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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 23, 2014 at 8:53am

Mechanisms of charge transfer and redistribution in LaAlO3/SrTiO3 revealed by high-energy optical conductivity
Researchers from Singapore and Germany have found a new way to study the curious properties observed at the interface of materials.
An international team led by researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) has developed a technique to study the interface between materials, shedding light on the curious properties that arise when two materials are put together.

Studying material interfaces is part of a research area known as condensed matter physics. When matter is condensed, mutual interactions between particles alters physical behavior, giving rise to exotic properties. A better understanding of how materials interface allows scientists to tweak material properties to possibly develop better solar cells, superconductors and smaller hard drives.

“If you put two materials together, you can create completely new properties. For instance, two non-conducting, non-magnetic insulators can become conducting and in some cases ferromagnetic and superconducting at their interface,” explains NUS Assistant Professor Andrivo Rusydi, who led the research.

The team investigated the electrical conductivity of strontium titanate and lanthanum aluminate, two insulators that become conductors at their interface. They observed that conductivity was ten-fold less than what was predicted theoretically, meaning that 90 percent of the expected electrons were missing.

To find the missing electrons, the team used high-energy reflectivity and spectroscopic ellipsometry experiments which flooded the interface with a wide range of energy. This revealed electrons that were bound within the molecular lattice, which prevented them from moving and explained the observed low conductivity.

The team’s new approach and insights, which culminated in a recent publication with Nature Communications, will be used for further investigations on the basic interface characteristics among materials.

http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140414/ncomms4663/full/ncomms4663...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 23, 2014 at 8:51am

Citizen scientists pitch new uses for paper microscope
Ten thousand ‘print-and-fold’ paper microscopes initially designed as low-cost medical diagnostic tools are being given away to researchers and citizen scientists who come up with novel ways to use them to test their ideas.

The goal of the Ten Thousand Microscopes initiative, funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, is to create a crowdsourced lab manual for Foldscope, the low-cost microscope launched earlier this year by a US bioengineering team that combines pragmatic, origami design with sophisticated micro-optics.

The idea is to make “microscopy for everyone”, says Manu Prakash, a bioengineering researcher at Stanford University, United States, who led the development of the frugal innovation to address the lack of cheap, easy-to-use diagnostic tools for diseases in remote and impoverished communities.
http://www.scidev.net/global/biotechnology/news/citizen-scientists-...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 23, 2014 at 8:32am

Cow poop promotes the spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria

Manure from dairy cows has been defined as an increasing source of bacteria that can become resistant to antibiotics. These findings are the result of the work of Fabienne Wichmann and colleagues at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The research was published in the April 22, 2014, edition of the journal mBio®.

Bacteria that are antibiotic resistant reach the food chain of humans through the use of cow manure as fertilizer. The manure may or may not contain bacteria that are antibiotic resistant. If the manure does contain an antibiotic resistant strain of bacteria then there is a potential for transmission to humans that eat food that was fertilized with cow manure. The food plants can even become a source of antibiotic resistance due to the phenomenon of gene exchange between species.

A more prominent and more likely transfer of new antibiotic bacterial species to humans is through infection of cow farmers by new bacterial strains. The dairy cow farmers can transmit a new disease directly to other humans through physical contact or through airborne distribution during coughing or sneezing. The more humans that come into contact with a potentially antibiotic resistant type of bacteria increases the probability that the bacteria will become resistant to antibiotics due in part to the high level of use of antibiotics by humans.

The researchers found that only five samples of cow manure contained 80 unique and functional antibiotic resistance genes. The scientists created a laboratory cultured strain of Escherichia coli that was resistant to one of the four major types of antibiotics used to treat humans from the 80 genes. The scientists also found a never before known family of antibiotic resistant genes that conferred resistance to the same group of antibiotics.

A primary source of antibiotic resistant bacteria origination is the use of antibiotics to keep cattle healthy. The potential for transfer of antibiotic resistance to humans through food crops depends on whether the cow manure has antibiotic resistant bacteria or genes. It is possible that a new antibiotic resistant disease could be contracted by people simply by using cow manure as fertilizer for their house plants or home garden.
Source: http://www.examiner.com/article/cow-poop-promotes-the-spread-of-ant...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 23, 2014 at 7:10am

Antibiotics: A new spanner in the works of bacterial transcription
A promising molecular target that is unlikely to develop antibiotic resistance has been identified in bacteria.
http://elifesciences.org/content/3/e02840

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 23, 2014 at 6:12am

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 22, 2014 at 9:06am

The connection between heart attack fight and birds
A new study into how the world's highest flying bird, bar-headed geese, is able to survive at extreme altitudes may have future implications for low-oxygen medical conditions in humans. An international team of scientists recently tracked bar-headed geese while they migrated across the Himalayas. They found that these birds are able to tolerate running at top speed while breathing only 7% oxygen.

Lucy Hawkes of the University of Exeter, along with colleagues Charles Bishop (Bangor University) and Pat Butler (University of Birmingham) tested how the geese were at coping with exercise in reduced oxygen environments by simulating the conditions of Mt Everest in a clear box and then getting the birds to run as fast as possible on a treadmill inside the box. The air on the highest mountains is made up of 7% oxygen compared with 21% at sea level.

Hawkes said, "It all seems to come down to how much oxygen bar-headed geese can supply to their heart muscles. The more they supply, the faster their heart beats and keeps the supply of oxygen to the rest of the body going." He added, "The wider implications of these findings are for low-oxygen medical conditions in humans, such as heart attack and stroke — suggesting what adaptations might help prevent problems in the first place and learning how animals have managed to cope with really extreme environments."
-TNN

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 22, 2014 at 8:58am

Elections 2014: Politicians told to do more for science and technology
The scientific community demands that the next government at the centre set aside a bigger chunk of the budget for research and development, create infrastructure for "continuous innovations" and boost science movements among the electorate and dovetail this with the private sector's aid.
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/science/news/election-2014-politicians-told...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 22, 2014 at 7:17am

Biofuels from crop residue can reduce soil carbon and increase CO2 emissions
Biofuels made using corn waste could release 7 percent more greenhouse gases in the early years compared to conventional gasoline. As a result, this type of cellulosic ethanol could be inelligible to meet quotas under the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA).
According to a new study published yesterday in Nature Climate Change, this type of cellulosic biofuel could result in a 7% net increase in emissions. The government-funded research states that the main cause of this increase comes down to absolute changes in soil carbon content.

The carbon content of soil is broadly a function of new inputs (plant and animal material) and losses (predominately via erosion and respiration). Conventionally, corn crop residue is left on the field after harvest in order to reduce soil erosion and maintain the carbon stocks and soil fertility.

By removing corn waste from fields, models indicate that soil carbon content will decrease over time. In turn, corn-waste ethanol will effectively produce 7% more carbon dioxide equivalent than conventional gasoline in the short-term. While the results vary according to the amount of carn residue that is removed, any removal resulted in a net increase in emissions in the model.

In the longer-term, the study says that these types of biofuels will result in a net emissions decrease. However, the short term increase is enough to keep this type of biofuel from complying with regulations in the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA). This Act requires that biofuels produce 60% less pollution than conventional gasoline.
http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate2...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 22, 2014 at 6:47am

What Is the Deep Web?
The internet is huge. I'm sure many of you know that, but it's almost unbelievable that when Googling the term "cat videos" that Google can serve up nearly a billion hits from all across the web. Now keep in mind there are 7 billion people on the planet. It's mind boggling.

But what if I were to tell you that Google and other search engines can only search a fraction of the web. This number varies from source to source, but the most generous term that I've heard is that Google can search about 10% of the world wide web. So what's in the other 90%?

Well I can assure you it's probably not another billion cat videos!

Tech Talker will be talking about the dark side of the web that Google won't show you.

This other 90% of the web goes by many different names: Dark Net, Invisible Web, Dark Web, Deep Web, Deep Net.

http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/tech/web/what-is-the-deep-web

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 22, 2014 at 6:43am

The extent to which biodiversity change in local assemblages contributes to global biodiversity loss is poorly understood. We analyzed 100 time series from biomes across Earth to ask how diversity within assemblages is changing through time. We quantified patterns of temporal α diversity, measured as change in local diversity, and temporal β diversity, measured as change in community composition. Contrary to our expectations, we did not detect systematic loss of α diversity. However, community composition changed systematically through time, in excess of predictions from null models. Heterogeneous rates of environmental change, species range shifts associated with climate change, and biotic homogenization may explain the different patterns of temporal α and β diversity. Monitoring and understanding change in species composition should be a conservation priority.
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Biodiversity Survives Extinctions for Now
A meta-analysis of ecosystems finds that species losses in any given place do not yet translate to large changes in the number of different species in that place.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/biodiversity-surv...

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/344/6181/296

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