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Rain Gods in a Desert Sea: New Book Celebrates Southern Arizona’s Mountains

By Guest PostJuly 15, 2013Sciencedesert sea, monsoon rains, rain gods, sky islands

A book by two UA scientists explains the story behind the scenery of the “sky islands,” the unique mountain ranges dotting southern Arizona and northern Sonora, Mexico

University of Arizona scientists Wendy Moore and Richard Brusca have published an illustrated book to celebrate and share the rich and unique natural history of southern Arizona’s mountains – the “sky islands” – with a general, non-scientific audience. (more…)

Expressly Unfit for the Laboratory

By Guest PostJuly 15, 2013Scienceanaerobic conditions, bacterial genes, gene regulation, microbial gene expression

Berkeley Lab Researchers Find Little Correlation Between Microbial Gene Expression and Environmental Conditions in the Laboratory

A new study challenges the orthodoxy of microbiology, which holds that in response to environmental changes, bacterial genes will boost production of needed proteins and decrease production of those that aren’t. Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) found that for bacteria in the laboratory there was little evidence of adaptive genetic response. In fact, most bacterial genes appear to be regulated by signals unrelated to their function. (more…)

Noble gases hitch a ride on hydrous minerals

By Guest PostJuly 14, 2013Sciencegeological conveyor belt, lattice structure, noble gas recycling, noble gases, oceanic crust, silicate minerals, subducting crust, subducting slabs

The six noble gases do not normally dissolve into minerals, leaving earth scientists to wonder how they are subducted back into the Earth. Researchers at Brown have discovered that the lattice structure of minerals such as amphibole provides a way. Better yet, the multiple isotopes of noble gases could help scientists track volatiles like water and carbon. (more…)

Cosmochemist discovers potential solution to meteorite mystery

By Guest PostJuly 11, 2013Sciencealexei fedkin, british mineralogist, carnegie institution, chondrules, cosmochemist, crystal structures, discover, early solar system, forming jupiter, fred ciesla, gaseous magnesium, henry sorby, high pressure collisions, iron oxide, jay melosh, lawrence grossman, magnesium silicates, meteorite mystery, mystery in cosmochemistry, olivine, oxide bearing olivine, planets, potential solution, primordial gas cloud, silicates, solar nebula, steven simon, sun, university of chicago, Washington

Chondrules may have formed from high-pressure collisions in early solar system

A normally staid University of Chicago scientist has stunned many of his colleagues with his radical solution to a 135-year-old mystery in cosmochemistry. “I’m a fairly sober guy. People didn’t know what to think all of a sudden,” said Lawrence Grossman, professor in geophysical sciences.

At issue is how numerous small, glassy spherules had become embedded within specimens of the largest class of meteorites—the chondrites. British mineralogist Henry Sorby first described these spherules, called chondrules, in 1877. Sorby suggested that they might be “droplets of fiery rain” which somehow condensed out of the cloud of gas and dust that formed the solar system 4.5 billion years ago. (more…)

‘Life as Research Scientist’: Angel Byrd, Cell Biologist

By BlogArenaJuly 10, 2013Education, Interview, Media, Scienceada wallace, african american, angel byrd, ecm, extracellular matrix, fund, fungal pathogens, good times, immune system cells, life, myron smith, nets, neutrophil extracellular traps, neutrophils, tougaloo college, united negro college, willie jean byrd

For years, Brown University M.D./Ph.D. student Angel Byrd had dedicated herself to studying how immune system cells capture invading fungal pathogens. Like those cells, called neutrophils, she had seized on seemingly every opportunity that had come her way. (more…)

Unusual Supernova is Doubly Unusual for Being Perfectly Normal

By Guest PostJuly 8, 2013Science2011fe data, berkeley lab, big dipper, expansion of universe, greg aldering, palomar transient factory, pinwheel galaxy, rollin thomas, rui pereira, snfactory, snfactory data, snifs, supernova 2011fe, type ia supernova

From the “Backyard Supernova,” the Berkeley Lab-led Nearby Supernova Factory has built a benchmark atlas for normal Type Ia’s

August, 2011, saw the dazzling appearance of the closest and brightest Type Ia supernova since Type Ia’s were established as “standard candles” for measuring the expansion of the universe. The brilliant visitor, labeled SN 2011fe, was caught by the Palomar Transient Factory less than 12 hours after it exploded in the Pinwheel Galaxy in the Big Dipper.

Easy to see through binoculars, 2011fe was soon dubbed the Backyard Supernova. Major astronomical studies from the ground and from space followed close on its heels, recording its luminosity and colors as it rapidly brightened and then slowly faded away. (more…)

Mystery of the mutant polyomavirus

By Guest PostJuly 7, 2013Health, Scienceaaron derdowski, astrocytes, bethany ohara, brain glial cells, brown university, carbohydrate, crystal structure, DNA, gretchen gee, infectious, jc polyomavirus, lstc, luisa ströh, melissa maginnis, mutant form, mutant polyomavirus, myelin, mystery, non infection, oligodendrocytes, pathogen, pml, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, thilo stehle, university of tübingen, ursula neu, vanderbilt university, virus, walter atwood, wild type, xray crystallography

A new study shows that common mutant forms of the deadly JC polyomavirus are not responsible for the pathogen’s main attack, which causes a brain-damaging disease in immunocompromised patients called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy. But that finding raises the ominous question of what the mutants might be up to instead.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — The JC polyomavirus is clearly opportunistic. It infects half the population but lethally destroys brain tissue only in immunocompromised patients — and it may be outright sneaky, too. Even as a new research paper allays fears that common mutant forms of the virus are the ones directly responsible for the disease’s main attack, that same finding raises new questions about what the mutants are doing instead. (more…)

Researchers Track Facial Expressions To Improve Teaching Software

By Guest PostJuly 6, 2013Sciencefacial expressions, facial movements, javatutor, learning process, online tutoring, student emotion, teaching software

Research from North Carolina State University shows that software which tracks facial expressions can accurately assess the emotions of students engaged in interactive online learning and predict the effectiveness of online tutoring sessions. (more…)

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