Current Science News and Events
The following is a collection of the latest news available on the world wide web. These links will lead you to sites outside of Visionlearning.
Current feeds as of 5/21/13 09:00am EST include the following.
BBC Science
Ant abilities could aid robot design
A study showing how ants tunnel their way through confined spaces could aid the design of search and rescue robots, say scientists.
Vaccine developed for farm disease
A vaccine to protect sheep and cattle from a livestock virus spread by midges has been approved by government vets.
EU bathing water 2012 data released
The latest data on EU bathing water quality is released, showing that 93% of more than 22,000 sampled locations meet the minimum standards.
Irish potato famine pest identified
Scientists have used plant samples collected in the 19th Century to identify the pathogen that caused the Irish potato famine.
UK astronaut given station date
UK astronaut Tim Peake is to fly to the International Space Station, launching on a Soyuz rocket in November or December 2015.
Tree health policy to 'stop spread'
Strengthening biosecurity at UK borders and a plant health risk register would help protect the nation's trees from pests and diseases, a report concludes.
Science Daily News
'Whodunnit' of Irish potato famine solved
An international team of scientists reveals that a unique strain of potato blight they call HERB-1 triggered the Irish potato famine of the mid-19th century.
Resistance to last-line antibiotic makes bacteria resistant to immune system
Bacteria resistant to the antibiotic colistin are also commonly resistant to antimicrobial substances made by the human body, according to a new study. Cross-resistance to colistin and host antimicrobials LL-37 and lysozyme, which help defend the body against bacterial attack, could mean that patients with life-threatening multi-drug resistant infections are also saddled with a crippled immune response.
New NOAA report examines national oil pollution threat from shipwrecks
NOAA presented to the U.S. Coast Guard a new report that finds that 36 sunken vessels scattered across the U.S. seafloor could pose an oil pollution threat to the nation's coastal marine resources. Of those, 17 were recommended for further assessment and potential removal of both fuel oil and oil cargo.
The mammoth's lament: How cosmic impact sparked devastating climate change
Researchers have found evidence of a major cosmic event near the end of the Ice Age. The ensuing climate change forced many species to adapt or die.
Women who smoke during pregnancy increase the risk of both obesity and gestational diabetes, in their daughters.
Science Magazine News Summaries
[News of the Week] Random Sample
Last week, the National Science Foundation announced the winners of the unique Graduate 10K+ initiative addressing President Barack Obama’s call for U.S. high-tech companies to help train 1 million more STEM graduates by 2020. And according to a new study, the key to environmentally friendly sources of protein may be one that makes many Westerners squirm: edible insects.
R. Graham Cooks, a chemist at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, has been awarded the 2013 Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences. And biochemist Christian de Duve, who helped reveal the internal organization and operation of cells, died on 4 May.
[News & Analysis] Biomedicine: Human Stem Cells From Cloning, Finally
This time it looks like it's for real: Researchers have made personalized human embryonic stem cells with a method similar to how Dolly the sheep was cloned—though with an added jolt of caffeine.
Author: Gretchen Vogel
[News & Analysis] Influenza: Synthetic Vaccine Strain May Speed Up Pandemic Response
Researchers publish technique that could shave up to 4 weeks off vaccine production time, which during a pandemic could save tens of thousands of lives.
Author: Kai Kupferschmidt
[News & Analysis] Glaciology: Melting Glaciers, Not Just Ice Sheets, Stoking Sea-Level Rise
A new study says that although field measurements were painting an accurate picture of the few glaciers being monitored, they were not representative of the world's glaciers.
Author: Richard A. Kerr
Science Magazine This Week in Science
Hydraulic fracturing, widely known as "fracking," is a relatively inexpensive way to tap into what were previously inaccessible natural gas resources. Vidic et al. (p. 1235009) review the current status … [Read more]
Quartz is used industrially as an abrasive, as an inert glassy material, or for high-quality crystals in microelectronics. It is also valued for its piezoelectronic properties. However, it is hard … [Read more]
During simple precipitation, molecules fall out of solution from locations of highest concentration and, consequently, the shape of the precipitate will be dictated by its crystallization thermodynamics. Noorduin et al. … [Read more]
In Gram-negative bacteria, the integrity of the outer membrane is crucial for survival and is an important aspect of resistance to antibiotics. The biogenesis of the major components lipopolysaccharide (LPS) … [Read more]
Although core components of circadian clocks in flies and mammals are transcriptional circuits, recent evidence indicates posttranscriptional regulation of the clock occurs. Studies from Lim and Allada (p. 875) and … [Read more]
