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By looking at satellite imagery, University of Maryland scientists hope to predict cholera epidemics four to six weeks before they actually happen. The research could help save lives worldwide, and could be used to develop other models to predict other seasonal or climate-driven infectious diseases.
The brain can produce antidepressants with the right signal, a finding that suggests that meditating, or going to your "happy place," truly works, scientists reported on Wednesday.
Mice forced to swim endlessly until they surrendered and just floated, waiting to drown, could be conditioned to regain their will to live when a tone they associated with safety was played.
Mice forced to swim endlessly until they surrendered and just floated, waiting to drown, could be conditioned to regain their will to live when a tone they associated with safety was played.
The future of television? This image is an impression of what 3D holographic television may look like.
© iStockphoto/Hans F. MeierGinkgo biloba leaves
A culture of neglect and, at some age levels, outright social ostracism, is derailing a generation of students, especially girls, deemed the very best in mathematics, according to a new study.
In a report published today (Oct. 10) in the Notices of the American Mathematical Society, a comprehensive analysis of decades of data on students identified as having profound ability in math describes a culturally constricted pipeline that puts American leadership in the mathematical sciences and related fields at risk.
According to the report, many girls with extremely high aptitude for math exist, but they are rarely identified in the U.S. because they veer from a career trajectory in the mathematical sciences due to the low respect American culture places on math, systemic flaws in the U.S. public school education system, and a lack of role models.
In a report published today (Oct. 10) in the Notices of the American Mathematical Society, a comprehensive analysis of decades of data on students identified as having profound ability in math describes a culturally constricted pipeline that puts American leadership in the mathematical sciences and related fields at risk.
According to the report, many girls with extremely high aptitude for math exist, but they are rarely identified in the U.S. because they veer from a career trajectory in the mathematical sciences due to the low respect American culture places on math, systemic flaws in the U.S. public school education system, and a lack of role models.
Energy saving light bulbs can emit levels of ultraviolet radiation sufficient to damage the skin, the Government's public health safety watchdog warned.
The agency issued what it described as "precautionary advice" yesterday after measuring levels of UV light emitted by the bulbs at the request of patient groups. They have complained that they aggravate light-sensitive conditions such as the blood disease lupus, eczema and porphyria, which together affect tens of thousands of patients across the UK.
The agency issued what it described as "precautionary advice" yesterday after measuring levels of UV light emitted by the bulbs at the request of patient groups. They have complained that they aggravate light-sensitive conditions such as the blood disease lupus, eczema and porphyria, which together affect tens of thousands of patients across the UK.
The first asteroid discovered from Ireland for 160 years was confirmed in the early hours yesterday after first being spotted on Tuesday by an enthusiastic stargazer from his back garden.
"I've been doing asteroid work for a good few years but I can't think of anything better than discovering one, particularly as an amateur," said a delighted Dave McDonald yesterday.
"I've been doing asteroid work for a good few years but I can't think of anything better than discovering one, particularly as an amateur," said a delighted Dave McDonald yesterday.
Astronomers have used ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer to conduct the first high resolution survey that combines spectroscopy and interferometry on intermediate-mass infant stars. They obtained a very precise view of the processes acting in the discs that feed stars as they form. These mechanisms include material infalling onto the star as well as gas being ejected, probably as a wind from the disc.
Infant stars form from a disc of gas and dust that surrounds the new star and, later, may also provide the material for a planetary system. Because the closest star-forming regions to us are about 500 light-years away, these discs appear very small on the sky, and their study requires special techniques to be able to probe the finer details.
This is best done with interferometry, a technique that combines the light of two or more telescopes so that the level of detail revealed corresponds to that which would be seen by a telescope with a diameter equal to the separation between the interferometer elements, typically 40 to 200 metres. ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) has allowed astronomers to reach a resolution of about a milli-arcsecond, an angle equivalent to the size of the full stop at the end of this sentence seen from a distance of about 50 kilometres.
© ESO/L. CalçadaArtist's impression of the environment of a young star, showing the geometry of the dust disc in the outer area and the hot gas disc closer to the central star. Note that the image is not to scale and the inner gas disc, which was studied by the astronomers using ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer, is smaller than the distance between the Earth and the Sun, while the whole disc is tens of times larger.
Infant stars form from a disc of gas and dust that surrounds the new star and, later, may also provide the material for a planetary system. Because the closest star-forming regions to us are about 500 light-years away, these discs appear very small on the sky, and their study requires special techniques to be able to probe the finer details.
This is best done with interferometry, a technique that combines the light of two or more telescopes so that the level of detail revealed corresponds to that which would be seen by a telescope with a diameter equal to the separation between the interferometer elements, typically 40 to 200 metres. ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) has allowed astronomers to reach a resolution of about a milli-arcsecond, an angle equivalent to the size of the full stop at the end of this sentence seen from a distance of about 50 kilometres.
Four months after a successful hand transplant -- 35 years after amputation in an industrial accident at age 19 -- a 54-year-old man's emerging sense of touch is registered in the former "hand area" of the his brain, says a University of Oregon neuroscientist.
DNA, the molecule that acts as the carrier of genetic information in all forms of life, is highly resistant against alteration by ultraviolet light, but understanding the mechanism for its photostability presents some puzzling problems. A key aspect is the interaction between the four chemical bases that make up the DNA molecule. Researchers at Kiel University have succeeded in showing that DNA strands differ in their light sensitivity depending on their base sequences.
© J. Haacks, CAUNina Schwalb adjusting the femtosecond laser spectroscope.
