Tag Archives: nevada

CU Research Shows Warming Climate Threatens Ecology at Mountain Research Site West of Boulder

A series of papers published this month on ecological changes at 26 global research sites — including one administered by the University of Colorado Boulder in the high mountains west of the city — indicates that ecosystems dependent on seasonal snow and ice are the most sensitive to changes in climate.

The six papers appeared in the April issue of the journal BioScience. The papers were tied to data gathered at sites in North America, Puerto Rico, the island of Moorea near Tahiti, and Antarctica, which are known as Long-Term Ecological Research, or LTER, sites and are funded by the National Science Foundation. CU-Boulder’s Niwot Ridge site, one of the five original LTER sites designated by NSF in 1980, encompasses several thousand acres of subalpine forest, tundra, talus slopes, glacial lakes and wetlands stretching up to more than 13,000 feet on top of the Continental Divide. (more…)

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Safe Sleep Environments Key to Preventing Many Infant Deaths, MU Researcher Says

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Since 1992, the government’s Back-to-Sleep Campaign has encouraged parents to place infants on their backs to sleep. Still, more than 4,500 infants die unexpectedly during sleep each year in the United States. Now, a University of Missouri injury prevention researcher says that safe, separate sleep environments for infants are critical to preventing sudden unexpected infant deaths (SUIDs).

“Many of these SUIDs are due to unsafe sleep environments, and these deaths are totally preventable,” said Patricia Schnitzer, an associate professor in the MU Sinclair School of Nursing. “The safest place for infants to sleep is on their backs in their own cribs without soft bedding.” (more…)

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Badwater Basin: Death Valley Microbe Thrives There

*Discovery may lead to novel biotech and nanotech uses*

Nevada, the “Silver State,” is well-known for mining precious metals.

But scientists Dennis Bazylinski and colleagues at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) do a different type of mining.

They sluice through every water body they can find, looking for new forms of microbial magnetism.

In a basin named Badwater on the edge of Death Valley National Park, Bazylinski and researcher Christopher Lefèvre hit pay dirt. (more…)

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Genetic Analysis Splits Desert Tortoise into Two Species

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – A new study shows that the desert tortoise, thought to be one species for the past 150 years, now includes two separate and distinct species, based on DNA evidence and biological and geographical distinctions.

This genetic evidence confirms previous suspicions, based on life history analysis, that tortoises west and east of the Colorado River are two separate species. (more…)

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IBM Closes on Acquisition of TRIRIGA, Inc.

*Accelerates Advanced Intelligence for Smarter Buildings Transformation*

ARMONK, N.Y., – 14 Apr 2011: IBM today announced that it has completed the acquisition of TRIRIGA, Inc., a privately-held company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Financial terms were not disclosed.

On March 22, IBM announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire TRIRIGA, a leading provider of facility and real estate management software solutions.

Many of the systems that constitute a building – heat, water, sewage, electricity and physical assets – are managed independently and often inefficiently.  Collecting, managing and analyzing data in buildings provides actionable insight to energy, space and facilities management. (more…)

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Uncertain Future for Joshua Trees Projected with Climate Change

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Temperature increases resulting from climate change in the Southwest will likely eliminate Joshua trees from 90 percent of their current range in 60 to 90 years, according to a new study led by U.S. Geological Survey ecologist Ken Cole.

The research team used models of future climate, an analysis of the climatic tolerances of the species in its current range, and the fossil record to project the future distribution of Joshua trees. The study concludes that the species could be restricted to the northernmost portion of its current range as early as the end of this century. Additionally, the ability of Joshua trees to migrate via seed dispersal to more suitable climates may be severely limited. (more…)

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