News

How a 2-D Sheet Can Bend into a 3-D Shape
Mar 09, 2012 11:31 AM EST

Researchers 'Print' Polymers that Bend into 3-D Shapes

Christian Santangelo, Ryan Hayward and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently employed photographic techniques and polymer science to develop a new technique for printing two-dimensional sheets of polymers that can fold into three-dimensional shapes when water is added. The t...

USCGC HEALY
Mar 09, 2012 11:13 AM EST

TacSat-4 Enables Polar Region SatCom Experiment

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter HEALY (WAGB 20) successfully experimented with NRL's TacSat-4 communications satellite, Jan. 24, by communicating from the Bering Sea off the western coast of Alaska to Coast Guard Island, Alameda, Calif.

Environmentally Friendly Cleaning and Washing
Mar 09, 2012 11:07 AM EST

Environmentally Friendly Cleaning and Washing

Detergents are everywhere - in washing powders, dishwashing liquids, household cleaners, skin creams, shower gels, and shampoos. It is the detergent that loosens dirt and fat, makes hair-washing products foam up and allows creams to be absorbed quickly. Up until now, most detergents are manufactured...

Meteorite in Antarctica
Mar 09, 2012 10:59 AM EST

Meteorites Reveal Another Way to Make Life's Components

Creating some of life's building blocks in space may be a bit like making a sandwich – you can make them cold or hot, according to new NASA research. This evidence that there is more than one way to make crucial components of life increases the likelihood that life emerged elsewhere in the Un...

Mercedes
Mar 09, 2012 10:52 AM EST

Assuring the Future Supply of Raw Materials

"Our future success in the key industrial branches automobile, machine, and plant construction as well as chemical technologies here in Germany will depend essentially on the availability of such strategically important resources as copper, gallium, or rare earths," says Prof. Jens Gutzmer, Director...

Gorilla
Mar 09, 2012 10:42 AM EST

An Insight into Human Evolution from the Gorilla Genome Sequence

Researchers announce today that they have completed the genome sequence for the gorilla, the last genus of the living great apes to have its genome decoded. While confirming that mankind's closest relative is the chimpanzee, the team shows that much of the human genome more closely resembles the gor...

Nanotube technology leading to new era of fast, lower-cost medical diagnostics
Mar 09, 2012 10:26 AM EST

Nanotube Technology Leading to New Era of Fast, Lower-cost Medical Diagnostics

Researchers at Oregon State University have tapped into the extraordinary power of carbon "nanotubes" to increase the speed of biological sensors, a technology that might one day allow a doctor to routinely perform lab tests in minutes, speeding diagnosis and treatment while reducing costs.

Huastec Priestess
Mar 09, 2012 10:09 AM EST

Research Re-examines Role of Maya Women

Contrary to popular belief, women played a central role in Maya society before the arrival of Spanish explorers in the early 16th century, a University of California, Riverside graduate student has discovered. That finding is significant for modern Mayan women, whose status in society rapidly dimini...

DeepSee Descends
Mar 09, 2012 10:02 AM EST

Smithsonian Joins Mission Blue Submarine Expedition in Panama

From Mar. 4-10, Eldredge Bermingham, Director of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Staff Scientist Héctor Guzmán joined Mission Blue, founded by Sylvia Earle, oceanographer and environmental advocate, to survey the fauna of Panama's Hannibal Bank and environs.

Childhood pneumonia
Mar 09, 2012 09:55 AM EST

7-country Study Examining the Causes of Childhood Pneumonia Outlined

The scientific journal Clinical Infectious Diseases has released its March Special Supplement focusing entirely on the research design of and pilot data from the Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health (PERCH) Project, which seeks to identify the causes of pneumonia among the world's most vulne...

la Nina
Mar 09, 2012 09:35 AM EST

La Nina Done by End-April, Dry Spell may Plague US South

The La Nina weather pattern blamed for a devastating drought in Texas and a bad dry spell in South America should be gone by the end of April, but its impact will persist in large swathes of the southern United States which may complicate conditions for farmers planting their spring crops.

Fort Defiance State Park
Mar 09, 2012 09:15 AM EST

Effects of Flooding on Cairo

When faced with a choice between a deluge or a controlled deluge in May 2011 that would protect the city of Cairo, Illinois, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers chose the latter by ordering an intentional breach of the Mississippi River levee at Bird's Point, but was it the right decision?

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