Category Archives: Science
Sun’s sudden dimness causes concerns among scientists
Over the last few weeks the solar activity has been very minimal and based on the observations made over past 100 years, Sun’s brightness has dimmed down over past few weeks.
The scientists watching the events closely as many of them believe this could be sign of next little ice age.The last time the little ice [...]
Artificial Blood Vessels Prove Effective
Scientists report today that artificial blood vessels made using a person’s own skin cells work well in patients receiving kidney dialysis. The new blood vessels mark the first vascular grafts to be derived entirely from a patient’s own tissues, which lowers the odds of a harmful immune reaction.
To speed the procedure of renal dialysis doctors [...]
Antioxidant in Berries Stops Wrinkles
New research presented at the Experimental Biology 2009 meeting being held in New Orleans that a specific type of antioxidant phytochemical called ellagic acid holds the promise of enhancing our bodies on the outside. In fact, it may hold the key to successfully slowing down or even stopping skin aging.
Researchers in the laboratory of Dr. [...]
Scientist discover an Earth-like planet
In the search for Earth-like planets, astronomers zeroed in on two places that look awfully familiar to home. One is close to the right size. The other is in the right place. European researchers said they not only found the smallest exoplanet ever, called Gliese 581 e, but realized that a neighboring planet discovered earlier, [...]
Study Finds Pattern of Severe Droughts in Africa
For at least 3,000 years, a drumbeat of potent droughts, far longer and more severe than any experienced recently, have seared a belt of sub-Saharan Africa that is now home to tens of millions of the world’s poorest people, climate researchers report in a new study.
The last such drought, persisting more than three centuries, ended [...]
Earth’s forests at risk of moving to CO2 source
A report to be presented at the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) on April 20 will canvas the possibility that the world’s forests may move from being important carbon “sinks” to a net source of CO2.
The study: ‘Adaptation of Forests and People to Climate Change – A Global Assessment’ was put together by the [...]
Ancient frozen ecosystem produces blood-red ice flows
A microbial ecosystem has been trapped under an Antarctic glacier for over a million years. Researchers have now figured out what fuels these bacteria thanks to a shift that has brought bright red, iron-rich ice to the surface.
The McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica are considered one of the least hospitable places on Earth; NASA has [...]
New Cholera strain found in India
A highly virulent and deadly form of cholera strain — the El Tol hybrid — has now been found in India. First discovered in Bangladesh in 2006 and subsequently found in parts of Africa, this recombinant strain is more dangerous than all its predecessors, with the power to kill more people and cause prolonged outbreaks.
Scientists [...]
Charles Darwin’s egg collection found at Cambridge University
Researchers have known that the naturalist collected 16 bird eggs during his trip between 1831 and 1836 but all were thought to be lost.
But one sample – that of the Tinamou bird of Uruguay – has been discovered by a volunteer as she catalogued a collection at the Zoology Museum.
The records seem to indicate that [...]
Arctic Sea Ice is thinning says NASA
Arctic sea ice is not only shrinking in coverage area; it’s also thinning, according to a report and satellite images jointly released on Monday by NASA and the NASA-supported National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado.
The Arctic basin is covered in a thick semipermanent sea ice, which is covered in thin [...]
Batteries Powered by Viruses
Typically a battery functions with lithium ions flowing between a negatively charged anode, usually graphite, and the positively charged cathode, usually cobalt oxide or lithium iron phosphate. But three years ago, an MIT team reported that it had engineered viruses that could build an anode by coating themselves with cobalt oxide and gold and self-assembling [...]
An ice shelf vanished in Antartica
One Antarctic ice shelf has quickly vanished, another is disappearing and glaciers are melting faster than anyone thought due to climate change, U.S. and British government researchers reported on Friday.
They said the Wordie Ice Shelf, which had been disintegrating since the 1960s, is gone and the northern part of the Larsen Ice Shelf no longer [...]
Cell Renew in the Human Heart
By monitoring carbon 14 emitted from Cold War-era nuclear bomb tests, researchers found that heart muscle cells continue to divide throughout adulthood, shows a study appearing in the April 3 Science. The low-level cell renewal may eventually be exploited to treat damaged hearts, says study coauthor Jonas Frisén of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.
The finding [...]
Vegetarian diet might lead to eating disorder
Young vegetarians consuming plenty of fruits and vegetables are eating a healthy diet but they may also have an increased risk of spree eating and other unusual behaviors, researchers said. Despite its proven health benefits, a vegetarian diet might in fact be masking an underlying eating disorder.
After examining the diets, weight and drug and alcohol [...]
TB enzyme decoded to develop new drugs
Scientists have decoded the unique structure and mechanism of a tuberculosis enzyme, paving way for development of new drugs to combat active and latent tuberculosis infections. Barbara Gerratana, assistant chemistry and biochemistry professor in Maryland University College of Chemical and Life Sciences, led the research team, which included her graduate student Melissa Resto and assistant [...]
Landing day for space shuttle Discovery
Discovery and its crew are scheduled to touch down at NASA’s Florida spaceport early Saturday afternoon. Favorable weather is expected.
The seven astronauts are winding up a 13-day mission that was highlighted by the successful installation and unfurling of the space station’s last pair of solar wings. The $300 million addition brought the orbiting outpost up [...]
Scientists discover new possibilities for hydrogen-producing algae
Researchers studying a hydrogen-producing, single-celled green algae, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, have unmasked a previously unknown fermentation pathway that may open up possibilities for increasing hydrogen production.
Normally, only a small fraction of the electrons go into generating hydrogen during fermentation.
However, a major research goal has been to develop ways to increase this fraction, which would raise the [...]
