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Using Discards, Scientists Discover Different Dinosaurs’ Stomping Grounds

By examining the type of rock in which dinosaur fossils were embedded, an often unappreciated part of the remains,

Certain dinosaur species liked to live in different habitats, separated by only a few miles. Image credit: Nicholas Longrich

scientists have determined that different species of North American dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous period 65 million years ago occupied different environments separated by just a few miles.

Hadrosaurs or duck-billed dinosaurs, along with the small ornithopod Thescelosaurus, preferred to live along the edge of rivers, according to the research. Ceratopsians, on the other hand, which include the well-known Triceratops, preferred to be several miles inland.

The findings, which appear in the online edition of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, give scientists a more complete picture of the distribution of different species and help explain how several large herbivores managed to coexist. (more…)

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For Those Who Don’t Exercise or Watch Their Diets, CU ‘Nutraceutical’ Research Could Help

University of Colorado at Boulder Professor Douglas R. Seals has amassed scientific evidence indicating that exercise, weight loss, good nutrition and salt restriction can cut your chances of getting cardiovascular disease, the United States’ No. 1 killer.

But Seals knows that exhorting people to exercise and lose weight, no matter how well the case is buttressed with data, will only go so far. So Seals’ laboratory has begun researching “nutraceuticals,” food extracts or vitamin supplements that could mimic the effects of a healthful lifestyle. (more…)

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Taking Measure of the Greenhouse Effect

WASHINGTON — Scientists have long known that heat-absorbing components of Earth’s atmosphere, such as clouds and certain gases, prevent our planet from being an ice-covered ball. Now a study, for the first time, comprehensively calculates the relative contributions of the components responsible for that heating, known as the greenhouse effect.

Besides clarifying an important aspect of climate science, the study also demonstrates that rising concentrations of one heat-trapping gas — carbon dioxide — leads to much more greenhouse warming than just the heat the gas absorbs directly itself.

Various studies have looked at the contributions of water vapor, CO2, and other greenhouse gases. But none had systematically estimated the contributions of each of the main players, says climate scientist Gavin Schmidt of NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and lead author of the new research. (more…)

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MU Researchers Find Celebrity Journalism May Contribute Positively to Consumer Health Behaviors

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Celebrity journalism is often considered to be without merit, discounted due to its sensational details and lack of news value. MU researchers now say that celebrity journalism may be an underappreciated way to communicate health messages. In a recent award-winning paper, Amanda Hinnant, assistant professor of magazine journalism in the University of Missouri School of Journalism, found some readers of celebrity health stories report that the stories have an impact on their own behavior and how they discuss health issues. (more…)

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NSF Renews Centers for Nanotechnology in Society

*National Science Foundation awards more than $12.5M to study societal impacts of emerging technologies*

The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently renewed two important cooperative agreements totaling more than $12.5 million over five years. These awards leverage previous investments for studying the ethical, legal, economic and policy implications of the relatively new, nature-altering science called nanotechnology. (more…)

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Smithsonian Researchers Report that Regional Sea Temperature Rise and Coral Bleaching Event Has Reached Western Caribbean

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute’s Bocas del Toro Research Station and Galeta Point Marine Laboratory are reporting an anomalous sea temperature rise and a major coral bleaching event in the western Caribbean. Although the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, issued an advisory in July announcing above-average sea surface temperatures in the wider Caribbean region, there had been no clear indication of increased sea temperatures in Panama and the western Caribbean until late August-early September. (more…)

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Scientists Watch Cell-Shape Process for First Time

Palo Alto, CA — Researchers at the Carnegie Institution for Science, with colleagues at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology, observed for the first time a fundamental process of cellular organization in living plant cells: the birth of microtubules by studying recruitment and activity of individual protein complexes that create the cellular protein network known as the microtubule cytoskeleton—the scaffolding that provides structure and ultimately form and shape to the cell. These fundamental results could be important to agricultural research and are published in the October 10, 2010, early on-line edition of Nature Cell Biology. (more…)

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Microsoft Delivers New Innovations That Reinforce Its Dynamic Business Vision for CRM and ERP Customers and Partners

*Microsoft announces new Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online promotion and global expansion of Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail.*

LONDON — Oct. 14, 2010 — Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: “MSFT”) opens Convergence 2010 Europe today in London with a keynote address from Kirill Tatarinov, corporate vice president, Microsoft Business Solutions. Throughout the three-city event that also includes Prague and The Hague, Oct. 14–21, Tatarinov will share how the company is delivering on its Dynamic Business vision by providing customer-driven innovations. (more…)

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