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Typhoon Haiyan May Contaminate Philippines Aquifer For Years

Typhoon Haiyan May Contaminate Philippines Aquifer For Years

Apr 17 2015 | comment(s)

In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan killed more than 6,000 people and destroying nearly $3 billion worth of property in the Philippines. While the country is still recovering from the storm, researchers have found that an aquifer on the island of Samar inundated with salt water by the storm surge could remain undrinkable for up to 10 years - a second aquifer on the island that was also inundated has recovered much more quickly.

Geology and infrastructure play key roles in determining whether aquifers that provide drinking water are inundated with seawater during a typhoon or hurricane and how long the contamination lasts.

3 Easy Steps To Making Beer The Scientific Way

3 Easy Steps To Making Beer The Scientific Way

Apr 17 2015 | comment(s)

Karin Heineman, Inside Science TV –  Beer! Most Americans choose it over all other alcoholic beverages.

It's also one of the world's oldest beverages. In fact the first evidence of beer production dates back to Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia in the fifth millennium BC. People have been brewing beer for a very long time, even before anyone really understood what turns its ingredients into alcohol.

Genetic Modification Led To Maize Roots Evolving To Be More Nitrogen Efficient

Genetic Modification Led To Maize Roots Evolving To Be More Nitrogen Efficient

Apr 17 2015 | comment(s)

Genetic modification of maize over the last century has led to desirable shoot characteristics and increased yield - and that likely contributed to the evolution of root systems that are more efficient in acquiring nutrients, such as nitrogen, from the soil, according to a new study. 

About half of the yield gains in commercial corn in the last 100 years has come from improved plant genetics, explained Larry York, a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Nottingham. The other half came largely from agronomic practices, such as fertilizer use and higher planting densities. 
Assessing Student’s Understanding of a Science Article Through Diagramming

Assessing Student’s Understanding of a Science Article Through Diagramming

Apr 17 2015 | comment(s)

The Need to Update the Article

The purpose of trying to assess the understanding of my students on alcoholic beverages, unexpectedly led to the need to update the article they read.

The Process

Professional Golf: For Most It Is A Lonely Life On A Meager Income

Professional Golf: For Most It Is A Lonely Life On A Meager Income

Apr 17 2015 | comment(s)

If you just watched the Master's Tournament in Augusta, Georgia, you saw the second-youngest player ever to win. That is a pretty good way for a young man to spend the next year.

But for most golfers, like most young baseball players, the reality is much different. 

An EPGA tour player for 12 years commented to Dr. John Fry of Myerscough College on the life: "The word that jumps in my head is lonely".
Myth: You Have To Finish All Your Antibiotics

Myth: You Have To Finish All Your Antibiotics

Apr 16 2015 | comment(s)

Recommended antibiotic courses are often arbitrary.

Most people believe – and have been told by health professionals – that it’s essential to finish a course of antibiotics to prevent antibiotic resistance.

But this advice is not only wrong, it could actually be harmful.

LEM - Newly Discovered Protein Boosts Immunity To Cancer

LEM - Newly Discovered Protein Boosts Immunity To Cancer

Apr 16 2015 | comment(s)

A newly discovered protein plays a central role in promoting immunity to viruses and cancer, according to experiments in mice and human cells.

 The hitherto unknown protein, which the researchers named lymphocyte expansion molecule, or LEM, modulates the proliferation of human T cells as well as in mice, by promoting the proliferation of cytotoxic T cells, which kill cancer cells and cells infected with viruses.

The discovery was unexpected because the new protein had no known function and doesn't resemble any other protein. Researchers from Imperial College London who led the study are now developing a gene therapy designed to boost the infection-fighting cells, and hope to begin human trials in three years. 
Do All These Health Awareness Day Campaigns Actually Help Anyone?

Do All These Health Awareness Day Campaigns Actually Help Anyone?

Apr 16 2015 | comment(s)

In 2014, there were almost 200 health awareness days, weeks or months on the 2014 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' National Health Observances calendar.  

Since there are only 250 days in a working year, that means one day each week was not given over to some kind of health awareness effort. H.H.S. says their mission is to advocate for "evidence-based" interventions for health problems, so what evidence did they use that 200 health "awareness" campaigns were making a difference? Are they really helping anyone, or is it just less-successful attempts to get people to dump water on their own heads?
No Batteries Required - New Camera Runs Forever

No Batteries Required - New Camera Runs Forever

Apr 16 2015 | comment(s)

A research team has created a prototype video camera that is fully self-powered.

Solar panels and digital cameras obviously have different purposes - one converts light to power while the other simply measures it - but both are constructed from essentially the same components. At the heart of any digital camera is an image sensor, a chip with millions of pixels. The key enabling device in a pixel is the photodiode, which produces an electric current when exposed to light. This mechanism enables each pixel to measure the intensity of light falling on it. The same photodiode is also used in solar panels to convert incident light to electric power. 

SAYE: Herbal Tea Combats Malaria

SAYE: Herbal Tea Combats Malaria

Apr 16 2015 | comment(s)

Malaria is a critical health problem in West Africa, 11 percent of deaths are related to it, but for a variety of reasons they have more confidence in alternative medicine than they do modern health care practices. 

However, some herbal medicines work and an analysis of the pharmacological properties of an herbal medication derived from Cochlospermum planchonii (a shrubby weed known as N'Dribala), Phyllanthus amarus and Cassia alata shows that it may be the case with SAYE, which means “jaundice” in the Dioula language. 

Dr. Henry Miller To Columbia: Give Oz The Boot

Dr. Henry Miller To Columbia: Give Oz The Boot

Apr 16 2015 | comment(s)


Although I have done my share of writing on Dr. Oz (much of it humorous, and some just in poor taste), the following has nothing to do with me.
Recurrent Miscarriages Could Be Linked To Body Clock Genes

Recurrent Miscarriages Could Be Linked To Body Clock Genes

Apr 16 2015 | comment(s)

It is estimated that 5% of women experience two clinical miscarriages and approximately 1% suffer three or more losses. 

Researchers at the University of Warwick and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust have found that body clock genes could affect women's ability to have children. The study pinpoints how body clock genes are temporarily switched off in the lining of the womb to allow an embryo to implant. Timing of this event is critical for pregnancy. 

Why Not Ask The Public What Works To Get People Into Clinical Trials?

Why Not Ask The Public What Works To Get People Into Clinical Trials?

Apr 16 2015 | comment(s)

While a debate was raging between scientists and government regulators on how best to explain to patients the risks of participating in clinical research studies that compare standardized treatments, a team of bioethicists boldly went where no experts had gone before -- to the public.

The response? Keep it simple, but always ask permission, even when the research only involves gathering data from anonymized medical records. 

Cannabidiol: Marijuana Extract May Bring Hope For Children With Severe Epilepsy

Cannabidiol: Marijuana Extract May Bring Hope For Children With Severe Epilepsy

Apr 16 2015 | comment(s)

A liquid form of marijuana shows promise as a treatment for children with severe epilepsy, according to a study released today which involved 213 people, ranging from toddlers to adults, with a median age of 11 who had severe epilepsy that did not respond to other treatments.

Participants had Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, epilepsy types that can lead to intellectual disability and lifelong seizures, as well as 10 other types of severe epilepsy. 

Want To Get Men Donating Online? Feature A Woman And Make It Competitive

Want To Get Men Donating Online? Feature A Woman And Make It Competitive

Apr 16 2015 | comment(s)

A real-world analysis of human behavior finds that men treat online giving as a competitive enterprise: Men will donate four times more money to an attractive female fundraiser if they feel like they are in competition with another male, which evolutionary psychologists contend is a subconscious sexual mandate based on biology.
Artificial Photosynthesis: Solar-Powered Green Chemistry Rehabilitates CO2

Artificial Photosynthesis: Solar-Powered Green Chemistry Rehabilitates CO2

Apr 16 2015 | comment(s)

A breakthrough in artificial photosynthesis has been achieved with the development of  a hybrid system of semiconducting nanowires and bacteria that can capture carbon dioxide emissions before they are vented into the atmosphere and then, powered by solar energy, convert that carbon dioxide into valuable chemical products, including biodegradable plastics, pharmaceutical drugs and liquid fuels. 

The system mimics the natural photosynthetic process by which plants use the energy in sunlight to synthesize carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and water but this artificial photosynthetic system synthesizes the combination of carbon dioxide and water into acetate, the most common building block today for biosynthesis.
For Academic Grad School Advice, Women And Minorities Should Prepare To Be Ignored

For Academic Grad School Advice, Women And Minorities Should Prepare To Be Ignored

Apr 16 2015 | comment(s)


The humanities are considered the least discriminatory academic discipline - known cases of discrimination do not reach statistical significance - but women and minorities are still collectively ignored at 1.4 times the rate of Caucasian males when seeking guidance about their futures.
Eyes Are On The James Webb Space Telescope As Hubble's 25th Anniversary Approaches

Eyes Are On The James Webb Space Telescope As Hubble's 25th Anniversary Approaches

Apr 16 2015 | comment(s)

With the 25th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope next week, people are again thinking about its big successor. The very first month that this part of Science 2.0, the communications portal, went live, in January of 2007, we had an update on the James Webb Space Telescope and it was already way behind schedule. 
New Technique Reduces Halo Effect Caused By Camera Lenses

New Technique Reduces Halo Effect Caused By Camera Lenses

Apr 16 2015 | comment(s)

In a recent study, scientists have presented a new technique that significantly reduces the halo effect that is generated when using multi-focal. contact and intra-ocular, lenses and looking at bright point sources in dark conditions.

Presbyopia is a result of natural aging and stems from a gradual thickening and decrease in elasticity of the lens inside the eye. Corrective lenses used to address presbyopia often lead to a halo effect. This is basically a glow or color light pattern observed when looking at a bright source of light in front of a dark background.

It is mostly experienced at night when people see halos around street lamps and car headlights, and it can make driving at night unsafe or even impossible in extreme cases.
Botox May Reach Central Nervous System

Botox May Reach Central Nervous System

Apr 16 2015 | comment(s)

Botulinum toxin, produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, is one of the most poisonous biological substances known, but in true' the dose makes the poison' fashion,  Botulinum neurotoxin serotype A , commonly known as Botox - took C. botulinum  from being known for the serious paralytic illness Botulism to smoothing out wrinkles due to its paralytic effect.

It's been used for decades with no serious side effects and outside cosmetic surgery is also useful for the treatment of over-active muscles and spasticity, because it promotes local and long-term paralysis, but a new study has found that some of the toxin is transported via our nerves back to the central nervous system.