Science Letter articles from October 2003

Science Letter archives from October 2003

Scientists discover massive forming galaxies.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- An international group of researchers has found evidence for the synchronous formation of massive, luminous elliptical galaxies in young galaxy clusters. The forming galaxies were detected at...

Ductile intermetallic compounds discovered.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- To materials scientists the phrase "ductile intermetallic compounds" has long been considered an oxymoron. Although these compounds possess chemical, physical, electrical, magnetic, and mechanical...

Distant star bursts provide key to the origin of galaxies.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Revealing images produced by one of the world's most sophisticated telescopes are enabling a team of astronomers in Edinburgh, Scotland, to see clearly for the first time how distant galaxies were...

New theory suggests universe may have been created within a black hole.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The universe may have been created by an explosion within a black hole, according to a new theory by two mathematicians recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the...

Scientists claim new galaxy find.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Astronomers from Case Western Reserve University, Ohio, say they have discovered a new galaxy, a collection of stars hovering undetected just outside the huge Andromeda spiral. Researchers said the...

Two-part macroemulsion is unique approach to cleaning up contaminated aquifers.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Environmental engineering researchers have developed a novel two-part approach for cleaning up toxic chlorinated solvents spilled into underground water supplies from former dry cleaning and industrial...

Ceramics reinforced with nanotubes.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A ceramic material reinforced with carbon nanotubes has been made by materials scientists at the University of California, Davis. The new material is far tougher than conventional ceramics,...

Ozone hole hits record size.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The ozone hole over the Antarctic in 2003 has reached the record size of 10.8 million square miles set 3 years ago, the United Nations' weather organization said on September 17, 2003. Measurements...

Study reveals why silicon crystals lose their "edge".
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Physicists have discovered a mechanism that forces sharp edges on the surface of a silicon crystal to become rounded, and have described this rounding in detail for the first time. The new finding...

Smart blending technique could change way plastics are made.
October 13, 2003... 2003 OCT 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new "smart blending" process developed by Clemson University researchers could change the way plastics are made and improve their performance. Early results published recently in the journal...

Northern climate, ecosystems driven by cycles of changing sunlight.
October 13, 2003... 2003 OCT 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Emerging geochemical and biological evidence from Alaskan lake sediment suggests that slight variations in the sun's intensity have affected sub-polar climate and ecosystems in a predictable fashion...

Largest Arctic ice shelf breaks up, draining freshwater lake.
October 13, 2003... 2003 OCT 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The largest ice shelf in the Arctic has broken, and scientists who have studied it closely say it is evidence of ongoing and accelerated climate change in the north polar region. The Ward Hunt Ice...

Atomic insight may lead to cleaner cars.
October 13, 2003... 2003 OCT 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers affiliated with the Laboratory for Energy and the Environment are gaining atomic-level insight into how sulfur in engine exhaust "poisons" advanced...

Long-term natural gas supplies should meet growing demand in coming decades.
October 13, 2003... 2003 OCT 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Sudden price spikes have led to speculation that the United States is facing a critical shortage of natural gas. But a new study by Stanford University's Energy Modeling Forum (EMF) concludes that gas...

Smart electric grid of the future is in development.
October 13, 2003... 2003 OCT 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The current electric grid system in the U.S. will not work in the future with solar and wind farms providing substantial but intermittent power over long distances, scientists say. By 2050, it...

Workers embrace IT that fosters coordination; reject IT that controls.
October 13, 2003... 2003 OCT 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Managers about to add new computer-based systems should be aware: a technology that fosters access and coordination will be embraced by workers while one that controls behavior to increase productivity...

Envisat observes resurgent ozone hole.
October 13, 2003... 2003 OCT 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The latest European Space Agency (ESA) Earth Observation data show that reports of the demise of the ozone hole appearing annually above Antarctica have been greatly exaggerated. The ozone hole is...

Study shows speeding up use of super-clean cars will help Los Angeles.
October 20, 2003... 2003 OCT 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Los Angeles, California, metropolitan area, characterized by some of the dirtiest air in the U.S., could achieve federal air quality goals for smog more rapidly if the use of super-clean vehicles,...

La Nina takes Bolivian Andes on a sedimental journey.
October 20, 2003... 2003 OCT 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Conventional wisdom says a river's flood plain builds bit by bit, flood after flood, whenever the stream overflows its banks and deposits new sediment on the flood plain. But for some vast waterways in...

Dual microscopes illuminate electronic switching speeds.
October 20, 2003... 2003 OCT 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Designers of semiconductor devices are like downhill skiers: they thrive on speed. And achieving speed in the semiconductor business is all about the stuff you start with. While silicon is still...

Laser pulses show how birds fly.
October 20, 2003... 2003 OCT 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- We all know that birds can fly. But no one has ever been able to explain how they can produce enough lift to neutralize their body weight. Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have now...

Solar contribution to global warming predicted to decrease.
October 20, 2003... 2003 OCT 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- By looking at solar activity over the last 11,000 years, a British Antarctic Survey (BAS) astrophysicist predicts that the Sun's contribution to warming the Earth will reduce slightly over the next 100...

Study: Arctic offshore oil drilling has little negative environmental impact.
October 20, 2003... 2003 OCT 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- When the U.S. Department of Interior contracted with Florida Tech Oceanographer John Trefry to study the impact of recent offshore oil drilling in the Alaskan Arctic, the Florida Academy of Sciences...

Scientists find half billion-year-old ancestral mountains in the Himalaya.
October 20, 2003... 2003 OCT 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The world's highest and most spectacular mountains, the Himalaya of Nepal, India, and Bhutan, are built on the foundations of a much older mountain system, University of Arizona geoscientists have...

Forecasters claim to perfect weather data.
October 20, 2003... 2003 OCT 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Severe weather claims hundreds of lives and costs billions of dollars in damage every year. Now, forecasters believe the menace may have met its match. Scientists led by engineers at the University...

Competing theories about shape, size of the universe are going head to head.
October 27, 2003... 2003 OCT 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Competing theories about the shape and size of the universe are going head to head, with Montana State University-Bozeman physics professor Neil Cornish taking the lead on explaining his group's belief...

Metallic phase for bosons implies new state of matter.
October 27, 2003... 2003 OCT 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Heisenberg uncertainty principle places severe constraints on the subatomic world. To illustrate, for particles called bosons, the principle dictates that bosons either condense to form a...

New glass can replace expensive crystals in some lasers.
October 27, 2003... 2003 OCT 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers have developed a new family of glasses that will bring higher power to smaller packages in lasers and optical devices and provide a less-expensive alternative to many other optical glasses...

New study ties African drought to ocean temperatures.
October 27, 2003... 2003 OCT 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A strong link has been confirmed between sea surface temperatures and precipitation in Africa's semi-arid Sahel. It was not known previously how much land use changes may have led to the region's...

Study uncovers unexpectedly high air pollutant levels in southwest states.
October 27, 2003... 2003 OCT 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- University of California, Irvine (UCI), atmospheric scientists have found that greenhouse gases released from oil and natural gas exploration and processing in Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas create...

High burdens of 2,2',4,4'-tetrabromodiphenyl ether found in California women.
October 27, 2003... 2003 OCT 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers have found high body burdens of 2,2',4,4'-tetrabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-47) in California women. "Following our first report on elevated polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE)...

Rocks could reveal secrets of life on Earth - and Mars.
October 27, 2003... 2003 OCT 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new project by U.K. scientists could help detect evidence for life on Mars, as well as improve our understanding of how it evolved on Earth. The aim is to develop a technique that can identify...

Huge iceberg wreaks havoc on Antarctic marine ecosystem.
October 27, 2003... 2003 OCT 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- For the second time in 26 months, a massive iceberg has clogged a large portion of Antarctica's Ross Sea, causing what could turn out to be a devastating loss of penguins and other marine life,...

New hybrid material has potential use in microelectronics.
October 27, 2003... 2003 OCT 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- University of Toronto scientists have developed a new class of hybrid materials combining organic and inorganic elements that could lead to improved computer chips, among other applications. The...