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Astronomer Tom Gehrels, 1925-2011

By Guest PostJuly 14, 2011Scienceasteroids and comets, astronomer, astronomy, Britain, Chicago, dutch resistance, earth, England, gerard p kuiper, haarlemmermeer, harold masursky award, imaging photopolarimetry, jupiter, kitt peak, leiden university, nobel astrophysicist, saturn, saturn mysterious f ring, special operations executive, study of wavelength dependence of polarization of stars and planets, subrahmanyan chandrasekhar, the netherlands, tom gehrels, universal evolution, university of arizona, university of chicago

*In a career that spanned more than half a century, Gehrels fostered new research on asteroids and comets, including those that pose a threat to Earth.*

Tom Gehrels, an internationally noted planetary scientist and astronomer at the University of Arizona, as well as a hero of the Dutch Resistance during WWII, died Monday. He was 86.

Gehrels was among the first members of the fledgling Lunar and Planetary Laboratory when he joined the UA in 1961. During a long and distinguished career Gehrels pioneered new research on asteroids and comets, especially those that pose a collision threat to Earth. He also developed and taught introductory astronomy courses that were popular with non-science undergraduates. (more…)

Last Dinosaur Before Mass Extinction Discovered

By Guest PostJuly 13, 2011Scienceage of dinosaur, fossilized horn, last dinosaur, mass extinction, non avian dinosaurs

A team of scientists has discovered the youngest dinosaur preserved in the fossil record before the catastrophic meteor impact 65 million years ago. The finding indicates that dinosaurs did not go extinct prior to the impact and provides further evidence as to whether the impact was in fact the cause of their extinction. (more…)

Perfecting the Meat of the Potato

By Guest PostJuly 11, 2011Scienceagronomic traits, Antarctica, biochemistry and molecular biology, blueprint, chromosomal positions, current issue of nature, elusive genome, genome and its tuber, genome of the potato, michigan state university, nongrain food crop, plant biology, plant's tuber, potatogenome, potato’s genetic, robin buell, solanaceae, the mysterious potato

EAST LANSING, Mich. — By honing in on the mysterious potato genome and its tuber – its edible portion – researchers are unveiling the secrets of the world’s most-important nongrain food crop.

Robin Buell, Michigan State University plant biologist, is part of an international research team that is mapping the genome of the potato. In the current issue of Nature, the team revealed that it accomplished its goal, thus quickly closing the gap on improving the food source’s elusive genome. (more…)

The Universe may have been Born Spinning, according to New Findings on the Symmetry of the Cosmos

By Guest PostJuly 10, 2011Sciencespiral galaxies, symmetric universe, symmetry of cosmos, universe

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Physicists and astronomers have long believed that the universe has mirror symmetry, like a basketball. But recent findings from the University of Michigan suggest that the shape of the Big Bang might be more complicated than previously thought, and that the early universe spun on an axis. (more…)

When Viruses Infect Bacteria

By Guest PostJuly 9, 2011Sciencebacterial dna, bacteriophages, coevolution of a virus and its host, flu virus, human hosts, in vitro, microfluidic technology, national science foundation, phages, plant hosts, prophage, rob phillips, termite, termite hindgut, tobacco mosaic virus, viral dna, virus bacterium interactions, viruses, viruses infecting bacteria

*Looking in vivo at virus-bacterium associations sets stage for better understanding of such interactions in human health*

Viruses are the most abundant parasites on Earth. Well known viruses, such as the flu virus, attack human hosts, while viruses such as the tobacco mosaic virus infect plant hosts.

More common, but less understood, are cases of viruses infecting bacteria known as bacteriophages, or phages. In part, this is due to the difficulty of culturing bacteria and viruses that have been cut off from their usual biological surroundings in a process called in vitro. (more…)

Cassini Captures Images and Sounds of Saturn Storm

By Guest PostJuly 7, 2011Scienceandrew ingersoll, austrian academy of sciences, california institute of technology, cassini, cassini spacecraft, cloud, earth, georg fischer, graz, hemispheres, iowa city, journal nature, jupiter, NASA, northern hemisphere, pasadena, pictures from cassini, saturn storm, saturn storm watch, solar illumination, storm alley, university of iowa, weather on saturn

PASADENA, Calif. — Scientists analyzing data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft now have the first-ever, up-close details of a Saturn storm that is eight times the surface area of Earth.

On Dec. 5, 2010, Cassini first detected the storm that has been raging ever since. It appears approximately 35 degrees north latitude of Saturn. Pictures from Cassini’s imaging cameras show the storm wrapping around the entire planet covering approximately 2 billion square miles (4 billion square kilometers). (more…)

New Study Documents First Cookiecutter Shark Attack on A Live Human

By Guest PostJuly 6, 2011Sciencecookiecutter shark, cookiecutter shark attack, daytime swimmers, demon whale biters, first bite, shark attack file, shark bites, warm summer waters

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A new study co-authored by University of Florida researchers provides details on the first cookiecutter shark attack on a live human, a concern as warm summer waters attract more people to the ocean. (more…)

WHOI Study Sheds Light on Tunicate Evolution

By Guest PostJuly 4, 2011Scienceascidians, complex life cycles, doliolids, free-swimming types of tunicates, gelatinous, genetically sequencing 40 new specimens of thaliaceans, govindarajan, journal of plankton research, northeastern university, ocean ecosystems, phylum of animals, planktonic, pyrosomes, salps, sea squirts, study of tunicate evolution, surface to the deep sea, thaliaceans, transfer of organic matter, woods hole oceanographic institution (whoi)

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) researchers have filled an important gap in the study of tunicate evolution by genetically sequencing 40 new specimens of thaliaceans, gelatinous, free-swimming types of tunicates. Their study was featured on the cover of the June issue of the Journal of Plankton Research.

Tunicates are a phylum of animals closely related to vertebrates, with a firm, rubbery outer covering called a tunic, from which the name derives. (more…)

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