Tech | Page 1526 | Science Codex

Overfertilizing corn undermines ethanol

Rice University scientists and their colleagues have found that when growing corn crops for ethanol, more means less.

A new paper in today's online edition of the American Chemical Society's journal Environmental Science and Technology shows how farmers can save money on fertilizer while they improve their production of feedstock for ethanol and alleviate damage to the environment.

The research has implications for an industry that has grown dramatically in recent years to satisfy America's need for energy while trying to cut the nation's reliance on fossil fuels.

Model for managing asthma in preschoolers leads to dramatic drop in ER visits and hospitalizations

February 25, 2011 -- Nearly one in eleven (8.6%) preschool children in the U.S. has been diagnosed with asthma and in some inner city neighborhoods, the figure is closer to one in seven. But, few asthma management programs are designed for parents of preschool children.

New kind of optical fiber developed

A team of scientists led by John Badding, a professor of chemistry at Penn State University, has developed the very first optical fiber made with a core of zinc selenide -- a light-yellow compound that can be used as a semiconductor. The new class of optical fiber, which allows for a more effective and liberal manipulation of light, promises to open the door to more versatile laser-radar technology.

Happy children make happy adults

Being a 'happy' teenager is linked to increased well-being in adulthood, new research finds.

Much is known about the associations between a troubled childhood and mental health problems, but little research has examined the affect of a positive childhood. For the first time, researchers from the University of Cambridge and the MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing have analysed the link between a positive adolescence and well-being in midlife.

Drier conditions projected to accelerate dust storms in the southwest

MOAB, Utah — Drier conditions projected to result from climate change in the Southwest will likely reduce perennial vegetation cover and result in increased dust storm activity in the future, according to a new study by scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of California, Los Angeles.

Adverse drug events costly to health care system: Vancouver Coastal Health-UBC research

Patients who suffer an adverse medical event arising from the use or misuse of medications are more costly to the health care system than other emergency department (ED) patients, say physicians and research scientists at Vancouver General Hospital and UBC. Their research, the first to examine the health outcomes and cost of patient care for patients presenting to the ED with adverse drug events, is published today in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.

UK stroke care is improving, but inequalities still exist

The quality of stroke care in the UK is improving, but significant inequalities still exist, warns a new study published on bmj.com today.

Previous reports have suggested that the quality of UK stroke care is improving, but there is limited information on trends of care from population-based studies. So a team of researchers in London assessed the provision of acute stroke care for 3,800 patients registered on the south London stroke register between 1995 and 2009.

ONR's TechSolutions creating green ideas that light up ships and submarines

ARLINGTON, Va. - One Sailor's request to replace humming fluorescent bulbs with a quiet alternative inspired the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to create the Solid State Lighting (SSL) project, currently being evaluated aboard several ships and submarines across the U.S. Navy.

A product of ONR's TechSolutions program, SSL is one of several rapid-response technologies created using recommendations and suggestions from Navy and Marine Corps personnel. (Watch TechSolutions products in action via YouTube.)

MIT scientists say ocean currents cause microbes to filter light

Cambridge, MA- Adding particles to liquids to make currents visible is a common practice in the study of fluid mechanics. The approach was adopted and perfected by artist Paul Matisse in sculptures he calls Kalliroscopes. Matisse's glass-enclosed liquid sculptures contain an object whose movement through the liquid creates whorls that can be seen only because elongated particles trailing the object align with the direction of the current; light reflects off the particles, making the current visible to the viewer.

Migrating sea turtles have magnetic sense for longitude

From the very first moments of life, hatchling loggerhead sea turtles have an arduous task. They must embark on a transoceanic migration, swimming from the Florida coast eastward to the North Atlantic and then gradually migrating over the course of several years before returning again to North American shores. Now, researchers reporting online on February 24 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, have figured out how the young turtles find their way.

Enzyme cocktail could eliminate a step in biofuel process

Conversion of biomass to fuel requires several steps: chemical pretreatment to break up the biomass – often dilute (sulfuric) acid, detoxification to remove the toxic chemicals required in pretreatment, and microbial fermentation to convert the soluble sugars to fuels.

Lack of health insurance limits hepatitis C patients' access to latest antiviral therapy

New research has determined that patients in the U.S. with hepatitis C virus (HCV) are twice as likely to not have health insurance coverage compared with those without the disease. In fact researchers found only a third of HCV infected Americans have access to antiviral therapy; the remaining are either uninsured or not candidates for therapy due to treatment contraindications. Details of this study are published in the March issue of Hepatology, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD).

Entire T-cell receptor repertoire sequenced revealing extensive and unshared diversity

February 24, 2011 – T-cell receptor diversity in blood samples from healthy individuals has been extensively cataloged for the first time in a study published online today in Genome Research (www.genome.org), setting the stage for a better understanding of infectious disease, cancer, and immune system disorders.

Lasers ID deadly skin cancer better than doctors

DURHAM, N.C. – High-resolution images from a laser-based tool developed at Duke University could help doctors better diagnose melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, while potentially saving thousands of lives and millions of dollars in unnecessary healthcare costs each year.

The tool probes skin cells using two lasers to pump small amounts of energy, less than that of a laser pointer, into a suspicious mole. Scientists analyze the way the energy redistributes in the skin cells to pinpoint the microscopic locations of different skin pigments.

Quantum hot potato: Researchers entice 2 atoms to swap smallest energy units

BOULDER, Colo.—Physicists at the NationalInstitute of Standards and Technology(NIST) have for the first time coaxed twoatoms in separate locations to take turnsjiggling back and forth while swapping thesmallest measurable units of energy. Bydirectly linking the motions of two physicallyseparated atoms, the technique has thepotential to simplify information processing infuture quantum computers and simulations.