16, 2006... Byline: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution WOODS HOLE, Mass., Oct. 16 (AScribe Newswire) -- How coastal communities manage risks associated with major tsunamis is an issue of global importance following the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean...

Building Housing Kansas State's New Biosecurity Research Institute to Be Named for Sen. Pat Roberts.
October 19, 2006... Byline: Kansas State University MANHATTAN, Oct. 19 (AScribe Newswire) -- The U.S. senator who recognized early on the risk posed by terrorists to the nation's food supply is being recognized with the naming of a new building in his honor....

University of Colorado at Boulder Research Team Discovers Evidence of Gut Parasites in Dinosaur.
October 23, 2006... Byline: University of Colorado, Boulder BOULDER, Colo., Oct. 23 (AScribe Newswire) -- University of Colorado at Boulder researchers have discovered what appears to be the first evidence of parasites in the gut contents of a dinosaur,...

Tiny 'Housekeeper' Crabs Help Prevent Coral Death in South Pacific.
October 23, 2006... Byline: University of California, Santa Barbara SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Oct. 23 (AScribe Newswire) -- Tiny crabs that live in South Pacific coral help to prevent the coral from dying by providing regular cleaning "services" that may be...

Duke University Receives $2.5 Million Grant from Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to Establish Visual Studies Initiative.
October 23, 2006... Byline: Duke University DURHAM, N.C., Oct. 23 (AScribe Newswire) -- Duke University has received a $2.5 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to create a Visual Studies Initiative, a broad-based effort to improve how visual...

Never Burn a Cake Again: New York Academy of Sciences Meeting Shows How Science Can Help You Cook the Perfect Meal for the Holidays; Renowned 'Stovetop Scientist' Shirley Corriher to Introduce 'Science of Cooking' Series Oct. 26.
October 23, 2006... Byline: New York Academy of Sciences NEW YORK, Oct. 23 (AScribe Newswire) -- With the holidays coming up, amateur and professional cooks everywhere are faced with various cooking dilemmas: How can you bake the perfect pumpkin pie or make...

Berkeley Lab Gets $13 Million in Grants to Speed Crystal Structure Solutions.
October 23, 2006... Byline: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory BERKELEY, Calif., Oct. 23 (AScribe Newswire) -- - With genome sequencing having reached nearly a mass-production mode and new genes being identified on a regular basis, there is a growing demand...

Franklin & Marshall Chemistry Professor Makes World's Smallest Knot.
October 24, 2006... Byline: Franklin & Marshall College LANCASTER, Pa., Oct. 24 (AScribe Newswire) -- Franklin & Marshall chemistry professor Ed Fenlon was never a Boy Scout. But if all goes according to plan, Fenlon just might be in line for the...

Franklin & Marshall Astrophysicist Andrea Lommen Goes Down Under to Find Details of the Universe's Birth.
October 24, 2006... Byline: Franklin & Marshall College LANCASTER, Pa., Oct. 24 (AScribe Newswire) -- Franklin & Marshall assistant professor of astronomy Andrea Lommen is spending the 2006-07 academic year at the Australia Telescope National Facility in...

California State University, Northridge Professor Hopes Contribution to Book on Latina Scientists Serves as Inspiration to Others.
October 24, 2006... Byline: Calif. State University, Northridge NORTHRIDGE, Calif., Oct. 24 (AScribe Newswire) -- Growing up in rural Los Angeles County in the 1960s, Cal State Northridge biology professor MariaElena Zavala routinely encountered teachers and...

University of Hawaii Researchers Predict Strong El Nino Based on Conditions in Indian Ocean.
October 24, 2006... Byline: University of Hawaii HONOLULU, Oct. 24 (AScribe Newswire) -- An El Nino has been developing in the equatorial Pacific since early summer and will likely grow in strength over the next two months, according to the latest...

NASA Initiative Studies Interactions Related to Climate Changes.
October 24, 2006... Byline: Purdue University WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Oct. 24 (AScribe Newswire) -- Russian and American scientists are studying the dramatic climate changes of northern Europe and Asia to better predict future weather pattern shifts worldwide....

Biodiversity Controls Ecological 'Services,' Report Scientists in Comprehensive Analysis.
October 25, 2006... Byline: University of California, Santa Barbara SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Oct. 25 (AScribe Newswire) -- Accelerating rates of species extinction pose problems for humanity, according to a comprehensive study headed by a biologist at the...

International Remotely Operated Vehicle Competition to Focus on Earth's Polar Regions; MATE Center and MTS's ROV Committee 2007 International Competition to Be Held June 22-24 at Memorial University in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
October 26, 2006... Byline: Marine Advanced Technology Education Center ST. JOHN'S, Newfoundland, Oct. 26 (AScribe Newswire) -- The Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center and the Marine Technology Society's (MTS) Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV)...

University of Florida, Honeywell Engineers Building First Space Supercomputer.
October 26, 2006... Byline: University of Florida GAINESVILLE, Fla., Oct. 26 (AScribe Newswire) -- HAL may soon be getting some company. But unlike the famous computer companion in Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey," the first space-based...

National Humanities Center Announces Conference on Science and the Humanities.
October 27, 2006... Byline: National Humanities Center RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Oct. 27 (AScribe Newswire) -- The National Humanities Center will host a one-day conference, November 10, 2006, on how advances in science are changing the limits of human...

Award to Help Michigan State University Math Prof Add Up Really Big Solutions.
October 27, 2006... Byline: Michigan State University EAST LANSING, Mich., Oct. 27 (AScribe Newswire) -- Andrew Christlieb is all about making things simple -- breaking problems into manageable chunks. Except his problems start out large: mathematical...

Long, Deadly Hypoxic Event Finally Concludes.
October 30, 2006... Byline: Oregon State University CORVALLIS, Ore., Oct. 30 (AScribe Newswire) -- The longest, largest and most devastating hypoxic event ever observed in marine waters off the Oregon Coast has finally ended, researchers at Oregon State...

Tastes Great: University of Michigan Researchers Show How Brain Responds to Pleasing Tastes - and How Tastes Change; Study May Help Understanding of Pleasure Response, and How It Can Go Wrong.
October 31, 2006... Byline: University of Michigan Health System ANN ARBOR, Mich., Oct. 31 (AScribe Newswire) -- We all have tastes we love, and tastes we hate. And yet, our "taste" for certain flavors and foods can change over time, as we get older or we get...

University of Colorado at Boulder Instrument Set for Insertion on Hubble Space Telescope in Early 2008.
October 31, 2006... Byline: University of Colorado, Boulder BOULDER, Colo., Oct. 31 (AScribe Newswire) -- A servicing mission for the Hubble Space Telescope announced today by NASA will include the insertion of a $70 million instrument designed by the...

White Blood Cells of Cancer-Resistant Mice Overwhelm Natural Defenses of Cancer Cells.
October 31, 2006... Byline: Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., Oct. 31 (AScribe Newswire) -- The discoverers of the unique mouse line that is resistant to cancer have begun to pin down how the process works and found that white...

Scientists Identify Synthetic Compound That Keeps Stem Cells Young; Discovery Could Accelerate Stem Cell Research, Development of New Disease Treatments.
October 31, 2006... Byline: The Scripps Research Institute LA JOLLA, Calif., Oct. 31 (AScribe Newswire) -- A team of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute, the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, and the Max Planck Institute for...