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Study Links Past Changes in Monsoon to Major Shifts in Indian Civilizations

By Guest PostMarch 15, 2012Environmentasia, band of heavy rain, bay of bengal, camilo ponton, civilizations, climate change, cmz, core monsoon zone, dorian fuller, drilling vessel, drought, equator, eth, global warming, godavari river, harappan civilization, humid monsoon, India, indian monsoon, indian peninsula, insolation, inter tropical convergence zone, itcz, joides resolution, liviu giosan, modern agriculture, monsoon, northern hemisphere, ocean, paleo climatic information, plankton fossil, sahara desert, sediment core, solar radiation, tim eglinton, tropical forest, vegetation, whoi, zurich

A fundamental shift in the Indian monsoon has occurred over the last few millennia, from a steady humid monsoon that favored lush vegetation to extended periods of drought, reports a new study led by researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). The study has implications for our understanding of the monsoon’s response to climate change.

The Indian peninsula sustains over a billion people, yet it lies at the same latitude as the Sahara Desert. Without a monsoon, most of India would be dry and uninhabitable. The ability to predict the timing and amount of the next year’s monsoon is vital, yet even our knowledge of the monsoon’s past variability remains incomplete. (more…)

Signals Intelligence

By Guest PostMarch 15, 2012Politicscomputer weapons, electronic underworld, intelligence industry, intelligence signals, international security practice, worm stuxnet

Former CIA, NSA director shares his perceptions of ‘electronic underworld’

The virtual network streaming vacation pictures and emails to grandma and grandpa also transmits messages between terrorists who want to attack the United States, according to the former chief executive of two of the most powerful and secretive American intelligence agencies. (more…)

Hiding in Plain Sight, A New Frog Species With A ‘Weird’ Croak is Identified in New York City

By Guest PostMarch 15, 2012Nature, Scienceamphibians, brad shaffer, bronx, cathy newman, cryptic species, dna data, ecology, Environment, evolutionary biology, jeremy feinberg, joanna burger, leopard frog, leslie rissler, long snore, manhattan, marshes, mitochondrial dna, new frog species, new jersey, new york, new york city, odd frogs, ponds, rana, rapid chuckle, Rutgers University, skyscrapers, species, staten island, statue of liberty, uc davis, ucla, university of alabama, unusual frogs, weird rana, wilds, yankee stadium

In the wilds of New York City — or as wild as you can get so close to skyscrapers — scientists have found a new leopard frog species that for years biologists mistook for a more widespread variety of leopard frog.

While biologists regularly discover new species in remote rain forests, finding this one in the ponds and marshes of Staten Island, mainland New York and New Jersey — sometimes within view of the Statue of Liberty — is a big surprise, said the scientists from UCLA, Rutgers University, UC Davis, and The University of Alabama who worked together to make the unexpected discovery. (more…)

Listen to Solar Storm Activity in New Sonification Video

By Guest PostMarch 15, 2012Sciencerecent storm, solar storm sound, solar wind, sonification

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— What does a solar storm sound like? To get an idea, a University of Michigan researcher has created a “sonification” of measurements from two spacecraft during the most recent storm. Take a listen in this video. (more…)

Loss of Appetite Deciphered in Brain Cell Circuit

By Guest PostMarch 14, 2012Scienceanorexia nervosa, body, brain, brain development, cancer chemotherapy, excitatory signal, experimental result, food aversions, function, gaba, glutamate, hypothalamus, loss of appetite, meal, mice, michael s clark, michael schwartz, nausea, nerve cells, nucleus tractus solitarus, parabrachial nucleus, point of emaciation, qi wu, ralph brinster, receptor, richard d palmiter, starvation, substance, transgenic mice, university of pennsylvania, university of washington

The meal is pushed way, untouched. Loss of appetite can be a fleeting queasiness or continue to the point of emaciation. While it’s felt in the gut, more is going on inside the head.

New findings are emerging about brain and body messaging pathways that lead to loss of appetite, and the systems in place to avoid starvation. (more…)

Another World, Magnified

By Guest PostMarch 14, 2012Sciencelab procedure, scientific photography, sectioning, staining tissue samples

UA undergraduate researcher Ersilia Anghel has been collecting artistic photographs of minerals, plants, animals and humans, illustrating the intersections between the arts and sciences

Scientists and artists have long collaborated to produce illustrative images and paintings of medical procedures, human anatomy and botanical displays. (more…)

Researchers ‘Print’ Polymers That Bend Into 3-D Shapes

By Guest PostMarch 14, 2012Sciencebending shape, photolithography, polymer printing, self actuating materials

Technique could be used to direct growth of blood vessels or tissues in the laboratory

Christian Santangelo, Ryan Hayward and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently employed photographic techniques and polymer science to develop a new technique for printing two-dimensional sheets of polymers that can fold into three-dimensional shapes when water is added. The technique may lead to wide ranging practical applications from medicine to robotics (more…)

Insulin, Nutrition Prevent Blood Stem Cell Differentiation in The Fruit Fly

By Guest PostMarch 14, 2012Scienceamino acids, blood stem cells, brain, chemical markers, chronic inflammation, confocal microscope, diabetes, drosophila, fruit fly, human pancreas, insulin, ji won shim, mammalian blood, metabolic dysfunction, metabolic stresses, myeloid cell accumulation, nutrition, stem cell, stemness, utpal banerjee

UCLA stem cell researchers have shown that insulin and nutrition prevent blood stem cells from differentiating into mature blood cells in Drosophila, the common fruit fly, a finding that has implications for studying inflammatory response and blood development in response to dietary changes in humans.

Keeping blood stem cells, or progenitor cells, from differentiating into blood cells is important as blood stem cells are needed to create the blood supply for the adult fruit fly. (more…)

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