BrightSurf

The top science news articles and current science news event from the past 7 days. Science current events and scientific discoveries in health, the environment, space and technology from private research facilities, universities, government agencies and medical centers on brightsurf.com.
Updated: 35 min 4 sec ago
Earth from Space: Giant iceberg enters Nares Strait
ESA's Envisat satellite has been tracking the progression of the giant iceberg that calved from Greenland's Petermann glacier on 4 August 2010. (2010-09-03)
Categories: Science
Rutgers-Camden Professor Engineers E. coli to Produce Biodiesel
One mention of E. coli conjures images of sickness and food poisoning, but the malevolent bacteria may also be the key to the future of renewable energy. (2010-09-03)
Categories: Science
Iowa State chemists discover method to create high-value chemicals from biomass
Iowa State University researchers have found a way to produce high-value chemicals such as ethylene glycol and propylene glycol from biomass rather than petroleum sources. (2010-09-03)
Categories: Science
Evolution writ small
A unique experiment at Rice University that forces bacteria into a head-to-head competition for evolutionary dominance has yielded new insights about the way Darwinian selection plays out at the molecular level. (2010-08-26)
Categories: Science
Scientists find link in humans between nerve cell production, memory
Production of new nerve cells in the human brain is linked to learning and memory, according to a new study from the University of Florida. (2010-08-27)
Categories: Science
Scientists Map Origin of Large, Underwater Hydrocarbon Plume in Gulf
Scientists funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and affiliated with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have detected a plume of hydrocarbons at least 22 miles long and more than 3,000 feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, a residue of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. (2010-08-25)
Categories: Science
Growing drought-tolerant crops inching forward
A collaborative team of scientists led by researchers at The Medical College of Wisconsin, in Milwaukee, has used the tools of structural biology to understand how a synthetic chemical mimics abscisic acid (ABA), a key stress hormone that helps plants cope with adverse environmental conditions such as drought. (2010-08-26)
Categories: Science
Macrophages: The 'defense' cells that help throughout the body
The term "macrophage" conjures images of a hungry white blood cell gobbling invading bacteria. However, macrophages do much more than that: Not only do they act as antimicrobial warriors, they also play critical roles in immune regulation and wound-healing. (2010-08-27)
Categories: Science
Space telescope's new survey of outer galaxy helps Iowa State astronomers study stars
The Spitzer Space Telescope is now taking aim at the outer reaches of the Milky Way and helping two Iowa State University astronomers advance their star studies. (2010-08-31)
Categories: Science
Attention, couch potatoes! Walking boosts brain connectivity, function
A group of "professional couch potatoes," as one researcher described them, has proven that even moderate exercise - in this case walking at one's own pace for 40 minutes three times a week - can enhance the connectivity of important brain circuits, combat declines in brain function associated with aging and increase performance on cognitive tasks. (2010-08-27)
Categories: Science
Doctors' religious beliefs strongly influence end-of-life decisions
Atheist or agnostic doctors are almost twice as willing to take decisions that they think will hasten the end of a very sick patient's life as doctors who are deeply religious, suggests research published online in the Journal of Medical Ethics. (2010-08-26)
Categories: Science
3-D movies via Internet and satellite
Blockbusters like Avatar, UP or Toy Story 3 will bring the 3-D into home living rooms, televisions and computers. (2010-08-27)
Categories: Science
New study shows how giant tortoises, alligators thrived in High Arctic 50 million years ago
A new study of the High Arctic climate roughly 50 million years ago led by the University of Colorado at Boulder helps to explain how ancient alligators and giant tortoises were able to thrive on Ellesmere Island well above the Arctic Circle, even as they endured six months of darkness each year. (2010-08-25)
Categories: Science
Mayan pool in the rainforest
Since 2009, researchers from Bonn and Mexico have been systematically uncovering and mapping the old walls of Uxul, a Mayan city. (2010-08-27)
Categories: Science
Girls' Early Puberty Linked to Unstable Environment via Insecure Attachment in Infancy
Girls are hitting puberty earlier and earlier. One recent study found that more than 10 percent of American girls have some breast development by age 7. (2010-09-01)
Categories: Science
System uses electrical trickery on the brain to induce realistic spaceflight effects
What does it feel like to return to Earth after a long stay in space? Until now, it has been difficult during astronaut training to realistically simulate the dizzying effects the human body can experience. (2010-08-25)
Categories: Science
Why fish don't freeze in the Arctic Ocean
Together with cooperation partners from the U.S., the researchers surrounding Prof. Dr. Martina Havenith (Physical Chemistry II of the RUB) describe their discovery in a so-termed Rapid Communication in the prestigious American chemistry journal, the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS). The journal's independent reviewers evaluated the work as one of the top 5% of all submissions. (2010-08-26)
Categories: Science
New rules of engagement for older people and climate change
A new study by researchers in the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) at the University of York calls for better engagement of older people on climate change issues. (2010-08-27)
Categories: Science
Astronomers find two large planets, plus possible super-Earth-size one
A team of three University of Florida astronomers contributed to the Kepler spacecraft's discovery of two Saturn-sized planets, plus a possible third planet with a radius just one-and-a-half times that of Earth, orbiting a distant star. (2010-08-27)
Categories: Science
Researchers urge reclassification of traumatic brain injury as chronic disease
Traumatic brain injury, currently considered a singular event by the insurance industry and many health care providers, is instead the beginning of an ongoing process that impacts multiple organ systems and may cause or accelerate other diseases and disorders that can reduce life expectancy. (2010-08-27)
Categories: Science



