WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A Purdue University archaeologist discovered an intact ancient iron ore mine in South America that shows how civilizations before the Inca Empire were mining this valuable ore.
In October 2001, letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to several news media offices and two U.S. senators, killing five people and infecting 17 others. Clearing the Senate office building of the spores with chlorine dioxide gas cost $27 million, according to the Government Accountability Office. Cleaning the Brentwood postal facility outside Washington cost $130 million and took 26 months.
The White House Office of Management and Budget evaluates R&D programs at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies using a questionnaire that asks about many aspects of their research, including its efficiency. OMB rates programs based on the answers, and an "ineffective" rating can have serious adverse consequences for a program or agency. After having trouble meeting OMB's requirements to measure and demonstrate efficiency, EPA asked the National Research Council for guidance.
Heart surgeons at Johns Hopkins have evidence to support further tightening rather than easing of standards used to designate hospitals that are best at performing heart transplants.
In a study to be presented Jan. 29 at the 44th annual meeting of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the Hopkins team recommends that the benchmark for designation as a high-volume hospital rise from 10 heart transplants per year to 14. High-volume centers consistently show higher survival and fewer complication rates.
Lack of oxygen isn’t the only way that carbon monoxide (CO) damages the heart, say researchers at Rhode Island Hospital.
According to the findings of a new study, published in the January issue of Academic Emergency Medicine, CO also causes direct damage to the heart muscle, separate from the effects of oxygen deprivation, which reduces the heart’s pumping capacity and permanently impairs cardiac function.
In the past few years industrial processes have monopolised practically all robotic developments and applications. However, the current tendency is marked by new robotics which will have a great impact in various spheres from the industrial to services and including entertainment and care assistance for persons, amongst other applications.
A new study sheds light on the relationship between women who smoke while pregnant—or are exposed to second-hand smoke—and an increased risk of SIDS to their babies.
Researchers at McMaster University have found a mechanism that explains why an infant’s ability to respond to oxygen deprivation after birth—or a hypoxic episode—is dramatically compromised by exposure to nicotine in the womb, even light to moderate amounts.
Using ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer, astronomers have probed the inner parts of the disc of material surrounding a young stellar object, witnessing how it gains its mass before becoming an adult.
The astronomers had a close look at the object known as MWC 147, lying about 2,600 light years away towards the constellation of Monoceros ('the Unicorn'). MWC 147 belongs to the family of Herbig Ae/Be objects. These have a few times the mass of our Sun and are still forming, increasing in mass by swallowing material present in a surrounding disc.
The combined supercomputing power of the UK and US ‘national grids’ has enabled UCL (University College London) scientists to simulate the efficacy of an HIV drug in blocking a key protein used by the lethal virus. The method – an early example of the Virtual Physiological Human in action – could one day be used to tailor personal drug treatments, for example for HIV patients developing resistance to their drugs.
The international community cannot afford to fail the people of the Balkans yet again as Kosovo heads for independence, according to an expert at The University of Nottingham.
Professor Stefan Wolff, Director of the Centre for International Crisis Management and Conflict Resolution, School of Politics and International Relations, said Kosovos future is crucial for stability in the Balkans and will set an important precedent for similar conflicts worldwide, from the Basque country and Northern Cyprus to the Caucasus, Iraq, and Taiwan.
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