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NASA Satellite Finds Earth’s Clouds are Getting Lower

By Guest PostFebruary 23, 2012Environmentadvanced radar, cloud climate feedback, cloud height, clouds, cloudsat, global climate, global cloud, global temperature, global warming, height measurement, indian ocean, misr, NASA, negative feedback, new zealand, roger davies, satellite data, terra spacecraft, university of auckland

Earth’s clouds got a little lower — about one percent on average — during the first decade of this century, finds a new NASA-funded university study based on NASA satellite data. The results have potential implications for future global climate.

Scientists at the University of Auckland in New Zealand analyzed the first 10 years of global cloud-top height measurements (from March 2000 to February 2010) from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument on NASA’s Terra spacecraft. The study, published recently in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, revealed an overall trend of decreasing cloud height. Global average cloud height declined by around one percent over the decade, or by around 100 to 130 feet (30 to 40 meters). Most of the reduction was due to fewer clouds occurring at very high altitudes. (more…)

Scientists Unlock Record of Ecosystem Changes Frozen in World’s Glaciers

By Guest PostFebruary 22, 2012Environmentalaska, andrew vermilyea, aquatic food web, aron stubbins, atmosphere, biomass, black carbon, dissolved organic matter, dom, earth, eran hood, fossil fuel, glacial ice, glacier biogeochemistry, glacier environment, glacier ice, glaciers, global emission, greenland, gulf of alaska, ice of glaciers, industrial pollution, industrial revolution, juneau, marine system, matt kane, mendenhall glacier, microorganisms, organic material, patagonia, peatlands, peter raymond, remote ecosystem, robert spencer, skidaway institute of oceanography, soot

*History of influence of industrial revolution hidden in glacial ice*

New clues about how Earth’s remote ecosystems have been influenced by the industrial revolution have been uncovered. Until now they were locked away, frozen in the ice of glaciers.

So say scientist Aron Stubbins of the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography and colleagues. (more…)

Local Cops on Front Lines Against Product Counterfeiting

By Guest PostFebruary 22, 2012Economy, Politicscounterfeit auto parts, counterfeit windshields, counterfeiting awareness, counterfeiting incidents, intellectual property offense, product counterfeiting

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Contrary to common perception, state and local police are often on the front lines against product counterfeiting, yet it’s unclear how prepared they are to deal with the growing crime, according to a new report from two Michigan State University criminologists. (more…)

Desert Footprints Reveal Ancient Origins of Elephants’ Social Lives

By Guest PostFebruary 22, 2012Scienceabu dhabi, abu dhabi tourism, adult males, ancient footprint, andrew hill, arab emirate, arabian desert, brian kraatz, faysal bibi, fossilized mammalian, marilyn fox, mark beech, mathieu schuster, modern elephant, nathan craig, prehistoric elephant, trackway, united arab emirates

A cluster of ancient footprints in the Arabian desert offers the clearest evidence yet for the early origins of modern elephants’ social structure, according to a Yale-led research team.

Roughly seven million years old, the prints represent the movements of at least 14 prehistoric elephants through the inland desert of the Arab Emirate of Abu Dhabi, anthropologists report in a paper published on Feb. 22 in Biology Letters. The research shows that early elephants exhibited social patterns typical of their modern descendants — herding by adult females and offspring, and solitary wandering by adult males. (more…)

New Book Says Financial Model For Higher Ed is Broken, Offers Ways To Overhaul

By Guest PostFebruary 22, 2012Economy2013 budget, american society, caucasian students, david w breneman, Economy, ethnic groups, financial model, harvard education press, higher education, hispanics, james b hunt, joni e finney, k 12 leaders, patrick m callan, paul e lingenfelter, postsecondary degree, President Obama, public policy, university of pennsylvania, university of virginia, university of washington, us system, william zumeta

Higher education, a jewel of American society and an engine of its economy, is under threat, and if the nation is to remain competitive the financial model must be overhauled, says a new book.

Authors of Financing American Higher Education in the Era of Globalization say reforming the model will take a long-term, top-level coalition composed of the president, the nation’s governors, college and K-12 leaders, and leaders in the business community. (more…)

Making The Bones Speak

By Guest PostFebruary 21, 2012Scienceafrican skeleton, african sun, albania, ancient egypt, andrea clowes, angela soler, anthropologist, bones, british museum, carolyn hurst, cate bird, derek welsby, dietary habits, excavation, forensic scientist, fourth cataract, giltner hall, kailey shelton, lindsey jenny, margaret zywicki, merowe dam, michigan state university, middle ages, mis island, nile river, nubian bones, nubian remains, nubians, sex, skeletal collection, sudan, todd fenton, tracey tichnell, trauma, unexplored culture, yellow scorpion

EAST LANSING, Mich. — In a narrow, modest laboratory in Michigan State University’s Giltner Hall, students pore over African skeletons from the Middle Ages in an effort to make the bones speak.

Little is known about these Nubians, meaning the information collected by graduate and undergraduate students in MSU’s Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Program will help shed light on this unexplored culture. (more…)

Computer Scientist Developing Intersections of The Future With Fully Autonomous Vehicles

By Guest PostFebruary 21, 2012Science, Technologyaaas, ai driver agents, artificially intelligent, austin, austin robot technology, autonomous car, autonomous cars, british columbia, chaotic flow, computer scientist, computing system, coordinate, intersection, marvin, peter stone, simulation, stop sign, university of texas, vancouver, virtual intersection system, virtual traffic controller, wyatt mcspadden

AUSTIN, Texas — Intersections of the future will not need stop lights or stop signs, but will look like a somewhat chaotic flow of driverless, autonomous cars slipping past one another as they are managed by a virtual traffic controller, says computer scientist Peter Stone.

“A future where sitting in the backseat of the car reading our newspaper while it drives us effortlessly through city streets and intersections is not that far away,” says Stone, a professor of computer science at The University of Texas at Austin. (more…)

Yale Study: How Mitochondrial DNA Defects Cause Inherited Deafness

By Guest PostFebruary 21, 2012Scienceapoptosis, cascade, cell, cellular power plants, cellular respiration, cellular structure, chemical modification, disease, dna mutation, energy, enzyme, gene, gerald s shadel, hearing loss, helen dodson, inherited deafness, justin cotney, lei song, methylation, mitochondria, mitochondrial dna mutation, mitochondrial ribosomes, molecular pathway, mouse model, overexpression, programmed cell death, protein, rna, sharen e mccay, timothy e shutt, yale scientist

Yale scientists have discovered the molecular pathway by which maternally inherited deafness appears to occur: Mitochondrial DNA mutations trigger a signaling cascade, resulting in programmed cell death. The study is in the Feb. 17 issue of Cell.

Mitochondria are cellular structures that function as “cellular power plants” because they generate most of the cell’s supply of energy. They contain DNA inherited from one’s mother. Mitochondria determine whether a cell lives or dies via the process of programmed cell death, or apoptosis. (more…)

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