SmallShop Science

Nuclear security seminar opens in Dominican Republic

noreply@blogger.com (Anton Small) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:52:00 +0000

People's Daily Online: "The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Dominican authorities Monday launched a regional seminar on nuclear security featuring discussions on the nuclear threat and risk management of radioactive sources.

The seminar, which is due to end Thursday, drew representatives from 14 countries of the Caribbean region."

Undersea volcanoes trigger mass extinction

noreply@blogger.com (Anton Small) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:38:00 +0000

COSMOS magazine: "PARIS: Ninety-three million years ago, Earth was a reshuffled jigsaw of continents, a hothouse where the average temperature was nearly twice that of today."

Grunting fish reveal the origins of human speech

noreply@blogger.com (Meister) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:45:00 +0000

Researchers have found that fish produce grunts in the same way that humans and other animals make sounds.

Barbados Eye Study

noreply@blogger.com (Meister) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:06:00 +0000

EyeWorld Magazine:: "African patients with open-angle glaucoma and posterior subcapsular cataracts as well as those who remain aphakic after cataract surgery report a lower visual quality of life than those without these conditions, according to Suh-Yuh Wu, research assistant professor of preventative ophthalmology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, N.Y. These were among some of the key findings brought to light in a study published in the April 2008 issue of Investigational Ophthalmology and Visual Science."

Quick-thinking ants trim foliage to fit

noreply@blogger.com (Meister) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:35:00 +0000

Watch how ants switch their leaf-carrying tactics when an obstacle is placed in their path.

Heart Medicine Gene

noreply@blogger.com (Meister) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:13:00 +0000

Genetics researchers have debunked a racial myth about who might benefit from a widely used heart failure medication. As this Sciencentral video reports, the finding will eventually allow personalized treatments for this devastating disease.

Metal-eating "pest" caught on film

noreply@blogger.com (Meister) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:37:00 +0000

Researchers in the UK have captured the first video footage of the tin pest reaction.

Genetically modified mosquitoes may combat malaria

noreply@blogger.com (Meister) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 10:38:00 +0000

Yahoo! News: "Faced with a losing battle against malaria, scientists are increasingly exploring new avenues that might have seemed far-fetched just a few years ago."

Worm-like marine animal providing

noreply@blogger.com (Meister) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 11:22:00 +0000

Physorg: "Linda Holland, a research biologist at Scripps Oceanography, and her colleagues from the United States, Europe and Asia, have deciphered and analyzed fundamental elements of the genetic makeup of a small, worm-like marine animal called amphioxus, also known as a lancelet."

Chemists find better way to make amines

noreply@blogger.com (Meister) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 11:20:00 +0000

WEbindia: "U.S. chemists say they are using a newly discovered catalyst to aid in the production of amines at low cost and with no waste products
University of California-Riverside scientists say the new technology can quickly, cleanly and inexpensively produce amines, which are nitrogen-containing organic compounds derived from ammonia. They are used in such products as solvents, additives, detergents, dyes and bactericides."

Why chimps scream during sex

noreply@blogger.com (Meister) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:49:00 +0000

sfgate.com: "Biologists have long been puzzled by these copulation calls, which can betray the caller's whereabouts to predators. To compensate for this hazard, the calls must confer a significant evolutionary advantage, but what?"

Female Chimps Keep Sex Secret

noreply@blogger.com (Meister) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:46:00 +0000

Discovery Channel: "Female chimpanzees are hungry for sex with as many males as possible, and keep their mouths shut about it to boost their chances of luring the top chimps, a British university said Wednesday.
Scientists at the University of St Andrews studied the copulation calls -- sounds sometimes made during mating -- of female chimpanzees in Uganda to find out more about what they mean."

Male Homosexuality Can Be Explained Through A Specific Model Of Darwinian Evolution, Study Shows

noreply@blogger.com (Meister) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:43:00 +0000

Science Daily "An Italian research team, consisting of Andrea Camperio Ciani and Giovanni Zanzotto at the University of Padova and Paolo Cermelli at the University of Torino, found that the evolutionary origin and maintenance of male homosexuality in human populations could be explained by a model based around the idea of sexually antagonistic selection, in which genetic factors spread in the population by giving a reproductive advantage to one sex while disadvantaging the other."

When species meet - Excerpt of a lecture by Donna Haraway

noreply@blogger.com (Meister) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:40:00 +0000

Scientist Donna Haraway talks about the idea that human nature is an interspecies relationship at all levels.

Riz Khan - Science of the impossible -- Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Meister) — Thu, 29 May 2008 10:21:00 +0000

Time travel, death stars and invisibility cloaks - writer and noted scientist, Michio Kaku, believes they could all be possible in the not to distant future.

To the skeptics he points out that aeroplanes, lasers, televisions and atomic bombs were all considered impossible by scientists in the past.

On Wednesday's Riz Khan we speak with noted scientist Michio Kaku author of Physics of the Impossible.

The book explores the technologies and devices of science fiction that are deemed impossible today but that might become commonplace in the future.

Riz Khan - Science of the impossible - Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Meister) — Thu, 29 May 2008 10:19:00 +0000

Coral Reefs In Danger (CBS)

noreply@blogger.com (Meister) — Tue, 06 May 2008 00:31:00 +0000

Coral reefs are disappearing at an alarming rate, four times faster than the rainforest. Daniel Sieberg reports on one man's fight to save this precious resource. (CBSNews.com)

Food dyes may help prevent cancer

noreply@blogger.com (Meister) — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 21:17:00 +0000

The Times of India: "LONDON: They may be known for severe health hazards, but food dyes indeed have a positive side- protection against cancer, says a new study.

The study was conducted over trout, a species of freshwater fish, which were given carcinogens dibenzopyrene (DBP) or aflatoxin in their feed either with or without food dyes Red 40 or Blue 2, for one month."

Could Cloning Save The White Rhino?

noreply@blogger.com (Meister) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 01:06:00 +0000

British scientists are using a pioneering form of cloning to help save the northern white rhino from the brink of extinction. There are only nine of the animals in captivity and even fewer out in the wild.

Rare causes of HIV transmission

noreply@blogger.com (Meister) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:32:00 +0000

Trinidad Express "This week I will talk about two very rare and interesting cases of HIV transmission. They are so unique that they were published in the American Journal of AIDS, which, as a rule, accepts only about one in 20 submissions. Our case report on human bites: a rare risk factor for HIV transmission was published last year."

Orchid's sexual deception triggers ejaculation

noreply@blogger.com (Meister) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:49:00 +0000

Male orchid dupe wasps are tricked into mating with Australian tongue orchids and inadvertently help them spread their pollen.

Can prehistoric mammoth's now be cloned?

noreply@blogger.com (Meister) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:46:00 +0000

Russian scientists say they've managed to develop the most detailed picture ever of the insides of prehistoric animals. They made the discovery after studying a baby mammoth found immaculately preserved in the Yamalo-Nenets region in the Urals last year.

Cuban Scientists For Eradicating Dengue

noreply@blogger.com (Meister) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 11:01:00 +0000

Havana, Apr 3 (Prensa Latina) Cuban specialists are working with new entomological data on the elimination and control of the mosquito spreading the dengue fever.
A research by the "Pedro Kouri" Tropical Medicine Institute is dealing with the eradication of the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, the daily incidence of female adult and the strict control during the larvae stage.
Led by Doctor Maria del Carmen Marquetti, researchers decided that the new health improvement strategies be added to the program began in 1981.

Researchers gain insight into Puerto Rican coral reefs with high-tech mapping

noreply@blogger.com (Meister) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 11:24:00 +0000

Taiwan News Online: "Whirring over a sun-streaked patch of tropical seafloor, a submersible equipped with cameras is helping to provide the most detailed maps ever recorded of underwater shelves and struggling coral reefs off this U.S. Caribbean territory.
The small machine, tethered to a 187-foot (57-meter) survey ship, was steered by remote over coral hills, sending a fish-eye view back to scientists who studied the images in hopes of restoring reefs weakened by manmade and natural threats. More exact contours were mapped in an hour by video and multibeam sonar imagery than was ever charted before in the area."

Caribbean reef dominated by two coral species

noreply@blogger.com (Meister) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 16:34:00 +0000

Radiojamaica.com"Researchers say two dominant coral species have built a good chunk of the Caribbean reef.

Their ability to grow quickly may help the region's coral reefs keep pace with rising sea levels caused by global warming."