Scientists at Penn State University and the Virginia Commonwealth University have discovered a way to produce hydrogen by exposing selected clusters of aluminum atoms to water. The findings are important because they demonstrate that it is the geometries of these aluminum clusters, rather than solely their electronic properties, that govern the proximity of the clusters' exposed active sites. The proximity of the clusters' exposed sites plays an important role in affecting the clusters' reactions with water.
A new, late-ripening apple named WineCrisp carries the Vf gene for scab resistance but was developed over the past 20 plus years through classical breeding techniques, not genetic engineering - so anti science types can rest easy.
Being resistant to apple scab is a big plus for growers, said University of Illinois plant geneticist Schuyler Korban, as it significantly reduces the number of chemical fungicide sprays. "Apple scab is the number one disease that growers have to spray for – 15 to 20 times per season – so not having to spray for apple scab lowers the cost for the grower and is better for the environment."
Researchers from the Peninsula Medical School, the University of Cambridge and the University of Michigan, have for the first time identified a relationship between Vitamin D, the "sunshine vitamin", and cognitive impairment in a large-scale study of older people. The importance of these findings lies in the connection between cognitive function and dementia: people who have impaired cognitive function are more likely to develop dementia.
Positive racial role models may have an effect on school performance, according to new research by Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management professor Ray Friedman and co-authors who document what they call the “Obama Effect” - namely that the performance gap between black and white Americans in a series of online tests was dramatically reduced during key moments of the 2008 presidential campaign, when Obama’s accomplishments garnered the most national attention.
Stradivarius and his
violins are so eponymous in our culture that they have become a benchmark for quality - and the mystery of why they sound so good has
baffled competitors for centuries. After 33 years of work, a Texas A&M University professor is confident he knows the secret - chemistry.
Nearly every summary of creationism and the law that I've read includes some sort of statement to the effect that 'the judicial decisions have left the door cracked slightly open for creation science.' Two generally excellent books on the subject illustrate this phenomenon.
Edward Humes, in
Monkey Girl writes about the 1987
Edwards v. Aguillard Supreme Court decision striking down a Louisiana law requiring that "creation science" be taught. Humes quotes Scalia's rather juvenile dissent (the man couldn't help but drape his argument in insults for his colleagues), and writes:
Ever since the time of Mendel, students and the general public have struggled with how to understand the interconnection of mathematics and genetics. Not because understanding Mendelian mathematics is a difficult subject, but rather because the application of mathematics has never been the strong suit for most people.
Reginald Punnett recognized this struggle when in 1909 he introduced the Punnett square - the cornerstone of genetics education in almost every classroom. In fact, for almost 100 years now, while the science of genetics has evolved by leaps and bounds, little has changed in the way that educators teach genetics.
A team of Yale University astronomers say that galaxies stop forming stars long before their central supermassive black holes reach their most powerful stage, meaning the black holes can’t be responsible for shutting down star formation.
Astronomers believe that active galactic nuclei (AGN), the supermassive, extremely energetic black holes at the centers of many young galaxies, were responsible for shutting down star formation in their host galaxies once they grew large enough. It was thought that AGN feed on the surrounding galactic material, producing enormous amounts of energy (expelled in the form of light) and heat the surrounding material so that it can no longer cool and condense into stars.
Not a fan of the mass media? You just might not live as long, according to a BMC Medicine study of people from 29 Asian countries which says that individuals with high levels of trust in the mass media tend to be healthier.
Unless we are your mass media. We have articles for and against the health claims related to
chocolate, for example, along with articles for and against almost everything else. Sometimes life is easier if you pick a position first and just write articles that support it but scientific neutrality holds us back from that time-honored path.
There may be a simple way to address racial bias: Help people improve their ability to distinguish between faces of individuals of a different race, according to Brown University and University of Victoria researchers who say they learned this through a new measurement system and protocol they developed to train Caucasian subjects to recognize different African American faces.
"The idea is this that this sort of perceptual training gives you a new tool to address the kinds of biases people show unconsciously and may not even be aware they have," said Michael J. Tarr, the Sidney A. and Dorothea Doctors Fox Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and a professor of cognitive and linguistic sciences at Brown.
