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Burtele Foot Indicates Lucy Not Alone

By Guest PostMarch 30, 2012Scienceafar region, africa, alan deino, australopithecus afarensis, beverly z saylor, bones, bruce m latimer, burtele foot, early hominins, eastern africa, ethiopia, evolutionary history, famous fossil, fossil, geologic time, kenyan version, kenyanthropus platyops, late pliocene, lucy, middle awash valley, miocene apes, modern humans, mulugeta alene, naomi e levin, tim white, woranso mille, yohannes haile selassie

*Discovery of partial foot skeleton could mean hominin species lived side by side*

A new fossil discovery from Eastern Africa called the Burtele foot indicates Australopithecus afarensis, an early relative of modern humans, may not have been the only hominin to walk the plains and woodlands of what is now the Afar region of Ethiopia some 3.4 million years ago.

Researchers openly have questioned whether Au. afarensis, the species to which the famous fossil “Lucy” belongs, was the only living hominin during the late Pliocene of Africa. Lucy’s bones provided evidence that she and perhaps other early hominins may have walked upright, but whether or not she was the sole hominin species in her particular geologic time scale has been the subject of much debate. (more…)

Researchers Develop Graphene Supercapacitor Holding Promise for Portable Electronics

By Guest PostMarch 30, 2012Sciencecycle stability, ecs, electrochemical capacitors, electrodes, fabrication process, graphite oxide, graphitic carbon, jennifer marcus, laser scribed graphene, lightscribe dvd, liquid electrolyte, lsg, optical drive, richard b kaner, supercapacitors, surface area, ultracapacitors

Electrochemical capacitors (ECs), also known as supercapacitors or ultracapacitors, differ from regular capacitors that you would find in your TV or computer in that they store substantially higher amounts of charges. They have garnered attention as energy storage devices as they charge and discharge faster than batteries, yet they are still limited by low energy densities, only a fraction of the energy density of batteries. An EC that combines the power performance of capacitors with the high energy density of batteries would represent a significant advance in energy storage technology. This requires new electrodes that not only maintain high conductivity but also provide higher and more accessible surface area than conventional ECs that use activated carbon electrodes.

Now researchers at UCLA have used a standard LightScribe DVD optical drive to produce such electrodes. The electrodes are composed of an expanded network of graphene — a one-atom-thick layer of graphitic carbon — that shows excellent mechanical and electrical properties as well as exceptionally high surface area. (more…)

Tiny Reader Makes Fast, Cheap DNA Sequencing Feasible

By Guest PostMarch 29, 2012Scienceaddiction, adenine, andrew laszlo, cancer, cytosine, diabetes, dna molecule, dna sequencing, elizabeth manrao, enzyme, guanine, ian derrington, jens gundlach, kyle langford, matthew hopper, millisecond, molecular motor, mycobacterium, nanopore, nanoscale sensor, nathaniel gillgren, nucleotide, protein, thymine

Researchers have devised a nanoscale sensor to electronically read the sequence of a single DNA molecule, a technique that is fast and inexpensive and could make DNA sequencing widely available.

The technique could lead to affordable personalized medicine, potentially revealing predispositions for afflictions such as cancer, diabetes or addiction. (more…)

U of T Discovery Holds Promise of Cheaper, Greener Drugs

By Guest PostMarch 28, 2012Sciencegreener drugs, iron catalysts, iron nanoparticles, jessica sonnenberg, nanoparticle catalysts

Chemistry team discovers new catalyst

A chemistry team at the University of Toronto has discovered environmentally-friendly iron-based nanoparticle catalysts that work as well as the expensive, toxic, metal-based catalysts that are currently in wide use by the drug, fragrance and food industry. (more…)

Constantine Gatsonis: Better Triage for Chest Pains

By Guest PostMarch 27, 2012Scienceacrin, acute coronary syndrome, biostatistician, brad snyder, brown, cancer, cardiac disease, ccta, constantine gatsonis, ct angiography, david orenstein, erin greco, heart attack, philadelphia, radiology

In a study in The New England Journal of Medicine, authors including biostatisticians from Brown report that coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA) is a safe way to screen patients coming to the ER with chest pains who are not at high risk for acute coronary syndrome. Patients who got CCTA and tested negative were more likely to be discharged home and spend less time at the hospital.

Coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA), a technology for diagnostic imaging of the heart, is a safe way to assess whether patients whose risk of heart attack is not high need to be hospitalized when they arrive at the emergency room complaining of chest pains. Brown biostatisticians led by Constantine Gatsonis are part of a team of researchers who report that finding in The New England Journal of Medicine and at the American College of Cardiology Conference March 26. (more…)

Scientists Measure Diameter of The Sun With Unprecedented Accuracy

By Guest PostMarch 27, 2012Sciencebrazil, california, diameter, hawaii, isabelle scholl, jeff kuhn, marcelo emilio, mdi, measurement, mercury, michelson doppler imager, NASA, nasa satellite, ponta grossa, rock bush, soho, solar size, solar telescope, spacecraft, stanford university, sun

A group of scientists from Hawaiʻi, Brazil and California has measured the diameter of the Sun with unprecedented accuracy by using a spacecraft to time the transits of the planet Mercury across the face of the Sun in 2003 and 2006.

The measurements of the Sun’s size were made by University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Institute for Astronomy scientists Drs. Marcelo Emilio (visiting from Ponta Grossa, Brazil), Jeff Kuhn and Isabelle Scholl in collaboration with Dr. Rock Bush of Stanford University. They used the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) aboard NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) to make the measurements. (more…)

Geologists Correct a Rift in Africa

By Guest PostMarch 26, 2012Scienceafrica today, australia, climate change, earth crust, east africa, east african rift, eric roberts, ethiopia, geological sciences, giant arc, great rift valley, human evolution, human species, james cook university, Kenya, malawi, michael gottfried, michigan state university, model, nancy stevens, nature geoscience, ohio university, plate boundary, rukwa rift, system, tectonic forces, uganda, vertebrate fossils, volcanic ash

EAST LANSING, Mich. — The huge changes in the Earth’s crust that influenced human evolution are being redefined, according to research published today in Nature Geoscience.

The Great Rift Valley of East Africa – the birthplace of the human species – may have taken much longer to develop than previously believed.

“We now believe that the western portion of the rift formed about 25 million years ago, and is approximately as old as the eastern part, instead of much younger as other studies have maintained,” said Michael Gottfried, Michigan State University associate professor of geological sciences. “The significance is that the Rift Valley is the setting for the most crucial steps in primate and ultimately human evolution, and our study has major implications for the environmental and landscape changes that form the backdrop for that evolutionary story.” (more…)

Flock Talk: Bird Vocalization Research Could Improve Poultry Production, Lower Costs

By Guest PostMarch 26, 2012Sciencebehavior of chickens, bird sounds, bird vocalization, bird vocalization analysis, chicken vocalization, signal processing technolog

Chickens can’t speak, but they can definitely make themselves heard. Most people who have visited a poultry farm will recall chicken vocalization – the technical term for clucking and squawking – as a memorable part of the experience. (more…)

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