A comprehensive new study documents in detail the dynamics of parts of Greenland’s ice sheet, important data that have long been missing from the ice sheet models on which projections about sea level rise and global warming are based.

The research is published this month in the Journal of Glaciology, also demonstrates how remote sensing and digital imaging techniques can produce rich datasets without field data in some cases.

Traditionally, ice sheet models are very simplified, according to Beata Csatho, Ph.D., assistant professor of geology and lead author of the paper. The implications of these richer datasets may be dramatic, Csatho said, especially as they impact climate projections and sea-level rise estimates, such as those made by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The traditional idea of the balance of nature gets quite a beating by a study that appears in the current issue of Nature. Using a long-term laboratory experiment, the authors conclude that, even under constant conditions, all species in a food web continued to fluctuate in a chaotic fashion. Chaos makes long-term prediction of species abundances impossible.

Theoretical ecologists already argued in the 1970s that populations of plants and animals might fluctuate in an unpredictable manner, even without external influences. These predictions, derived from chaos theory, attracted a lot of debate. However, only few scientists believed that species in real ecosystems would truly fluctuate in a chaotic fashion.

BARCELONA, Spain and SUNNYVALE, California, February 13 /PRNewswire/ --

mywaves, the largest mobile video destination, today announced that its free mobile video service was selected as the best mobile video service by the GSMA Mobile World Congress. In winning the award, mywaves beat out mobile media powerhouses including MTV International, Sony Pictures Television International, Telestra Corporation and Vodafone. The award was given at the Global Mobile Awards Gala Dinner during the GSMA Mobile World Congress (previously 3GSM), one of the world's largest communications conferences.

BARCELONA, Spain, February 13 /PRNewswire/ --

China Mobile announced today that it is set to join LTE (Long Term Evolution) trials already being carried out by Vodafone and Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone.

The resultant three-way operator trials will focus on LTE FDD (the Frequency Division Duplex version of LTE) for use with paired spectrum allocations and TD-LTE (the Time Division Duplex version of LTE) as an evolution of current TD-SCDMA technology to enable the exploitation of unpaired spectrum globally.

BARCELONA , Mobile World Congress, February 13 /PRNewswire/ -- When used as an LTE protocol tester, the R&S CMW500 delivers multiple benefits to chipset and wireless device manufacturers - in every phase of UMTS LTE-compliant protocol development. Benefits include significant cost reductions for the entire development of UMTS LTE wireless devices because the protocol stack can be checked at an early stage. Furthermore, the protocol tester reduces time to market since hardware and software can be co-developed, tested and fine-tuned simultaneously.

Contrary to some reports, the epilepsy drug oxcarbazepine does not appear to prevent migraine, according to research published in the February 12, 2008, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

The nearly five-month study involved 170 men and women at clinics across the United States with half of the group receiving a daily dose of oxcarbazepine; the other half took placebo. Both groups included people who had three to nine migraine attacks within a month.

Researchers found no difference between the oxcarbazepine and placebo groups in the change in the number of migraine attacks from the beginning to the end of the study.

A study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences claims to have solved this scientific riddle by analysing the genomics of primitive living fishes such as sharks and lampreys and their spineless relatives, such as the sea squirts.

Vertebrates - animals such as humans that possess a backbone - are the most anatomically and genetically complex of all organisms, but explaining how they achieved this complexity has vexed scientists since the conception of evolutionary theory.

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil, February 13 /PRNewswire/ --

Production

In 2007, the production of crude steel (slabs, blooms and billets) totaled 17.9 million tonnes, an increase of 13.6% as compared to 2006. This increase in volume is partially due to the improvement in the operations of the several regions in which Gerdau operates and also the consolidation of new companies acquired during 2007.

The production of rolled products reached 15.2 million tonnes, 18.4% greater than the production in 2006.

Sales

NEW YORK, February 13 /PRNewswire/ --

- Awardees Set Example for Innovation in Developing Countries and the Academic Workplace

The Elsevier Foundation has announced today that it has committed a total of US$594,000 in grants to thirteen institutions from around the world in support of initiatives that promote the work of libraries and scholars in science, technology and medicine. The recipient programs were selected from over 150 applicants worldwide for their innovation and potential for impact in the developing world and the academic workplace.

LUGANO, Switzerland, February 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Helsinn Healthcare SA, a Swiss pharmaceutical group, today announced that it has signed a Distribution and License Agreement for Aloxi(R) (Palonosetron hydrochloride) and Gelclair(R) in Germany with Riemser Arzneimittel AG, a medium-sized pharmaceutical group engaging in research, headquartered in the West Pomeranian town of Greifswald - Island of Riems, Germany.