Science Addict

Despite broad “dolphin safe” practices, fishing activities have continued to restrict the growth of at least one Pacific Ocean dolphin population, a new report led by a researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego has concluded.

Populations of dolphins in the Eastern Pacific were expected to increase in abundance after successful regulations and agreements were enacted to reduce dolphin deaths as a result of fishing “bycatch,” cases in which animals are caught unintentionally along with intended targets. Continue Reading…

Earth’s magnetic field, which shields our planet from particles streaming outward from the Sun, often develops two holes that allow the largest leaks, according to researchers sponsored by NASA and the National Science Foundation.

“The discovery overturns a long-standing belief about how and when most of the solar particles penetrate Earth’s magnetic field, and could be used to predict when solar storms will be severe. Based on these results, we expect more severe storms during the upcoming solar cycle,” said Vassilis Angelopoulos of the University of California, Los Angeles, Principal Investigator for NASA’s THEMIS mission (Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms). THEMIS was used to discover the size of the leak. Continue Reading…

New research shows that we should be looking to the ground, not the sky, to see where climate change could have its most perilous impact on life on Earth — global warming actually changes the molecular structure of organic matter in soil.

“Soil contains more than twice the amount of carbon than does the atmosphere, yet, until now, scientists haven’t examined this significant carbon pool closely,” saidMyrna J. Simpson, principal investigator and associate professor of environmental chemistry at UTSC. “Through our research, we’ve sought to determine what soils are made up of at the molecular level and whether this composition will change in a warmer world.”

Continue Reading…

Six weeks ago, the Gonzo Scientist challenged researchers around the world to interpret their Ph.D. research in dance form, film the dance, and share it with the world on YouTube (Science, 10 October, p. 186). By the 11 p.m. deadline this past Sunday, 36 dances–including solo ballet and circus spectacle–had been submitted online. A panel of nine judges–the three winners of the first “Dance Your Ph.D.” contest, three scientists from Harvard University, and three artistic directors of the dance company Pilobolus–scored the dances on their ability to bridge the art and science worlds. Today, Science announces the winners of the 2009 AAAS Science Dance Contest in four categories: Graduate Students, Postdocs, Professors, and Popular Choice:

Graduate Students
Sue Lynn Lau chose classical ballet and highly kinetic party dancing as the way to interpret her Ph.D. thesis, “The role of vitamin D in beta-cell function.” As The Nutcracker Suite lilts in the background, Lau, a graduate student from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, Australia, appears as the Sugarplum Fairy, delivering marshmallow glucose to four beta cell dancers. Meanwhile, a fifth dancer flings and twirls around the stage–representing the sunlight required for vitamin D biosynthesis.

Needing an organ transplant is a lot of hassle – in fact, if it wasn’t life or death you probably wouldn’t bother. Problem is, it is. You might wait for years and when comes along you’ve got about 12 hours to get it all hooked up before there’s no point. A new method which is part cookery, part fridge and part mechanical could prolong the life of organs in transit or even help create a central for all your internal-replacement needs. Continue Reading…