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Mussels Cramped by Environmental Factors

The fibrous threads helping mussels stay anchored – in spite of waves that sometimes pound the shore with a force equivalent to a jet liner flying at 600 miles per hour – are more prone to snap when ocean temperatures climb higher than normal.

Emily Carrington, a University of Washington professor of biology, reported Saturday (Feb. 16) that the fibrous threads she calls “nature’s bungee cords” become 60 percent weaker in water that was 15 degrees F (7 C) above typical summer temperatures where the mussels were from. She spoke at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Boston. (more…)

NASA’s Kepler Mission Discovers Tiny Planet System

Science

PASADENA, Calif. — NASA’s Kepler mission scientists have discovered a new planetary system that is home to the smallest planet yet found around a star similar to our sun. (more…)

UCLA Study Shows Promise, Offers Hope for Brain Hemorrhage Patients

Science

Minimally invasive surgery may benefit patients previously deemed hopeless

A new endoscopic surgical procedure has been shown to be safer and to result in better outcomes than the current standard medical treatment for patients who suffer strokes as a result of brain hemorrhages, UCLA neurosurgeons have announced.

The findings from their potentially groundbreaking, randomized, controlled phase 2 clinical trial, which was conducted at multiple medical centers, were presented last week at the International Stroke Conference in Honolulu. (more…)

Google, Dwango and FC2 Lead Japan’s Online Video Market

Technology

Music and Television Companies Top YouTube Partner Channel Rankings

Tokyo, Japan, February 21, 2013 – comScore Japan K.K., a wholly owned subsidiary of comScore, Inc., today released data from comScore Video Metrix showing that 60 million Japanese internet users watched online videos in December 2012. The top 3 video properties by viewing audience in Japan were Google Sites, Dwango, and FC2, while VEVO, Fuji Television, and Sony Music Entertainment Japan ranked as the most popular YouTube Partner Channels.

FC2 Leads Top 10 Video Properties in Average Engagement

Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing on YouTube, ranked as the top online video content property in December 2012 with 50 million unique viewers. Dwango Co., Ltd ranked second with 29 million viewers, followed by FC2 with 22 million viewers. DMM, although lower in the rankings with 5.2 million unique viewers, showed a year-over-year increase of 713 percent, the highest growth rate among the top 10 properties. In terms of engagement (Minutes per Viewer), FC2 ranked first among the top 10 with more than 23 hours per viewer while boasting the fastest year-over-year growth of 79 percent. (more…)

UA Entomologists Partner with China to Thwart Bollworm Resistance to Bt Cotton

Environment

Researchers at the UA are studying resistance in pink bollworm in China and working to develop strategies against it

University of Arizona entomologists are joining forces with scientists on the other side of the globe to protect cotton in China from potentially devastating insect pests. (more…)

2013 Summer Could be Similar to Last Summer, MU Researcher Says

Environment

Farmers should prepare for possible drought conditions through July

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Last summer, the Midwest experienced one of the hottest and driest summers on record. While a few rain showers have occurred across the Midwest the past few weeks, it appears that the region is in for another dry summer. A University of Missouri researcher says that an opposing weather pattern could bring more favorable weather conditions to the Midwest, but won’t be here until after this summer. (more…)

Ancient Fossilized Sea Creatures Yield Oldest Biomolecules Isolated Directly from a Fossil

Nature, Science

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Though scientists have long believed that complex organic molecules couldn’t survive fossilization, some 350-million-year-old remains of aquatic sea creatures uncovered in Ohio, Indiana, and Iowa have challenged that assumption.

The spindly animals with feathery arms—called crinoids, but better known today by the plant-like name “sea lily”—appear to have been buried alive in storms during the Carboniferous Period, when North America was covered with vast inland seas. Buried quickly and isolated from the water above by layers of fine-grained sediment, their porous skeletons gradually filled with minerals, but some of the pores containing organic molecules were sealed intact. (more…)

NASA Releases Radar Movie of Asteroid 2012 DA14

Science

An initial sequence of radar images of asteroid 2012 DA14 was obtained on the night of Feb. 15/16, 2013, by NASA scientists using the 230-foot (70-meter) Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, Calif. Each of the 72 frames required 320 seconds of data collection by the Goldstone radar.

The observations were made as the asteroid was moving away from Earth. The asteroid’s distance from the radar dish increased from 74,000 miles (120,000 kilometers) to 195,000 miles (314,000 kilometers). The resolution is 13 feet (four meters) per pixel. The images span close to eight hours and clearly show an elongated object undergoing roughly one full rotation. The images suggest that the asteroid has a long axis of about 130 feet (40 meters). The radar observations were led by scientists Lance Benner and Marina Brozovic of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Additional Goldstone radar observations are scheduled on February 18, 19 and 20. (more…)