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Science News 09-Jan-2017 Species Diversity Reduces Chances of Crop Failure in Algal Biofuel Systems When growing algae in outdoor ponds as a next-generation biofuel, a naturally diverse mix of species will help reduce the chance of crop failure, according to a federally funded study by University of Michigan researchers. – University of Michigan Experiments in Mice May Help Boost Newly FDA-Approved Therapy for Spinal Muscular Atrophy Johns Hopkins researchers along with academic and drug industry investigators say they have identified a new biological target for treating spinal muscular atrophy. – Johns Hopkins Medicine Neuron; UL1 TR 001079 Re-Energizing the Lithium-Ion Battery Researchers determined that lithium ions are more intimately connected with liquids used in batteries. The findings could eventually lead to a larger role for lithium-ion batteries. – Department of Energy, Office of Science Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 16, 23568-23575 (2014). [DOI: 10.1039/C4CP03240C]. Nanoparticle Catalysts Outperform Single Metal Atoms New research impacts an ongoing debate about how platinum catalysts create carbon dioxide. The debate influences a wide array of technologies, from automobile exhaust control systems to hydrogen fuel cells. – Department of Energy, Office of Science Science 350, 189 (2015). [DOI: 10.1126/science.aab3501] Small, Efficient Solutions for a Big-Name Pollutant Winter cold snaps often bring tragic stories of Americans killed by carbon monoxide from gas-powered generators. While we currently rely on carbon monoxide detectors, new research points the way to a new approach: direct elimination of the gas. – Department of Energy, Office of Science Journal of the American Chemical Society 137, 10156 (2015). [DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5b07011] Tool Helps Cities to Plan Electric Bus Routes, and Calculate the Benefits Researchers have developed a new tool for cities to optimize electric bus systems, which has now been used in Sweden’s first wireless charging bus system, launched in December. – International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis Berkelium's Unexpected Chemistry Has Been Captured Berkelium was one of a few elements that had yet to be characterized in detail. Researchers structurally characterized it and revealed unexpected findings. – Department of Energy, Office of Science Science 353, 888 (2016). [DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf3762] A Natural Fondness for Plutonium Once released into the environment, radioactive materials pose risks. Scientists found that a protein that binds radioactive elements, such as plutonium. This discovery could lead to new ways to clean a contaminated area. – Department of Energy, Office of Science Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 112, 10342 (2015). [DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1508902112] Oxygen Takes Elitist Attitude to Sharing Electrons Fuel cells and other devices use reactions involving oxygen. To improve these technologies, scientists need to know how the oxygen behaves. Researchers just overturned the conventional thinking about the oxygen’s behavior. – Department of Energy, Office of Science Nature Communications 6, 6097 (2015). [DOI: 10.1038/ncomms7097] Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts Scientists combined two materials to create a structure that turns carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide. The material has promise for removing carbon dioxide from the air, while pumping out carbon monoxide, a useful industrial product. – Department of Energy, Office of Science Science 349, 1208 (2015). [DOI: 10.1126/science.aac8343] 07-Jan-2017 Neonicotinoid Pesticide Affects Foraging and Social Interaction in Bumblebees linked changes in social behavior with sublethal exposure to the neonicotinoid pesticide, imidacloprid. – Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) Embargo expired on 07-Jan-2017 at 00:00 ET Bio-Inspired Suction Cups Withstand More Than Splashes To create prototype suction cups that are capable of glomming onto rough, wet surfaces and staying there, Ditsche has found inspiration in an aptly-named marine creature: the clingfish. – Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) Embargo expired on 07-Jan-2017 at 00:00 ET Hubble Captures 'Shadow Play' Caused by Possible Planet Astronomers were surprised to see a huge shadow sweeping across a disk of dust and gas encircling the nearby, young star TW Hydrae. They have a bird's-eye view of the disk, because it is tilted face-on to Earth, and the shadow sweeps around the disk ... – Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) 229th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society Embargo expired on 07-Jan-2017 at 11:15 ET Southampton Researchers Use High Energy X-Rays to Peer Beneath the Obscuring Skin of Growing Black Holes A black hole studied and discovered by Peter Boorman, PhD researcher at the University of Southampton, is so hidden that it requires highly sensitive observations in the highest energy X-rays to classify it as obscured. But they give themselves away ... – University of Southampton AAS Annual Meeting, Jan 2017 06-Jan-2017 The Technological Potential of Earwax One potential is to create some sort of biomimetic earwax adhesive surface that can be used in a ventilation system for robotics or for other kinds of machinery. – Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) Embargo expired on 06-Jan-2017 at 00:00 ET Hubble Provides Interstellar Road Map for Voyagers' Galactic Trek Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have measured the material along the Voyager 1 and 2 probes' trajectories as they move through space. Hubble data, combined with the Voyagers, have also provided new insights into how our sun travels th... – Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) 229th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society Embargo expired on 06-Jan-2017 at 11:15 ET Hubble Detects 'Exocomets' Taking the Plunge Into a Young Star Interstellar forecast for a nearby star: Raining comets! The comets are plunging into the star HD 172555, which resides 95 light-years from Earth. The comets were not seen directly around the star. Astronomers inferred their presence when they used ... – Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) 229th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society Embargo expired on 06-Jan-2017 at 15:15 ET Rocky Mountain Haze University of Utah atmospheric scientist Gannet Hallar and colleagues find a correlation between the severity of drought in the Intermountain West and the summertime air quality, particularly the concentration of aerosol particles, in remote mountain... – University of Utah Environmental Research Letters Embargo expired on 06-Jan-2017 at 07:00 ET Cosmic Source Found for Mysterious Fast Radio Burst, Research Reinforces Role of Supernovae in Clocking the Universe, Feeding the Ravenous Black Hole at the Center of Our Galaxy, and More in the Space News Source The latest in space and astronomy in the Space News Source – Newswise Zooplankton Rapidly Evolve Tolerance to Road Salt A common species of zooplankton—the smallest animals in the freshwater food web—can evolve genetic tolerance to moderate levels of road salt in as little as two and a half months, according to new research published online today in the journal En... – Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Changing Antarctic Waters Could Trigger Steep Rise in Sea Levels Current changes in the ocean around Antarctica are disturbingly close to conditions 14,000 years ago that led to the rapid melting of the Antarctic ice sheets and a three metre rise in global sea levels. – University of New South Wales Scientific Reports Tailored Organoid May Help Unravel Immune Response Mystery Cornell and Weill Cornell Medicine researchers report on the use of biomaterials-based organoids in an attempt to reproduce immune-system events and gain a better understanding of B cells. – Cornell University ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, Dec. 13, 2016; Nature Protocols Dinosaur Eggs Took a Long Time to Hatch; This May Have Contributed to Their Doom New research on the teeth of fossilized dinosaur embryos indicates that the eggs of non-avian dinosaurs took a long time to hatch--between about three and six months. – Newswise Trends Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences PPPL Physicists Make First-Ever Direct Observation of Collisional Plasmoid Instability During Magnetic Reconnection in a Laboratory Setting PPPL physicists have for the first time directly observed a phenomenon that had previously only been hypothesized to exist. The phenomenon, plasmoid instabilities that occur during collisional magnetic reconnection, had until this year only been obse... – Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Physical Review Letters, Aug-2016 Research Supports Role of Supernovas in Measuring Pace at Which the Universe Expands A team of research scientists led by David Cinabro, professor of physics and astronomy in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Wayne State University, recently published a paper marking the importance of Type Ia Supernovas in measuring the pac... – Wayne State University Division of Research Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, November 2016 Does Exercising Before Sports Practice Improve Skill Learning? Latest Research Highlights from ACSM – American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Large-Scale Tornado Outbreaks Increasing in Frequency, Study Finds The frequency of large-scale tornado outbreaks is increasing in the United States, particularly when it comes to the most extreme events, according to research recently published in Science. – University of Chicago Science, Dec. 16,2016 Confined Water at Fahrenheit -451 Scientists discovered a new kind of water molecule whose shape has been altered to conform to the symmetry of the environment in which it is trapped. – Department of Energy, Office of Science Physical Review Letters 116, 167802 (2016). [DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.167802] Related Links Top 10 PPPL Stories That You Shouldn’t Miss List of the top 10 laboratory stories in 2016. – Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory 05-Jan-2017 Police Sobriety Checkpoints Can Reduce Drunk Driving Better Than Increased Penalties Driving while impaired (DWI) causes more than 10,000 deaths per year in the United States. Although enforcing criminal sanctions for DWI is the traditional response, the success of these measures has been inconsistent. This study looked at risk perce... – Research Society on Alcoholism Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research Embargo expired on 05-Jan-2017 at 17:00 ET Final Arrangements A new study from the University of Iowa analyzes funeral homes’ terminology and pricing, which can help relatives planning final arrangements for a loved one. – University of Iowa How “The Big Bang Theory” Portrays Scientists Love it or hate it, you've probably at least heard of CBS’s hit TV show “The Big Bang Theory,” now in its 10th year of production. But how accurately does it portray scientific culture, and does it break or reinforce stereotypes? A free article... – American Institute of Physics (AIP) Radar Reveals Meltwater's Year-Round Life Under Greenland Ice Exploring where liquid goes, even in winter – Earth Institute at Columbia University Geophysical Research Letters Captured on Video: DNA Nanotubes Build a Bridge Between Two Molecular Posts In a microscopic feat that resembled a high-wire circus act, Johns Hopkins researchers have coaxed DNA nanotubes to assemble themselves into bridge-like structures arched between two molecular landmarks on the surface of a lab dish. – Johns Hopkins University Nature Nanotechnology, Dec-2016; SC0010595; 125387 Optogenetics Breakthrough: UNC Scientists Expand the Use of Light to Control Protein Activity in Cells Scientists at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine have developed a method to control proteins inside live cells with the flick of a switch, giving researchers an unprecedented tool for pinpointing the causes of disease using the simpl... – University of North Carolina Health Care System Science TSRI Researchers Discover Surprising Process Behind Sense of Touch Biologists on the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have discovered a new mechanism that likely underlies how we feel force or touch. – Scripps Research Institute 1DP2NS087943-01 UCI Introduces iRain Smartphone App Irvine, Calif., January 5, 2017– Climate researchers and weather forecasters get their rain data from a network of precipitation-sensing satellites that orbit Earth. iRain, a new mobile phone app developed by engineers at the University of Californ... – University of California, Irvine Arctic Sea Ice Loss Impacts Beluga Whale Migration A new University of Washington study has found the annual migration of some beluga whales in Alaska is altered by sea ice changes in the Arctic, while other belugas do not appear to be affected. – University of Washington Global Change Biology, Dec-2016 Study Examines Ocean Acidification Effects on Rockfish, a Key CA Marine Prey Base A new study led by researchers from Moss Landing Marine Labs of San Jose State University, California State University Monterey Bay and University of California Santa Cruz examines how ocean acidification may negatively affect some juvenile rockfish,... – California State University, Monterey Bay PlosOne Peer reviewed Journal CSU Dominguez Hills Presents LAEDC’s ‘Future Forums: Cyber Security’ Leaders in digital technology, education, business, and city governance gathered in El Segundo Dec. 14 for Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation’s (LAEDC) Future Forums: Cyber Security to address society’s increasing vulnerability t... Expert Available – California State University, Dominguez Hills  Announcements New Director Named to Lead U.S. Department of Energy’s Jefferson Lab Jefferson Science Associates, LLC today announced that Stuart Henderson will become the new Director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News, Virginia. Currently serving as the Director of ... – Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility U Joins National Sustainable Manufacturing Alliance for Recycling and Remanufacturing The University of Utah joins the Reducing Embodied-Energy and Decreasing Emissions (REMADE) Institute, a national coalition that aims to drive down the cost of technologies essential to reuse, recycle and remanufacture metals and other materials. – University of Utah The Institute of Food Technologists’ Kara Adams, CAE Awarded 2016 Forty Under 40 by the Association Forum of Chicagoland Kara Adams, CAE, Senior Manager of Divisions and Community at the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) was named to the 2016 Forty Under 40 by the Association Forum of Chicagoland. – Institute of Food Technologists (IFT)