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Here is your customized PHYSorg.com Newsletter for August 13, 2010:
Spotlight Stories Headlines
- Study predicts nanoscience will greatly increase efficiency of next-generation solar cells- Google amplifies voice commands for Android phones
- Virtual reality used to study Haiti, Baja earthquakes
- Social networking for innovators
- Trojan Horse attack on native lupine
- Innovative approach to teaching forensics helps students track and solve crimes
- Blending wind and solar meets peak energy demands
- The nano world of Shrinky Dinks
- Ocean's color affects hurricane paths
- 100-year-old Scotch pulled from frozen crate
- Europe ready to launch 3-D TV outperforming the competition
- Trusting people make better lie detectors
- Indian doctors warned of new superbug before Lancet study
- ARPA-E funding supports research on carbon dioxide removal from flue gases
- The type of interaction between species might play a fundamental part in the stability of ecological communities
Space & Earth news
Sensors more accurately map the Chesapeake Bay's forested wetlands
Two U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists have created new maps of Chesapeake Bay forested wetlands that are about 30 percent more accurate than existing maps.
NASA Releases New Image of Massive Greenland Iceberg
On Aug. 5, 2010, an enormous chunk of ice, about 251 square kilometers (97 square miles) in size, or roughly four times the size of Manhattan, broke off the Petermann Glacier along the northwestern coast of Greenland. The Petermann Glacier lost about one-quarter of its 70-kilometer-long (40-miles) floating ice shelf, according to researchers at the University of Delaware, Newark, Dela. The recently calved iceberg is the largest to form in the Arctic in 50 years.
Fires around Moscow: A satellite perspective
Space scientists at the University of Leicester have released satellite images of vast plumes of smoke emanating from the peat bog fires which are currently sweeping across central and western Russia.
Decadal survey of astronomy and astrophysics
A new report by the National Research Council identifies the highest- priority research activities for astronomy and astrophysics in the next decade that will "set the nation firmly on the path to answering profound questions about the cosmos." The decadal survey -- the Research Council's sixth -- prioritizes activities based on their ability to advance science in key areas, and for the first time also takes into account factors such as risks in technical readiness, schedule, and cost.
ARPA-E funding supports research on carbon dioxide removal from flue gases
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are using funding from the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy - also known as ARPA-E - to pursue two different, but related, approaches for removing carbon dioxide from the flue gases of coal-burning power plants.
Ocean's color affects hurricane paths
A change in the color of ocean waters could have a drastic effect on the prevalence of hurricanes, new research indicates. In a simulation of such a change in one region of the North Pacific, the study finds that hurricane formation decreases by 70 percent. That would be a big drop for a region that accounts for more than half the world's reported hurricane-force winds.
Virtual reality used to study Haiti, Baja earthquakes
(PhysOrg.com) -- Geologists at the University of California, Davis, are getting a close-up look at the effects of recent catastrophic earthquakes in Haiti and Baja California — without setting foot off campus. Virtual reality equipment at the UC Davis Keck Center for Active Visualization in Earth Sciences is allowing researchers to assess damage and predict whether faults are likely to move again in the near future.
Technology news
Oracle sues Google for patent infringement
(AP) -- Oracle Corp. said Thursday it has filed a patent and copyright-infringement lawsuit against Google Inc.
WikiLeaks preparing to release more Afghan files
(AP) -- WikiLeaks spokesman Julian Assange said Thursday his organization is preparing to release the rest of the secret Afghan war documents it has on file. The Pentagon warned that would be more damaging to security and risk more lives than the organization's initial release of some 76,000 war documents.
Hewlett-Packard cooperating in int'l bribe probe
(AP) -- Hewlett-Packard Co. said Thursday it is cooperating with U.S. and German authorities investigating allegations that three company executives used bribes to win a contract to sell computer gear to the Russian prosecutors' office.
PayPal hopes to make micropayments easier online
(AP) -- PayPal wants to make it easier to buy low-cost digital goods online, whether it's a single article on a news website or virtual items in a video game.
MySpace Music unveils `Romeo' video app
(AP) -- MySpace is further defining itself as a place to find music rather than a catchall social networking site as it launched on Thursday a music video player that plays random videos to match users' mood.
Advertisers flocking to Facebook: eMarketer
Internet research firm eMarketer on Thursday reported that advertisers are flocking to Facebook and will spend more than a billion dollars at the world's top online social network.
IBM agrees to buy Unica for $480 million
(AP) -- IBM Corp. said Friday it has agreed to buy Unica Corp., a marketing services company, for $480 million, or $21 per share.
Study uncovers every possible Rubik's Cube solution
An international team of researchers using computer time lent to them by Google has found every way the popular Rubik's Cube puzzle can be solved, and showed it can always be solved in 20 moves or less.
Europe ready to launch 3-D TV outperforming the competition
No one forgets their first 3D film experience. Some people first experienced the illusion of an extra dimension wearing red and green glasses inside an attraction at a theme park. They may have watched short films simulating dizzying rides on rollercoasters or high-speed skiing. Others may have been wowed for the first time by the 3D version of James Cameron's film Avatar.
Blending wind and solar meets peak energy demands
In parts of Texas and California, a good match between renewable energy production and peak energy demands could be obtained by combining wind power with solar power, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientist.
Innovative approach to teaching forensics helps students track and solve crimes
A novel approach to teaching forensics at the University of Toronto Mississauga's Forensic Anthropology Field School is using global positioning systems (GPS) and geographical information systems (GIS) to examine complex crime scenes.
Social networking for innovators
New collaboration and strategic innovation tools developed by European researchers will help fast-track creative ideas by networking the most competent people to tackle the job.
Medicine & Health news
Teaching robot helps children to use wheelchair
A robotic wheelchair is being developed that will help children learn to 'drive'. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation describe the testing of ROLY -RObot-assisted Learning for Young drivers - in a group of children without disabilities and one child with cerebral palsy.
Expensive new blood pressure meds no better than generics
Expensive brand-name medications to lower blood pressure are no better at preventing cardiovascular disease than older, generic diuretics, according to new long-term data from a landmark study.
Poor kidney function common among HIV-infected injection drug users
Poor kidney function is common among injection drug users, particularly those with HIV, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN). The results suggest that clinicians should monitor the kidney function of HIV-infected injection drug users and consider them candidates for medical treatments to protect their kidneys when appropriate.
Culture matters in suicidal behavior patterns and prevention, psychologist says
Women and girls in the United States consider and engage in suicidal behavior more often than men and boys, but die of suicide at lower rate - a gender paradox enabled by U.S. cultural norms of gender and suicidal behavior, according to a psychologist who spoke Thursday at the 118th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association.
Acetaminophen use in adolescents linked to doubled risk of asthma
New evidence linking the use of acetaminophen to development of asthma and eczema suggests that even monthly use of the drug in adolescents may more than double risk of asthma in adolescents compared to those who used none at all; yearly use was associated with a 50 percent increase in the risk of asthma.
US FDA head says China improving food, drug safety
(AP) -- The head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says China is improving its oversight of its exporters following a slew of scandals over bogus or substandard drugs and foods ranging from vaccines and infant formula to dog chow.
Speed electronic medical record adoption via key medical centers
Persuading influential medical centers to adopt electronic medical records helps speed adoption by their neighboring hospitals, according to the Management Insights feature in the current issue of Management Science, a flagship journal of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS®).
'The age of electronic medicine'
(PhysOrg.com) -- As part of its new iMedEd Initiative, the medical school has developed a comprehensive, iPad-based curriculum, reinventing how medicine is taught in the 21st century and becoming the first in the nation to offer entering students a completely digital, interactive learning environment.
Potential novel genetic pathway for alcoholism
A novel mutation found in a mouse gene might provide new insights into the genetic roots of alcoholism in humans, according to a study led by researchers at the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center and the University of California, San Francisco. The study is published August 12th in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics.
Immune overreaction may enable recurrent urinary tract infections
The immune system may help open the door to recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs) by overdoing its response to an initial infection, report researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The findings appear August 12 in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens.
New sporadic prion protein disease identified
A new sporadic prion protein disease has been discovered. Variably protease-sensitive prionopathy (VPSPr), as it has been named, is the second type of complete sporadic disease to be identified since Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) was reported in the 1920s. The landmark finding from the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center at Case Western Reserve University is published in the August issue of Annals of Neurology.
Selected cells from blood or bone marrow may provide a route to healing blood vessels
Isolating cells from a patient's blood or bone marrow that nourish blood vessels may be a safer and less arduous route to treatment of cardiovascular disease than obtaining rare stem cells, according to research from Emory University School of Medicine.
Memory researchers explain latest findings on improving the mind, stopping memory loss
The ability to remember is not just to glimpse into the past; a sharp memory can help with creativity, productivity and even the ability to imagine the future, according to several psychologists.
Online dating can benefit widows, professors find
Online dating profiles may serve an important role in the grieving process, say two University of Delaware communication professors. Their new study, published in the August issue of the journal Death Studies, chronicles how widowed online daters use their profiles as a place to make sense of the past while articulating a vision of a future life.
Indian doctors warned of new superbug before Lancet study
Indian doctors warned earlier this year about the threat from a new multi-drug resistant "superbug" -- months before a British study that New Delhi has condemned for scaremongering.
Biology news
Extinct mammoth tusks fill elephant ivory ban gap
Stumped by a ban designed to save elephants from extinction, Hong Kong's master carvers turned to a long dead species that left thousands of tonnes of frozen ivory in Siberian mass graves.
Plan for fingerprinting Great White Sharks
Computer scientists from the University of Bristol are collaborating with shark researchers to build an international visual biometrics database of Great White Sharks.
Combination of biological and chemical pesticides more effective than expected on malaria mosquitoes
A combination of fungal spores and chemical insecticides are an effective way of combating insecticide-resistant malaria mosquitoes. Researchers at Wageningen UR and from Benin, West Africa, have shown that fungi and insecticides reinforce each other´s efficacy, and that the effect of using a combination of both is greater than the sum of using the two methods separately. Their article in the August edition of PLoS One claims that biological and chemical methods of fighting malaria can and should be used together.
The type of interaction between species might play a fundamental part in the stability of ecological communities
Elisa Thébault and Colin Fontaine, with a research carried out at Imperial College London, Wageninen University and the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, have shown that the network architectures which favor the stability of ecological communities differ between trophic webs ("who eats who") and mutualistic webs ("who pollinates who").
Trojan Horse attack on native lupine
At Point Reyes National Seashore in Marin County, Calif., a fierce battle is taking place under the oblivious, peeling noses of beachgoers.
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