Scientists develop 'electronic eye' for the blind
...sts in Japan will allow blind people to cross busy roads in total safety for the first time. The "electronic eye", which would be mounted on a pair of glasses, will be capable of detecting the existence and location of a pedestrian crossing, and at the same time measure the width of the road to the nearest...Science to restore the nation's ecosystems
...ic ecosystems is a global issue that is at a cross roads of substantial science-policy debate. The dominant source of mercury to most aquatic ecosystems is atmospheric deposition, and as a result, there are presently proposed regulations in the US and elsewhere to reduce mercury emissions. In the Everglade...Wolves gone, western ecosystems suffer
...usted their foraging behavior by browsing far from roads to avoid human contact and possible predation. And research in Colorado has found that aspen was far more heavily browsed, and used year-round by elk, where sport hunting was excluded. Ultimately, however, the value of large predators needs to be re...Research led by UGA professor reports first routine tool use by wild capuchin monkeys
...e site, which is more than an hour's drive on poor roads from the nearest town, adds a new layer of scientific richness to the area. Interestingly, the researchers observed monkeys using two forms of action to crack nuts. In one, the monkey sat or stood bipedally, held the stone in both hands and raised a...Latest census finds more American pika populations disappear as climate warms
...ng with other factors such as proximity to primary roads and smaller habitat area to increase extinction risk for pikas, creating detrimental synergistic effects. A smaller relative of rabbits and hares, American pikas have short, round ears and usually make their homes among the broken rocks or talus a...Study links Ebola outbreaks to animal carcasses
...ntial outbreaks often occur in remote areas, where roads are barely usable and communications limited," added Karesh. "Conservation organizations such as WCS are therefore critical to the early detection of the conditions that can lead to deadly health emergencies."...Wetlands clean water and may control neighborhood flood problems
...ement system," Turco said. "When you build houses, roads and driveways, lots of hard surface is added, leav...and, he said. As surface water flows from adjacent roads and parking lots onto a golf course and into the constructed wetlands, nutrients, suspended solids, ...Water research initiatives at UW-Madison
...elopment and impervious surfaces such as rooftops, roads and parking lots. Rain gardens typically consist of a top soil layer for growing plants and a lower, permeable layer of sand and gravel. When it rains, water pools in the plant zone, then percolates quickly into the permeable layer, which stores the ...Fox Chase study shows that weakened T-cell receptor signals change T-cell lineage
... As Robert Frost put it, Wiest pointed out: "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." "Gamma-delta T cells represent the road less traveled," Wiest said. "However, the role of the TCR in determining lineage is controversial, particular...Road salt affects mitigation wetlands
... salt is not good for the environment, but salting roads is a huge safety issue in a part of the country that gets 10 to 12 feet of snow every winter." Silver's research does show a large decrease in non-biting midges in the designated runoff wetland. The effect on other species is not yet known. There ...Woods Hole Research Center plans controlled burn in Amazon rainforest
... Firebreaks are cleared along perimeter trails and roads in preparation for the event, and swept clear of debris immediately prior to igniting the fires, to contain the fire within the experimental parcel. In the first round of burning last year, the fire was quite low, creeping along the ground burning le...Coyotes in the suburbs, bears in the backyard
...se the coyotes are still learning how to adjust to roads and other hazards, their populations are failing to thrive in habitat that otherwise serves their needs quite nicely. Another possibility, say the scientists, is the genetic make-up of these coyotes, which consists partly of wolf. Bogan will presen...Roadways and parking lots threaten freshwater quality in the northeastern US
There are 2.6 million miles of paved roads in the United States, and new roads are being constructed daily. When parking lots and driveways are factored in, there is already enoug...Fresh water affected by salt from deicing roads
...ampshire are becoming saltier due to deicer use on roads during the winter. Not only are there more roads,... the problem involves reducing the creation of new roads and subsequent use of deicers. Despite being a major aquatic pollutant, road salt is not currently ...Story tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, September 2005
...fields, pine-beetle damaged stands, power line and roads rights-of-way, wetland restoration sites and remediated waste disposal landfills. The results have been mixed from areas that have been restored to full native grass communities to other locations where a combination of native grass and invasive spec...Electrical engineer works on personalizing medical treatment
...he genome project provided a location map, but the roads and traffic patterns remain unknown. Molecular data are typically obtained from gene microarrays, which are silicon chips imprinted with DNA and its thousands of genes. The microarrays get 'washed' with a solution carrying fluorescent messenger RNA f...Selective logging causes widespread destruction of Brazil's Amazon rainforest, study finds
...he forest floor. Loggers also build makeshift dirt roads to get in, and study after study has shown that those frontier roads become larger and larger as more people move in, and that feeds the deforestation process. Think of ...Most of Arctic's near-surface permafrost to thaw by 2100
...ering ecosystems as well as damaging buildings and roads across Canada, Alaska, and Russia. New simulations from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) show that over half of the area covered by this topmost layer of permafrost could thaw by 2050 and as much as 90 percent by 2100. Scientists e...Tiny pikas seem to be on march toward extinction in Great Basin
...ear to impact the animals include the proximity of roads to their habitat and pressure from grazing livestock. The animals are isolated in patches across mountainous areas in western North America, from the southern Sierra Nevada and Rocky mountains to central British Columbia in Canada. In the Great Basi......nsition from having one in fifty cars on America's roads powered by biofuels to one in three cars running on biofuels. This shift to biofuels will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce the nation's growing trade deficit, spur local economies, and help serve as a stabilizing effect against future energy ...