The simple formula we've learned in recent years – forests remove the greenhouse gas CO2 from the atmosphere; therefore forests prevent global warming – may not be quite as simple as we thought. Forests can directly absorb and retain heat, and, in at least one type of forest, these effects may be strong enough to cancel out a good part of the benefit in lowered CO2. This is a conclusion of a paper that will be published tomorrow, Friday 22, in Science by scientists in the Weizmann Institute's Faculty of Chemistry.
Heavens
Some Canadian shorebirds have had to get fit or die trying. Research published in the open access journal BMC Ecology has found that the average Pacific dunlin has lost weight and spends more time in flight as a response to the increased threat of predation from their arch-enemy, the peregrine falcon.
Tropical Depression 01W wasn't very well organized when it made landfall earlier today, and is dissipating as it now moves from Vietnam westward into Cambodia.
The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission or TRMM satellite has noticed that Tropical Depression 01W's (TD01W) rainfall is now light and very widely scattered. In addition, the low level center of the storm has been dislocated to the west of the area of precipitation as a result of wind shear.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- For decades, astronomers have analyzed the impact that asteroids could have on Earth. New research by MIT Professor of Planetary Science Richard Binzel examines the opposite scenario: that Earth has considerable influence on asteroids — and from a distance much larger than previously thought. The finding helps answer an elusive, decades-long question about where most meteorites come from before they fall to Earth and also opens the door to a new field study of asteroid seismology.
Few objects in the sky have been as well named as the Cat's Paw Nebula, a glowing gas cloud resembling the gigantic pawprint of a celestial cat out on an errand across the Universe. British astronomer John Herschel first recorded NGC 6334 in 1837 during his stay in South Africa. Despite using one of the largest telescopes in the world at the time, Herschel seems to have only noted the brightest part of the cloud, seen here towards the lower left.
New York City--Athletes put less strain on their anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) while making a cut on a natural grass surface while wearing a cleat.
This is the conclusion from a study by investigators at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) that tested the strain placed on the ACL of four different shoe-surface interactions: Astroturf/turf shoe, modern playing turf/turf shoe, modern turf/cleat, and natural grass/cleat. The study appears in the January 2010 issue of the Journal of Biomechanical Engineering.
Treadmill training can be used to help people with Parkinson's disease achieve better walking movements, say researchers. In a systematic review of the evidence, Cochrane Researchers concluded treadmill training could be used to improve specific gait parameters in Parkinson's patients.
Berkeley, CA — Weak gravitational lensing is a uniquely promising way to learn how much dark matter there is in the Universe and how its distribution has evolved since the distant past. New work by a team led by a cosmologist from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has made major progress in extending the use of gravitational lensing to the study of much older and smaller structures than was previously possible.
Computer simulations for drought-prone areas reveal that when urban water planners combine three approaches of buying water -- permanent rights, options and leases -- the city avoids surplus water and high costs, and reduces shortages, according to civil engineers.
"Just like with stock portfolios, if you buy diverse stocks, you diversify your risk," said Patrick Reed, associate professor of civil engineering, Penn State. "Right now, cities don't necessarily diversify their risk through the ways in which they buy water."
Attaching cartilage to plates made of the resorbable material polydioxanone appears to facilitate corrective surgery on the nasal septum, the thin cartilage separating the two airways, according to a report in the January/February issue of Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
During the first three weeks in January, the latest in the series of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites also known as GOES-P is being processed and prepped for launch. Meanwhile, the first and second stages of the Delta IV rocket that will carry it into orbit, are being assembled on the launch pad.
Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common chronic disease of the world and the prevalence of diabetes mellitus is over 10% in Taiwan. Gastroparesis is reported in 5% to 12% of diabetic patients. Superior mesenteric artery (SMA) syndrome is an uncommon disease resulting compression of the third portion of the duodenum from the superior mesenteric artery. However, SMA syndrome can cause the same symptoms as diabetic gastroparesis.
Boulder, Colo. -- Jan. 14, 2010 -- On Nov. 13, the European Space Agency's comet orbiter spacecraft, Rosetta, swooped by Earth for its third and final gravity assist on the way to humankind's first rendezvous to orbit and study a comet in more detail than has ever been attempted.
Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) developed "Sea Node" has completed the Trident Warrior 2009 Exercise and officially received a positive Military Utility Assessment. The Sea-Node System adds FORCENet Capability to the AN/SSX-1 Electronic Support (ES) systems to enable collaborative applications, such as geo-locating coastal radars, as well as to improve situational awareness and reduce operator workload. The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is the sponsoring organization. The Trident Warrior exercise is performed annually under NETWARCOM's leadership.
When people look for things that are rare, they aren't all that good at finding them. And it turns out that the reverse is also true: When people look for something common, they will often think they see it even when it isn't there. A new report published online on January 14th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, offers new insight into why this happens and may suggest some simple methods to help airport security personnel looking for weapons and radiologists looking for tumors get better at their jobs, according to the researchers.