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Atomic Weights of Ten Chemical Elements About to Change

By Guest PostDecember 14, 2010Scienceanalytical techniques, atomic weights, biological processes, boron, carbon, chemical, chemical elements, chlorine, elements, geological survey, hydrogen, isotopic abundances, isotopic measurements, iupac, lithium, nitrogen, oxygen, silicon, stable isotope, sulfur, table of standard atomic weights, thallium, ty coplen

For the first time in history, a change will be made to the atomic weights of some elements listed on the Table of Standard Atomic Weights of the chemical elements found in the inside covers of chemistry textbooks worldwide.

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry’s (IUPAC) Commission on Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights is publishing a new table that will express atomic weights of ten elements as intervals, rather than as single standard values. The new table is the result of cooperative research supported by the U.S. Geological Survey, IUPAC, and other contributing Commission members and institutions. (more…)

Saturn’s Rings Are Remnants of Massive Moon, Study Says

By PravdaDecember 13, 2010Sciencemoon, rings, saturn

Saturn’s rings. Image credit: NASA/JPL

A new study conducted by scientists at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, has this week posited that Saturn’s rings are the remnants of a massive moon that once orbited Earth’s distant neighbour.

According to study author and astronomer Robin Canup, the moon plunged into Saturn around 4.5 billion years ago due to a giant ring of hydrogen gas responsible for creating rocky satellites but also for dragging larger moons out of orbit.

The scientific theory centres on the predominantly icy composition of Saturn’s rings, The Tech Herald reports. (more…)

WISE Sees an Explosion of Infrared Light

By Guest PostDecember 12, 20101 commentSciencecastor, constellation, dust, emitting light, eta geminorum, exploded star, gas, gas atoms, gemini, halo, ic 443 nebula, infrared light, infrared wavelengths, jet propulsion laboratory, massive stars, NASA, rainbow, shock waves, supernovae, wide field infrared survey explorer, wise, wise image

A circular rainbow appears like a halo around an exploded star in this new view of the IC 443 nebula from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE.

When massive stars die, they explode in tremendous blasts, called supernovae, which send out shock waves. The shock waves sweep up and heat surrounding gas and dust, creating supernova remnants like the one pictured here. The supernova in IC 443 happened somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 years ago. (more…)

Tiny Protozoa May Hold Key to World Water Safety

By Guest PostDecember 11, 2010Environment, Sciencebarometers, better world, biologist, bob curtis, camera, car, climate change, department of defense, digital camera, dod, gasoline, groundbreaking technique, microscopic plankton, one celled protozoa, pesticides, plastic containers, protozoa, sbs, scott gallager, software, swimming behavioral spectrophotometer, Technology, toxins, underwater environment, wade mcgillis, water

Right now, it looks a little like one of those plastic containers you might fill with gasoline when your car has run dry. But Scott Gallager is not headed to the nearest Mobil station. The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) biologist has other, grander plans for his revolutionary Swimming Behavioral Spectrophotometer (SBS), which employs one-celled protozoa to detect toxins in water sources.

Not only is he working on streamlining the boxy-looking contraption—eventually even evolving it into a computer chip—but he sees it as a tool to potentially “monitor all the drinking water in the world.

“It has a unique utility.” (more…)

Yale Scientists Find Molecular Glue Needed to Wire the Brain

By Guest PostDecember 11, 2010Sciencebrain cells, molecular glue, nerve pulses, synaptic connections, synaptic junctions

Yale University researchers have found that a single molecule not only connects brain cells but also changes how we learn. The findings, reported in the December 9 issue of the journal Neuron, may help researchers discover ways to improve memory and could lead to new therapies to correct neurological disorders. (more…)

Theoretical Breakthrough: Generating Matter and Antimatter from the Vacuum

By Guest PostDecember 9, 2010Scienceantimatter, antimatter components, antiparticles, matter, particle accelerator, vacuum, vacuum gamma photons

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Under just the right conditions — which involve an ultra-high-intensity laser beam and a two-mile-long particle accelerator — it could be possible to create something out of nothing, according to University of Michigan researchers. (more…)

‘Social Relationships in Animals Have a Genetic Basis’

By Guest PostDecember 8, 20102 commentsScienceamanda lea, animals, colorado, daniel t blumstein, female marmots, genetic, genetic component, genetic variation, human behavior, interactions, marmots, non-human population, rocky mountains, social behavior, social network trait, squirrels, tolerate aggression

The ability to tolerate aggression is partly genetic, UCLA life scientists report in the first study to demonstrate a genetic component to a social network trait in a non-human population.

“The ability to tolerate aggression is passed on across generations; there is genetic variation in the ability to tolerate aggression,” said the study co-author Daniel T. Blumstein, professor and chair of ecology and evolutionary biology at UCLA.

Blumstein, a leader in the field of applying social network statistics to animals, and his colleagues studied four groups of yellow-bellied marmots, which are related to squirrels, over six years in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Each group included 15 to 30 marmots. (more…)

An Aspirin a Day Keeps the Cancer Away

By PravdaDecember 8, 2010Health, Science2-acetyloxybenzoic acid, acetylsalicylic acid, aspirin, c9h8o4, cancer, chemo-therapy, death rates, gastro-intestinal, health hazard, medical breakthrough, oesophagus, oxford university, peter rothwell, radio-therapy, reduced doses of aspirin, stomach haemorrhages, type of cancer, volker mintzlaff

Aspirin - to fight cancer. Image credit: Volker Mintzlaff

Or does it? Fresh research from Oxford University seems to reveal that a low dose of aspirin taken over a substantial period of time produces promising results, indicating that the death rates of many types of cancer reduce greatly. In fact, the evidence presented is staggering and if true, would be a medical breakthrough of exponential proportions.

Let us be optimistic, for cancer is a disease which has cut across most families around the globe. Few of us have not lost a grandparent, parent, uncle or aunt to this disease, in some cases even brothers, or worse still, nephews or nieces…or worse still, sons or daughters, grandsons and daughters. Now it seems there is good news which does not involve chemo-therapy or radio-therapy, which create many success stories but also many victims. (more…)

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