Month: April 2012

  • NASA Views Our Perpetual Ocean

    The swirling flows of tens of thousands of ocean currents were captured in this scientific visualization created by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The visualization covers the period June 2005 to December 2007 and is based on a synthesis of a numerical model with observational data, created by a NASA project called…

  • Cleantech Co Produces Low-Cost Electricity From Waves

    Did you ever look at the sea and found yourself in awe of the power of waves? That is what happened to Israeli engineer Shmuel Ovadia, 30 years ago. Ovadia was at the beach waiting for friends, suddenly humbled by the vast sea and its powerful waves crashing into the shore.

  • Is that Pashmina cloned?

    The successful cloning of the unique but dwindling ‘pashmina’ goat, prized for its fine wool, has encouraged veterinary scientists to use similar methods to conserve other endangered animal species native to Himalayan Kashmir. When a team of veterinary scientists from the centre for animal biotechnology at the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Science and Technology (SKUAST),…

  • BPA Effects During Early Life

    BPA is controversial because it exerts weak, but detectable, hormone-like properties, raising concerns about its presence in consumer products and foods contained in such products. In testing the effects of the controversial chemical BPA on zebrafish, UWM (University of Wisconsin Milwaukee)scientist Daniel Weber found himself in familiar territory. The results he observed were similar to…

  • Melting Glaciers are Causing the Matterhorn to Come Apart

    The Matterhorn is the iconic peak of the Alpine mountains on the border of Switzerland and Italy. Its majestic spire soars over 14,600 feet in the air, making it quite a sight to behold. The glaciers at the top of the mountain have been receding due to the changing climate, causing an increase in glacial…

  • Bounty Offered on ‘Fishzilla’

    If Stephen King were to write a novel about a terrifying, monstrous fish, he might create something not unlike the snakehead. Its large mouth is filled with razor-sharp teeth. It is a voracious predator, feasting on anything from worms to small mammals… But dead is the only way fishery officials in the United States want…

  • Classes Make Bicycling in Los Angeles Easier

    It is 9 am and traffic is crawling on the 101 freeway…and on the 405, and on the 118. Sunshine pours through the windshield, turning your mind to thoughts of walking through the Santa Monica Mountains and biking down to the beach. Minutes are ticking by, marked only by the occasional horn honking loudly behind…

  • California Charges Forward on EVs

    As you may have seen, California Governor Jerry Brown announced a $120 million settlement last week with utility company NRG. The funds will be used to develop a large scale infrastructure effort for electric vehicles. This statewide charging network will include at least 200 fast-charging stations and another 10,000 plug-in units at 1,000 locations across…

  • Shake It Off: Earth’s Wobble May Have Ended Ice Age

    The last big ice age ended about 11,000 years ago, and not a moment too soon — it made a lot more of the world livable, at least for humans. But exactly what caused the big thaw isn’t clear, and new research suggests that a wobble in the Earth kicked off a complicated process that…

  • Martian Dust Devil

    A dust devil is a term for a relatively small swirl of air with dust trapped in it so that it is visible. They are normally not very big. A Martian dust devil roughly 12 miles high was captured whirling its way along the Amazonis Planitia region of Northern Mars on March 14. It was…