Tech

Cambridge, Mass., – June 28, 2010 – "More than meets the eye" may soon become more than just a tagline for a line of popular robotic toys.

Researchers at Harvard and MIT have reshaped the landscape of programmable matter by devising self-folding sheets that rely on the ancient art of origami.

Americans are almost universally aware of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and they are concerned about its potential impact on the safety of Gulf seafood, according to new data from a continuing survey conducted by the University of Minnesota.

The survey is part of an ongoing weekly consumer confidence poll conducted by The Food Industry Center at the U of M. During the most recent survey, 99 percent of respondents said they were aware of the spill and 85 percent say they are following news about it closely or have heard a lot about it.

VERNON - No significant differences in corn yield were found between organic and chemical sources of nutrients, but a Texas AgriLife Research economist said manure generates higher economic returns than anhydrous ammonia.

Dr. Seong Park, AgriLife Research economist, recently had his research published in the Agronomy Journal. The work was from studies he conducted in the Oklahoma Panhandle while at Oklahoma State University and finalized while in his new position at Vernon.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---University of Michigan aquatic ecologist Donald Scavia and his colleagues say this year's Gulf of Mexico "dead zone" is expected to be larger than average, continuing a decades-long trend that threatens the health of a $659 million fishery.

URBANA – Wet conditions have Illinois pumpkin growers on the alert for signs of Phytophthora blight in their fields. This disease nearly destroyed the pumpkin industry in 1999, causing up to 100 percent crop losses in parts of the state. While it's not a new disease to this industry, it is the most devastating and it's already showing up in Illinois.

UK scientists have created the first convincing robotic fish that shoals will accept as one of their own. The innovation opens up new possibilities for studying fish behaviour and group dynamics, which provides useful information to support freshwater and marine environmental management, to predict fish migration routes and assess the likely impact of human intervention on fish populations.

Rome, Italy: Women of different ages differ in their reasons for wishing to undergo egg freezing, show two studies presented to the 26th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology today (Monday). A large number of female university students would be prepared to undertake egg freezing in an attempt to combine career success and motherhood, said Dr.

Rome, Italy: Being overweight leads to a greater risk of miscarriage for patients undergoing assisted reproductive technology (ART), the 26th annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology heard today (Monday). Dr. Vivian Rittenberg, a Clinical Fellow in the Assisted Conception Unit, Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK, said that her research provided additional evidence to show that increased body mass index (BMI) was independently associated with a higher miscarriage rate after IVF or ICSI treatment.

PHILADELPHIA, PA (June 28, 2010)—A revered botanist at the Academy of Natural Sciences who first profiled and then named the delta bulrush says the plant has natural properties that could help reduce the impact of the Gulf oil spill on the Mississippi delta.

Dr. Alfred Ernest Schuyler, the Academy's curator emeritus of botany and a prominent botanist in the international science community, is urging all sides involved in the crisis to give this slender sedge family member a hard look as they weigh their spill-fighting strategies.

They make you itch and they are hard to find but scientists have got the body louse well and truly in their sights.

MADISON, WI, June 28th, 2010 – A one-time tillage has no adverse effects on yield or soil properties on no-till land, according to field research conducted at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Although tillage is another expense for farmers and generally increases the risk of soil erosion, a one-time tillage may be performed to correct some problem, such as a perennial weed problem.

The idea to sequester carbon is gaining support as a way to avoid global warming. For example, the European Union plans to invest billions of Euros within the next ten years to develop carbon capture and storage whereby CO2 will be extracted at power plants and other combustion sites and stored underground. But how effective is this procedure and what are the long-term consequences of leakage for the oceans and climate? A Niels Bohr Institute researcher has now cast light upon these issues. This research has just been published in the scientific journal, Nature Geoscience.

There are now two major hurricanes in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and they appear to be chasing each other in imagery from the GOES-13 satellite. Hurricane Celia is a Category Five hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, and Hurricane Darby to Celia's east has just become a Category Three hurricane (a major hurricane).

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., June 25, 2010 -- Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory are planning a large-scale, long-term ecosystem experiment to test the effects of global warming on the icy layers of arctic permafrost.

While ORNL researchers have conducted extensive studies on the impact of climate change in temperate regions like East Tennessee, less is known about the impact global warming could have on arctic regions.