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Perfect Buns: Imaging System Controls Baking Process on Production Line to Improve Sandwich Bun Quality

By Guest PostMarch 10, 2011Sciencebaketech, baking equipment manufacturer, baking process, baking technology systems, biscuits, bread, colin usher, cookies, crackers, douglas britton, flowers foods, flowers foods bakery, gtri, imaging system, las vegas, oven temperatures, pies, production line system, sandwich buns, secret to baking perfect buns, stephen smith, thomasville, tucker

The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) may possess the secret to baking perfect buns every time. Its researchers have developed a production-line system that automatically inspects the quality of sandwich buns exiting the oven and adjusts oven temperatures if it detects unacceptable buns.

“We have closed the loop between the quality inspection of buns and the oven controls to meet the specifications required by food service and fast food customers,” said GTRI senior research engineer Douglas Britton. “By creating a more accurate, uniform and faster assessment process, we are able to minimize waste and lost product.” (more…)

Fossil Bird Study Describes Ripple Effect of Extinction in Animal Kingdom

By Guest PostMarch 9, 2011Scienceextinct cowbird, fossil bird, mammal extinction, ripple effect

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A University of Florida study demonstrates extinction’s ripple effect through the animal kingdom, including how the demise of large mammals 20,000 years ago led to the disappearance of one species of cowbird. (more…)

Berkeley Lab Researchers Illuminate Laminin’s Role in Cancer Formation

By Guest PostMarch 8, 2011Sciencebreast, breast cancer, cancer death, cell, cytoplasmic protein, dna synthesis, dynamic reciprocity theory, epithelial cell quiescence, epithelial tissue, genetic information, laminin, laminin 111, matrix metalloproteinase 9, microenvironment of breast, mina bissell, mmp9, nucleus, protein, quiescence, stages of tumor development, transcription, united states, zinc dependent enzyme

Laminin, long thought to be only a structural support protein in the microenvironment of breast and other epithelial tissue, is “famous” for its cross-like shape. However, laminin is far more than just a support player with a “pretty face.” Two studies led by one of the world’s foremost breast cancer scientists have shown how laminin plays a central role in the development of breast cancer, the second most leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States. In one study it was shown how laminin influences the genetic information inside a cell’s nucleus. In the other study it was shown how destruction of laminin can play a detrimental role in the early stages of tumor development. (more…)

Mating Mites Trapped in Amber Reveal Sex Role Reversal

By Guest PostMarch 6, 2011Sciencebaltic amber, ekaterina sidorchuk, evolutionary advantage, extinct mite species, female copulatory tubes, female mites, glaesacarus rhombeus, mating game, mating mites, matters of mating, mite species, pavel klimov, penis, reproductive behavior, russian academy of sciences, traditional sex roles, typical behaviors, university of michigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— In the mating game, some female mites are mightier than their mates, new research at the University of Michigan and the Russian Academy of Sciences suggests. The evidence comes, in part, from 40 million-year-old mating mites preserved in Baltic amber.

In a paper published March 1 in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, researchers Pavel Klimov and Ekaterina Sidorchuk describe an extinct mite species in which the traditional sex roles were reversed. (more…)

JQI Physicists Demonstrate Coveted ‘Spin-Orbit Coupling’ in Atomic Gases

By Guest PostMarch 6, 2011Scienceatomic gases, atomtronic devices, pseudospin states, spin orbit coupling, spintronics devices, topological insulator, ultracold atoms

Technique suggests an avenue for creating new kinds of superconductivity

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Physicists at the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI), a collaboration of the University of Maryland and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), have for the first time caused a gas of atoms to exhibit an important quantum phenomenon known as spin-orbit coupling. Their technique opens new possibilities for studying and better understanding fundamental physics and has potential applications to quantum computing, next-generation “spintronics” devices and even “atomtronic” devices built from ultracold atoms. (more…)

Spitzer Captures Infrared Rays From a Sunflower

By Guest PostMarch 5, 2011Sciencedistant galaxy, dust lanes, infrared light, light years, messier 63, microns, NASA, spiral arm, spiral galaxies, spitzer space telescope, stars, sunflower galaxy, wavelengths, whirlpool galaxy

The various spiral arm segments of the Sunflower galaxy, also known as Messier 63, show up vividly in this image taken in infrared light by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. Infrared light is sensitive to the dust lanes in spiral galaxies, which appear dark in visible-light images. Spitzer’s view reveals complex structures that trace the galaxy’s spiral arm pattern.

Messier 63 lies 37 million-light years away — not far from the well-known Whirlpool galaxy and the associated Messier 51 group of galaxies. (more…)

Mapping Food Deserts

By Guest PostMarch 5, 2011Sciencecat scan, food environment, geographic information systems, geographical obstacles, geospatial inputs, gis, high resolution image, interactive maps, kirk goldsberry, maps, nutrition, phil howard, Technology, urban food deserts

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Maps are great for showing where things are. They’re also good for showing where things aren’t.

Two Michigan State University professors have developed interactive maps that offer a visual perspective of urban food deserts. By using GIS (geographic information systems) technology, they are showing, rather than simply telling, how urban residents are losing access to fresh produce and balanced nutrition. (more…)

Earth’s Sixth Mass Extinction: Is It Almost Here?

By Guest PostMarch 4, 2011Environment, Scienceanimal species, anthony barnosky, big five, biodiversity, biodiversity baseline, disease, earth, extinction, extinction rate for mammals, fossil record, global warming, habitat fragmentation, hazard of climate change, human activities, invasive species, mammals, mass extinction, richard lane, road to extinction, species, storm of threats

*Steep decline of many animal species warns that Earth is on the brink*

With the steep decline in populations of many animal species, scientists have warned that Earth is on the brink of a mass extinction like those that have occurred just five times during the past 540 million years.

Each of these “Big Five” saw three-quarters or more of all animal species go extinct.

In results of a study published in this week’s issue of journal Nature, researchers report on an assessment of where mammals and other species stand today in terms of possible extinction compared with the past 540 million years.

They find cause for hope–and alarm. (more…)

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