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Primitive Birds Shared Dinosaurs’ Fate

By Guest PostSeptember 25, 2011Sciencearchaic birds, bird fossils, chicxulub meteorite, cretaceous bird, cretaceous period, dinosaurs 65 million years ago, fossil birds, nicholas longrich, team of paleontologists, yale university

A new study puts an end to the longstanding debate about how archaic birds went extinct, suggesting they were virtually wiped out by the same meteorite impact that put an end to dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

For decades, scientists have debated whether birds from the Cretaceous period — which are very different from today’s modern bird species — died out slowly or were killed suddenly by the Chicxulub meteorite. The uncertainty was due in part to the fact that very few fossil birds from the end of this era have been discovered. (more…)

Aquarius Yields NASA’s First Global Map of Ocean Salinity

By Guest PostSeptember 25, 2011Sciencehigh salinity sea, ocean salinity, ocean surface salinity, salinity data, salinity patterns

PASADENA, Calif. – NASA’s new Aquarius instrument has produced its first global map of the salinity of the ocean surface, providing an early glimpse of the mission’s anticipated discoveries. (more…)

Exeter Physicist Advances Early Universe Theory

By Guest PostSeptember 25, 2011Scienceearly universe theory, extrasolar planets, intergalactic media, magnetic fields, star formation

Research by a University of Exeter astrophysicist has helped to explain how the first stars and galaxies formed

Research led by Professor Gilles Chabrier of the University of Exeter suggests that large magnetic fields were generated shortly after the Big Bang and played a key role in the formation of the first stars and galaxies

The international team of researchers, headed by Professor Chabrier and Dr Christoph Federrath of the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon (France), used three-dimensional computer simulations to make their discovery. Their simulations show that even under extreme physical conditions, magnetic fields are efficiently amplified by turbulent flows. The findings are now published in the journal Physical Review Letters. (more…)

UCLA Scientists Find H1N1 Flu Virus Prevalent in Animals in Africa

By Guest PostSeptember 24, 2011Scienceanimals in africa, avian and human influenza viruses, Bangladesh, center for tropical research, China, diagnostic test called elisa, egypt, enzyme linked immunosorbent assay, genetic elements of swine, ground zero, H1N1, h1n1 virus, hilary godwin, human pandemic, human strain of h1n1, human to human infection, influenza a, kevin njabo, livestock in cameroon, microbial animal diseases, pandemic, pigs, pigs in cameroon, san diego, swine flu, thomas b smith, village in northern cameroon, virus

UCLA life scientists and their colleagues have discovered the first evidence of the H1N1 virus in animals in Africa. In one village in northern Cameroon, a staggering 89 percent of the pigs studied had been exposed to the H1N1 virus, commonly known as the swine flu.

“I was amazed that virtually every pig in this village was exposed,” said Thomas B. Smith, director of UCLA’s Center for Tropical Research and the senior author of the research. “Africa is ground zero for a new pandemic. Many people are in poor health there, and disease can spread very rapidly without authorities knowing about it.” (more…)

UF-led study: Invasive Amphibians, Reptiles in Florida Outnumber World

By Guest PostSeptember 24, 2011Environment, Scienceamerican alligator, bishop museum in honolulu, brown anole, burmese pythons, cargo ships, cement walls, Cuba, everglades, florida, florida museum of natural history, fred kraus, greenhouse frog, iguanas, invasion of lizards, invasive amphibian and reptile, kenneth krysko, lizards, python, turtles, university of florida, west indies, zootaxa

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida has the world’s worst invasive amphibian and reptile problem, and a new 20-year study led by a University of Florida researcher verifies the pet trade as the No. 1 cause of the species’ introductions.

From 1863 through 2010, 137 non-native amphibian and reptile species were introduced to Florida, with about 25 percent of those traced to one animal importer. The findings appear online today in Zootaxa. (more…)

What’s so Unique About the Tropics?

By Guest PostSeptember 23, 2011Environment, Sciencebeta diversity, brad boyle, calgary, canada, costa rica, distribution of biodiversity across the globe, ecological mechanisms, ecologists, elevations in mountain regions, extinctions, geographical scales, latitudinal diversity gradient, nathan j b kraft, new zealand, northern europe, panama, south america, speciation, temperate forests of canada, tropical rainforests of southeast asia, tropics, university of arizona ecologist, university of british columbia, university of maryland

“Less than we thought,” researchers say in a new study providing insights into the distribution of biodiversity across the globe.

The temperate forests of Canada or Northern Europe may have much more in common with the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia or South America than previously believed, according to a research group including a University of Arizona ecologist.

The assertion, published as the cover article in the journal Science, is focused on the concept of “beta-diversity” – a measure of the change in species composition between two sites, such as neighboring patches of forest. High beta-diversity means that two given sites have few species in common. (more…)

University of Missouri 3-D Prototype Lab Open for Business

By Guest PostSeptember 22, 2011Science3 d modeling, prototype, prototype lab, prototype machines, prototype manufacturing, tattletale

Companies can take advantage of state-of-the art equipment; students gain experience

COLUMBIA, Mo. – When Microdyne, LLC, needed help building a prototype for a dairy cattle breeding device, the company, based in St. Joseph, was ready to look overseas for a prototype manufacturing team. Then Microdyne was introduced to Mike Klote, manager of the University of Missouri’s College of Engineering prototype development facility, and a solution was found that also provided MU engineering students a valuable educational opportunity. (more…)

To Ditch Dessert, Feed the Brain

By Guest PostSeptember 22, 2011Sciencebrain, brain imaging scans, fmri scans, glucose, glucose levels, high calorie food, hypothalamus, kathleen page, low calorie food, prefrontal cortex, rajita sinha, regulating impulses, striatum, twinkies, yale university

If the brain goes hungry, Twinkies look a lot better, a study led by researchers at Yale University and the University of Southern California has found.

Brain imaging scans show that when glucose levels drop, an area of the brain known to regulate emotions and impulses loses the ability to dampen desire for high-calorie food, according to the study published online September 19 in The Journal of Clinical Investigation. (more…)

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