Tag Archives: university

Roots of Deadly 2010 India Flood Identified; Findings Could Improve Warnings

By Guest PostNovember 14, 2012Environmentarabian sea, bay, bengal, big thompson canyon, black hills, clouds, colorado, desert, dramatic rain, flash flood, himalayas, indian town, kristen rasmussen, leh, moisture, mountain, natural disaster, plains, reanalysis data, remote region, robert houze, satellite images, south dakota, storms, tibetan plateau, torrential downpour, total rainfall, university, valley, warning, Washington, weather forecaster

On the night of Aug. 5, 2010, as residents slept, water began rushing through Leh, an Indian town in a high desert valley in the Himalayas.

Average total rainfall in the area for August is about a half-inch. During this 24-hour period more than 8 inches fell, causing severe damage and leaving 193 dead, hundreds missing and thousands homeless.

“Flash flooding events don’t happen often but when they do they are some of the scariest, most dangerous and quickest natural disasters that can happen,” said Kristen Rasmussen, a University of Washington graduate student in atmospheric sciences. “But now that we know what types of conditions to look out for, flash flood warnings in remote regions of India might be possible.” (more…)

Preschoolers’ Counting Abilities Relate to Future Math Performance, MU Researcher Says

By Guest PostNovember 13, 2012Education, Scienceadults, alphabet, carrots, chronological order, cognitive activity, data, elementary school, essential skill, future success, louis manfra, math score, math skills, memory, missouri, number, numerical values, object, quantity, reciting numbers, set, university, young children

Counting, in addition to reciting, should be emphasized in early childhood education to establish foundation for future academic success

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Along with reciting the days of the week and the alphabet, adults often practice reciting numbers with young children. Now, new research from the University of Missouri suggests reciting numbers is not enough to prepare children for math success in elementary school. The research indicates that counting, which requires assigning numerical values to objects in chronological order, is more important for helping preschoolers acquire math skills.

“Reciting means saying the numbers from memory in chronological order, whereas counting involves understanding that each item in the set is counted once and that the last number stated is the amount for the entire set,” said Louis Manfra, an assistant professor in MU’s Department of Human Development and Family Studies. “When children are just reciting, they’re basically repeating what seems like a memorized sentence. When they’re counting, they’re performing a more cognitive activity in which they’re associating a one-to-one correspondence with the object and the number to represent a quantity.” (more…)

Berkeley Lab Scientists Help Develop Promising Therapy for Huntington’s Disease

By Guest PostNovember 11, 2012Healthalzheimers, antidepressants, bacterial membrane, berkeley lab, cells, cerebral cortex, chemist, coenzyme q, cognitive decline, compound, cynthia mcmurray, DNA, genetic disorder, genetic mutation, huntingtons disease, loss, mice, mitochondria, mitochondrial function, molecules, motor coordination, motor skills, muscle coordination, neurodegenerative diseases, neuron, organelle, oxidative damage, parkinson's, peter wipf, pittsburgh, power plant, reactive oxygen species, striatum, suppress, survival, symptoms, synthetic antioxidant, university, untreated neuronal cultures, vitamin e, xjb 5 131, xjb treated mice, zhiyin xun

Initial results in mice could lead to new way to fight neurodegenerative diseases

There’s new hope in the fight against Huntington’s disease. A group of researchers that includes scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have designed a compound that suppresses symptoms of the devastating disease in mice.

The compound is a synthetic antioxidant that targets mitochondria, an organelle within cells that serves as a cell’s power plant. Oxidative damage to mitochondria is implicated in many neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s. (more…)

Improving Batteries

By Guest PostNovember 10, 2012Sciencebattery systems, block copolymer, conducting membranes, conductivity, delaware, doctoral student, improve, innate properties, kipp gutshall, lightweight, lithium battery, mechanical strength, membrane, nanoscale, structure, temperature stability, thermal properties, thomas epps, university, wei fan kuan

UD doctoral student studies ways to improve lithium battery performance

Lithium batteries are used in many devices such as cell phones, computers and cameras, among others.

University of Delaware doctoral student Wei-Fan Kuan is investigating ways to improve membranes used in lithium batteries by capitalizing on the innate properties of block copolymers.

It is work that he believes will become increasingly important as the components in electronic devices continue to get smaller. (more…)

Compound in Grapes, Red Wine Could be Key to Fighting Prostate Cancer

By Guest PostNovember 10, 2012Healthaggressive tumor, animal model, cancer, cardiovascular health, cell, chemotherapy, clinical trials, compound, granzyme b, grape skins, grocery stores, human health, michael nicholl, missouri, perforin, prostate cancer, prostate tumor, proteins, radiation therapy, radiation treatment, red wine, resveratrol, stroke prevention, therapeutic agent, university

MU researcher finds that prostate tumor cells are more susceptible to treatment after being exposed to resveratrol, a compound found in grape skins and red wine.

Resveratrol, a compound found commonly in grape skins and red wine, has been shown to have several beneficial effects on human health, including cardiovascular health and stroke prevention. Now, a University of Missouri researcher has discovered that the compound can make prostate tumor cells more susceptible to radiation treatment, increasing the chances of a full recovery from all types of prostate cancer, including aggressive tumors.

“Other studies have noted that resveratrol made tumor cells more susceptible to chemotherapy, and we wanted to see if it had the same effect for radiation therapy,” said Michael Nicholl, an assistant professor of surgical oncology in the MU School of Medicine. “We found that when exposed to the compound, the tumor cells were more susceptible to radiation treatment, but that the effect was greater than just treating with both compounds separately.” (more…)

Barley getting by

By Guest PostNovember 4, 2012Sciencebarley genome, crops, cycle, disease resistance, drought, euphrates, farmers, fertile crescent, food security, function, fungus, fusarium, gary muehlbauer, genes, heat tolerance, idaho, malting quality, mediterranean coast, mesopotamia, minnesota, montana, nile valley, nitrogen use, nomads, north dakota, persian gulf, pests, planet, plant genetics, sequencing, tigris, university, valley, western world, yield

Sequencing the barley genome will sow many benefits

Some 10,000 years ago, people found they didn’t have to live as nomads, hunting and gathering all their food. In the Fertile Crescent, they started planting crops.

The Fertile Crescent extended from the Nile Valley and along the eastern Mediterranean Coast, through the Tigris and Euphrates valleys of Mesopotamia and down to the Persian Gulf. There, the foundation crops of the Western World were first domesticated. (more…)

Half of Texans Prefer Faith over Science, According to UT/Texas Tribune Poll

By Guest PostNovember 2, 2012Politicsabortion, academics, austin, birth control, contemporary politics, daron shaw, democratic party, faith, gun control, ideology, james henson, manhattan project, methodology, partisan difference, polarization, political divisions, politicians, poll result, public policy, republican party, scientific evidence, scientists, survey, texas, texas politics project, texas voters, tribune poll, university

AUSTIN, Texas — About half of Texas voters believe faith is a better guide than scientific evidence on most important questions, according to a recent University of Texas at Austin/Texas Tribune poll.

According to the poll, which surveyed Texans on a wide range of attitudes related to science and public policy, a similar proportion of voters said that “instinct and gut reactions” are just as good as the advice of scientists in most cases.

However, 66 percent of voters said politicians, when faced with a difficult decision, should follow the advice of relevant experts, even if it means going against their ideology. (more…)

Long-Term Sea Level Rise Could Cost Washington, D.C. Billions

By Guest PostNovember 2, 2012Environment100 years, air force base, annual rate, bilal ayyub, bolling, capital, city, climate change, commercial property, damage, dc, extreme weather, federal bureau, geographic information system, gis, global warming, government infrastructure, hurricane sandy, intensity, internal revenue service, investigation, isabel, justice department, maryland, millennium, naeem qureshi, northern virginia, property, real estate, rise, risk analysis, sea level, storms, tool, tropical storm, university, Washington

College Park, MD – A University of Maryland study projects that Washington, D.C. city and federal property could suffer billions of dollars in damage if sea level rise from global warming increases over the next century. Potential for significant damage will be even greater in the event of extreme weather like Hurricane Sandy

The study by Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Bilal Ayyub, Haralamb Braileanu and Naeem Qureshi, of the Clark School of Engineering’s Center for Technology and Systems Management, looks at possible long term effects of projected sea level rise on Washington, D.C. real-estate property and government infrastructure. They conclude that over the next 100 years, continuing sea level rise could cause damages of more than $24.6 billion to Washington’s commercial property, museums, and government agencies. (more…)