September 14, 2006, 4:35 AM CT

Einstein at least 99.95 percent right

An international research team led by Prof. Michael Kramer of the University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Observatory, UK, has used three years of observations of the "double pulsar", a unique pair of natural stellar clocks which they discovered in 2003, to prove that Einstein's theory of general relativity - the theory of gravity that displaced Newton's - is correct to within a staggering 0.05%. Their results are published on the14th September in the journal Science and are based on measurements of an effect called the Shapiro Delay.

The double pulsar system, PSR J0737-3039A and B, is 2000 light-years away in the direction of the constellation Puppis. It consists of two massive, highly compact neutron stars, each weighing more than our own Sun but only about 20 km across, orbiting each other every 2.4 hours at speeds of a million kilometres per hour. Separated by a distance of just a million kilometres, both neutron stars emit lighthouse-like beams of radio waves that are seen as radio "pulses" every time the beams sweep past the Earth. It is the only known system of two detectable radio pulsars orbiting each other. Due to the large masses of the system, they provide an ideal opportunity to test aspects of General Relativity:

• Gravitational redshift: the time dilation causes the pulse rate from one pulsar to slow when near to the other, and vice versa.

........

Posted by: Jaison      Permalink         Source

September 14, 2006, 4:30 AM CT

Warming climate might affect polar bear population

Some travel agencies touting Arctic tours have been revving up their recent promotions to tourists about the increased likelihood they will spot polar bears in this region where several populations of polar bears live. As per researchers from NASA and the Canadian Wildlife Service, these increased Arctic polar bear sightings are probably correlation to retreating sea ice triggered by climate warming and not due to population increases as some may believe.

The new research suggests that progressively earlier breakup of the Arctic sea ice, stimulated by climate warming, shortens the spring hunting season for female polar bears in Western Hudson Bay and is likely responsible for the continuing fall in the average weight of these bears. As females become lighter, their ability to reproduce and the survival of their young decline. Also, as the bears become thinner, they are more likely to push into human settlements for food, giving the impression that the population is increasing. The study will be published this week in the recent issue of the Journal Arctic.

Claire Parkinson, a scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., and Ian Stirling, a senior scientist with the Canadian Wildlife Service, Edmonton, Alberta, used NASA satellite observations captured from 1979 to 2004 to show the reduction in sea ice cover in several specific areas where there are known polar bear populations. In most of the areas studied, they observed that ice break-up in these areas has been occurring progressively earlier.........

Posted by: Tyler      Permalink         Source

September 13, 2006, 9:52 PM CT

Arctic Sea Ice Diminishing Rapidly

The Arctic Ocean's perennial sea ice, which survives the summer melt season and remains year-round, shrank abruptly by 14 percent between 2004 and 2005, as per a newly published study. Scientists observed that the loss of perennial ice in the East Arctic Ocean, above Europe and Asia, neared 50 percent during that time as some of the ice moved to the West Arctic Ocean, above North America.

The overall decrease in winter Arctic perennial sea ice totaled 730,000 square kilometers [280,000 square miles]--an area the size of Texas. Perennial ice can be three meters [10 feet] thick, or more. It was replaced in the winter by new, seasonal ice, which was only about 0.3 to two meters [one to seven feet] thick and more vulnerable to summer melt. The research was published 7 September in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

The decrease in perennial ice raises the possibility that Arctic sea ice will retreat to another record low extent this year. This follows four summers of very low ice-cover, as observed by active and passive microwave instruments.

A team of seven scientists, led by Son Nghiem of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, used satellite data to measure the extent and distribution of perennial and seasonal sea ice in the Arctic. While the total area of all Arctic sea ice was stable in winter, the distribution of seasonal and perennial sea ice changed significantly.........

Posted by: Tyler      Permalink         Source

September 13, 2006, 9:14 PM CT

Expedition to polar research

What better way to engage students in science than to apply lessons learned from fieldwork? This is the philosophy of Alaska teachers participating in the Arctic Expedition for K-12 Teachers, a program organized by the International Arctic Research Center (IARC) at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and a handful of international agencies.

For 33 days teachers from Alaska, Canada, France, Gera number of, Russia, Sweden and England will take atmospheric measurements, collect ice cores, install ice mass balance sensors and more, all under the guidance of an international team of polar researchers. Teachers and researchers will work together to collect data. Their work is based on the Kapitan Dranitsyn, an icebreaker currently cruising through the Arctic Ocean.

Todd Hindman, a teacher from Nome City School District, said This will give my students an opportunity to learn about the environment they live in, which will engage them in a meaningful way both inside and outside of the traditional classroom walls.

The experience will enhance my teaching by increasing my understanding of ocean systems, said Katie Turner, a science teacher at West Anchorage High School. It will give me real world experience and knowledge to share with my students.

The expedition advances researchers work in the fields of meteorology, biology, chemistry and oceanography. Five IARC researchers are aboard the Kapitan Dranitsyn, too, as part of the Nansen and Amundsen Basins Observational System (NABOS). Their aim is to better understand a flow of anomalous warm Atlantic water entering the Arctic Ocean. Preliminary data suggests this infusion of water from the Atlantic is increasing the temperature of the Arctic waters.........

Posted by: Tyler      Permalink         Source

September 13, 2006, 8:13 PM CT

Spring Fashion Week 2007 Day 4

New American designer Hilton Hollis has been getting quite a bit of press lately, so when I received an email from a reader about his collection, I decided to take a peek. From a design perspective, the line doesn't look like anything new, but from a pr, branding and overall marketing perspective, what's interesting about Hollis' line is that he is directly targeting those who purchase in the mid price range-skipping higher end customers all together.

This is an interesting approach because it has the possiblity of challenging fashion's hierachy. So what's this hierachy? According to the wonderful blog, Fashion Incubator (who also reviewed the Hollis line), here's the basic breakdown of the hierachy (I added in the mass market category) and my very rough definitions of each category:

Fashion Hierachy

• Haute Couture- "High Fashion" (Chanel, Dior, made to wear items from top, usually Parisian designers). A much over used term.
• Designer RTW (Chanel, Dior, Louis Vuitton, pre -made and sold on the racks).
• Bridge (not quite Chanel, but not quite Jones New York. This term is used a lot and the line between bridge and contemporary seems to be blurred).
• Contemporary ( Basically the stuff sold at the department stores and includes designers like Tracey Reese and Nanette Lepore to Ellen Tracy and Dana Buchman).
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Posted by: Gina      Permalink         Source

September 13, 2006, 5:11 AM CT

Do green markets actually lead to improvements in environmental quality?

Goods and services with environmental benefits are a growing part of many sectors of the economy, and a timely new paper from the current issue of the Journal of Political Economy analyzes how our willingness to pay more for environmentally friendly products actually influences environmental quality and social welfare. Surprisingly, the study finds that under certain reasonable conditions, green markets can actually discourage private support of public environmental entities.

Using a model of impure public goods, Matthew J. Kotchen (University of California, Santa Barbara) analyzes goods that have both private and public components, each of which is available individually. For example, shade-grown coffee is grown not on deforested plantations, but under the canopy of tropical forests. Thus, consumers are not only buying coffee, which is a traditional private good, but also biodiversity conservation. However, consumers also have the option to buy conventional coffee and donate directly to tropical conservation.

"Although green markets are promoted to improve environmental quality and promote social welfare, their actual effects may be detrimental to both," writes Kotchen. "These results, along with the conditions sufficient to rule them out, provide new insight into the potential advantages and disadvantages of green markets as a decentralized mechanism of environmental policy".........

Posted by: Ashley      Permalink         Source

September 13, 2006, 5:07 AM CT

Violence In The Home And Childhood Bullying

Children who were exposed to violence in the home engaged in higher levels of physical bullying than youngsters who were not witnesses to such behavior, as per a research studyby scientists from the University of Washington and Indiana University.

The study is one of the first in the United States to specifically examine the association between child exposure to intimate partner violence and involvement in bullying. It also is one of the first to break down bullying into physical aggression (hitting, pushing and other forms outward aggression) and relational aggression (teasing, being mean and ostracizing peers).

Overall, 34 percent of the children studied engaged in bullying and 73 percent reported being the victim of some form of bullying in the prior year. Almost all of the bullies, 97 percent, said they were also victims of bullying.

"Children learn from seeing what their primary caregivers do. They are very attuned and very observant about what goes on in a household," said Dr. Nerissa Bauer, lead author of the study and a former UW pediatrician who is now an assistant professor of pediatrics at Indian and Riley Children's Hospital.

"Parents are very powerful role models and children will mimic the behavior of parents, wanting to be like them. They may believe violence is OK and they can use it with peers. After all, they may think, 'If Daddy can do this, perhaps I can hit this kid to get my way.' When parents engage in violence, children may assume violence is the right way to do things," she said.........

Posted by: Sean      Permalink         Source

September 13, 2006, 5:00 AM CT

Story Time

Story ideas from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. To arrange for an interview with a researcher, please contact the Communications and External Relations staff member identified at the end of each tip.

For more information on ORNL and its research and development activities, please refer to one of our Media Contacts. If you have a general media-related question or comment, you can send it to news@@@@@@@ornl.gov.

Materials-Monster cutters

Underground rock formations in Atlanta will provide a real-world test for monster disc cutters coated with an iron-based nano-composite developed by a team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers. The laser-fused composite has resulted in hardness values two to seven times greater than conventional steel, as per Narendra Dahotre of the University of Tennessee/ORNL Joint Center for Advanced Photonics Processing. The coatings are expected to result in up to a 25 percent improvement in energy efficiency, significant reductions in down time and potential improvements in tunnel boring health and safety. This work, which is funded by DOE's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program, is part of an effort to improve tunnel boring disc cutters to cut repository tunnels for radioactive material storage. Other partners are Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Colorado School of Mines, where this coated disc cutter was the first in 25 years to survive testing on a hydraulic press that simulates in-field conditions. [Contact: Ron Walli; 865.576.0226; wallira@@@@@@@ornl.gov].........

Posted by: Gina      Permalink         Source

September 13, 2006, 4:45 AM CT

High-tech to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions

As part of a six-year study, scientists at the Western Transportation Institute at Montana State University have helped test and develop an animal-detection system that may give motorists the upper hand in avoiding crashes with wildlife across the nation.

The system, by Sensor Technologies & Systems of Scottsdale, Ariz., reliably detected elk on U.S. Highway 191 in Yellowstone National Park. How effective the system is in reducing animal-vehicle collisions will be reviewed over the next two years.

The testing and development of the system was just one part of a 271-page report summarizing all the available information on animal-detection systems in the world: data from more than 30 study sites and 15 different animal-detection technologies in place across United States and Europe. One Swiss study showed collisions with large animals were reduced 82 percent in locations with animal-detection systems.

Animal detection systems use passive or active infrared signals, lasers, microwaves, or seismic sensors to activate warning signs that urge drivers to slow down, be more alert, or both, when large animals are on, or near, the road ahead.

"This is a very promising technology that can make U.S. roadways safer. Our results urge us to fine tune this technology so that it can be used across the country," said Marcel Huijser, the study's lead investigator at the WTI.........

Posted by: Jim      Permalink         Source

September 11, 2006, 10:17 PM CT

Solar Flares

Solar flares are tremendous explosions on the surface of our Sun, releasing as much energy as a billion megatons of TNT in the form of radiation, high energy particles and magnetic fields. The Sun's magnetic fields are known to be an extremely important factor in producing the energy for flaring and when these magnetic fields lines clash together, dragging hot gas with them, an enormous maelstrom of energy is released. This boiling cauldron of plasma is ejected at huge speeds into the solar system and high energy particles, such as protons, can arrive at Earth within tens of minutes, to be followed a few days later by Coronal Mass Ejections, huge bubbles of gas threaded with magnetic field lines, which can cause major magnetic disturbances on Earth, sometimes with catastrophic results. Whilst scientists understand the flaring process very well they cannot predict when one of these enormous explosions will occur. The Solar-B mission, designed and built by teams in the UK, US and Japan, will investigate the so called 'trigger phase' of these events.

"Solar flares are fast and furious they can cause communication black-outs at Earth within 30 minutes of a flare erupting on the Sun's surface. It's imperative that we understand what triggers these events with the ultimate aim of being able to predict them with greater accuracy" said Prof. Louise Harra, the UK Solar-B project scientist based at University College London's Mullard Space Science Laboratory [UCL/MSSL].........

Posted by: William      Permalink         Source