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What’s so Unique About the Tropics?

By Guest PostSeptember 23, 2011Environment, Sciencebeta diversity, brad boyle, calgary, canada, costa rica, distribution of biodiversity across the globe, ecological mechanisms, ecologists, elevations in mountain regions, extinctions, geographical scales, latitudinal diversity gradient, nathan j b kraft, new zealand, northern europe, panama, south america, speciation, temperate forests of canada, tropical rainforests of southeast asia, tropics, university of arizona ecologist, university of british columbia, university of maryland

“Less than we thought,” researchers say in a new study providing insights into the distribution of biodiversity across the globe.

The temperate forests of Canada or Northern Europe may have much more in common with the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia or South America than previously believed, according to a research group including a University of Arizona ecologist.

The assertion, published as the cover article in the journal Science, is focused on the concept of “beta-diversity” – a measure of the change in species composition between two sites, such as neighboring patches of forest. High beta-diversity means that two given sites have few species in common. (more…)

Yahoo! Connects With Facebook: Adds Your Friends as Social Editors of Yahoo! News

By Guest PostSeptember 22, 2011Technologyblake irving, digital media content, ethan beard, Facebook, facebook integration, facebook profile, intonow from yahoo, most recently watched, most watched, social editors on yahoo, Yahoo

*Yahoo! puts friendly faces front and center on Yahoo! News and IntoNow from Yahoo!, for social content discovery and expression on Yahoo! and Facebook*

SAN FRANCISCO, f8 Developer Conference, September 22, 2011 – Yahoo! Inc., the premier digital media company, today announced a new way to discover and connect with the world’s most popular content on both Yahoo! and Facebook. Beginning with Yahoo! News in the U.S., the No. 1 online news destination with more than 80 million unique monthly visitors**, and IntoNow from Yahoo!, the mobile app to discover and discuss TV shows, Yahoo! is putting people’s friends front and center to usher in an innovative way of connecting around content socially. (more…)

Deep Oceans May Mask Global Warming for Years at a Time

By Guest PostSeptember 22, 2011Environmentatlantic, climate system, community climate system model, computer simulations of global climate, coupled model intercomparison project phase 5, earth, el niño, eric deweaver, gerald meehl, global air temperatures, greenhouse gas, ice and snow, john fasullo, kevin trenberth, la niña, missing heat, national center for atmospheric research, ncar, oceanic circulation, rate of global warming, software tool, temperature, tropical pacific, warming the upper ocean

*Computer simulations of global climate lead to new conclusions*

Earth’s deep oceans may absorb enough heat at times to flatten the rate of global warming for periods of as long as a decade–even in the midst of longer-term warming. This according to a new analysis led by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).

The study, based on computer simulations of global climate, points to ocean layers deeper than 1,000 feet as the main location of the “missing heat” during periods such as the past decade when global air temperatures showed little trend. (more…)

University of Missouri 3-D Prototype Lab Open for Business

By Guest PostSeptember 22, 2011Science3 d modeling, prototype, prototype lab, prototype machines, prototype manufacturing, tattletale

Companies can take advantage of state-of-the art equipment; students gain experience

COLUMBIA, Mo. – When Microdyne, LLC, needed help building a prototype for a dairy cattle breeding device, the company, based in St. Joseph, was ready to look overseas for a prototype manufacturing team. Then Microdyne was introduced to Mike Klote, manager of the University of Missouri’s College of Engineering prototype development facility, and a solution was found that also provided MU engineering students a valuable educational opportunity. (more…)

To Ditch Dessert, Feed the Brain

By Guest PostSeptember 22, 2011Sciencebrain, brain imaging scans, fmri scans, glucose, glucose levels, high calorie food, hypothalamus, kathleen page, low calorie food, prefrontal cortex, rajita sinha, regulating impulses, striatum, twinkies, yale university

If the brain goes hungry, Twinkies look a lot better, a study led by researchers at Yale University and the University of Southern California has found.

Brain imaging scans show that when glucose levels drop, an area of the brain known to regulate emotions and impulses loses the ability to dampen desire for high-calorie food, according to the study published online September 19 in The Journal of Clinical Investigation. (more…)

NASA’s WISE Mission Captures Black Hole’s Wildly Flaring Jet

By Guest PostSeptember 21, 2011Sciencea w blain, accretion disks, astronomers, black hole called gx 339 4, black holes, blazing jets, center of our galaxy, d m russell, extreme environments around black holes, flaring black hole, gamma rays, gravity, infrared observations, japan aerospace exploration agency, jaxa, jets, magnetic field, NASA, neowise, peter eisenhardt, physics of jets, poshak gandhi, radio waves, s markoff, speed of light, ultra dense collection of matter, wide field infrared survey explorer, wise, xrays

PASADENA, Calif. — Astronomers using NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) have captured rare data of a flaring black hole, revealing new details about these powerful objects and their blazing jets.

Scientists study jets to learn more about the extreme environments around black holes. Much has been learned about the material feeding black holes, called accretion disks, and the jets themselves, through studies using X-rays, gamma rays and radio waves. But key measurements of the brightest part of the jets, located at their bases, have been difficult despite decades of work. WISE is offering a new window into this missing link through its infrared observations. (more…)

‘Buyer Beware: Advertising May Seduce Your Brain’

By Guest PostSeptember 21, 2011Technologyadvertisers, advertising, logical persuasion, neuromarketing

Are you wooed by advertising? Of course you are. After all, it’s one thing to go out and buy a new washing machine after the old one exploded, quite another to impulse-buy that 246-inch flat screen TV that just maybe, in hindsight, you didn’t really need. (more…)

Origin of Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Remains a Mystery

By Guest PostSeptember 21, 2011Scienceamy mainzer, asteroid belt between mars and jupiter, asteroids, baptistina, baptistina family, demise of the dinosaurs, dinosaurs extinction, earth, greatest mysteries, gulf of mexico, huge asteroid, jet propulsion laboratory, joseph masiero, jpl, lindley johnson, NASA, nasa headquarters in washington, near earth object, neo, neowise, pasadena, visible light data, wide field infrared survey explorer, wise

PASADENA, Calif. — Observations from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission indicate the family of asteroids some believed was responsible for the demise of the dinosaurs is not likely the culprit, keeping open the case on one of Earth’s greatest mysteries.

While scientists are confident a large asteroid crashed into Earth approximately 65 million years ago, leading to the extinction of dinosaurs and some other life forms on our planet, they do not know exactly where the asteroid came from or how it made its way to Earth. A 2007 study using visible-light data from ground-based telescopes first suggested the remnant of a huge asteroid, known as Baptistina, as a possible suspect. (more…)

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