The ability to distinguish between odors declines steadily with age, but a new study shows that African-Americans have a much greater decrease in their sense of smell than Caucasians. This can have serious consequences. Olfactory loss often leads to impaired nutrition. It also may be an early warning sign of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's, and can predict death.
Heavens
Infrared imagery from NASA's Aqua satellite on June 11 showed that Tropical Depression Yagi's strongest quadrant was east of its center. However, since them the storm has weakened after running into an upper-level low pressure area and cooler waters.
TAMPA, Fla.
Vitamin C may substantially reduce bronchoconstriction caused by exercise, says Dr. Harri Hemila from the University of Helsinki, Finland. Hemila's meta-analysis "Vitamin C may alleviate exercise-induced bronchoconstriction" was published in BMJ Open (7 June, 2013)
The Swiss are justly famed for their craftsmanship when creating extremely precise pieces of technology. Now a Swiss team from the Geneva Observatory has achieved extraordinary precision using a comparatively small 1.2-metre telescope for an observing programme stretching over many years. They have discovered a new class of variable stars by measuring minute variations in stellar brightness.
WASHINGTON, DC (June 12, 2013)—A fifteen minute walk after each meal appears to help older people regulate blood sugar levels and could reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to a new study by researchers at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS). The study, published today in Diabetes Care, found that three short post-meal walks were as effective at reducing blood sugar over 24 hours as a 45-minute walk of the same easy-to-moderate pace.
Landsat has seen a lot in its day. In one spot of desert, where the Rio Grande marks the border between the United States and Mexico, the satellite program captured hundreds of images of fields turning green with the season, new developments expanding from El Paso, Texas, and clouds moving over the neighboring mountains.
DURHAM, N.H. –- Space scientists from the University of New Hampshire (UNH) and the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) report that data gathered by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) show lighter materials like plastics provide effective shielding against the radiation hazards faced by astronauts during extended space travel. The finding could help reduce health risks to humans on future missions into deep space.
Tropical Storm Andrea formed on the late afternoon of June 5th, 2013 from a trough of low pressure that had persisted for several days over the southeast Gulf of Mexico. This trough extended out over the Gulf from the Yucatan Peninsula and provided the focus for the development of showers and thunderstorms in the region, eventually leading to the formation of Tropical Storm Andrea.
Using star-shaped block co-polymer structures as tiny reaction vessels, researchers have developed an improved technique for producing nanocrystals with consistent sizes, compositions and architectures – including metallic, ferroelectric, magnetic, semiconductor and luminescent nanocrystals. The technique relies on the length of polymer molecules and the ratio of two solvents to control the size and uniformity of colloidal nanocrystals.
The Fourmile fire located 20 miles northeast of Morenci, Arizona is basically a grass fire. Currently it is over 5000 acres in size and is not contained at all. Because of the hot, dry conditions, the potential for growth of this fire is high. Officials are estimating that containment of this fire will be on or about June 15, 2013.
Tropical Storm Yagi is not expected to make landfall in Japan, but NASA satellite imagery showed that the storm was just south of the big island.
NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Tropical Storm Yagi on Tuesday, June 11 at 04:10 UTC (12:10 a.m. EDT/1:10 p.m. Japan local time) and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument captured a visible image of the storm. The image showed that clouds associated with the northern fringes of the storm were draped over southeastern coastal Japan.
Vancouver, British Columbia – The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging's 2013 Annual Meetingmarks the unveiling of the successful application of a new preclinical hybrid molecular imaging system—single photon emission tomography and magnetic resonance (SPECT/MR)—which has exceptional molecular imaging capabilities in terms of potential preclinical and clinical applications, technological advancement at a lower cost, and reduction of patient exposure to ionizing radiation.
AKRON, OHIO, June 10, 2013 – It's not going to happen while you're peering through your binoculars, but African glossy starlings change color more than 10 times faster than their ancestors and even their modern relatives, according to researchers at The University of Akron and Columbia University. And these relatively rapid changes have led to new species of birds with color combinations previously unseen, according to the study funded in part by the National Science Foundation and published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA.
Most of the matter in the universe may be made out of particles that possess an unusual, donut-shaped electromagnetic field called an anapole.
This proposal, which endows dark matter particles with a rare form of electromagnetism, has been strengthened by a detailed analysis performed by a pair of theoretical physicists at Vanderbilt University: Professor Robert Scherrer and post-doctoral fellow Chiu Man Ho. An article about the research was published online last month by the journal Physics Letters B.