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Ancient Fossilized Sea Creatures Yield Oldest Biomolecules Isolated Directly from a Fossil

By Guest PostFebruary 21, 2013Nature, Scienceamerican midwest, analytical tools, ancient, aquatic sea creatures, aromatic compounds, biological signal, biomarkers, calcite crystal, carboniferous period, christina omalley, complex organic molecules, crinoids, crinoids today, DNA, feathery arms, fine grained sediment, fossil, fossilization, fossilized sea creatures, function, gas chromatograph, geochemist, geologic time, geologists, hard calcite shell, Indiana, iowa, layer, living tissue, mass spectrometer, midwest, mountain chains, North America, ohio, ohio state, ohio state geologists, ohio state university, oldest biomolecules, organic matter, organic molecules, pigments, pores, predators, quinines, sand dollars, sea lily, spindly animals, toxins, vast inland seas, volcanism, william ausich, yu ping chin

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Though scientists have long believed that complex organic molecules couldn’t survive fossilization, some 350-million-year-old remains of aquatic sea creatures uncovered in Ohio, Indiana, and Iowa have challenged that assumption.

The spindly animals with feathery arms—called crinoids, but better known today by the plant-like name “sea lily”—appear to have been buried alive in storms during the Carboniferous Period, when North America was covered with vast inland seas. Buried quickly and isolated from the water above by layers of fine-grained sediment, their porous skeletons gradually filled with minerals, but some of the pores containing organic molecules were sealed intact. (more…)

NASA Releases Radar Movie of Asteroid 2012 DA14

By Guest PostFebruary 21, 2013Scienceantenna, asteroid, asteroid 2012 da14, data collection, deep space network, earth, goldstone, goldstone radar, hazardous, lance benner, long axis, marina brozovic, observation, planet, radar movie, radar observations, rotation, rotation state, shape, size, spaceguard, surface features, surface roughness, technique

An initial sequence of radar images of asteroid 2012 DA14 was obtained on the night of Feb. 15/16, 2013, by NASA scientists using the 230-foot (70-meter) Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, Calif. Each of the 72 frames required 320 seconds of data collection by the Goldstone radar.

The observations were made as the asteroid was moving away from Earth. The asteroid’s distance from the radar dish increased from 74,000 miles (120,000 kilometers) to 195,000 miles (314,000 kilometers). The resolution is 13 feet (four meters) per pixel. The images span close to eight hours and clearly show an elongated object undergoing roughly one full rotation. The images suggest that the asteroid has a long axis of about 130 feet (40 meters). The radar observations were led by scientists Lance Benner and Marina Brozovic of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Additional Goldstone radar observations are scheduled on February 18, 19 and 20. (more…)

Force is the Key to Granular State-Shifting

By Guest PostFebruary 21, 2013Scienceadding energy, behavior, change, change in force, dirt, granular materials, granular system, heat, james puckett, karen daniels, north Carolina, plastic granules, plastic material, property of equilibration, sand, state, state of material, state university, thermodynamic system, thermodynamics, thermometer, transition, types of particles, underlying ideas

Ever wonder why sand can both run through an hourglass like a liquid and be solid enough to support buildings? It’s because granular materials – like sand or dirt – can change their behavior, or state. Researchers from North Carolina State University have found that the forces individual grains exert on one another are what most affect that transition.

Physicists have explored the changing behavior of granular materials by comparing it to what happens in thermodynamic systems. In a thermodynamic system, you can change the state of a material – like water – from a liquid to a gas by adding energy (heat) to the system. One of the most fundamental and important observations about temperature, however, is that it has the ability to equilibrate: a hot cup of tea eventually cools to match the temperature of the room. (more…)

Yammer Accelerates Momentum Following Microsoft Acquisition

By Guest PostFebruary 20, 2013Technologyadam pisoni, david sacks, dwf llp, enterprise social networking, forbes global, glaxosmithkline, grundfos, mcgladrey llp, microsoft acquisition, natural gas, office web apps, reckitt benckiser, rio tinto, sabmiller, scott singer, united states, yammer

Quadruples sales in Q4; surpasses 7 million users.

SAN FRANCISCO — Feb. 20, 2013 — Yammer, Inc., a best-in-class Enterprise Social Network and part of the Microsoft Office Division, today announced record growth in 2012 and accelerating momentum following the Microsoft acquisition.

2012 Highlights

• Full-year 2012 sales nearly tripled year-over-year (ended Jan. 31, 2013)

• Fourth-quarter sales quadrupled year-over-year (ended Jan. 31, 2013)

• Number of paying customers increased 165 percent in 2012

• Surpassed 7 million registered users (more…)

IBM THINK Exhibit Opens at INNOVENTIONS at Epcot

By Guest PostFebruary 20, 2013Technologyandroid tablets, apple ipads, centennial, danielle miller, epcot, florida, flow of data, gesture wall, high school teachers, ibm, ibm think, innovation, innoventions west, lee green, lincoln center, new york, orlando area, Technology, think exhibit app, university high school, walt disney, world resort

Exciting educational experience extends into classrooms with free lesson plans and mobile apps

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – 20 Feb 2013: In celebration of National Engineers Week,IBM teamed up with Orlando-area high school teachers and students today to unveil IBM THINK, a new interactive experience in INNOVENTIONS West at Epcot at Walt Disney World Resort. The 6,600 square-foot interactive exhibit is designed to showcase how the world can work better with the help of technology and innovation. The THINK experience presented by IBM explores how technology transforms the way we live and work. (more…)

European Satellite Confirms UW Numbers: Arctic Ocean is on Thin Ice

By Guest PostFebruary 20, 2013Environmentandy ridout, arctic ocean, Arctic sea ice, arctic waters, assimilation system, axel schweiger, below the ice, cloud, cryosat 2 satellite, data, duncan wingham, european satellite, european space agency, extent, ice ocean modeling, icesat, jinlun zhang, katharine giles, land elevation satellite, NASA, ocean surface, pan arctic, piomas, polar scientist, rosemary willatt, satellite observation, seymour laxon, thin ice, total volume, uk, university of washington, vulnerable, warming

The September 2012 record low in Arctic sea-ice extent was big news, but a missing piece of the puzzle was lurking below the ocean’s surface. What volume of ice floats on Arctic waters? And how does that compare to previous summers? These are difficult but important questions, because how much ice actually remains suggests how vulnerable the ice pack will be to more warming.

New satellite observations confirm a University of Washington analysis that for the past three years has produced widely quoted estimates of Arctic sea-ice volume. Findings based on observations from a European Space Agency satellite, published online in Geophysical Research Letters, show that the Arctic has lost more than a third of summer sea-ice volume since a decade ago, when a U.S. satellite collected similar data. (more…)

In Conversation with: Paul Bracken, Expert on Nuclear ‘Power Politics’

By Guest PostFebruary 20, 2013Politicsnuclear power politics, nuclear program, nuclear war plan, second nuclear age, weapons program

North Korea, which just conducted its third nuclear test, is using its weapons program to deter the United States by holding its allies “hostage,” according to Paul Bracken, who teaches management and political science at Yale. (more…)

Unchecked Antibiotic Use in Animals May Affect Global Human Health

By Guest PostFebruary 20, 2013Healthabsorbed by animals, animal health, animal production, animals, antibiotic resistance genes, antibiotics in china, args, bacteria, China, china alone, chinese, commercial pig farms, consumer of antibiotics, downstream, fend off diseases, fertilizer, global human health, global risk, groundwater, impact on environment, james tiedje, largest producer, management of wastes, michigan state university, microbes carrying args, multidrug resistance, pollutants, production, rivers, unchecked antibiotic use, united states, use of antibiotics, veterinary antibiotic, world organization, yong guan zhu

The increasing production and use of antibiotics, about half of which is used in animal production, is mirrored by the growing number of antibiotic resistance genes, or ARGs, effectively reducing antibiotics’ ability to fend off diseases – in animals and humans.

A study in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that China – the world’s largest producer and consumer of antibiotics – and many other countries don’t monitor the powerful medicine’s usage or impact on the environment. (more…)

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