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Want ripples on your icicles? University of Toronto scientists suggest adding salt

TORONTO, ON – Though it’s barely the beginning of autumn, scientists at the University of Toronto are one step closer to explaining why winter’s icicles form with Michelin Man-like ripples on their elongated shapes.

Experimental physicist Stephen Morris and PhD candidate Antony Szu-Han Chen were spurred to investigate by the ripples that appear around the circumference of icicles that occur naturally. It has been theorized that the ripples are the result of surface tension effects in the thin water film that flows over the ice as it forms. Their investigation revealed that the actual culprit is salt. (more…)

Researchers ID Queens, Mysterious Disease Syndrome as Key Factors in Bee Colony Deaths

By Guest PostMarch 11, 2013Natureapis mellifera, bee colony, bee colony deaths, bee larvae, commercial colonies, david tarpy, dennis vanenglesdorp, eastern united states, eugene lengerich, greatest risk factor, honey bees, ibds, idiopathic brood disease, jeffery pettis, key factors, large scale infestations, mysterious disease syndrome, north carolina state university, parasitic mites, penn state, queen event, queens, syndrome, university of maryland, usda

A new long-term study of honey bee health has found that a little-understood disease study authors are calling “idiopathic brood disease syndrome” (IBDS), which kills off bee larvae, is the largest risk factor for predicting the death of a bee colony.

“Historically, we’ve seen symptoms similar to IBDS associated with viruses spread by large-scale infestations of parasitic mites,” says Dr. David Tarpy, an associate professor of entomology at North Carolina State University and co-author of a paper describing the study. “But now we’re seeing these symptoms – a high percentage of larvae deaths – in colonies that have relatively few of these mites. That suggests that IBDS is present even in colonies with low mite loads, which is not what we expected.” The study was conducted by researchers from NC State, the University of Maryland, Pennsylvania State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). (more…)

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Want ripples on your icicles? University of Toronto scientists suggest adding salt

Researchers ID Queens, Mysterious Disease Syndrome as Key Factors in Bee Colony Deaths