Guest Post – Page 969 – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

With Global Warming, Arctic Access Will Diminish By Land But Improve By Sea

By Guest PostMay 31, 2011Environmentalaskan coastal town, anticipated temperature, Arctic, arctic transportation networks, baltic sea, bathurst inlet, bering strait, canada, climate change, commercial shipping, diamond road, dutton books, finland, fishing, geography, global shipping, global warming, greenland, history channel, ice road, ice road truckers, Iceland, john a agnew, laurence c smith, Netherlands, nome, north pole route, northern sea route, norway, panama canal, rotterdam, russia, scott stephenson, sea, shipping, stephenson and smith, strait of malacca, suez canal, Sweden, tibbitt contwoyto, tibbitt contwoyto winter road, tourism, type a vessels, united states, yellowknife

Global warming over the next 40 years will cut through Arctic transportation networks like a double-edged sword, limiting access in certain areas and vastly increasing it in others, a new UCLA study predicts.

“As sea ice continues to melt, accessibility by sea will increase, but the viability of an important network of roads that depend on freezing temperatures is threatened by a warming climate,” said Scott Stephenson, a UCLA graduate student in geography and the study’s lead author. (more…)

Violent Video Games Reduce Brain Response to Violence and Increase Aggressive Behavior, University of Missouri Study Finds

By Guest PostMay 31, 2011Health, Scienceaggressive, behavior, brain response, brains, bruce bartholow, call of duty, christopher engelhardt, grand theft auto, hitman, indicator of desensitization, killzone, Media, popular violent games, scientists, university of missouri, violence, violent video games

*Parental moderation encouraged for children*

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Scientists have known for years that playing violent video games causes players to become more aggressive. The findings of a new University of Missouri (MU) study provide one explanation for why this occurs: the brains of violent video game players become less responsive to violence, and this diminished brain response predicts an increase in aggression.

“Many researchers have believed that becoming desensitized to violence leads to increased human aggression. Until our study, however, this causal association had never been demonstrated experimentally,” said Bruce Bartholow, associate professor of psychology in the MU College of Arts and Science. (more…)

JPL-Developed Clean Energy Technology Moves Forward

By Guest PostMay 30, 2011Environmentandrew kindler, caltech, darpa, defense advanced research projects agency, department of defense, direct methanol fuel cell technology, electric vehicles, electrical energy, erik brandon, fuel cell, george olah, gerald halpert, harvey frank, hydrogen gas, jet propulsion laboratory, los angeles, methanol fuel cell products, NASA, nobel laureate, pasadena, rao surampudi, stand alone power systems, surya prakash, university of southern california, us market, water and carbon dioxide

A team of scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., in partnership with the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, developed a Direct Methanol Fuel Cell technology for future Department of Defense and commercial applications. Recently, USC and the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, which manages JPL for NASA, awarded a license to SFC Energy, Inc., the U.S. affiliate of SFC Energy AG. The non-exclusive license for the technology will facilitate the expansion of the company’s methanol fuel cell products into the U.S. market. (more…)

Saving Wildlife with Forensic Genetics

By Guest PostMay 30, 2011Natureforensic genetics techniques, habitat fragmentation, wildlife forensic genetics, wildlife forensics, wildlife habitats

Using forensic genetics techniques, the UA’s Conservation Genetics Lab is working to protect wild animals and catch the criminals in cases of wildlife crime.

Wildlife face many threats with spreading urbanization, including habitat loss and inbreeding when populations become fragmented and isolated. It doesn’t help that there is a billion-dollar international industry dedicated to the illegal trafficking of wild animals or wild animal parts. (more…)

Hips Take Walking in Stride; Ankles Put Best Foot Forward in Run

By Guest PostMay 30, 2011Healthhuman locomotion, mechanics of walking, running motions, running power, running speed, walking motion

In a first-of-its-kind study comparing human walking and running motions – and whether the hips, knees or ankles are the most important power sources for these motions – researchers at North Carolina State University show that the hips generate more of the power when people walk, but the ankles generate more of the power when humans run. Knees provide approximately one-fifth or less of walking or running power. (more…)

Spitzer Sees Crystal ‘Rain’ in Outer Clouds of Infant Star

By Guest PostMay 30, 2011Scienceastronomers, bill danchi, charles poteet, clouds of gas, comets, constellation orion, crystals, deep impact missions, embryonic star, forsterite crystals, green mineral, herschel space observatory, hops 68, NASA, ohio, olivine, protostar, rain, solar system, spitzer space telescope, star, stardust, tom megeath, university of toledo, young stars

PASADENA, Calif. –– Tiny crystals of a green mineral called olivine are falling down like rain on a burgeoning star, according to observations from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope.

This is the first time such crystals have been observed in the dusty clouds of gas that collapse around forming stars. Astronomers are still debating how the crystals got there, but the most likely culprits are jets of gas blasting away from the embryonic star. (more…)

Bloodless Worms Yield Insight on Human Blood, Parasites & Iron Deficiency

By Guest PostMay 29, 2011Healthbloodless worm, hemecentric, iron binding protein, iron deficiency, parasitic worm infections, transport of heme, transport process

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Using a tiny bloodless worm, University of Maryland Associate Professor Iqbal Hamza and his team have discovered a large piece in the puzzle of how humans, and other organisms, safely move iron around in the body. The findings, published in the journal Cell, could lead to new methods for treating age-old scourges – parasitic worm infections, which affect more than a quarter of the world’s population, and iron deficiency, the world’s number one nutritional disorder. (more…)

Exploring The Dark Side of Happiness

By Guest PostMay 29, 2011Culture, Healthbipolar disorder, catastrophic, dark side of happiness, drug and alcohol abuse, excessive happiness, happy, hebrew university of jerusalem, june gruber, positive emotion, psychological benefits of human happiness, risky sexual behavior, risky sexual promiscuity, university of california berkeley, university of denver, yale psychologist

As a researcher, Yale psychologist June Gruber has confirmed the many positive physical, social and psychological benefits of human happiness.

While working as a clinical scientist at the University of California-Berkeley, however, she witnessed extreme and damaging bouts of positive emotion during periods of mania in bipolar disorder. (more…)

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