From CBC | Technology & Science News:
The key parts of gluten that are toxic to people with celiac disease have been identified, a discovery which Australian researchers say opens the door to a more targeted treatment. People with celiac disease are currently required to refrain
From Discovery News - Top Stories:
A potential cyclone forced managers of the BP oil disaster Thursday to draw up plans to evacuate deep-sea engineers trying to permanently seal the gusher and to protect the blown-out well. The National Hurricane Center said a storm system over
Not Exactly Pocket Science is a set of shorter write-ups of new stories with links to more detailed takes by the world’s best journalists and bloggers. It is meant to complement the usual fare of detailed pieces that are typical for this blog.
Frogs evolved to jump before they perfected landings
Most frogs are can leap large distances in a single bound, jumping forward with a thrust of their powerful hind legs and landing gracefully on their front ones. But it wasn’t always like this. A study of one of the most primitive groups of frogs suggests that the first frogs landed in an awkward belly-flop. These animals evolved to jump before they perfected their landings.
Virtually all frogs jump and land in the same way. But Richard Essner Jr from Southern Illinous University discovered a unique leaping style in the Rocky Mountain tailed frog. This species belongs to a group called the leiopelmatids, more commonly (and accurately) known as the “primitive frogs”. Using high-speed video footage, Essner showed that the tailed frog’s landings are an awkward mix of belly-flops, face-plants and lengthy skids. Only when it grinds to a halt does it gather its outstretched limbs together. By contrast, two more advanced species – the fire-bellied toad and the northern leopard frog – rotate their limbs forward in mid-air to land gracefully. The tailed frog managed to jump a similar distance, but its recovery time was longer.
These results support the idea that frogs eventually evolved their prodigious jumping abilities to escape from danger by rapidly diving into water. Landings hardly matter when you’re submerged and the ability to pull them off elegantly only evolved later. Essner thinks that doing so was fairly simple – if the tailed frog starts pulling its legs in just slightly earlier, it would land with far more poise. This simple innovation was probably a critical one in frog evolution. The primitive frogs never got there, but they have other ways of coping with their clumsy crash-landings. They’ve stayed very small to limit the injuries they sustain, and they have large shield-shaped piece of cartilage on their undersides to protect their soft vital organs.
Reference: Naturwissenschaften http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00114-010-0697-4; Video by Essner; soundtrack by me.
More on frogs: Tree frogs shake their bums to send threatening vibes, pesticide-stricken frogs, ‘Wolverine’ frogs, a lungless frog, and seven habits of highly successful toads
Changing climate fattens marmots
The media is rife with tales of animals from polar bears to corals suffering as a result of climate change. But some species stand to gain from the rising global temperatures. In Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, warmer climes allow the yellow-bellied marmot to awaken from its winter hibernation earlier. With more time available to eat, they become bigger and so do their populations. In just three decades, their numbers have tripled.
Arpat Ozgul from Imperial College London studied a 33-year census of Colorado’s marmots, where individuals have been tracked over their entire lifetimes. These rodents spend the winter hibernating in their burrows. But since 1976, they have been waking up earlier and earlier in the year, presumably because of a rise in warm days. That gives them more time to eat and grow before their next hibernation, and the adults have become around 10% heavier. Ozgul found that being fatter offers many advantages for a marmot – females are more likely to breed, youngsters grow more quickly, and adults are more likely to survive their next bout of hibernation.
It’s no surprise that their population has shot up dramatically, although surprisingly, this wasn’t a gradual process. Their numbers seemed to be fairly stable but they passed a tipping point in 2000 and have skyrocketed ever since. By modelling the changes in their bodies over time, Ozgul concluded that the marmots haven’t changed much genetically – their extra pounds are the result of their response to environmental changes. For example, the bluebells that they like to eat declined after 2000, which might have prompted them to seek other fattier foods.
But Ozgul worries that this boom period has a bust on the horizon – it’s a short-term response to warmer climate. These are animals that are adapted to chilly mountainous temperatures and they don’t fare well in heat. If temperatures continue to rise and summers get longer and drier, their health might suffer and their populations might crash.
More on this story from Jess McNally at Wired and Lucas Laursen at Nature
Reference: Nature http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature09210; image by Ben Hulsey
More on climate change and animal populations: The rise of “weedy” mice, the mystery of the shrinking sheep, lost clownfish, marching emperor penguins, and declining amphibians and reptiles
If the citation link isn’t working, read why here
Go out. Enjoy the weekend. Get itchy sand in your swimsuit. Go play doctor with some real people. But first, pass this along your Facebook friends. And add it to the list of reasons you should quit Facebook. [Thanks Robert!] More »
As an engineer, my first reaction upon reading the proposed Senate authorization bill for NASA was incredulity. I remain unconvinced of the technical need for a heavy lift rocket and was appalled to see space technology research and development, which I think is essential for developing a true in-space infrastructure, slashed in funding.
I had the opportunity yesterday, though, to sit down with some friends who have a little more insight into what’s really been going on up in DC. Plain and simple, Senators Hutchison and Nelson quietly formed an alliance in the Senate and even more quietly pre-coordinated with the White House to come up with something that everyone can live with.
For all the suggestions of his inability to lead, it was NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden who made the case for a heavy-lift vehicle and that was the carrot Hutchison and Nelson used to get the support from expected intransigents like Sen. Shelby, who just earned a rather ignominious distinction from Citizens Against Government Waste.
There is an important clause in the language on heavy lift that leaves NASA an escape if it finds shuttle-derived components are impracticable. Thus, the staffers that helped put this bill together say that NASA is not technically constrained by the Senate language. The authorization committee also accepted amendments to provide more funding for tech R&D and robotic precursor missions.
At this point, it’s a matter of making the trades in the budget lines to come to an amicable conclusion that funds one more Shuttle flight, ISS continuation, exploration and space technology research, and a human exploration program beyond Earth orbit. While commercial crew development is constrained in FY2011, I hear that was intended to actually provide commercial developers cover for moving out strong in FY2012 and beyond.
In any event, the Senate appropriations committee just approved the full $19 billion the President and the Senate authorization committee asked for. This is a bonafide example of how the system really is supposed to work. Senators, staffers, and the White House set aside partisan politics to develop a plan that we can move forward on, even while acknowledging that it isn’t perfect.
By contrast, the House legislation is a scattershot proposal, with its only clear goal being the restoration of the status quo. Forty-three – yes, 43 – amendments were submitted against it, even as the House committee meeting was ongoing.
Our own Rep. Pete Olson filed an “emergency” amendment intended to short-circuit their own priority queue to immediately fund the Constellation spacesuit project. Other Representatives squabbled over the $15 million CRuSR program to sponsor suborbital science research and whether NASA should foster the growth of commercial space industry at all. (Note: The Space Act explicitly directs NASA to help grow American industry in space. It doesn’t actually say anything about flying people in space.) Towards the end of the day, it was silly season on display.
Senator Hutchison is showing some real leadership here and has done good work for our state and our space program. I hope Rep. Olson and his colleagues in the House will learn from her example and stop tilting at windmills. Rep. Kosmas from Florida submitted an amendment calling on the House to follow the Senate’s approach, so at least one person in that chamber gets it.
If the Senate’s strategy is adopted by the House and emerges from conference committee intact, we could have a bill that he will sign on the President’s desk before October and avoid a continuing resolution – which would keep NASA in limbo perhaps as long as another year.
This would be a more evolutionary change for NASA, as opposed to the revolutionary approach outlined in the President’s FY2011 budget. Even so, NASA still gets an overall increase in its budget and breathing room for needed investments in commercial space services and technology R&D. JSC, in particular, will have plenty of work to do.
As long as NASA retains the freedom to make appropriate technical decisions within the budget and schedule provided, I think we can make this work.
Cross-posted at A World With No Boundaries
(HealthDay News) -- Eating less to remember more might become a new prescription for some elderly people, German researchers say.
They found that memory and thinking skills improved among healthy, overweight subjects who cut their calorie intake by 30 percent over a three-month period.
If further research supports this conclusion, "from a public health point of view, you could actually do something for the prevention of cognitive decline from aging," said lead researcher Dr. Agnes Floel, assistant professor of neurology at the University of Munster.
The study suggests that the calorie restriction may boost memory and cognition by reducing insulin resistance and inflammation, which may be linked to age-related cognitive decline. Improvements in memory could be especially important, the study added, because memory losses are an early indication of Alzheimer's disease and its precursor, mild cognitive impairment.
The research also tested whether a dietary increase in unsaturated fatty acids, such as the omega-3 fatty acids found in some fish, would yield similar benefits. Although these healthy fats have spurred better cognitive performance in rats, the new study failed to find a similar effect in humans. Read more...
From Wired Top Stories:
Eclipse hunters set a new record on July 11 for the longest eclipse ever observed by civilians chasing the moon in an airplane. While hundreds of eclipse enthusiasts flocked to islands in the South Pacific to watch the moon blot out the sun, astronomer Glenn
Does anybody have any experience - good or bad - with the new refrigerant R-410a? R-22 is being phased as it is said no new equipment is being manufactured using it, and new equipment uses R-410a.
R-410a runs at higher pressures, 130 psig (8.8 bar) at 45 F(7 C)
From Boing Boing:
The Software Freedom Law Center's latest white-paper, "Killed by Code: Software Transparency in Implantable Medical Devices," examines the strange circumstances around pacemakers and other implanted medical devices. Regulators like the FDA inspect the hardware des
Apple's just announced that the white iPhone 4 will remain a beautiful dream until "later this year." It's not the first delay, and one wonders if the original manufacturing challenges have been compounded by the antenna issue. More »
Hi folks I am new in computer assembly and U have a little question to ask; I have a very low configuration P3 computer with 384mb ram, 650 processor.. 40 gb hard disk..my problem is that when I am formatting and installing windows xp ..in the first place its okay but when it reboot ,,.. the instal
General Electric has launched its GE's Ecomagination Challenge, a $200 million call for new ideas for the next generation smart grid. This is just the most recent in smart grid announcements that are propelling the concept further. How do you think the smart grid will affect the valve industry?
The
A manufacturer has developed a wireless, remote controlled toilet. As the user approaches the toilet, the lid automatically opens and the seat warmer goes on. When you stand up, an automatic catalytic air purifier kicks off. Finally, as one moves away, the lid closes, followed by a high-powered, mul
Good Morning
I am studing an equipment to abate a sulfuric acid vapours/gas who come
from battery room ( recharge) trough pipe and discharge in atmosfera. The height of pipe is small ( can be extended) , but I make sure with Equipment. I thought in Cyclon or Scrubber with CO3Ca or (
July 21 – November 11, 2010
Museo Vittoria Colonna, Pescara
Curated by Maurizio Scudiero
Si chiama “Futurismo: dinamismo e colore” ed è la mostra che dal 22 luglio al 7 novembre verrà ospitata all’interno del Museo d’arte moderna “Vittoria Colonna” di Pescara. Promossa dal Comune di Pescara in collaborazione con Rizziero Arte e curata da Maurizio Scudiero, considerato uno dei massimi esperti italiano sul tema, la mostra documenta la nascita e l’evoluzione del Futurismo, dalla sua fondazione fino agli anni Quaranta, con l’obiettivo di comunicare in maniera comprensibile non solo quello che il movimento futurista ha prodotto “fisicamente” (cioè le opere d’arte), ma anche il suo “pensiero“. Saranno esposte alcune delle opere più significative di Boccioni, Balla, Carrà, Depero, Severini, Russolo, Sironi, Nannini, R.M. Baldessari, Prampolini, Dottori, Soffici, Conti, Venna, Evola, Thayaht, Fillia, Benedetta, Pannaggi, Oriani, Diulgheroff, Mino Rosso, Marasco, Rizzo, Korompay, Corona, D’Anna, Angelucci, Ambrosi, Di Bosso, Tato, Crali, Gambini e altri, raccolte nel catalogo e accompagnate da testi di approfondimento. Alla mostra saranno associati eventi e attività collaterali come conferenze, spettacoli, dibattiti e serate gastronomiche con preparazioni ispirate al movimento futurista.
hi, i am having a doubt. Our earth is revolving at uniform speed. I feel that from morning 6'o clock to 10a.m, the distance moved by sun is larger whereas from 10 to 12 it covers smaller one. I don't know whether my feeling is correct or not. please clarify....
heat energy wasted in the form hot air in silencer.if we put a thermocouple or thermistor on the silencer convert that heat energy in to electric energy.we use this energy to charging the batteries other purposes after convert it direct current.if u have ideas about it.pls share with me
Dear friends
We are using a reciprocating air compressor for diesel engine starting. I am confused about the connection between the discharge pipe of the compressor and the recevier tank.
The discharge pipe is connected to a tee fitting where one end of the tee is connected to reci
Four decades later, recovering lunar images (photos), CNET
"Around 2005, space entrepreneur Dennis Wingo and Keith Cowing of NASA Watch learned of prior attempts at restoring the images. With a renewed interest from NASA in moon exploration and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter set to go to the moon in 2009. Wingo and Cowing became more and more motivated to work towards restoring the tapes."
Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project
Rethinking connecting!
We just learned of this prize-winning development. Researchers at Technical University of Munich, Germany have developed "Steel Velcro: which they claim can hold 35 tonnes per square meter of fastener and hold at temperatures up to 800º C.
Metal f
