News Articles

Two Durham University scientists are playing a key part in a 3,000 mile trip following the migration route of ancient Pacific cultures.   Drs Keith Dobney and Greger Larson, both from the Department of Archaeology, are taking part in the voyage, which will be the first ever expedition to sail in two traditional Polynesian boats - ethnic double canoes - which attempts to re-trace the genuine migration route of the ancient Austronesians.

In the Arctic in spring, the snow cover gives off nitrogen oxides. This phenomenon, the extent of which had not been previously realized, is the source of one third of the nitrates present in the Arctic atmosphere, according to researchers from CNRS, the Université Joseph Fourier and the Université Pierre et Marie Curie[1]. They made a quantitative study of the origin and evolution of nitrogen compounds in the Arctic atmosphere, in order to understand their environmental impact on this region. These findings are published in the 31 October 2008 issue of the journal Science.

The Data Management Group (DAMA-UPC), led by Josep Lluís Larriba, has designed a system for searching for information in a network or graph that can complement Internet search engines and is of special interest to biomedicine, social networks, the Internet, fraud detection in different environments and advanced bibliographical searches.Searching and querying large volumes of networked data using a new technology patented by the UPC is now a reality with DEX. The system offers high-speed processing, configurable data input using heterogenous sources, and management of networks with billions of nodes and connections from a desktop PC.

The truth is, few people know the first thing about clinical research. The public reads about a medical research project that announces unbelievable results for a miraculous drug and often jokes that it will later turn out just the opposite will be true.And the public is often right.   For example, a 1994 headline in the San Francisco Chronicle announced “Hormones cut women’s risk of heart disease” but by 2001 that optimistic report was reversed as evidenced by a Washington Post article titled, “Hormones don’t protect women from heart disease.”

As airports become stretched to capacity and calls mount for new runways and terminals, a computer scientist in Greece has designed a system that could ensure as many seats as possible are filled on each flight and no one is left stranded at check-in.    If you're one of those people who has logged numerous free miles giving up your seat and getting a free ticket in return, that could be bad news.

Montana State University scientists concerned about lethal mold infections have found a gene that regulates the mold's resistance to drugs.The gene, called srbA, allows molds to thrive during infections even when inflammation reduces its oxygen supply, said Robert Cramer, senior author of a paper published in the Nov. 7 issue of PLoS Pathogens. When the gene is removed, the mold becomes much more vulnerable to lack of oxygen and can no longer grow to cause disease.

AFS Trinity Power Corporation today announced it pulled its 150 MPG plug-in hybrid SUV prototypes out of the LA Auto Show but will independently exhibit and demonstrate the super fuel-efficient vehicles on their own elsewhere in downtown LA during the show.
The company's decision followed actions by the LA Auto Show to muzzle AFS Trinity from highlighting the 150 miles per gallon fuel economy of its XH150 prototype vehicles. The suppression by the automakers of information about technologies such as this raises serious questions about the judgment, vision, intentions and capabilities of the leadership of these companies, said Edward W. Furia, Chairman and CEO of AFS Trinity.

You may recall reading a few weeks ago about a collection of Jurassic footprints so extensive it was being called a 'dinosaur dance floor' .   Another group of paleontologists visited the northern Arizona wilderness site and said it looked like a bunch of unusual potholes eroded in the sandstone to them.So the scientist who leads the University of Utah's geology department says she will team up with the skeptics for a follow-up study.

If you've ever seen one of those "55 saves lives" signs you might wonder why we don't just lower the speed limit to 5MPH.   After all, it seems silly to think that lives lost from 56 miles and up are important but those below it are not.General cynicism about advocates aside, it may be an issue of overestimating our abilities.     Whatever the cause, research suggests U.S. motorists are growing increasingly cynical about the relevance of speed limits, and a new study indicates many motorists are more likely to think they can drive safely while speeding - as long as they won't get caught.

A team of theoretical and experimental physicists  have designed a new black hole simulator called BlackMax to search for evidence that extra dimensions might exist in the universe. Black holes are theorized to be regions in space where the gravitational field is so strong that nothing can escape its pull after crossing what is called the event horizon. BlackMax simulates these regions. 

A two-year study conducted by researchers at George Mason University, INOVA Fairfax Hospital and the National Cancer Institute may open the door to new therapies for combating chronic diseases associated with obesity, a condition that affected more than 33 percent of American adults in 2005-06 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.While analyzing samples taken from morbidly obese patients undergoing weight loss surgery, the researchers discovered that substantial quantities of melanin—a pigment that gives the skin, the hair and the iris of the eye their natural color—were being produced in the study participants' fat tissue. 

Anyone who has wondered what it might be like to dive into a pool of millions of distant galaxies of different shapes and colours, will enjoy the latest image released by ESO. Obtained in part with the Very Large Telescope, the image is the deepest ground-based U-band image of the Universe ever obtained. It contains more than 27 million pixels and is the result of 55 hours of observations with the VIMOS instrument.