Culture

Efforts over the past decade to boost minority participation in the sciences and engineering have been successful, a new report released by AAAS has found. Analysis of Ph.D. recipients from universities participating in a program to increase underrepresented minorities in science-related studies revealed that from 2001 through 2008 the annual number of Ph.D.s awarded to underrepresented minorities in science and technical fields increased by 33.9%, from 623 to 834. When looking at the natural sciences and engineering fields alone, the increase was even greater: 382 to 573, a 50% increase. "…

Is today's academic and corporate culture stifling science's risk-takers and stopping disruptive, revolutionary science from coming to the fore? In April's Physics World the science writer Mark Buchanan looks at those who have shifted scientific paradigms and asks what we can do to make sure that those who have the potential to change our outlook on the world also have the opportunity to do so. When Max Planck accidentally discovered quantum theory, he kick-started the most significant scientific revolution of the 20th century; his colleague, Wilhelm Röntgen's experiments with cathode rays…

Research carried out by Key Laboratory for Terrain Machine Bionics Engineering of Ministry of Education, Jilin University in Changchun, China, has shown that the co-coupling effect of scale biomaterial, micron-class shape and nanometer-class structure of vertical gibbosities of scale can induce surface hydrophobicity and self-cleaning function of the moth wing. The study is reported in Volume 54, Issue 4 (February, 2009) of Chinese Science Bulletin because of its significant research value. The hydrophobicity, self-cleaning, anti-oxidation and pollution guarding characteristics on object…

Tapping industrial waste heat could reduce fossil fuel demands in the short term and improve efficiency of countless manufacturing processes, according to scientists in Japan writing in the International Journal of Exergy. Lihua Zhang and Tomohiro Akiyama of Hokkaido University, Sapporo, explain that heat waste from industrial processes, such as combustion and electricity generation is sometimes of low energy and diffuse. Capturing this low-quality heat for re-use elsewhere on an industrial plant is usually not practical. However, given current environmental and economic pressures the…

Beijing Institute of Technology researchers have developed a unique multi-living agent concept that may be used to investigate the CIS under the SRSC environment. The study is reported in Issue 52 (January, 2009) of Sci China Ser F-Inf Sci because of its significant import for the constructing and analyzing the CIS. The study is consisted of six parts: Part One: Introduction and the MLA; Part Two: Analysis of agent's livelihood from the functional level; Part Three: The description of living self-organization mechanism (SOM) and the two set model of the living SOM; Part Four: The model of MLA…

A new mathematical formula that could be used to give advance warning of where a tsunami is likely to hit and how destructive it will be has been worked out by scientists at Newcastle University. The research, led by Newcastle University's Professor Robin Johnson, was prompted by the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami disaster which devastated coastal communities in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. In this instance, an earthquake in the depths of the ocean triggered a long surface wave which resulted in six massive wave fronts, one after the other. Of these waves it was the third and…

CHICAGO – The April issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association features research studies focusing on vegetarian eating plans; dietary quality among children; and relationships between eating habits and metabolic syndrome. Vegetarians Face Increased Risk of Eating Disorders While vegetarians tend to eat healthier diets and are less likely than non-vegetarians to be overweight or obese, they may be at increased risk for binge eating with loss of control, and former vegetarians may be at increased risk for extreme unhealthful weight-control behaviors, according to researchers at…

CHICAGO – The American Dietetic Association has released an updated position on functional foods that says fortified, enriched or enhanced foods can benefit a person's health when consumed as part of a varied diet, encourages further research and urges continued efforts to educate the public on such foods. ADA's position, published in the April issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, represents the Association's official stance on functional foods: "All foods are functional at some physiological level, but it is the position of the American Dietetic Association that…

Boulder, CO, USA - GEOLOGY covers multiple aspects of life on Earth, including extinctions and diversifications, "tool" use by the first creatures to walk on land, sirenians (manatees) in the Tethys-Mediterranean, the last refuge of the woolly mammoth, and Edwards Aquifer development as seen through cave spider DNA. Other topics include glaciation, mineralization, mineral decomposition, degassing, climate change, tectonics, volcanics, current velocity and seafloor structure, and giant earth-surface wind ripples. GSA TODAY focuses on the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event. Highlights…

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — As school districts across the nation revamped curricula to meet requirements of the federal "No Child Left Behind" Act, opportunities for children to be physically active during the school day diminished significantly. Future mandates, however, might be better served by taking into account findings from a University of Illinois study suggesting the academic benefits of physical education classes, recess periods and after-school exercise programs. The research, led by Charles Hillman, a professor of kinesiology and community health and the director of the Neurocognitive…