Monthly Archives: May 2012

OCEANSIDE: Harbor dredging puts sand on city beaches

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Much-needed sand is piling up on Oceanside beaches this week as the Army Corps of Engineers wraps up its annual dredging of the city harbor.

Enough sand was pulled out of the harbor this year to spread on the beach as far south as a playground near the Oceanside Municipal Pier.

That's a big improvement over last year, when winter storms had so eroded the beach that all of the harbor sand had to go to build up the portion of the beach north of the pier.

In all, more than 200,000 cubic yards of sand will be taken from the harbor for beach renourishment, harbor and beaches director Frank Quan said.

As part of the dredging, the Army Corps removed a sandbar that had built up at the mouth of the harbor, creating a hazard to boaters who had to fight their way through rough surf that was churned up as waves crashed over the sandbar.

"It's pretty much gone," Quan said.

In October, the Coast Guard issued a warning to mariners to be wary of the sandbar. An Army Corps of Engineers survey showed that the sandbar extended up to a third of the way across the harbor entrance, with water as shallow as 10 feet in some spots.

When the dredging is finished, Quan said the depth of the water will be 22 feet at the harbor entrance at zero tide, so boaters should have clear sailing entering and leaving the harbor.

Beachgoers should also notice a wider beach, with more room to spread out.

Even so, lifelong city resident John Daley said beach erosion "just seems to get worse each year, year after year."

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OCEANSIDE: Harbor dredging puts sand on city beaches

8 Baffling Astronomy Mysteries

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The Wonder of It All

The universe has been around for roughly 13.7 billion years, but it still holds many mysteries that continue to perplex astronomers to this day. Ranging from dark energy to cosmic rays to the uniqueness of our own solar system, there is no shortage of cosmic oddities.

The journal Science summarized some of the most bewildering questions being asked by leading astronomers today. In no particular order, here are eight of the most enduring mysteries in astronomy:

FIRST STOP: Dark Energy

Dark energy is thought to be the enigmatic force that is pulling the cosmos apart at ever-increasing speeds, and is used by astronomers to explain the universe's accelerated expansion.

This elusive force has yet to be directly detected, but dark energy is thought to make up roughly 73 percent of the universe.

NEXT STOP: Dark Matter

Dark matter is an invisible mass that is thought to make up about 23 percent of the universe. Dark matter has mass but cannot be seen, so scientists infer its presence based on the gravitational pull it exerts on regular matter.

Researchers remain curious about the properties of dark matter, such as whether it is icy cold as many theories predict, or if it is warmer.

NEXT UP: Missing Baryons

Dark energy and dark matter combine to occupy approximately 95 percent of the universe, with regular matter making up the remaining 5 percent. But, researchers have been puzzled to find that more than half of this regular matter is missing.

This missing matter is called baryonic matter, and it is composed of particles such as protons and electrons that make up majority of the mass of the universe's visible matter.

Some astrophysicists suspect that missing baryonic matter may be found between galaxies, in material known as warm-hot intergalactic medium, but the universe's missing baryons remain a hotly debated topic.

NEXT UP: Supernova Explosions

When massive stars run out of fuel, they end their lives in gigantic explosions called supernovas. These spectacular blasts are so bright they can briefly outshine entire galaxies.

Extensive research and modern technologies have illuminated many details about supernovas, but how these massive explosions occur is still a mystery.

Scientists are keen to understand the mechanics of these stellar blasts, including what happens inside a star before it ignites as a supernova.

NEXT UP: Re-ionization of the Universe

The broadly accepted Big Bang model for the origin of the universe states that the cosmos began as a hot, dense point approximately 13.7 billion years ago.

The early universe is thought to have been a dynamic place, and about 13 billion years ago, it underwent a so-called age of re-ionization. During this period, the universe's fog of hydrogen gas was clearing and becoming translucent to ultraviolet light for the first time.

Scientists have long been puzzled over what caused this re-ionization to occur.

NEXT UP: Cosmic Rays

Cosmic rays are highly energetic particles that flow into our solar system from deep in outer space, but the actual origin of these charged subatomic particles has perplexed astronomers for about a century.

The most energetic cosmic rays are extraordinarily strong, with energies up to 100 million times greater than particles that have been produced in manmade colliders. Over the years, astronomers have attempted to explain where cosmic rays originate before flowing into the solar system, but their source has proven to be an enduring astronomical mystery.

NEXT UP: Our Solar System

As alien planets around other stars are discovered, astronomers have tried to tackle and understand how our own solar system came to be.

The differences in the planets within our solar system have no easy explanation, and scientists are studying how planets are formed in hopes of better grasping the unique characteristics of our solar system.

This research could, in fact, get a boost from the hung for alien worlds, some astronomers have said, particularly if patterns arise in their observations of extrasolar planetary systems.

NEXT UP: The Sun's Corona

The sun's corona is its ultra-hot outer atmosphere, where temperatures can reach up to a staggering 10.8 million degrees Fahrenheit (6 million degrees Celsius).

Solar physicists have been puzzled by how the sun reheats its corona, but research points to a link between energy beneath the visible surface, and processes in the sun's magnetic field. But, the detailed mechanics behind coronal heating are still unknown.

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8 Baffling Astronomy Mysteries

Astronomy shows set for summer

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SAN ANGELO, Texas Angelo State University's Global Immersion Center will present three full-dome public astronomy shows during its summer 2012 schedule beginning June 7 in the Vincent Nursing-Physical Science Building, 2333 Vanderventer Ave.

Each Thursday through Aug. 2, "The Cowboy Astronomer" will run at 7 p.m., "MarsQuest" will run at 8 p.m., and "Oasis in Space" will run at 9 p.m. All shows are open to the public with admission prices of $3 for adults and $2 for children, active military and senior citizens. ASU students, faculty and staff are admitted free.

"The Cowboy Astronomer" features star tales and Native American legends combined with constellation identification, star-hopping and astronomy tidbits, all told from the viewpoint of a cowboy astronomer.

"MarsQuest" traces a centuries-long cultural and scientific fascination with Mars, weaving a narrative of what the planet means to humanity.

"Oasis in Space" takes audiences on a voyage through the universe, galaxy and solar system in search of water, a key ingredient for life on Earth.

For more information, call 325-942-2136 or visit angelo.edu/dept/physics/planetarium.php. A recording of the show schedule is available by calling 325-942-2188.

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Video of the daylight California fireball | Bad Astronomy

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On April 22, 2012, a chunk of asteroid one or two meters across burned up in Earths atmosphere. It came in over California and was seen by a lot of people, despite it occurring at about 8:00 a.m. local time and in broad daylight.

I just became aware that some footage was taken of the event, and as far as I know is the only video we have of it. It was taken by Shon Bollock, who was making a time-lapse kayaking video just outside Kernville, California as part of his Shasta Boyz adventuring website:

Pretty cool! It looks like he caught the very beginning of it burning up in the upper atmosphere. Not long after this, the meteoroid broke apart, raining down small meteorites onto the ground which were later found spread over the countryside.

The video is being studied by astronomers and meteoriticists to try to calculate the trajectory, speed, and possible orbit of the object. This is difficult with just one video, so if you have pictures you took or, better yet, more video, please let me know!

Tip o the Whipple Shield to Aaron Johnson on Twitter.

Related Posts:

- A meteors lingering tale - Meteor, Crater - Best video of Soyuz rocket burning up so far - Fireball over Germany

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Video of the daylight California fireball | Bad Astronomy

Timeline for the fall of the Dragon | Bad Astronomy

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Tomorrow morning, Thursday May 31, the SpaceX Dragon capsule will undock from the International Space Station, perform a series of maneuvers, and then come back home to Earth. Over at The Planetary Society Blog, Jason Davis has a great writeup giving the times of the key events.

The preliminary stuff happens in the middle of the night for me in Colorado, but the actual descent to Earth happens at a much more palatable time. At 14:51 UTC (10:51 a.m. Eastern US time) the Dragon will begin the deorbit burn, dropping it lower in orbit. Less than an hour later, at 15:44 UTC it is scheduled to splash down in the Pacific ocean about 900 km (540 miles) off the coast of Los Angeles in California.

This will all be covered by various live webstreams, including NASA TV. Ill be on Twitter as early as I can and Ill update this post with more video streams as I hear of them.

Related Posts:

- SpaceX Dragon on its way to the ISS! - Dragon is approaching the space station UPDATED: CAPTURED! - When a Dragon mated the space station - Dragon hunting above, dragon hunting below

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Timeline for the fall of the Dragon | Bad Astronomy

Astronomy buffs eye Tuesday's transit of Venus with anticipation

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By Howard Pousner

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Astronomer David Dundee has an out-of-this world offer for anyone who ventures to Cartersville's Tellus Science Museum next Tuesday evening to witness the ultra-rare phenomenon called the transit of Venus.

"We are promising that everyone who comes to watch, if they save their receipts, can get in free to the museum for the next Venus transit," he said with tongue firmly planted in cheek, knowing that there will not be another sighting of the planet's passage between the Earth and sun until 2117. "You know, we know no bounds of generosity."

Actually, astronomy aficionados know no bounds of enthusiasm when it comes to the transit of Venus. Most mortals think of the appearance of Halley's Comet as the rarest of celestial events, visible from Earth every 76 years, give or take. But that is rather commonplace in comparison to the quirky transit of Venus, which won't be spotted from this mortal coil for another 105 years after Tuesday.

People who "collect" astronomical phenomena the way bird watchers check rare winged creatures of their lifetime lists consider the Venus transit, in which the planet appears like a black coin passing right to left across the face of the sun, a holy grail of sorts. That's why they are helping organize viewings across the metro area, from Grant Park to Grayson.

Stone Mountain Park is expecting the largest crowd, easily in the hundreds, who will hike up the mountainside or take the Summit Skyride to the top of "the Rock" before or during sunset. There, members of the Atlanta Astronomy Club will have some 20 solar-filtered telescopes set up for the public to gaze into and 50 pairs of eclipse glasses to lend. (Remember, kids, it's extremely dangerous to stare at the sun without protective filters.)

Atop the outcropping, 1,683 feet above sea level, they will be able to experience a viewing unobstructed by trees or buildings. That means a longer possible viewing -- for about 2 hours and 45 minutes, starting around 6 p.m. -- than anywhere else for miles around, if the skies are not covered by clouds.

"It's going to be great," said Daniel Herron, the club's board chairman and observing chairman. "If the weather is clear, you're raised up higher than anything in the area so you're going to get that extra time. ... We may see 30 or 40 more minutes of the transit because we're a little higher than the horizon.

"I'm really excited," he added, "just extremely excited."

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Astronomy buffs eye Tuesday's transit of Venus with anticipation

8 astronomy mysteries scientists can't explain

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The vastness of space and the puzzling nature of the cosmic objects that occupy it provides no shortage of material for astronomers to ponder.

To round up some of the most enduring mysteries in the field of astronomy, the journal Science enlisted help from science writers and members of the Board of Reviewing Editors to choose eight puzzling questions being asked by leading astronomers today.

As Robert Coontz, deputy news editor at Science, writes in his introduction to the series, the participants decided that, "true mysteries must have staying power," rather than being questions that might be resolved by research in the near future. In fact, while some of the topics discussed may one day be solved through astronomical observations, others may never be solved, he added.

In no particular order, here are eight of the most compelling mysteries of astronomy, as presented by the journal Science:

What is dark energy? In the 1920s, astronomer Edwin Hubble discovered that the universe is not static, but rather is expanding. In 1998, the Hubble Space Telescope, named for the astronomer, studied distant supernovas and found that the universe was expanding more slowly a long time ago compared with the pace of its expansion today.

This groundbreaking discovery puzzled scientists, who long thought that the gravity of matter would gradually slow the universe's expansion, or even cause it to contract. Explanations of the universe's accelerated expansion led to the bizarre and hotly debated concept of dark energy, which is thought to be the enigmatic force that is pulling the cosmos apart at ever-increasing speeds.

While dark energy is thought to make up approximately 73 percent of the universe, the force remains elusive and has yet to be directly detected.

"Dark energy might never reveal its nature," Science staff writer Adrian Cho wrote. "Still, scientists remain optimistic that nature will cooperate and that they can determine the origins of dark energy."

How hot is dark matter? In the 1960s and 1970s, astronomers hypothesized that there might be more mass in the universe than what is visible. Vera Rubin, an astronomer at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, studied the speeds of stars at various locations in galaxies. [ Top 10 Strangest Things in Space ]

Rubin observed that there was virtually no difference in the velocities of stars at the center of a galaxy compared to those farther out. These results seemed to go against basic Newtonian physics, which implies that stars on the outskirts of a galaxy would orbit more slowly.

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8 astronomy mysteries scientists can't explain

Antioxidant Beta-Carotene Use Safe During Radiation Treatment for Prostate Cancer

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Newswise Despite past safety concerns, the antioxidant supplement beta-carotene, is safe to use during radiation therapy treatments for prostate cancer and does not increase the risk of prostate cancer death or metastases, according to a study in the May issue of the International Journal of Radiation OncologyBiologyPhysics, the official scientific journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

The use of vitamin supplements and antioxidants is common, but the safety of using antioxidant supplements during radiation treatments for prostate cancer is controversial. Radiation therapy relies on the pro-oxidant effects of DNA, which involves damaging tumor cells while leaving normal cells unharmed. However, some scientists have suggested that supplemental antioxidants may weaken the oxidizing effects of radiation and potentially lead to cancer recurrence.

In the largest study to date of its kind, researchers followed 383 prostate cancer patients who were randomized to receive beta-carotene or placebo to determine if antioxidants could potentially counteract the pro-oxidant effects of radiation therapy and increase a patients risk of death or metastases. The primary endpoint was prostate cancer death or bone metastases.

Researchers found no significant differences in lethal outcomes among the patients who took the antioxidant beta-carotene versus those who did not.

This study shows that antioxidant supplementation with beta-carotene during radiation therapy does not appear to detract from the benefit of radiation therapy. Danielle Margalit, MD, MPH, lead author of the study and a radiation oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, said. It also suggests that patients may continue to eat a well-balanced diet that contains foods with natural sources of antioxidants at the recommended daily amount.

ASTRO is the largest radiation oncology society in the world, with more than 10,000 members who specialize in treating patients with radiation therapies. As the leading organization in radiation oncology, biology and physics, the Society is dedicated to improving patient care through education, clinical practice, advancement of science and advocacy. For more information on radiation therapy, visit http://www.rtanswers.org. To learn more about ASTRO, visit http://www.astro.org. ###

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Antioxidant Beta-Carotene Use Safe During Radiation Treatment for Prostate Cancer

Newsbyte: SAP Broadens Industry Reach With New Analytic Application for Aerospace and Defense

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WALLDORF, Germany, May 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --SAP NEWSBYTE Extending the industry reach of its analytics portfolio, SAP AG (SAP) today announced a new analytic application for aerospace and defense (A&D). The SAP Program Performance Analysis for A&D analytic application lets A&D program managers and business executives quickly uncover deep insights into their portfolio of programs, including the development of new commercial aircraft, weapon systems, spacecraft and ships. The announcement was made at the EVM World 2012 conference, being held May 30 June 1 in Naples, Florida.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110126/AQ34470LOGO)

In the highly competitive A&D industry, program managers must identify the relevant issues of projects throughout their lifecycle by analyzing data collected from many diverse sources. They must gain visibility into key performance indicators (KPIs) such as requirements stability, production quality, or supplier risks, and be able to take quick corrective actions to keep programs on track. The analytic application provides program managers a scorecard view of the performance of multiple programs at once. Additionally, it enables users to drill down through layers of increasing detail to root causes without the delays and manual efforts that plague today's program assessment efforts.

Enabling organizations and individuals to gain real-time, actionable insights, analytic applications from SAP are tailored for specific industries and lines of business to help users overcome the challenges of their unique business climates. SAP Program Performance Analysis for A&D enables program managers to work proactively and avoid commonly experienced setbacks such as cost overruns and schedule delays that cause organizations to lose millions of dollars to annually. It also enables them to clearly visualize all relevant data to help stakeholders improve overall decision-making and ensure program goals are achieved.

Since the analytic application is powered by the SAP HANA platform, it can process large volumes of data from any data source in memory, meaning the results of complex analyses and transactions are produced immediately. With this information, program managers can base reports and tactics on comprehensive business intelligence (BI) from the entire value chain. They can also easily determine the status of tasks and run ad-hoc queries to drill down on granular metrics.

To learn more, watch a product demo: "SAP Program Performance Analysis for Aerospace & Defense Sharpening Operational Insight and Boosting Program Performance." For more information, visit the SAP Newsroom. Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews and @businessobjects.

Media Contacts: Susan Miller, SAP, +1 (610) 661-9225, susan.miller@sap.com, EDT Atle Erlingsson, SAP, +1 (415) 858-8149, atle.erlingsson@sap.com, PDT Jeff Shadid, Burson-Marsteller, +1 (214) 224-8419, jeff.shadid@bm.com, CDT

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Newsbyte: SAP Broadens Industry Reach With New Analytic Application for Aerospace and Defense

Research and Markets: Ireland Neurology Devices Investment Opportunities, Analysis and Forecasts to 2018

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DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Dublin - Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/2xdlt9/ireland_neurology) has announced the addition of Global Markets Direct's new report "Ireland Neurology Devices Investment Opportunities, Analysis and Forecasts to 2018" to their offering.

This report provides key market data on the Ireland Neurology Devices market. The report provides value (USD million), volume (units) and average price (USD) data for each segment and sub-segment within five market categories - CSF Management, Interventional Neurology, Neurological Diagnostic Equipment, Neurostimulation Devices and Neurosurgical Products. The report also provides company shares and distribution shares data for each of the aforementioned market categories. The report is supplemented with global corporate-level profiles of the key market participants with information on key recent developments.

This report is built using data and information sourced from proprietary databases, primary and secondary research and in-house analysis by Global Markets Direct's team of industry experts.

Scope:

- Market size and company share data for Neurology Devices market categories - CSF Management, Interventional Neurology, Neurological Diagnostic Equipment, Neurostimulation Devices and Neurosurgical Products .

- Annualized market revenues (USD million), volume (units) and average price (USD) data for each of the segments and sub-segments within five market categories. Data from 2004 to 2011, forecast forward for 7 years to 2018.

- 2011 company shares and distribution shares data for each of the six market categories.

- Global corporate-level profiles of key companies operating within the Ireland Neurology Devicesmarket.

- Key players covered include Medtronic, Inc., St. Jude Medical, Inc., Stryker Corporation, B. Braun Melsungen AG, Covidien plc, DePuy, Inc. and others.

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Research and Markets: Ireland Neurology Devices Investment Opportunities, Analysis and Forecasts to 2018

Research and Markets: Interventional Neurology Market Outlook in BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) to …

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DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Dublin - Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/dj3q2q/interventional_neu) has announced the addition of GlobalData's new report "Interventional Neurology Market Outlook in BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) to 2018" to their offering.

GlobalData's new report, Interventional Neurology Market Outlook in BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) to 2018 provides key market data on the Interventional Neurology market in the BRICS countries. The report provides value ($m), volume (units) and average price ($) data for each segment within four market categories -Embolic Systems, Navigational Systems, Aneurysm Clips and Neurovascular Stents. The report also provides company shares and distribution shares data for the overall Interventional Neurology market in each of the aforementioned countries. The report is also supplemented with global corporate-level profiles of the key market participants with information on key developments, wherever available.

The emerging economies, comprising China, India, Brazil, Russia and South Africa, with a significantly large pool of under-served patients, represent the next big opportunity for the leading medical equipment and devices manufacturers. China remains the world's most populous country and is consequently home to a large patient base. The country is home to more than 120 million people who are aged 65 or oldera population in continuous need of medical care. India, the second most populous country globally, is home to 1.2 billion people, approximately 5% of which are aged 65 or older. It's estimated that shortly after 2020, India's population will surpass China, making it the most populous country in the world. As the population continues to grow and people continue to age, the underlying demand for healthcare is also expected to increase.

Key Topics Covered:

1 List of Tables and Figures

2 Introduction

3 Interventional Neurology in BRICS

4 Interventional Neurology In Brazil

5 Interventional Neurology In Russian Federation

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Research and Markets: Interventional Neurology Market Outlook in BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) to ...

Nanotechnology breakthrough could dramatically improve medical tests

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Public release date: 31-May-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Steven Schultz sschultz@princeton.edu 609-258-3617 Princeton University, Engineering School

A laboratory test used to detect disease and perform biological research could be made more than 3 million times more sensitive, according to researchers who combined standard biological tools with a breakthrough in nanotechnology.

The increased performance could greatly improve the early detection of cancer, Alzheimer's disease and other disorders by allowing doctors to detect far lower concentrations of telltale markers than was previously practical.

The breakthrough involves a common biological test called an immunoassay, which mimics the action of the immune system to detect the presence of biomarkers the chemicals associated with diseases. When biomarkers are present in samples, such as those taken from humans, the immunoassay test produces a fluorescent glow (light) that can be measured in a laboratory. The greater the glow, the more of the biomarker is present. However, if the amount of biomarker is too small, the fluorescent light is too faint to be detected, setting the limit of detection. A major goal in immunoassay research is to improve the detection limit.

The Princeton researchers tackled this limitation by using nanotechnology to greatly amplify the faint fluorescence from a sample. By fashioning glass and gold structures so small

"This advance opens many new and exciting opportunities for immunoassays and other detectors, as well as in disease early detection and treatment," said Stephen Chou, the Joseph C. Elgin Professor of Engineering, who led the research team. "Furthermore, the new assay is very easy to use, since for the person conducting the test, there will be no difference from the old one they do the procedure in exactly the same way."

The researchers published their results in two recent journal articles. One, published May 10 in Nanotechnology, describes the physics and engineering of the fluorescence-enhancing material. The other, published April 20 in Analytical Chemistry, demonstrates the effect in immunoassays. In addition to Chou, the authors include post-doctoral researchers Weihua Zhang, Liangcheng Zhou and Jonathan Hu and graduate students Fei Ding, Wei Ding, Wen-Di Li and Yuxuan Wang.

The work was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency and the National Science Foundation.

The key to the breakthrough lies in a new artificial nanomaterial called D2PA, which has been under development in Chou's lab for several years. D2PA is a thin layer of gold nanostructures surrounded glass pillars just 60 nanometers in diameter. (A nanometer is one billionth of a meter; that means about 1,000 of the pillars laid side by side would be as wide as a human hair.) The pillars are spaced 200 nanometers apart and capped with a disk of gold on each pillar. The sides of each pillar are speckled with even tinier gold dots about 10 to 15 nanometers in diameter. In previous work, Chou has shown that this unique structure boosts the collection and transmission of light in unusual ways -- in particular, a 1 billion-fold increase in an effect called surface Raman scattering. The current work now demonstrates a giant signal enhancement with fluorescence.

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Nanotechnology breakthrough could dramatically improve medical tests

Leading Physicist Becomes New Executive Director of the National Institute for Nanotechnology

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EDMONTON, ALBERTA--(Marketwire -05/31/12)- An expert in nano-electronics will lead Canada's National Institute for Nanotechnology (NINT) into its second decade. The NINT governing council has named Dr. Marie D'Iorio as its new Executive Director. Trained as a physicist, Dr. D'Iorio's expertise is in nano-electronics. She had been acting as NINT's interim Director General since last year.

"I am delighted to welcome Dr. Marie D'lorio to NINT and the University of Alberta," said Indira Samarasekera, President of the University of Alberta. "She is a remarkable leader who has, over the decades, had a prominent role in the science and technology sector, both nationally and internationally. I am thrilled that she will be focusing her time, energy and talents here as the Executive Director of NINT, building upon the momentum we have worked so hard to create."

During her time as acting Director General of NINT, Dr. D'Iorio led the strategic planning process for NINT's second decade. The resulting plan aims to increase industrial collaboration and re-organize the Institute's research and development activities into four application areas, including energy generation storage and hybrid nano-scale electronics.

"Nanotechnology can help Canadian companies be more competitive and NINT is key to them finding the right applications for their sector," said John R McDougall, President of the National Research Council of Canada. "Marie D'Iorio's mission is to expand NINT's engagement with Canadian industry and help them benefit from the potential of small tech."

Marie D'Iorio joined NRC in 1983, where she established the first very low temperature, high magnetic field laboratory in Canada to study low dimensional electron systems in semiconductor heterostructures. She served as Director General of the National Research Council of Canada Institute for Microstructural Sciences from 2003 to 2011.

"The National Institute for Nanotechnology proves that collaboration is a valuable cornerstone of Alberta's nanotechnology strategy," said the Honourable Stephen Khan, Alberta's Minister of Enterprise and Advanced Education. "With the support of our federal and academic partners at NINT and Dr. D'lorio's focus on collaboration with industry, we can build on our province's nanotech capabilities and open even more opportunities in this field."

The National Institute for Nanotechnology is Canada's leading research and technology development organization working at the nano-scale. Founded in 2001, it is a joint initiative of the National Research Council of Canada, the University of Alberta, the Government of Alberta and the Government of Canada. Its mission is to transform nanoscience ideas into novel, sustainable nanotechnology solutions with socioeconomic benefits for Canada and Alberta.

Biography

A photography of Dr. Marie D'lorio is available upon request.

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Leading Physicist Becomes New Executive Director of the National Institute for Nanotechnology

First endowed medical school chair created in Ga. to focus on sexuality and religion

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ATLANTA The Morehouse School of Medicine is creating what is being called the first endowed chair on sexuality and religion at a U.S. medical school.

The Atlanta medical school on Thursday announced it raised $2 million for the endowed chair, and it will begin a one-year national search to hire someone to fill it.

The chairperson will develop ways to train physicians and theologians on a wide range of sexual health issues that include contraception, rape prevention, unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

The chair will report to Dr. David Satcher, a former U.S. Surgeon General who issued a controversial report on sexual health in 2001. Satcher is now a Morehouse administrator.

A spokeswoman for the Association of American Medical Colleges said she was not aware of a similar endowed chair anywhere else.

Satcher and others at Morehouse previously coordinated national panel discussions on sexual health that involved organizations ranging from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

The medical school, founded in 1975, has an enrollment of about 300. It is separate from Morehouse College, a historically black university located across the street.

The medical school previously created an endowed chair for mental health issues, which was co-funded by entertainer Bill Cosby and child psychiatrist Dr. Alvin Poussaint. Satcher occupies that position.

The new chair is named for two Florida-based benefactors the Rev. Marta Weeks, an ordained Episcopal priest, and the Rev. David Richards, a retired Episcopal bishop.

The chair will teach at Morehouse but will also be expected to work with other medical schools and religious academic institutions to help shape curricula elsewhere.

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First endowed medical school chair created in Ga. to focus on sexuality and religion

A new method for picking the ‘right’ egg in IVF

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In a groundbreaking study, Yale School of Medicine researchers and colleagues at the University of Oxford have identified the chromosomal make-up of a human egg. This discovery may soon allow them to avoid using abnormal or aneuploid eggs during infertility treatments, and instead to pick eggs that are healthy enough for a successful in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle.

The results are published in the May issue of the journal Human Reproduction.

Only a few oocytes (eggs) per IVF treatment cycle are able to produce a pregnancy because many eggs have the wrong number of chromosomes. If the egg is missing a chromosome or has an extra chromosome, this is referred to as aneuploidy. This problem increases as women age.

Oocytes are surrounded by cells, called cumulus cells, which regulate and assist the process of egg maturation. In this study, Yale Fertility Center director Dr. Pasquale Patrizio, and Dagan Wells of the University of Oxford studied genes expressed in the cumulus cells. They were able to identify a set of genes that are less active in cells that are associated with abnormal eggs.

They characterized two genes SPSB2 and TP5313 and found that the expression of these genes was consistently underrepresented in cumulus cells that surrounded abnormal eggs, while these same genes were normally expressed in eggs with the correct number of chromosomes.

The identification of these genes in cumulus cells can serve as a novel, non-invasive marker to identify abnormal oocytes and thus ultimately improve IVF success rates, said Patrizio, professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at Yale. We can use cumulus cells surrounding the eggs to gain insight into the health of an egg. These cells are now able to inform us about the chromosomal makeup of an egg. This can help us know if it is the right egg to be fertilized and produce a baby.

This finding opens up the possibility of a safe, effective, and inexpensive way of identifying healthy eggs, potentially lowering the risks of miscarriage and Down syndrome, said Wells. By conducting these tests before eggs are fertilized, ethical concerns about analysis of human embryos are avoided.

Other authors on the study include Elpida Fragouli, Amy E. Lager, and Umit A. Kayisli.

Wells is supported by the National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre, Oxford; the work was also supported by a grant from Gema Diagnostics, Inc.

Citation: Human Reproduction doi: 10.1093/humrep/des170

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A new method for picking the ‘right’ egg in IVF

Scripps Research Institute's Richard A. Lerner Wins Prince of Asturias Award for Scientific and Technical Research

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LA JOLLA, Calif., May 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Scripps Research Institute Professor Richard A. Lerner, MD, has won a prestigious international honor, the Prince of Asturias Award for Scientific and Technical Research, according to an announcement made today by the Prince of Asturias Foundation. Lerner shares the award with British biochemist Sir Gregory Winter, PhD.

Sometimes called the "Spanish Nobel Prize," the Prince of Asturias Award for Scientific and Technical Research is bestowed for findings that "represent a significant contribution to the progress and welfare of mankind." Winners receive 50,000 Euros (about $62,000), a diploma, an insignia bearing the foundation's coat of arms, and a sculpture specially created for the awards by the late Spanish artist Joan Miro.

"This honor for Richard is richly deserved," said Scripps Research President and CEO Michael A. Marletta, PhD. "His discoveries have had a very significant impact on the treatment of disease and I am delighted that this recognition has come to him."

"It is my honor to accept this prestigious award together with Sir Greg," said Lerner, "This is a wonderful recognition for the field of immunochemistry and combinatorial antibody libraries and all that they have contributed to human health."

The announcement of the jury was broadcast live from Oviedo, Spain, to more than 150 countries at noon, local time.

The foundation's statement reads, "The researchers Gregory Winter and Richard A. Lerner stand at the forefront of research on the immune system. The advances in the use of antibodies as therapeutic tools have provided new ways of preventing and treating immune disorders, degenerative diseases and different types of tumours. In many cases, the use of antibodies has alleviated the suffering of patients and has halted the progression of the disease. These researchers have managed to create a synthetic immune system in the test tube, as well as demonstrating its preventive and therapeutic potential due to exceeding the natural antibody repertoire the human body can generate."

This work has resulted in two drugs currently on the market, as well as other compounds currently in clinical trials. The drug Humira (adalimumab), marketed by Abbott, provides a treatment for inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, and plaque psoriasis. Humira is now reported to be the top selling drug in the world.

Benlysta (belimumab), which was developed by GlaxoSmithKline and Human Genome Sciences, was approved in the United States for the treatment of the most common type of lupusa chronic, life-threatening autoimmune diseasein the spring of last year. At that time, Benlysta became the first new drug for lupus in 50 years.

41 Nominations This year, 41 nominations from Argentina, Bulgaria, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, France, Germany, Holland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States and Spain were in the running for the Prince of Asturias Award for Scientific and Technical Research. This prize is the fourth of eight awards bestowed each year by the Prince of Asturias Foundation. The others are in the fields of the arts, communications and humanities, literature, sports, social sciences, international cooperation, and concord (peace).

The Prince of Asturias Foundation was founded in the city of Oviedo on September 24, 1980, at a formal ceremony presided over by His Royal Highness the Prince of Asturias, heir to the throne of Spain, who was accompanied by his parents, Their Majesties the King and Queen of Spain.

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Scripps Research Institute's Richard A. Lerner Wins Prince of Asturias Award for Scientific and Technical Research

Restless legs syndrome in fruit flies: Mutation in fly version of a human RLS gene disturbs sleep

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Public release date: 31-May-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Holly Korschun hkorsch@emory.edu 404-727-3990 Emory University

Scientists have discovered that mutations in the gene BTBD9, which is linked with restless legs syndrome (RLS) in humans, disturb sleep in fruit flies. The mutant flies wake up more often during sleep periods, which resembles a key feature of human RLS.

The same mutations in BTBD9 also reduce levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the flies. Some kind of deficiency in dopamine signaling is thought to lie behind RLS in humans.

The results are published in the journal Current Biology.

"Flies and humans are distant from each other on the evolutionary tree, yet the same gene seems to be regulating a fundamental process in both organisms and affecting how soundly they sleep," says senior author Subhabrata Sanyal, PhD, assistant professor of cell biology at Emory University School of Medicine.

People with RLS experience unpleasant sensations in their legs and urges to move them, interfering with the ability to sleep. Genetics plays a major role in RLS, and most people with RLS have a close family member with the disorder. A variant in the BTBD9 gene accounts for about half of the risk for RLS in the population, according to multiple genetic studies (http://1.usa.gov/LqrO5L).

While medications exist to treat RLS, in some patients they are ineffective or have side effects. Researchers don't have a good understanding of what is going wrong in the nervous system in people affected by RLS, or what the BTBD9 gene does. Studying the fly version of BTBD9 could shed light on the basic biology and eventually lead to improved treatments for humans.

Postdoctoral fellow Amanda Freeman, the first author of the paper, examined flies' sleep behavior by putting individual flies into tubes with infrared sensors, which can detect when a fly moves across the middle of the tube. If a fly doesn't cross the beam for five minutes, it's considered asleep. She found that the BTBD9 mutant flies woke up more often during the night.

Disabling BTBD9 also makes flies more mobile while awake. Mutant flies confined in a tube move back and forth more often, leading Freeman and Sanyal to dub the mutant flies "wanderlust."

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Restless legs syndrome in fruit flies: Mutation in fly version of a human RLS gene disturbs sleep

Meeting biofuel production targets could change agricultural landscape

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Contact: Michael Bernstein m_bernstein@acs.org 202-872-6042 American Chemical Society

WASHINGTON, May 31, 2012 The latest episode in the American Chemical Society's (ACS') award-winning Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions podcast series explains that meeting current biofuel production targets with existing technology would require devoting almost 80 percent of current farmland in the U.S. to raising corn for ethanol production or converting 60 percent of existing rangeland to biofuels.

Based on a report by W. Kolby Smith, Ph.D., and colleagues in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology, the new podcast is available without charge at iTunes and from http://www.acs.org/globalchallenges.

Smith and colleagues explain that the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) set a goal of increasing U.S. biofuel production from 40 to 136 billion gallons of ethanol per year by 2022. They point out, however, that gaps exist in the ability to establish realistic targets for biofuel production, which the law fills with assumptions about technological developments and the availability and productivity of farmland. In an effort to establish more accurate estimates, they used satellite data about climate, plant cover and usable land to determine how much biofuel the U.S. could produce.

The satellite analysis found that meeting the EISA goals with current technology would require farmers to plant biofuel crops on 80 percent of their farmed land or plant biofuel crops on 60 percent of the land currently used to raise livestock. Both options would significantly reduce the amount of food U.S. farmers produce. The changes also could lead to more polluted freshwater and accelerate global climate change, the report indicated.

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Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions is a series of podcasts describing some of the 21st century's most daunting problems, and how cutting-edge research in chemistry matters in the quest for solutions. Global Challenges is the centerpiece in an alliance on sustainability between ACS and the Royal Society of Chemistry. Global Challenges is a sweeping panorama of global challenges that includes dilemmas such as providing a hungry, thirsty world with ample supplies of safe food and clean water; developing alternatives to petroleum to fuel society; preserving the environment and assuring a sustainable future for our children and improving human health.

For more entertaining, informative science videos and podcasts from the ACS Office of Public Affairs, view Prized Science, Spellbound, Science Elements and Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions.

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 164,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

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Meeting biofuel production targets could change agricultural landscape

Biotech ETFs in ‘Stealth’ Bull Market

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Exchange traded funds following the biotechnology sector are up as much as 20% this year to handily outperform the S&P 500 on a favorable outlook for the drug industry and M&A speculation.

Despite the lingering Eurozone debt crisis and signs of weakness in housing and employment data there are some things that are actually working, says Josh Brown at the Reformed Broker blog.

The biotech sector is a stealth bull market no one ever talks about it, he said during a CNBC appearance Wednesday. [ETF Chart of the Day: Biotech Sector]

SPDR S&P Biotech (XBI - News) is up 22.7% year to date, compared with a 5.4% gain for iShares S&P 500 (IVV - News), according to Morningstar.

If you look you look at the ETFs that own all the biotechs, theyre all making 52-week highs and all-time highs in some cases, Brown remarked. I think thats a really interesting way to look at it and say these companies are not cyclical, this is a secular story. The [baby] boomers want to live forever and theyre going to spend as much money as they can trying to do that. [Biotech ETFs for an M&A Boom]

Brown in an email said his firm Fusion Analytics is long XBI, the biotech ETF. The sector fund tracks an equal-weighted index, so it has a tilt to smaller-cap stocks relative to its ETF peers.

Other ETFs for this industry include iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology (IBB - News), First Trust Amex Biotechnology (FBT - News) and Market Vectors Biotech ETF (BBH - News). [Biotech ETFs Break Out]

The Dow Jones Biotechnology Index hit an all-time high this month and the sector has been among the few to weather the sell-off, writes Matt McCall at Investopedia.

The combination of new drug approvals by the FDA and the speculation of more mergers have been the catalysts behind the recent outperformance. There is no reason to doubt that this action will end anytime soon, he said.

SPDR S&P Biotech

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Biotech ETFs in ‘Stealth’ Bull Market