Iowa State corn/soy plastics to be made into hog feeders
... plastics. Larock said the plastics have excellent thermal and mechanical properties and are very good at dampening noises and vibrations. They're also very good at returning to their original shapes when they're heated. And so Larock is optimistic about the future of bioplastics in commercial applications...Study details structural changes of a key catalytic enzyme
...s channel an enzyme through its reaction cycle-the thermal motions of the protein are harnessed to perform its biological function, in this case, catalysis. Knowledge of the excited-state conformations of proteins may offer new opportunities for drug design." The researchers used nuclear magnetic resonance ...Protein folding: Building a strong foundation
...s were the most stable in the face of chemical and thermal fluctuations. "We found that the most stable parts of the final, folded protein come together first during the folding," said co-author Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede, associate professor of biochemistry and cell biology and of chemistry. She said the ...News tips from the Journal of Neuroscience
...ors demonstrate that calcineurin downregulated the thermal response in the pair of interneurons critical to the circuit. 2. Marginalizing Cajal-Retzius Cells Mercedes F. Paredes, Guangnan Li, Omri Berger, Scott C. Baraban, and Samuel J. Pleasure Focal cortical dysplasias, local disruptions of the laminar...Study provides first-ever look at combined causes of North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean freshening
...nt that is responsible for redistributing salt and thermal energy around the globe, influencing the planet's climate. One of the potential effects of altered global ocean circulation could be a cooling of Northern Europe within this century. The team's comparison of freshwater sources and ocean sink record...Ancient Arctic water cycles are red flags to future global warming
...aterial from the beginning of the Paleocene/Eocene thermal maximum (PETM), a period of rapid, extreme global warming about 55 million years ago. It has given researchers a direct resource of measurable information on global warming from a time when the overall global temperature was higher and more uniform ...Arctic nations' wealth key to management of climate change
...ing permafrost, melting sea ice, and relaxation of thermal thresholds. "Nations that govern Arctic lands account for about 40% of global CO2 emissions and therefore have a substantial capacity to reduce the rates of Arctic change," write the authors. Among the authors' recommendations are that Arctic natio...Underwater robots work together without human input
...ward ocean features of interest such as eddies and thermal fronts. This process, called "adaptive sampling," is expected to dramatically improve our knowledge of the ocean and our ability to predict its chaotic behavior. In addition to gliders, the ASAP ocean-observing network also includes research ships...Ancient global warming drove early primates' dispersal
...he onset of an event known as the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM), one of the most rapid and extreme global warming events recorded in geologic history. It was during the PETM that modern primates first appeared 55 million years ago. Teilhardina in Asia precedes the maximum flood of carbon-12, Teilha...Math and fossils resolve a debate on dinosaur metabolism
...d a higher, more-constant body temperature through thermal inertia, which is how modern alligators, Galapagos...vely constant body temperatures maintained through thermal inertia. Gillooly et al. then compiled data from eight dinosaur species from the early Jurassic and ...PNNL wins prestigious R&D 100 awards for five technologies
... Raleigh, N.C. The MilliWave Thermal Analyzer a thermal analysis instrument that uses millimeter-wave electromagnetic radiation to measure the temperature, amount of energy emitted, and physical change of materials, processes, and systems. This technology can function under extreme environments (such as v...Recent, rapid climate change is driving evolution of animal species
...f seasonal events should precede genetic shifts of thermal optima or increased heat tolerance over evolutionary time," said Holzapfel. "That is the pattern that is emerging. Questions remain about the relative rates of environmental and evolutionary change. However, it is clear that unless the long-term m...Story tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, June 2006
...ff the wall . . . A steel wall stud that improves thermal performance within wall systems over traditional s...e literally chilled with liquid hydrogen to remove thermal energy, which makes them more suitable for studying certain types of materials such as biological sa...World fire maps now available online in near-real time
...nsors work like thermometers in the sky, measuring thermal infrared radiation to take the temperature of Earth's land surfaces. Fires are detected best during local night, when the surrounding land is cooler. Temperatures exceeding 312 K (38.85 C) are classed as burning fires by ATSR/AATSR, which are capabl...DOE JGI finishes 100th microbial genome
... "The sequence acquisition of DNA from superheated thermal aquifers and other unique sources has resulted in the discovery of a new class of thermostable DNA polymerases and unique thermostable cellulase and hemicellulase enzymes. Without the DOE JGI these valuable molecules would not have made it into the m...News tips from The Journal of Neuroscience
...ponsive units (CMH) that respond to mechanical and thermal stimuli, and mechano-insensitive units (CM i ) that become sensitive to mechanical stimuli only after inflammation. The authors used low-intensity transcutaneous stimulation (TCS) to selectively activate CMH nociceptors, and stronger intracutaneous s...NAU researchers chirping over discovery of new cricket genus
...He is developing methods for detecting caves using thermal remote sensing technologies. Once procedures are developed, these techniques ultimately will be used to find caves on Mars. Once his team identifies Martian caves, robotic cave explorers will be developed to search for life under the Martian surface....Tiny polyps gorge themselves to survive coral bleaching
...rming, coral are living closer and closer to their thermal threshold, so it takes less of a warming event than it did before to cause a catastrophe." Coral are symbiontic organisms that host one-celled algae within their bodies for mutual benefit. The coral polyp, a relative of jellyfish and anemones, provi...Some like it hot: Worms at deep-sea vents favor a fiery 45-55C
...en a choice of conditions, giving them the highest thermal preference of any animal studied to date. This uni...dersea pressures, water will not boil, so deep-sea thermal vents jet out water that remains liquid at temperatures of up to 350 degrees Celsius (662 degrees Fa...Story tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, April 2006
...s are evaluating maldistribution with the use of a thermal imaging camera in ORNL's Heat Transfer Test Laboratory to determine steps necessary to correct the unevenness. The goal is to produce a heat exchange unit that will have a reduced profile on top of a building and operate more efficiently than convent...