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Invading Species Can Extinguish Native Plants Despite Recent Reports

TORONTO, ON – Ecologists at the University of Toronto and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) have found that, given time, invading exotic plants will likely eliminate native plants growing in the wild despite recent reports to the contrary.

A study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) reports that recent statements that invasive plants are not problematic are often based on incomplete information, with insufficient time having passed to observe the full effect of invasions on native biodiversity. (more…)

Cassini Suggests Icing on a Lake

Science

It’s not exactly icing on a cake, but it could be icing on a lake. A new paper by scientists on NASA’s Cassini mission finds that blocks of hydrocarbon ice might decorate the surface of existing lakes and seas of liquid hydrocarbon on Saturn’s moon Titan. The presence of ice floes might explain some of the mixed readings Cassini has seen in the reflectivity of the surfaces of lakes on Titan.

“One of the most intriguing questions about these lakes and seas is whether they might host an exotic form of life,” said Jonathan Lunine, a paper co-author and Cassini interdisciplinary Titan scientist at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. “And the formation of floating hydrocarbon ice will provide an opportunity for interesting chemistry along the boundary between liquid and solid, a boundary that may have been important in the origin of terrestrial life.” (more…)

How Computers Push on the Molecules They Simulate

Science

Berkeley Lab bioscientists and their colleagues decipher a far-reaching problem in computer simulations

Because modern computers have to depict the real world with digital representations of numbers instead of physical analogues, to simulate the continuous passage of time they have to digitize time into small slices. This kind of simulation is essential in disciplines from medical and biological research, to new materials, to fundamental considerations of quantum mechanics, and the fact that it inevitably introduces errors is an ongoing problem for scientists.

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have now identified and characterized the source of tenacious errors and come up with a way to separate the realistic aspects of a simulation from the artifacts of the computer method. The research was done by David Sivak and his advisor Gavin Crooks in Berkeley Lab’s Physical Biosciences Division and John Chodera, a colleague at the California Institute of Quantitative Biosciences (QB3) at the University of California at Berkeley. The three report their results in Physical Review X. (more…)

Previous Studies on Toxic Effects of BPA Couldn’t be Reproduced, says MU Research Team

Environment

The MU study is not claiming that BPA is safe, but that the previous series of studies are not reproducible.

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Following a three-year study using more than 2,800 mice, a University of Missouri researcher was not able to replicate a series of previous studies by another research group investigating the controversial chemical BPA. The MU study is not claiming that BPA is safe, but that the previous series of studies are not reproducible. The MU study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also investigated an estrogenic compound found in plants, genistein, in the same three-year study.

“Our findings don’t say anything about the positive or negative effects of BPA or genistein,” said Cheryl Rosenfeld, associate professor of biomedical sciences in MU’s Bond Life Science Center. “Rather, our series of experiments did not detect the same findings as reported by another group on the potential developmental effects of BPA and genistein when exposure of young occurs in the womb.” (more…)

Legal Options for Medical Malpractice Victims

Health

As a patient, it is extremely important that you are aware of how a doctor, nurse, or any other medical professional is treating you at all times. Medical professionals are expected to adhere to the established standards of their profession when providing care, and if they do not, and you suffer harm as a result, you could take legal action. If a doctor, surgeon, or other practitioner acts in a negligent manner, either through an action he or she took or an action he or she failed to take, medical malpractice may have occurred and the victim may be able to pursue a lawsuit.

From failing to appropriately diagnose your condition to not providing you with the correct treatment in a timely manner, reckless actions from medical professionals can cause serious damage. Fortunately, victims may be able to secure compensation to help cover the costs associated with their unnecessary suffering. (more…)

IBM, STMicroelectronics and Shaspa Advance Smarter Home Initiative

Technology

Cloud computing enhances control of “Internet of Things” in the home to help manage heating, lighting, security and more via multiple user interfaces including gestures and voice recognition

LAS VEGAS, CES – 08 Jan 2013: IBM, STMicroelectronics and Shaspa today announced a collaboration to tap cloud and mobile computing for manufacturers and service providers to provide innovative ways for consumers to manage and interact with their homes’ functions and entertainment systems using multiple user interfaces such as voice recognition and physical gestures for a smarter home.

A “smart home” brings networking functions together, creating a gateway that connects a television, computer or mobile device with smart meters, lights, appliances, plugs and sensors within the home as well as services from outside. Parks Associates forecasts that more than 8 billion devices will be connected on the home network by year-end 2015.[1] (more…)

Captive Hyenas Outfox Wild Relatives

Nature

When it comes to solving puzzles, animals in captivity are, well, different animals than their wild brethren. (more…)

Molecular Scientists Reveal Extraordinary Properties of Ordinary Glasses

Science

Technologically valuable ultrastable glasses can be produced in days or hours with properties corresponding to those that have been aged for thousands of years, computational and laboratory studies have confirmed.

Aging makes for higher quality glassy materials because they have slowly evolved toward a more stable molecular condition. This evolution can take thousands or millions of years, but manufacturers must work faster. Armed with a better understanding of how glasses age and evolve, researchers at the universities of Chicago and Wisconsin-Madison raise the possibility of designing a new class of materials at the molecular level via a vapor-deposition process. (more…)