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‘Fingerprinting’ Method Tracks Mercury Emissions from Coal-Fired Power Plant

By Guest PostDecember 17, 2011Environmentatmosphere, brains of fetuses, central nervous system, chemical fingerprints, chlorine producing plants, coal, coal combustion, coal fired power plants, coal samples, crystal river, crystal river plant, eastern kentucky, effects on humans, element mercury, environmental pollution, gerald keeler, global atmospheric pool, global mercury reservoir, heart, immune system, incinerators, isotopic fractionation, jason demers, joel blum, laura sherman, mass dependent fractionation, mdf, mercury emissions, mercury emissions in florida, mercury fingerprinting technique, mercury isotope fingerprints, methylmercury, microorganism, natural phenomenon, naturally occurring element, non radioactive, nuclei, power plant, primary source of mercury pollution, protons, rainfall, timothy dvonch, toxic, university of michigan, west virginia

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— For the first time, the chemical “fingerprints” of the element mercury have been used by University of Michigan researchers to directly link environmental pollution to a specific coal-burning power plant.

The primary source of mercury pollution in the atmosphere is coal combustion. The U-M mercury-fingerprinting technique – which has been under development for a decade – provides a tool that will enable researchers to identify specific sources of mercury pollution and determine how much of it is being deposited locally. (more…)

comScore Releases November 2011 U.S. Search Engine Rankings

By Guest PostDecember 16, 2011Technologyaol, ask network, Comscore, explicit core search, Google, Microsoft, u.s. search marketplace, Yahoo

RESTON, VA, December 16, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the U.S. search marketplace. Google Sites led the explicit core search market in November with 65.4 percent of search queries conducted.

U.S. Explicit Core Search

Google Sites led the U.S. explicit core search market in November with 65.4 percent market share, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 15.1 percent and Microsoft Sites with 15.0 percent (up 0.2 percentage points). Ask Network accounted for 2.9 percent of explicit core searches, followed by AOL, Inc. with 1.6 percent (up 0.1 percentage points). (more…)

A Playbook for Fitness

By Guest PostDecember 16, 2011Generalaaron kelly, epidemic of childhood obesity, financial benevolence, fruits and vegetables, juice, kinesiology, lorenzo booker, minnesota vikings, nfl, playbook, radar, soda, team, university of minnesota, vikings fitness playbook, viktor the viking, water

*University-Vikings partnership helps children lead healthier lives*

Even if you’re not a football fan, you’ve probably noticed the Minnesota Vikings in the news a lot, whether it’s in regard to the 2011 season or their push for a new stadium.

What often goes unnoticed is the team’s record of community engagement and financial benevolence. Over the years the Vikings have given millions to the local community. (more…)

Close Family Ties Keep Microbial Cheaters in Check, Study Finds

By Guest PostDecember 16, 2011Scienceamoebae, Antarctica, canopies, clonal lineage, cosmopolitan groups, david queller, deserts, dicty, dictyostelium discoideum, e coli, evolution, forest park, genes, jennie kuzdzal fick, joan strassmann, kissing kin, life cycles, multicellular organisms, mutation, national science foundation, obligate cheaters, sam scheiner, sara fox, single cell, slime mold, social amoeba, st. louis, tropical forests, washington university

*Experiments on “slime mold” explain why almost all multicellular organisms begin life as a single cell*

Any multicellular animal, from a blue whale to a human being, poses a special challenge for evolution.

Most of the cells in its body will die without reproducing; only a privileged few will pass their genes to the next generation.

How could the extreme degree of cooperation required by multicellular existence actually evolve? Why aren’t all creatures unicellular individualists determined to pass on their own genes? (more…)

Marijuana Use Continues to Rise Among U.S. Teens, While Alcohol Use Hits Historic Lows

By Guest PostDecember 16, 20112 commentsGeneral, Healthadderall, alcohol, amphetamine, anabolic steroid, cocaine powder, cold medicines, cough, crack cocaine, ecstasy, energy drinks, inhalants, k2, lloyd johnston, marijuana, mdma, medical use, monster, narcotic drug, red bull, reload, sedative, sedatives, spice, stimulant drug, synthetic cannabinoids, synthetic marijuana, teens, tranquilizers, university of michigan, us secondary school students, use of marijuana, vicodin

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Among the more important findings from this year’s Monitoring the Future survey of U.S. secondary school students are the following:

Marijuana use among teens rose in 2011 for the fourth straight year—a sharp contrast to the considerable decline that had occurred in the preceding decade. Daily marijuana use is now at a 30-year peak level among high school seniors.
“Synthetic marijuana,” which until earlier this year was legally sold and goes by such names as “K2” and “spice,” was added to the study’s coverage in 2011; one in every nine high school seniors (11.4%) reported using that drug in the prior 12 months.
Alcohol use—and, importantly, occasions of heavy drinking—continued a long-term gradual decline among teens, reaching historically low levels in 2011.
Energy drinks are being consumed by about one third of teens, with use highest among younger teens. (more…)

Yale Scientists Identify Gene That Controls The Spread of Melanoma

By Guest PostDecember 16, 2011Health, Sciencebeta catenin, braf gene, disease, drug treatments, gene, genetically altered mice, human melanoma, intestine, lungs, lymph nodes, malignant melanoma, manjula santhanakrishnan, marcus w bosenberg, melanoma, metastasis, skin, skin cancer, spleen, tumor growth, william damsky, yale cancer center

Yale Cancer Center researchers have identified a gene in melanoma that can dramatically affect the spread of the disease. The study, published in the journal Cancer Cell, provides new insight into how melanoma metastasizes in patients with advanced disease, and which organs are most likely to be affected. These findings could potentially lead to new drug treatments.

Malignant melanoma is the most deadly form of skin cancer, accounting for 80 percent of all skin cancer deaths. Nearly all melanoma deaths are a result of metastasis, which can occur early in the course of tumor growth in the skin. (more…)

Meet the Team Behind Windows Phone’s Breakthrough Design

By Guest PostDecember 15, 2011Technologybing, city of lost children, james drage, john f kennedy, joshua phillips, mango, Microsoft, microsoft news center, mobile operating system, mobile phones, mom factor, office, ricardo espinoza, smart dj, sue loh, user interface, windows phone, windows phone 7.5, windows phone shell team, xbox live, zune

*Four members of the Windows Phone Shell Team talk to the Microsoft News Center about their work designing the Windows Phone user interface as well as life inside and outside Microsoft.*

REDMOND, Wash. – Dec. 15, 2011 – It’s not every day that a person gets to create the user interface for a mobile phone that will be used by millions of people around the world. But that is exactly the work of a small group of engineers at Microsoft.

For the past several years, the Windows Phone Shell Team has been continually improving the user interface for Windows Phones with the goal of making them incredibly intuitive and engaging to use. The team recently completed work on Windows Phone 7.5 “Mango,” the largest and most feature-rich software refresh of Microsoft’s mobile operating system to date. (more…)

Presidential Cuisine a Focus of Archaeology at Montpelier

By Guest PostDecember 15, 2011Culture, Generalambrose madison, american president, animal remains, arizona state museum, barnet pavao zuckerman, blue ridge mountains, bones, dining table, dolley madison, excavations at montpelier, james and dolley madison, james madison jr, james madison sr, kitchen, marybeth harte, mount pleasant, northern virginia, picture of montpelier, pre revolutionary war era, republic, slaves trash, zooarchaeologist

Arizona State Museum zooarchaeologist Barnet Pavao-Zuckerman and her students are analyzing the remains of an early American president’s dining table.

Arizona State Museum archaeologists are looking through historic table scraps in an effort to find out more about the kitchen of America’s fourth president and author of the U.S. Constitution.

For about a decade, Barnet Pavao-Zuckerman and her students from the University of Arizona have been part of ongoing excavations at Montpelier, the home of James and Dolley Madison. The archaeology of Montpelier’s grounds offer some light on what day-to-day life was like from the pre-Revolutionary War era to well into the 18th century. (more…)

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