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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 19, 2015 at 8:49am

Microbes with potential to cleanse waterways

17 hours ago by Amal Naquiah

A seven-year scientific study has revealed that microbial communities in urban waterways has the potential to play an important role in cleansing Singapore's waterways and also act as raw water quality indicators.

The study found that canals designed to channel rainwater host microbial communities that could remove and neutralise organic pollutants in raw water. These organic pollutants are currently at trace levels in raw water – well below the United States-Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA) drinking water standards – which is removed during water treatment processes.

Researchers from the NUS Environmental Research Institute (NERI) and the Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore) have discovered that the untapped natural ability of microbial communities could be harnessed to treat raw water even before undergoing treatment.

This process is known as 'bioremediation', a treatment that uses naturally occurring organisms to break down organic pollutants.

The study, which was published in the scientific journal Environmental Science & Technology, was conducted around the Ulu Pandan catchment area in collaboration with the Singapore's national water agency, PUB.

-Environmental Science & Technology

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 19, 2015 at 8:39am

Developing the Critical Thinking Skills of Astrobiology Students through Creative and Scientific Inquiry
Scientific inquiry represents a multifaceted approach to explore and understand the natural world. Training students in the principles of scientific inquiry can help promote the scientific learning process as well as help students enhance their understanding of scientific research. Here, we report on the development and implementation of a learning module that introduces astrobiology students to the concepts of creative and scientific inquiry, as well as provide practical exercises to build critical thinking skills. The module contained three distinct components: (1) a creative inquiry activity designed to introduce concepts regarding the role of creativity in scientific inquiry; (2) guidelines to help astrobiology students formulate and self-assess questions regarding various scientific content and imagery; and (3) a practical exercise where students were allowed to watch a scientific presentation and practice their analytical skills. Pre- and post-course surveys were used to assess the students' perceptions regarding creative and scientific inquiry and whether this activity impacted their understanding of the scientific process. Survey results indicate that the exercise helped improve students' science skills by promoting awareness regarding the role of creativity in scientific inquiry and building their confidence in formulating and assessing scientific questions. Together, the module and survey results confirm the need to include such inquiry-based activities into the higher education classroom, thereby helping students hone their critical thinking and question asking skill set and facilitating their professional development in astrobiology. Key Words: Scientific inquiry—Critical thinking—Curriculum development—Astrobiology—Microbialites. Astrobiology 15, 89–99.
http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/ast.2014.1219

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 18, 2015 at 9:11am

If you hear some strange noises from the sky, don't worry! Here is why you hear them:

It is earth’s ‘background noise’ according to scientists!

The unsettling noises were heard recently from Europe to Canada, sounding like groans and powerful horns.

According to NASA, the Earth has ‘natural radio emissions’.

‘If humans had radio antennas instead of ears, we would hear a remarkable symphony of strange noises coming from our own planet. Scientists call them “tweeks,” “whistlers” and “sferics.”

‘They sound like background music from a flamboyant science fiction film, but this is not science fiction. Earth’s natural radio emissions are real and, although we’re mostly unaware of them, they are around us all the time.’

University of Saskatchewan physics professor Jean-Pierre St. Maurice said that it’s electromagnetic noise emitted from auroras and radiation belts.

'They sound like background music from a flamboyant science fiction film, but this is not science fiction. Earth's natural radio emissions are real and, although we're mostly unaware of them, they are around us all the time.’

For instance lightning can produce eerie-sounding radio emissions, Nasa added.

Earthquakes can also produce sub-audible sounds, according to seismologist Brian W Stump from the Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 18, 2015 at 6:05am

People against  synthetic turf...because it is toxic

Artificial turf fields, cushioned with recycled crushed tires and increasingly in demand for athletic complexes, are getting some serious pushback.

They are worried about alleged health risks in the ant-size rubber pieces that cushion the bright synthetic grass.

The pellets, made up of pulverized tire bits and used to cushion fields and anchor synthetic grass, may contain known carcinogens such as arsenic and benzene and other harmful substances like lead, according to a report by the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Artificial turf advocates say there are multiple studies that show fields are safe, while critics argue that there are no conclusive tests to prove such claims and that waiting for definitive evidence of a health hazard leaves children unprotected.

Athletes who play on the fields are well acquainted with the black pellets – a spray of which is often kicked up by bouncing balls and running children, and gets into cleats and tracked into homes and mixed with laundry after practice. The authorities recommend “common sense” to minimize exposure to chemicals that may be in crumb rubber, including washing hands after playing, and taking shoes off before entering homes.

- http://necir.org/2015/05/10/toxic-turf/

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 16, 2015 at 9:41am

Rogue Antimatter Found in Thunderclouds

A detector fitted on an airplane picked up a signature spike in photons that does not fit any known source of antiparticles
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/rogue-antimatter-found-in...

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Jahn-Teller-metal: Scientists discover new state of matter

Scientists at Tokohu University in Japan have discovered a new state of matter called the ‘Jahn-Teller-metal’ that resembles an insulator, superconductor, metal and magnet all rolled into one.

The team made the discovery by studying a superconductor made from carbon-60 molecules or “buckyballs”.

Researchers said the research could help develop new molecular materials that are superconductors at even higher temperatures.

The research provides important clues about how the interplay between the electronic structure of the molecules and their spacing within the lattice can strengthen interactions between electrons that cause superconductivity.

Superconductors are a large and diverse group of materials that offer zero resistance to electrical currents when cooled below a critical temperature (TC).

Superconducting lattices of fullerides - C60 plus three alkali-metal atoms - have been studied for more than two decades, and provide an interesting test bed.

This research, described in Science Advances, involves caesium fulleride (Cs3C60) in a face-centred-cubic lattice with a Cs3C60 molecule at each lattice site.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 16, 2015 at 9:37am

Future cameras may focus light by relying on flat lenses. Physicists are making major advancements with planar lenses that can scatter and bend rays of light, sans bulge.

The latest rendition, detailed online in February in the journal Science, has moved beyond proof of concept: it perfectly focuses red, green and blue light, which can be combined to yield multicolor images. The team has since crafted a larger prototype, and it “works exactly like the prediction,” Capasso says. Such lenses could reduce the bulk and cost of photography, microscopy and astronomy equipment. And they could one day be printed on flexible plastic for thin, bendable gadgets.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 16, 2015 at 7:36am

Restoring eyesight and healing brains: how hydrogels can boost the work of stem cells

Researchers show that engineered hydrogels not only help with stem cell transplantation, but actually speed healing in both the eye and brain. It's a discovery that, in early lab trials, has been shown to partially reverse blindness and help the brain recover from stroke. Using a gel-like biomaterial called a hydrogel, University of Toronto scientists and engineers have made a breakthrough in cell transplantation that keeps cells alive and helps them integrate better into tissue.
http://www.cell.com/stem-cell-reports/abstract/S2213-6711%2815%2900...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 16, 2015 at 7:00am

Fascinating news: People take the drugs, their body breaks them down into different metabolites that are excreted, and the microbes take these different parts of the drug and put them back together in sewage treatment and recycling plants!

Wastewater treatment plants not only struggle removing pharmaceuticals, it seems some drugs actually increase after treatment. When researchers tested wastewater before and after treatment at a Milwaukee-area (USA) treatment plant, they found that two drugs—the anti-epileptic carbamazepine and antibiotic ofloxacin—came out at higher concentrations than they went in. The study suggests the microbes that clean our water may also piece some pharmaceuticals back together. Carbamazepine and ofloxacin on average increased by 80 percent and 120 percent, respectively, during the treatment process. Such drugs, and their metabolites (formed as part of the natural biochemical process of degrading and eliminating the compounds), get into the wastewater by people taking them and excreting them. Flushing drugs accounts for some of the levels too. “Microbes seem to be making pharmaceuticals out of what used to be pharmaceuticals".

The researchers have a clue as to how this might happen: microbes.

After removing the solids from incoming wastewater, treatment plants use microbes—tiny single-celled organisms—to decompose organic matter that comes in the sewage. Their best guess is that people take the drugs, their body breaks them down into different metabolites that are excreted, and the microbes take these different parts of the drug and put them back together!

Canadian researchers found carbamazepine more than doubled its initial medicinal load after treatment at a Peterborough, Ontario, plant.

These pharmaceuticals will act on hormones in our bodies.

http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2015/may/bacteria-m...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 15, 2015 at 8:12am

Prolonged daily light exposure increases body fat mass through attenuation of brown adipose tissue activity
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/05/06/1504239112
Brown fat is supposed to be the friendly kind of fat. But making the days longer with artificial light may turn brown fat into an enemy in the battle against obesity, a mouse study suggests.

Compared with mice experiencing normal light cycles, mice exposed to longer periods of light gained fat — not because they were eating more or moving less, but because their brown fat wasn't working efficiently. Brown fat in these mice converted fatty acids and glucose to heat more slowly than brown fat in mice experiencing normal days, researchers report May 11 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Finding a way to boost brown fat's activity may combat the negative effects of extended time spent in artificial light, the scientists suggest.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 15, 2015 at 7:34am

You Call It “Self-Exuberance”; I Call It “Bragging”

Miscalibrated Predictions of Emotional Responses to Self-Promotion

People engage in self-promotional behavior because they want others to hold favorable images of them. Self-promotion, however, entails a trade-off between conveying one’s positive attributes and being seen as bragging. We propose that people get this trade-off wrong because they erroneously project their own feelings onto their interaction partners. As a consequence, people overestimate the extent to which recipients of their self-promotion will feel proud of and happy for them, and underestimate the extent to which recipients will feel annoyed . Because people tend to promote themselves excessively when trying to make a favorable impression on others, such efforts often backfire, causing targets of self-promotion to view self-promoters as less likeable and as braggarts .

http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/05/07/0956797615573516.ab...

http://www.sciguru.org/newsitem/19053/bragging-backfires-study?utm_...

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