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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 16, 2014 at 8:05am

Tiny earthquakes may follow groundwater loss
Tiny earthquakes may follow groundwater loss because of over use
As humans drain aquifers in the state’s Central Valley, the land — free of water weight — flexes upward, lifting the surrounding mountain ranges and possibly triggering tiny earthquakes, researchers suggest May 14 in Nature.

It’s the first time scientists have linked the region’s extensive groundwater pumping to mountain uplift and seismic activity, says geophysicist Kristy Tiampo of the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada.
and people say men are not responsible for all this mess:
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/tiny-earthquakes-may-follow-gro...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 16, 2014 at 7:18am

Environmental conditions may impact bird migration
http://esciencenews.com/articles/2014/05/14/environmental.condition...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 16, 2014 at 7:16am

Assemblage Time Series Reveal Biodiversity Change but Not Systematic Loss
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.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/344/6181/296.abstract

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 15, 2014 at 5:44am

What Makes Congress’s Latest Effort to Curb Science Funding So Dangerous?
A bill making its way through the House Science, Space and Technology Committee would set the country’s science agenda by favoring certain disciplines
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-makes-congress-s-lat...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 14, 2014 at 9:09am

Increasing CO2 threatens human nutrition
Researchers have found that the elevated carbon dioxide levels of 2050 could lead to lower levels of micronutrients and protein in staple crops.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature13179...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 14, 2014 at 9:06am

Controlled dreams:
Scientists led by psychologist Ursula Voss of J.W. Goethe-University in Frankfurt, Germany, built on lab studies in which research volunteers in the REM (rapid-eye movement) stage of sleep experienced a lucid dream, as they reported when they awoke. Electroencephalograms showed that those dreams were accompanied by telltale electrical activity called gamma waves.

Those brain-waves are related to executive functions such as higher-order thinking, as well as awareness of one's mental state. But they are almost unheard of in REM sleep.

Voss and her colleagues therefore asked, if gamma waves occur naturally during lucid dreaming, what would happen if they induced a current with the same frequency as gamma waves in dreaming brains?

When they did, via electrodes on the scalp in a technique called transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS), the 27 volunteers reported that they were aware that they were dreaming. The volunteers were also able to control the dream plot by, say, throwing some clothes on their dream self before going to work. They also felt as if their dream self was a third party whom they were merely observing.

Voss does not foresee a commercial market in lucid-dreaming machines. Devices currently sold "do not work well," she said in an interview, and those that deliver electrical stimulation to the brain, like the one in her study, "should always be monitored by a physician."

But if the results hold up, the technique might help people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, who often have terrifying dreams in which they re-play the traumatic experience. If they can dream lucidly, they might be able to bring about a different outcome, such as turning down a different street than the one with the roadside bomb or ducking into a restaurant before the rapist attacks them.

"By learning how to control the dream and distance oneself from the dream," Voss said, PTSD patients could reduce the emotional impact and begin to recover.
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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 14, 2014 at 7:25am

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 14, 2014 at 7:20am

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 12, 2014 at 6:11am

Air sampling vital to detect bioterrorism
Air and surface sampling could be vital to detecting biological terrorism and preventing potential loss of lives, according to an experiment.

"This experiment confirmed that a biological attack could be detected earlier using air sampling which means public health would have more time to respond," said Alexander Garza, an associate professor of epidemiology at Saint Louis University's college for public health and social justice in the US.

The researchers reviewed data from a series of experiments simulating a bioterrorism attack against the Pentagon.

In 2005 and 2009, the Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA), in order to simulate a deliberate attack, staged the release of a harmless bacteria that is biological similar to Bacillus anthracis — the bacteria that causes the disease anthrax.

They then evaluated the local response procedures to such an attack.

In conjunction with this exercise, the department of homeland security ran its own experiments to test the efficacy of an air and surface sampling system known as BioWatch in detecting these biological agents in the environment.

In the experiments, multiple quantity of benign material were released that included a small portion of the anthrax simulant.

The team collected samples of the air through several portable sampling units and had them analysed at specialized laboratories.

"We were able to detect the biological organisms released several kilometres from where the agent was originally released," Garza said.

"All of the modelling that had been done to date showed that air samplers should be able to detect these types of attack, what was missing was empirical evidence showing that these systems would work in real world conditions. We now have that evidence," Garza said.

Air sampling has been readily accepted for similar uses such as measuring for particulate matter, however, using it to detect bacteria in biological terrorism was a new concept instituted after the 9/11 attacks.

This type of sampling is now part of a sophisticated system used by the department of homeland security and the department of defence in the US.

The study appeared in the journal Biosecurity and Bioterrorism.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 12, 2014 at 6:08am

A new plant discovered in the Philippines has a bizarre ability — it can gobble up the poisonous metal nickel without suffering any damage. Scientists from the University of the Philippines, Los Banos found that the plant could accumulate up to 18,000ppm (parts per million) of the metal in its leaves, says Professor Edwino Fernando, lead author of the report published in the open access journal PhytoKeys. Such an amount is a hundred to a thousand times higher than in most other plants.

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