Tech

Results of a new study add evidence that climate swings in the northern hemisphere over the past 12,000 years have been tightly linked to changes in the tropics.

The findings, published this week in the journal Science, suggest that a prolonged cold spell that caused glaciers in Europe and North America to creep forward several hundred years ago may have affected climate patterns as far south as Peru, causing tropical glaciers there to expand, too.

Dr. Jiwoong Park of Cornell University, who receives funding for basic research from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), is investigating carbon nanostructures that may some day be used in electronic, thermal, mechanical and sensing devices for the Air Force.

Being too optimistic could harm weight loss efforts. Research published in BioMed Central's open access journal, BioPsychoSocial Medicine, reveals the psychological characteristics that may contribute to weight loss.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – SEPTEMBER 24, 2009 – Late-breaking results from the PROSPECT clinical trial shed new light on the types of vulnerable plaque that are most likely to cause sudden, unexpected adverse cardiac events, and on the ability to identify them through imaging techniques before they occur.

Flying high over the Gulf of Mexico, researchers from NASA and Case Western Reserve University found a key to unlocking oxygen from the surface of the moon.

The celestial body has no atmosphere like Earth's, holding the precious element just a breath away. But, oxygen to breathe, grow food, create water and burn rocket fuel – to make a space outpost a reality - is trapped in its soils.

DURHAM, N.H. – A new study that reports precise ages for glacial moraines in southern Peru links climate swings in the tropics to those of Europe and North America during the Little Ice Age approximately 150 to 350 years ago. The study, published this week in the journal Science, "brings us one step closer to understanding global-scale patterns of glacier activity and climate during the Little Ice Age," says lead author Joe Licciardi, associate professor of Earth sciences at the University of New Hampshire.

Tiny objects known as nanoparticles are often heralded as holding great potential for future applications in electronics, medicine and other areas. The properties of nanoparticles depend on their size and structure. Now researchers from North Carolina State University have learned how to consistently create hollow, solid and amorphous nanoparticles of nickel phosphide, which has potential uses in the development of solar cells and as catalysts for removing sulfur from fuel.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – With America's unemployment rate higher than it has been in decades, many people find themselves looking for jobs. The process can be tiring and, in such a competitive climate, receiving that final job offer is challenging. In a new study, researchers at the University of Missouri focus on what job seekers need to get ahead of the competition. The Mizzou scientists found that certain planning activities and positive emotions have a large impact on success in finding a job.

Researchers from Northwestern University and Boise State University have figured out how to produce a less expensive shape-shifting "memory" foam, which could lead to more widespread applications of the material, such as in surgical positioning tools and valve mechanisms.

SAN DIEGO – (September 24, 2009) A scientist at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology has received one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)'s top awards -- the 2009 NIH Director's Pioneer Award. The prestigious prize carries with it funding for total costs of up to $4.7 million over five years, and is designed to support the work of exceptionally creative scientists, whose novel proposals offer the potential to make extraordinary contributions to human health.

Whether from heaving, twisting, bending or bad lifting postures, it's well known that caring for the sick or elderly can lead to back pain. This often results in time off work or dropping out of caring professions altogether. Now Danish research published in the online open access journal BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders suggests that the fear of getting back pain from care work is predictive of actually developing it.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – SEPTEMBER 23, 2009 – Late-breaking data from SPIRIT IV, a large-scale multi-center study of nearly 4,000 patients in the U.S., shows that an everolimus-eluting stent demonstrated enhanced safety and efficacy in the treatment of de novo native coronary artery lesions when compared to a paclitaxel-eluting stent, and showed that "low late loss" may be achieved with drug-eluting stents without sacrificing safety.

Imagine a gift wrapped in paper you really do treasure and want to carefully fold and save. That's because the wrapping paper lights up with words like "Happy Birthday" or "Happy Holidays," thanks to a built in battery — an amazing battery made out of paper. That's one potential application of a new battery made of cellulose, the stuff of paper, being described in the October 14 issue of ACS' Nano Letters, a monthly journal.

The pavement material that cars drive on may wind up in their fuel tanks as scientists seek ways of transforming asphaltenes — the main component of asphalt — into an abundant new source of fuel, according to the cover story in the current issue of Chemical & Engineering News, ACS' weekly newsmagazine.

The Indian launcher Polar Space Launch Vehicle took off at 8:22 a.m. - Swiss time. Twenty minutes later, the SwissCube was ejected from the nose cone of the rocket at an altitude of around 720 kilometers. At 9:37 a.m. the first ever signals sent from a Swiss satellite in space were picked up from Stanford (California). Mission accomplished.