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Powerful New Approach to Attack Flu Virus

By Guest PostMay 29, 2012Sciencedna deep sequencing, flu epidemics, flu virus, pandemic viruses, therapeutic proteins

EAST LANSING, Mich. — An international research team has manufactured a new protein that can combat deadly flu epidemics. (more…)

Dark Shadows on Mars: Scene from Durable NASA Rover

By Guest PostMay 28, 2012Sciencemars rover, martian crater, martian dust, martian winter, shadows on mars

Like a tourist waiting for just the right lighting to snap a favorite shot during a stay at the Grand Canyon, NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has used a low sun angle for a memorable view of a large Martian crater. (more…)

Annika Finne Investigates a Modigliani

By Guest PostMay 28, 2012Culture, Educationannika finne, authenticated modigliani portraits, authenticity investigation, authenticity of modigliani, modigliani portraits

Annika Finne, senior and aspiring conservator, jumped at the chance to investigate the authenticity of a Modigliani painting stored in the archives of the RISD Museum of Art. What followed was a year-long journey of research and discovery and a senior thesis that, Finne hopes, will secure the painting’s place in art history.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — To the causal observer, the painting is most striking in its simplicity: a two-dimensional image of a woman, her face elongated, head slightly tilted, the background giving away little of her surroundings, the parameters devoid of a signature identifiying the artist. (more…)

The Search for Dark Matter Goes Deeper Underground

By Guest PostMay 28, 2012Scienceblack hills, cherenkov radiation, dark matter, gravitational effects, liquid xenon, neutrino collisions, titanium tank, underground xenon detector

With LUX ZEPLIN Berkeley Lab researchers seek to increase the sensitivity of LUX, the most sensitive search for dark matter yet, by orders of magnitude

Although it’s invisible, dark matter accounts for at least 80 percent of the matter in the universe. No one knows what it is, but most scientists would bet on weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs. (more…)

Landmark Volcano Study Brings to Life Huge Alaska Eruption on its Centennial

By Guest PostMay 27, 2012Environmentalaska eruption, magma reservoir, novarupta eruption, novarupta katmai eruption, volcano study

MENLO PARK, Calif. – 100 years ago, in June 1912, the most powerful volcanic eruption of the 20th century took place in what is now Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve. This massive volcanic event once again comes alive for scholars and enthusiasts in a new centennial volume by two U.S. Geological Survey scientists whose work has made major contributions to volcano science. (more…)

It’s in the Genes: Research Pinpoints How Plants Know When to Flower

By Guest PostMay 27, 2012Naturecircadian clock, flowering plants, flowering timing, photoreceptor, photoreceptor protein

Scientists believe they’ve pinpointed the last crucial piece of the 80-year-old puzzle of how plants “know” when to flower. (more…)

The Heart Rules the Head When We Make Financial Decisions

By Guest PostMay 27, 2012Culture, Economybarney dunn, decision, economic perspective, economic self interest, evidence, financial offer, financial sector, gut feelings, gut reaction, heart rate, lead researcher, pension schemes, psychological test, rational thought, ultimatum game, university of exeter

Our ‘gut feelings’ influence our decisions, overriding ‘rational’ thought, when we are faced with financial offers that we deem to be unfair, according to a new study. Even when we are set to benefit, our physical response can make us more likely to reject a financial proposition we consider to be unjust.

Conducted by a team from the University of Exeter, Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit and University of Cambridge, the research is published in the journal Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioural Neuroscience.

The research adds to growing evidence that our bodies can sometimes govern how we think and feel, rather than the other way round. It also reveals that those people who are more in tune with their bodies are more likely to be led by their ‘gut feelings’. (more…)

Hacking Code of Leaf Vein Architecture Solves Mysteries, Allows Predictions of Past Climate

By Guest PostMay 27, 2012Environment, Natureancient greeks, carbon dioxide, christine scoffoni, climate, conifers, cycads, Environment, ferns, flowering plants, fossil record, global ecology, hacking code, images of leaves, lawren sack, leaf fossils, leaf sizes, leaf vein architecture, leaf vein systems, mathematical equation, mathematical linkages, michael rawls, past climate, photosynthesis, photosynthetic rate, plants, prediction, respiration, scaling patterns, superhighways, theophrastus of lesbos, tropical forest tree, ucla life scientists, vein network, water transport, xylem pipes

UCLA life scientists have discovered new laws that determine the construction of leaf vein systems as leaves grow and evolve. These easy-to-apply mathematical rules can now be used to better predict the climates of the past using the fossil record.

The research, published May 15 in the journal Nature Communications, has a range of fundamental implications for global ecology and allows researchers to estimate original leaf sizes from just a fragment of a leaf. This will improve scientists’ prediction and interpretation of climate in the deep past from leaf fossils.

Leaf veins are of tremendous importance in a plant’s life, providing the nutrients and water that leaves need to conduct photosynthesis and supporting them in capturing sunlight. Leaf size is also of great importance for plants’ adaptation to their environment, with smaller leaves being found in drier, sunnier places. (more…)

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