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New CU-led Study May Answer Long-Standing Questions About Enigmatic Little Ice Age

By Guest PostJanuary 30, 2012Environmentalps, Arctic sea ice, baffin island, bette otto bliesner, canadian arctic, China, climate feedback system, climate model, cooling effect, darren larsen, dead plant material, european glacier, feedback, gifford miller, greenland, ice, ice cap, kurt refsnider, langjökull ice cap, little ice age, london, melting icecaps, middle age, Netherlands, north atlantic ocean, norway, ocean, sea, sediment core, simulation, solar radiation, south america, thames river, tropical volcanic eruptions, volcanic aerosols, waterways, yafang zhong

A new University of Colorado Boulder-led study appears to answer contentious questions about the onset and cause of Earth’s Little Ice Age, a period of cooling temperatures that began after the Middle Ages and lasted into the late 19th century.

According to the new study, the Little Ice Age began abruptly between A.D. 1275 and 1300, triggered by repeated, explosive volcanism and sustained by a self- perpetuating sea ice-ocean feedback system in the North Atlantic Ocean, according to CU-Boulder Professor Gifford Miller, who led the study. The primary evidence comes from radiocarbon dates from dead vegetation emerging from rapidly melting icecaps on Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic, combined with ice and sediment core data from the poles and Iceland and from sea ice climate model simulations, said Miller. (more…)

They Know The Drool

By Guest PostJanuary 30, 2012Health, Scienceactin, biomarkers, breast, cervical, clinical spit test, disease, epithelial cells, frank ondrey, heart disease, john carlis, life threatening cancer, lymphoma, melanoma, metastatic breast cancer, motions of cells, myosin, nelson rhodus, oral cancer, oral lesions, ovarian cancer, protein, proteomics, saliva, study of proteins, testing spit, timothy griffin, tissue cells, united states, university of minnesota

*The search for biomarkers of disease in spit*

It’s a researcher’s dream: a simple, noninvasive test to detect life-threatening cancer, heart disease, or other maladies while they’re still treatable.

A team of University of Minnesota researchers is in hot pursuit of that goal, using one of the simplest means imaginable: testing spit. They’ve discovered that conditions such as breast and oral cancer leak certain proteins into saliva, and if detected, such proteins can be “biomarkers” for the disease. (more…)

Divorce Hurts Health More At Earlier Ages

By Guest PostJanuary 30, 2012Culture, Generalamerican, divorce, family support, hui liu, marital satisfaction, marriage, michigan state university, negative health impact, problems in relation, sociology, stress of divorce, unhappily married

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Divorce at a younger age hurts people’s health more than divorce later in life, according to a new study by a Michigan State University sociologist.

Hui Liu said the findings, which appear in the research journal Social Science & Medicine, suggest older people have more coping skills to deal with the stress of divorce. (more…)

Adolescents with Autism Spend Free Time Using Solitary, Screen-Based Media

By Guest PostJanuary 30, 2012Scienceadolescent, asd, autism spectrum disorder, benjamin cooper, children, email, intellectual disabilities, internet chatting, language impairment, micah mazurek, non social media, paul shattuck, screen based technology, social media, Technology, television, university of missouri, video games

*MU researcher encourages capitalization on interest in screen-based technology, cautions against overuse*

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) tend to be fascinated by screen-based technology. A new study by a University of Missouri researcher found that adolescents with autism spend the majority of their free time using non-social media, including television and video-games.

“Even though parents and clinicians have often observed that children with ASD tend to be preoccupied with screen-based media, ours is the first large-scale study to explore this issue,” said Micah Mazurek, assistant professor in the School of Health Professions and the Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders. “We found that 64 percent of adolescents with ASD spent most of their free time watching TV and playing video and computer games. These rates were much higher than among those with other types of disabilities. On the other hand, adolescents with ASD were less likely to spend time using email and social media.” (more…)

Scientist: Temperate Freshwater Wetlands Are ‘Forgotten’ Carbon Sinks

By Guest PostJanuary 29, 2012Environmentblanca bernal, boreal peatland, buffer zone, canada, carbon dioxide, carbon holding power, carbon measurement, carbon sequestering system, carbon sequestration, carbon sink, carbon storage, cesium 137, climate change, depressional wetland, ecosystem, freshwater wetland, gahanna wetland, global carbon budget, greenhouse gas emission, lake erie, lead, marker, northern ohio, ohio wetland, old woman creek, organic matter, pb 210, plant, productive system, radioactive form, rate, sediment, Siberia, subarctic region, swamp, temperate region, william mitsch

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study comparing the carbon-holding power of freshwater wetlands has produced measurements suggesting that wetlands in temperate regions are more valuable as carbon sinks than current policies imply, according to researchers.

The study compared several wetlands at two Ohio wetland sites: one composed of mostly stagnant water and one characterized by water regularly flowing through it. The study showed that the stagnant wetland had an average carbon storage rate per year that is almost twice as high as the carbon storage rate of the flow-through wetland. (more…)

Berkeley Lab Researchers Discover a Rotational Motion of Cells that Plays a Critical Role in Their Normal Development

By Guest PostJanuary 29, 2012Science3d gel, acini, actomyosin, alexandre bruni cardoso, berkeley lab, breast cancer, breast feeding, camo, cell biology, cellular motion, coherent angular motion, component, counterclockwise, cytoskeleton, ecm, embryogenesis, evolutionary phenomena, extracellular matrix, function, hidetoshi mori, human epithelial cell, kandice tanner, laminin, mammary cell, mammary gland, microenvironment, mina bissell, multicellular organism, phenotypic reversion, protein, rana mroue, rotation, spherical structure, tissue polarity

In a study that holds major implications for breast cancer research as well as basic cell biology, scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have discovered a rotational motion that plays a critical role in the ability of breast cells to form the spherical structures in the mammary gland known as acini. This rotation, which the researchers call “CAMo,” for coherent angular motion, is necessary for the cells to form spheres. Without CAMo, the cells do not form spheres, which can lead to random motion, loss of structure and malignancy.

”What is most exciting to me about this stunning discovery is that it may finally give us a handle by which to discover the physical laws of cellular motion as they apply to biology,” says Mina Bissell, a leading authority on breast cancer and Distinguished Scientist with Berkeley Lab’s Life Sciences Division. (more…)

Sea Change – Penguins Provide Window into Shifting Antarctic Ecosystem

By Guest PostJanuary 29, 2012Environmentadelie penguins, Antarctic, chinstraps, climate change, ecosystem, environmental change, environmental dynamics, food web, gentoos, gliders, google earth, indicator species, kim bernard, krill, matthew oliver, nasa satellites, ocean, ocean substructure, ocean temperature, penguin, phytoplankton, predator, rising temperature, Rutgers University, south america, teresa messmore, travis miles, underwater robots, west antarctic peninsula

What’s the best way to study the Antarctic’s ecosystem? Follow the penguins.

Scientists are tracking penguins on land, under the sea, and even from space to unravel the environmental dynamics in the West Antarctic Peninsula as the region experiences climate change.

“We’re not just down there bird watching,” said Matthew Oliver, assistant professor of oceanography in UD’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment. “This is a concerted effort to put the whole ecosystem together.” (more…)

New Media Driving Occupy Movement, Prof Says

By Guest PostJanuary 28, 2012Politicsclassical movements, leadership structure, new media, occupy movement, slogan for occupy

Lacking structured leadership, a single spokesperson and even a clear message, the Occupy movement has grown through the use of personal media and new technologies, sustained by participants’ own network of contacts and willingness to dive into the political fray, says a UCLA information studies professor who studies the different ways media and technology shape society and culture. (more…)

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