Virginia
Why is it that all the volcanic activity in the United States is targeted in the Northwest? Could such activity that we are now witnessing with Mount St. Helens in Washington happen on the East Coast? That isn't likely to happen anytime soon--even by geological standards--since the geological conditions on the East Coast lack key conditions necessary for volcanic activity.
Boys exposed to persistent levels of cocaine in the womb are more likely to have behavioral problems like hyperactivity in their early school years, new research suggests. But girls who had prenatal exposure to similar amounts of cocaine were not more likely to suffer from the same problems. While no specific cause of the gender-specific findings was identified, the researchers note that the study confirms animal studies that also suggest gender plays a role in the effects of cocaine exposure.
Researchers are working to develop transgenic tobacco plants able to express recombinant proteins economically. Recombinant proteins are potential therapeutic agents for treating human and animal diseases and creating new vaccines. Plant-made vaccines are especially beneficial because plants are free of human diseases, reducing the cost to screen for viruses and bacterial toxins.
Marines from 3rd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment are currently testing lower body armor developed by the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory in Quantico, Va.
The Kevlar shorts were designed to repel razor-sharp shrapnel from improvised explosive devices detonated by anti-Iraqi fighters along transportation routes throughout the country. According to Lt. Col. Lance A. McDaniel, battalion executive officer, the artillery unit received ten pairs of the shorts from the Warfighting Lab. The shorts arrived nearly a week ago and were distributed amongst the battalion's batteries.
A multi-university research team has succeeded in enhancing the structure of paclitaxel (TaxolTM) to make it more effective in killing cancer cells. They did so by rational design, based on a hypothesis developed by Snyder that paclitaxel adopts a ''T-shaped'' conformation in its binding pocket on beta-tubulin.
The United States needs to make a new commitment to research on water resources in order to confront the increasingly severe water problems faced by all parts of the country, says a new congressionally mandated report from the National Academies' National Research Council. In particular, a new mechanism is needed to coordinate water research currently fragmented among nearly 20 federal agencies, said the committee that wrote the report.
Space laser technology is coming to our smokestacks and automobiles. Leave it to NASA to take its inventions to another level, helping to keep our air clean and breathable.
A recent NASA invention, originally designed to help lasers control carbon monoxide in the cold environment of space, is now being tested for use here on Earth. The technology is called Low-Temperature Oxidation Catalysts (LTOC).
Scientists at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia are gearing a variation of this technology towards reducing the formaldehyde and carbon monoxide in smokestack emissions by a whopping 85 to 95 percent.
It's well known that drinking red wine in moderation can have some health benefits, mainly attributed to a compound called resveratrol. Now, scientists at the University of Virginia Health System have discovered how. They found how resveratrol helps to starve cancer cells by inhibiting the action of a key protein that feeds them. The protein, called nuclear factor- kappa B (NF-kB), is found in the nucleus of all cells and activates genes responsible for cell survival. ''We used physiologically-relevant doses of resveratrol and found dramatic effects on human cancer cells,'' said Marty Mayo, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics at U.Va.
NASA scientists have found that cirrus clouds, formed by contrails from aircraft engine exhaust, are capable of increasing average surface temperatures enough to account for a warming trend in the United States that occurred between 1975 and 1994. "This result shows the increased cirrus coverage, attributable to air traffic, could account for nearly all of the warming observed over the United States for nearly 20 years starting in 1975, but it is important to acknowledge contrails would add to and not replace any greenhouse gas effect," said Patrick Minnis, senior research scientist at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.
Glaciers reached Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in the most recent ice age about 20,000 years ago. But much harsher ice ages hit the Earth in an ancient geological interval known as "the Cryogenian Period" between 750 and 600 million years ago. A team of geologists from China and the United States now report evidence of at least three ice ages during that ancient time.
A new study by researchers at the Center for Food and Nutrition Policy (CFNP) at Virginia Tech published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition found that calcium intake among U.S. adolescents although inadequate, has remained a constant since the 1970s and does not appear to be linked to soft drink consumption. This study was funded by an unrestricted grant from the National Soft Drink Association.
Scientists are trying to clone cattle that are genetically incapable of developing "Mad Cow Disease." As federal and state government officials grapple with strategies to limit the economic and health risks associated with the troublesome discovery of the nation's first case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) ? or "Mad Cow Disease"-- scientists in Virginia are conducting important research with the little understood molecules believed to cause the deadly brain-wasting disease.
Thousands of frog tadpoles, including critically endangered species, are dying from a new disease recently discovered by a USGS scientist. Since 2000, tadpole die-offs have been reported in Maine, New Hampshire, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Mississippi and Minnesota as a result of this new disease. The most devastating effect of this disease occurred during 2003 and when it killed nearly all of the thousands of tadpoles living in the last known breeding pond of the endangered Mississippi gopher frog. USGS scientist D. Earl Green is collaborating with scientists at the University of Virginia to classify and name the organism responsible for this disease. For more information, please contact Kathryn Converse at 608-270-2445, Carol Meteyer at 608-270-2462.
Nothing exceeds like excess. Not only is this a frighteningly huge thinking machine, it also wins the award for IT/marketing synergy of the year:
Virginia Tech struck a deal with Apple to build a terascale supercomputing cluster composed of 1,100 dual-processor Mac G5s.
There have been a number of erroneous reports in the media indicating that the American Psychiatric Association is planning to add "compulsive shopping disorder" to the list of approved mental disorders. We would like to correct this misinformation. At this time, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) has no plans to add compulsive shopping to the list of mental disorders in the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V), due for publication in 2010. In addition, APA is not altering the current edition, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR), to include compulsive shopping as a disorder.
