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Global Warming will Open Unexpected New Shipping Routes in Arctic, UCLA Researchers Find

By Guest PostMarch 11, 2013EnvironmentArctic, arctic lakes, arctic ocean, asia, atlantic ocean, coast of russia, eastern canada, global temperature, global warming, icebreakers, independent climate forecasts, Japan, laurence c smith, new shipping routes, north pole, northern sea route, pacific, panama canal, polar class 6, projected shipping lanes, rotterdam, scott r stephenson, sea ice, shipping potential, suez, the netherlands, trans arctic, ucla researchers, vessels, yokohama

Shipping lanes through the Arctic Ocean won’t put the Suez and Panama canals out of business anytime soon, but global warming will make these frigid routes much more accessible than ever imagined by melting an unprecedented amount of sea ice during the late summer, new UCLA research shows.

“The development is both exciting from an economic development point of view and worrisome in terms of safety, both for the Arctic environment and for the ships themselves,” said lead researcher Laurence C. Smith, a professor of geography at UCLA. (more…)

Two-thirds of Americans Now Believe Global Warming is Real

By Guest PostMarch 10, 2013Environmentallentown, americans, barry rabe, belief, evidence, global temperatures, global warming, hurricanes, muhlenberg college, muhlenberg institute, planet, political factors, public opinion, religious, self identified republicans, superstorm sandy, university of michigan

ANN ARBOR — An increasing number of Americans indicate that there is evidence of global warming, with 67 percent now expressing a belief that the planet has warmed over the past four decades, according to a University of Michigan survey.

It marks the highest level of belief in global warming since a 72 percent-measure in 2008 and is up from 52 percent in spring 2010.

The results come from the National Surveys on Energy and Environment, a joint effort of the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy at U-M’s Ford School of Public Policy and the Muhlenberg Institute of Public Opinion at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa. (more…)

Energy-momentum Spectroscopy: New Technique Could Improve Optical Devices

By Guest PostMarch 10, 2013Scienceangle, electronic excitations, energy momentum spectroscopy, grapheme, interference, jon schuller, keliang he, kymissis group, layered nanomaterials, leds, light absorbing devices, light emitting, molybdenum disulfide, mos2, new technique, optical devices, organic semiconductor, orientation of light, polarization, ptcda, rainbow colors, rashid zia, sinan karaveli, solar cells, source, theanne schiros, thin films, two dimensional material

Understanding the source and orientation of light in light-emitting thin films — now possible with energy-momentum spectroscopy — could lead to better LEDs, solar cells, and other devices that use layered nanomaterials.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A multi-university research team has used a new spectroscopic method to gain a key insight into how light is emitted from layered nanomaterials and other thin films.

The technique, called energy-momentum spectroscopy, enables researchers to look at the light emerging from a thin film and determine whether it is coming from emitters oriented along the plane of the film or from emitters oriented perpendicular to the film. Knowing the orientations of emitters could help engineers make better use of thin-film materials in optical devices like LEDs or solar cells. (more…)

Reading the Human Genome

By Guest PostMarch 10, 2013Scienceautomated data collection, berkeley lab, biomolecular machinery, biophysicist eva nogales, cellular process, central dogma, cryo electron microscopy, cryo em, DNA, dna promoter complex, dylan taatjes, gene sequence, genetic information, human genome, jie fang, malfunctions, molecular biology, paula flicker, pre initiation complex, rna, rna polymerase, rna transcription, structural data, tata binding protein, tbp, transcription, transcription factors, yuan he

Berkeley Lab Researchers Produce First Step-by-Step Look at Transcription Initiation

Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have achieved a major advance in understanding how genetic information is transcribed from DNA to RNA by providing the first step-by-step look at the biomolecular machinery that reads the human genome.

“We’ve provided a series of snapshots that shows how the genome is read one gene at a time,” says biophysicist Eva Nogales who led this research. “For the genetic code to be transcribed into messenger RNA, the DNA double helix has to be opened and the strand of gene sequences has to be properly positioned so that RNA polymerase, the enzyme that catalyzes transcription, knows where the gene starts. The electron microscopy images we produced show how this is done.” (more…)

Tracking Sediments’ Fate in Largest-Ever Dam Removal

By Guest PostMarch 10, 2013Environmentaerial photos, andrea ogston, beautiful plume, charles nittrouer, chemicals, dam removal, dam removal project, elwha dam, elwha river, elwha river mouth, flow downstream, geologic deposits, geologic event, glines canyon dam, global carbon cycle, juan de fuca, marine geologists, national science foundation, ocean, ocean floor, ocean water, olympic coast, pesticides, port angeles, salmon, sediments fate, strait, university of washington, washington sea grant, water treatment plant

Salmon are beginning to swim up the Elwha River for the first time in more than a century. But University of Washington marine geologists are watching what’s beginning to flow downstream — sediments from the largest dam-removal project ever undertaken.

The 108-foot Elwha Dam was built in 1910, and after decades of debate it was finally dismantled last year. Roughly a third of the 210-foot Glines Canyon Dam still stands, holding back a mountain of silt, sand and gravel. (more…)

Business Leaders Share Insights on U.S.-China Relations

By Guest PostMarch 9, 2013Economyamerican, capital from china, cef, China, china economic forum, chinese, chinese investors, company, dual engines, global growth, globalization, jeffrey sonnenfeld, klaus kleinfeld, lester crown professor, mingqiang bi, morgan stanley asia, panel discussion, peter schott, relation, stephen roach, united states, US, x rick niu, yale som, yale student organization, yingqi tan

Developing globalization strategies for American and Chinese companies was the topic of a panel discussion at Yale on March 2. Titled “China and the U.S. — Dual Engines of Global Growth,” the event was hosted by China Economic Forum (CEF), a Yale student organization.

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean for executive programs and the Lester Crown Professor in the Practice of Management at the Yale School of Management (Yale SOM), delivered opening remarks at the panel discussion, which was moderated by Peter Schott, professor of economics at Yale SOM. (more…)

Early Warning System Provides Four-Month Forecast of Malaria Epidemics in Northwest India

By Guest PostMarch 9, 2013General, Healthaccurate prediction, anopheles mosquitoes, b a cash, breeding sites, climate link, environmental condition, epidemiological records, India, indicator, infected mosquitoes, malaria epidemics, malaria risk, mercedes pascual, monsoon rainfall, northwest india, plasmodium parasite, red blood cells, sea surface temperature, semi arid region, south atlantic ocean, thar desert, transmitted via bites, tropical, university of michigan, west of africa, x rodo

ANN ARBOR — Sea surface temperatures in the tropical South Atlantic Ocean can be used to accurately forecast, by up to four months, malaria epidemics thousands of miles away in northwestern India, a University of Michigan theoretical ecologist and her colleagues have found.

Colder-than-normal July sea surface temperatures in the tropical South Atlantic are linked to both increased monsoon rainfall and malaria epidemics in the arid and semi-arid regions of northwest India, including the vast Thar desert, according to Mercedes Pascual and her colleagues, who summarize their findings in a paper published online March 3 in the journal Nature Climate Change. (more…)

Researchers ‘Nanoweld’ by Applying Light to Aligned Nanorods in Solid Materials

By Guest PostMarch 9, 2013Sciencealigned nanoparticles, aligned nanorods, gold nanorods, nanoweld, resilient nanofibers

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a way to melt or “weld” specific portions of polymers by embedding aligned nanoparticles within the materials. Their technique, which melts fibers along a chosen direction within a material, may lead to stronger, more resilient nanofibers and materials. (more…)

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