Termites could hold the key to self-sufficient buildings
... air flow for the control of internal air quality, temperature and moisture levels. Furthermore, the termites have evolved in such a way that they out source some biological functions, for example, digestive functions to a fungus that they farm inside the mound. They supply the fungus with chewed wood fibre whic...Hardy buoys: Texas A&M project predicts oil spill movements
...nformation about ocean currents, wind speed, water temperature and other data that allows to accurately predict where a spill is headed and when it will present a problem to the coastline." Each buoy is capable of relaying that information to a constellation of satellites orbiting the Earth, and that information...Two Virginia Tech energy-related inventions win R&D 100 awards
...and is now at Sandia National Lab) invented a high temperature proton exchange membrane (PEM) for fuel cells. Battelle has optioned rights to the patents and Bhima Vijayendran, Battelle senior research leader and vice president of commercialization, is developing products for commercialization -- introducing Bat...The search for a kinder, gentler chemotherapy
...s took the particles in, researchers increased the temperature of the cells, causing the particles to clump together and shrink, killing the cell. Heating the cell is a crucial step in triggering the particles to destroy cells, but it's also a safeguard. Cancer cells have more folic acid receptors than normal ce...Sandia experiments may reduce possibility of future water wars
...s. "Every time the water system pops on, the local temperature around the plants drops relatively quickly." Water...e. "We want to know how feed grows from changes in temperature and location and time of watering. That will help us modify the design and operation of the greenhou...Computer scientists at UH developing 'nurturing' computers
...gh thermal imaging," Pavlidis said. "That is, the temperature goes up around the area surrounding the orbit of the eye due to increased blood flow, telling us that our subject is experiencing some sort of emotional distress. This periorbital area is the facial area affected the most from blood flow redistribut...Men from early middle ages were nearly as tall as modern people
...m when producing crops and raising livestock. "The temperature difference was enough to extend the growing season... as greater use of resources for heating. But many temperature fluctuations, ranging in length from about 15 to 40 years, kept people from fully adapting to a cold...Researchers identify the genome's controlling elements
...ted them all to a dozen nutritional, chemical, and temperature environments. "We tried to come up with different conditions that a yeast cell would encounter in its natural habitat," says Harbison. Gene regulators come out of hiding and do their job in response to environmental conditions, but they don't all re...Virginia Tech researchers to release findings on Smith River Project
...naging trout growth and persistence through stream temperature control; determining the baseline conditions for brown trout growth, distribution, and survival; evaluating the non-game fish community, including one endangered species; determining the levels of aquatic invertebrate forage; and identifying the role...Modest climate change could lead to substantially more and larger fires
...New Mexico appear acutely sensitive, especially to temperature changes, and fire seasons there may respond more d...area burned in the Western states with fire-season temperature predict that global warming will bring significant increases in fire extent," said Donald McKenzie o...Analysis of biological clock may lead to greater understanding of human disease
...conditioning thermostat system. It reacts when the temperature gets too cold by reducing the cooling. The engineers are looking for the principles underlying the architecture of the fruit fly's system that enables it to be so robust, according to co-author Frank Doyle, a chemical engineer who holds UCSB's Dunca...NJIT chemist speaks Aug. 25 about compound derived from pine tree
...ou can do this process using pyridinium-based room temperature ionic liquids, then you've developed a green method," said Malhotra. Malhotra's research focuses on ionic liquids, nanotechnology, sensors and organic synthesis. He co-wrote "Applications of Ionic Liquids in Organic Synthesis," in Aldrichimica AC...Images reveal how rotavirus - leading cause of diarrhea - enters cells
...e "head" of the VP4 protein is very stable at room temperature and easy and relatively cheap to produce, Dormitzer says; he believes the same is true of the "body." A vaccine based on these proteins could be very practical, especially for developing countries where rotavirus causes the most serious illness. ...Meteorites supplied Earth life with phosphorus
...revious experiments have formed P2-07, but at high temperature or under other extreme conditions, not by simply dissolving a mineral in room-temperature water, Pasek said. "This allows us to somewhat constrain where the origins of life may have occurred," he said. "If you are going to have phosphate-based life,...Carnegie Mellon scientists reveal ways of studying, resolving PCB contamination in US rivers
...e that changes in river water (and hence sediment) temperature is a major driver of PCB release from sediments. Microbes appear to be one of the major culprits, releasing PCB-containing gas bubbles that percolate through river sediments. Microbes, as well as larger creatures living in the sediment, abound during...Testing the fitness of biological clocks
...l influences, specifically daily changes in light, temperature and humidity," says Carl H. Johnson, professor of biological sciences and Kennedy Center investigator who directed the study. "Some people have even suggested that, once invented, these clocks are such a powerful organizational tool that their benefi...Scientists reinvent DNA as template to produce organic molecules
...y Liu's team are large enough to be stable at room temperature and in theory can encode thousands of individual small organic molecules. Liu's co-authors are Zev J. Gartner, Brian N. Tse, Rozalina Grubina, Jeffrey B. Doyon, and Thomas M. Snyder, all of Harvard's Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. Thei...Evidence for the impact of climate change on deep-sea biodiversity
...a biodiversity change. These results indicate that temperature shifts of 0.05-0.1 C in the deep sea are sufficien...e to environmental alteration, and that very minor temperature shifts in deep-water masses can rapidly and significantly alter both structural and functional deep-...Plumbing trees' plumbing reveals their engineering skill
... more, and because they experience more drying and temperature extremes that cause cavitation. Deeper roots, more protected from such demands, can have larger diameters and thinner walls to maximize the conduit size and enhance water flow. "The data are interesting because they show that the same individual plan......levels, tend to reinforce each other and cause the temperature "to switch all at once" as it has during previous ice ages, Pacala said. "We understand those feedback mechanisms somewhat, but not completely, and that is scary." A second reason for concern comes from current observations of change, includi...