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Star Explosion Leaves Behind a Rose

By Guest PostDecember 11, 2011Scienceancient supernova, bright star, cosmic cannonball, dense object, dust, earth, explosion, gas clouds, massive star, modern astronomers, NASA, neutron star, puppis a, red rose, shock waves, Space, supernova, universe, vela supernova, wide field infrared survey explorer, wise

About 3,700 years ago, people on Earth would have seen a brand-new bright star in the sky. It slowly dimmed out of sight and was eventually forgotten, until modern astronomers later found its remains, called Puppis A. In this new image from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), Puppis A looks less like the remains of a supernova explosion and more like a red rose.

Puppis A (pronounced PUP-pis) was formed when a massive star ended its life in a supernova, the most brilliant and powerful form of an explosion in the known universe. The expanding shock waves from that explosion are heating up the dust and gas clouds surrounding the supernova, causing them to glow and appear red in this infrared view. While much of the material from that original star was violently thrown out into space, some of it remained in an incredibly dense object called a neutron star. This particular neutron star (too faint to be seen in this image) is moving inexplicably fast: over 3 million miles per hour! Astronomers are perplexed over its absurd speed, and have nicknamed the object the “Cosmic Cannonball.” (more…)

Chinese Health Coverage Improves With Government Efforts

By Guest PostDecember 11, 2011Economy, Generalbrown university, China, chinese government, chinese provinces, government interventions, health care, health care coverage, health care in china, health insurance, hongwei xu, policy interventions, population, rates, reimbursement rates, rural areas, rural chinese, susan e short, university of michigan, villages

*A new study of health insurance in nine Chinese provinces shows that individual coverage surged within a two-year time frame, from 2004-2006, coinciding with new government interventions designed to improve access to health care. The changes were most dramatic in rural areas.*

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Health care coverage increased dramatically in parts of China between 1997 and 2006, a period when government interventions were implemented to improve access to health care, with particularly striking upswings in rural areas, according to new research by Brown University sociologist Susan E. Short and Hongwei Xu of the University of Michigan. The findings appear in the December issue of Health Affairs.

Led by Xu, a former Brown graduate student, the study analyzed data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey, which follows households in nine provinces that are home to more than 40 percent of China’s population. Xu and Short specifically focused on patterns of coverage among rural and urban residents. (more…)

In Glowing, Swirling Dust, New Stars are Born

By Guest PostDecember 11, 2011Scienceadam block, astronomy picture of the day, astrophotographer, block, cosmic dust, daniel stolte, light years, mount lemmon skycenter, NASA, phil plait, schulman telescope, sh2 239, stellar nebula sh2 239, stellar nursery, university of arizona, visible light

An image taken by UA astrophotographer Adam Block, chosen by NASA as Astronomy Picture of the Day, brings us the best yet glimpse into a stellar nursery about 450 light years away from Earth.

An image of a stellar nursery about 450 light years away featured as NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day on Dec. 8 reveals the beauty and violent story of Sh2-239, a region where stars are being born and ignite the cosmic dust with their new-found energy.

According to University of Arizona astrophotographer Adam Block, who captured the image, it is one of the most detailed and visually appealing pictures obtained of the object, which astronomers have observed and studied for decades. (more…)

Scientists Use Animal-Free Reagents to Create Clinical-Grade Neurons from Skin Cells

By Guest PostDecember 11, 2011Scienceanimal based reagents, clinical grade cells, clinical use, derivation and differentiation techniques, embryonic stem cells, gmp, good manufacturing practices, human skin cells, human use, humans, induced pluripotent stem, ips, kim irwin, mouse feeder cells, neural precursor cells, neurons, pluripotent stem cells, process, protocols, saravanan karumbayaram, stem cell, ucla, william lowry

Using a specially designed facility, UCLA stem cell scientists have taken human skin cells, reprogrammed them into cells with the same unlimited property as embryonic stem cells, and then differentiated them into neurons while completely avoiding the use of animal-based reagents and feeder conditions throughout the process.

Generally, stem cells are grown using mouse “feeder” cells, which help the stem cells flourish and grow. But such animal-based products can lead to unwanted variations and contamination, and the cells must be thoroughly tested before they can be deemed safe for use in humans. (more…)

Growing U.S. Violent Extremism – Facts on the Ground: UMD Database

By Guest PostDecember 11, 2011General, Politicsal qaida, anti abortion extremists, aqap, arabian peninsula, attacks, blueprint, community resilience, earth liberation front, elf, environmental extremists, financial schemes, foiled terrorist plots, ft hood, gary lafree, global war on terrorism, homegrown terrorists, islamist extremists, janet napolitano, lone wolf, North America, plots, political spectrum, radicalization, start, statistics, tehrik i taliban pakistan, terrorism database, terrorist attacks, texas, ttp, united states, university of maryland, violent extremism, White House, white supremacists, work of extremists

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Over the past decade, attacks and plots by homegrown terrorists in the United States have increased, the work of extremists from across the political spectrum – roughly 40 percent of it by so-called ‘lone wolf,’ non-aligned actors – says an analysis by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) based at the University of Maryland.

The statistics underscore the threat addressed in a White House plan released Thursday: Strategic Implementation Plan for Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States – a blueprint for “building community resilience against violent extremism.” (more…)

A Better Way to ID Extreme Weather Events in Climate Models

By Guest PostDecember 11, 2011Environmentatmospheric river, berkeley lab, bill collins, cam5, category 5 hurricane, climate simulation, community atmospheric model, computer models, cray xe6 supercomputer, dan krotz, data, effects of climate change, floods, frequency of extreme weather events, global atmosphere models, global climate model, hawaiian islands, heavy precipitation, high resolution simulation, hopper, hurricane, large datasets, library of congress, michael wehner, models, North America, pacific coast, pattern detection algorithm, prabhat, satellite images, simulation, weather, weather phenomenon, wes bethel

*Berkeley Lab scientists help automate the search for hurricanes and other storms in huge datasets*

You’d think that spotting a category 5 hurricane would never be difficult. But when the hurricane is in a global climate model that spans several decades, it becomes a fleeting wisp among mountains of data.

That’s a problem. As scientists develop ever-more sophisticated computer models to predict the effects of climate change, one of the things they’ll look for are changes in the frequency of extreme weather events such as hurricanes and heavy precipitation. The more data generated by models, however, the more difficult it is to quantify these rare but potent events. (more…)

Novel Nanoparticle Mimicking Virus Offers New Route to Gene Therapy

By Guest PostDecember 10, 2011Sciencebrain tumors, cancer, caroline e weller, christopher j cheng, cystic fibrosis, diseases, gene therapy, healthy cells, huntingtons disease, hydrophobic, immune reactions, materials, mouse tumor model, nanoparticle, non viral gene therapy, novel chemistry, polymers, positive electric charge, repair, symptoms, treatments, viral gene therapy, w mark saltzman, water molecules, water repellant, yale university, zhaozhong jiang

Researchers at Yale University have developed a novel nanoparticle with promising applications in gene therapy, a type of medical treatment that addresses the root causes of diseases now typically treated for symptoms.

The advance could lead to new therapies for many forms of cancer, including brain tumors, as well as for cystic fibrosis and Huntington’s Disease. (more…)

The Heart of The Plant

By Guest PostDecember 10, 2011Sciencegreen plants, heart of plant, molecular pump

Palo Alto, CA — Food prices are soaring at the same time as the Earth’s population is nearing 9 billion. As a result the need for increased crop yields is extremely important. New research led by Carnegie’s Wolf Frommer into the system by which sugars are moved throughout a plant—from the leaves to the harvested portions and elsewhere—could be crucial for addressing this problem. Their work is published December 8 by Science Express. (more…)

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