Duke Geologists Explore Alternative Way To Measure Ice Age Sea Bottom Temperatures
...ifera shells also take up more of one or the other isotope depending on the water temperature, with more oxygen 16 being taken up by shells formed in warmer sea water. But according to the Science article, some researchers think that ocean temperature changes reflected in the oxygen ratio data for the last g......o another uranium isotope, U-234, and then into an isotope of the element thorium, Th-230. Thorium, unlike uranium, does not dissolve in water. Therefore, scientists reason, all Th-230 found in limestone must be the product of radioactive decay of U-238. By making precise determinations of the amounts of all......essor Brian Kinkle used a technique knownas stable isotope ratio analysis (SIRA). This was the sametechnique used to demonstrate that the communities living arounddeep sea vents were chemoautotrophic. By comparing the distinct ratios of two carbon (12C and 13C)two nitrogen (14N and 15N) isotopes, the researc...Duke's Russian Laser Making Ultraviolet Light And Gamma Rays
...ion deep within stars like our own sun convertsthe isotope carbon-12 into the isotope oxygen-16. Knowing more about thereaction is critically important for predicting such vital details ...Maillinckrodt Medical Licenses Invention For Concentration Of Rhenium Radioisotopes
...log up again, but the use of a special radioactive isotope -- rhenium-188 -- prevents this arterial blockage from forming. Rhenium 188 is available from the tungsten-188/rhenium-188 generator developed in the ORNL Nuclear Medicine program. Although a variety of pharmacological approaches are being explored...Pacific Northwest Staff Win National Awards For Transferring Research To Industry
...r's unique"one-stop-shopping" feature for nuclear isotope information simplifies and furthers worldwidenuclear research--from pharmaceutical and medical applications to chemistry, nuclear weaponsverification and nuclear power plant construction and operation. NuclideNavigator TM is currently the best-se......f T cellproliferation rates in AIDS patients using isotope mass spectrometrictechniques. The results are part of an ongoing collaboration designed to changethe diagnosis and management of AIDS and to optimize its therapeutic approach byallowing physicians to rapidly measure the efficacy of a drug or treatme......nd diffraction experiments, which are sensitive to isotope labels, areas of differential dynamical behavior within the protein, as well as the position of functionally important lipids surrounding it, were localized. The discoveries were recently published in Molecular ...Atmospheric Chemistry -- A Mysterious Isotope Effect In A Well-Known AtmosphericPollutant Discovered
...ue to 18O. In recent years,however, a new class of isotope fractionation effects has been discovered inwhich ...n betweenatmospheric CO concentrations and the 17O isotope excess over the year could beexplained if the fractionation associated with the reaction CO + OH ( C...University Of Texas Southwestern Researchers Develop New Test For Kidney Function
...ting the patient with a small amount ofradioactive isotope solution. After patients ingest water, the procedu... excretes waste products by testing howquickly the isotope disappears from the blood and appears in the urine. A one year grant from Cypros Pharmaceutical ...Dinosaur Tooth Enamel: A Key To Investigating Ancient Climate On Land
...ygen-18) to light (oxygen-16) oxygen. This 'oxygen isotope ratio'of enamel is directly related to the isotopi...from this water into theirtooth enamel. The oxygen isotope ratio of precipitation is, in turn,strongly influenced by climatic factors, primarily temperature, t...Migratory songbird breeding linked to winter habitat
...rounds, the investigatorsused a novel tool: carbon isotope signatures which varied among the winterhabitats. ...aican habitat and found that they incorporated the isotope signature of theplants in those habitats into their tissues. Redstarts feeding on these insectssubs...From Germany To The Wild West: Geologists Hunt For Evidence Of Ancient Crinoid
...orfloated instead. Webber is looking at different isotope ratios for carbon andoxygen which can indicate whether an organism was a bottom-dweller or not. The project is supported by the National Geographic Society....Fossil Eggshells Hold Clues To Major Animal Extinctions As Reported In Science
...rchers have proposed. The authors conducted carbon isotope studies onthe eggshell fossils to reconstruct Genyornis ' diet. The bird appears to havebeen a relatively picky eater who depended on extensive shrubland for food. Infact, most of the extinct megafauna were browsers of trees and shrubs ratherthan gr...Innovative Process To Benefit Ground Water Clean-Up
...process -- known ascompound specific stable carbon isotope analysis -- to the investigation ofpollution controls in ground water. The method, which uses mass spectrometertechnology, will allow researchers to directly monitor the biodegradation ofground water contaminants in just a few steps. Currently scient...Study Bolsters Theory Of Plant Nutrients Trapped In Soil
... Hatcher and Zang fed a rare isotope of nitrogen toalgae in th...NMR)data. The more common isotope of nitrogen in the air andsoil is nitrogen-14, Hatcher explained, but nitro......nfall, theresearch team analyzed the stable carbon isotope composition of fossilizedeggshells laid by emus, large flightless birds that are still found today inAustralia. The eggshells reflect the emu's diet, including the relative amounts ofvegetation consumed with a C3 signal (mostly trees, shrubs, and win...Nearby supernova may have caused mini-extinction, scientists say
...l. -- The recent discovery of the rare radioactive isotope iron-60in deep-sea sediments could be the telltalesign of a killer supernova, a University of Illinois researcher says. "A nearby supernova would bathe our planet in high-energy particles -- cosmicrays -- with potentially disastrous effects,"said Bri...Were the last dinosaurs roasted alive?
...e. He adds that the increased preponderance of the isotope carbon-12 over carbon-13 immediately after the impact also suggests that lots of methane was burnt. But he says this isotopic pattern is not repeated all over the globe. Other experts are similarly cautious. "I think this idea is very intriguing," ...New fossils may be first human ancestors out of Africa, say Science authors
...ontains a jackpot of chronological clues, from the isotope dates on the layer of basalt rock running beneath the site, to the paleomagnetic signature and contemporaneous animal fossils in overlying deposits. Isotope analysis of the basalt places the age of the site at around 1.77 million years old, but th...