Clues to future climate may be found in the way an ordinary drinking glass shatters.
Results of a study published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences find that microscopic particles of dust can break apart …
BOULDER–Clues to future climate may be found in the way that an ordinary drinking glass shatters.
A study appearing this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds that microscopic particles of dust, emitted into the atmo…
Experience total lunacy on Thursday, May 15, as the moon moves completely into the Earth’s shadow. Lunar eclipses occur, on average, twice a year. A good viewing, however, happens only every few years. Barring clouds the eclipse should be one of the best since January 2000. The next one will occur this year on Nov. 8.
Shock waves through icy parts of the solar nebula could well be the mechanism that enriched meteorites with water — water that some believe provided an otherwise dry Earth with oceans, according to a new study published in today’s issue (Jan. 24) of Science.
Scientists have long debated how “chondrules” might have formed. Chondrules are millimeter-sized blobs of once-melted minerals found within chondritic meteorites, which are thought to be the oldest objects in the solar system. In some of these meteorites, chondrules are rimmed by fine silicate dust particles that have reacted with water.
THOMPSON SAYS FOOD SUPPLY VULNERABLE TO ATTACK
The number of U.S. food inspectors has risen over the last year, but Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said the nation is still vulnerable to an attack on its food supply. It was clear even before Sept. 11 that the Food and Drug Administration’s inspection system had big holes, the Associated Press reports, with 150 inspectors together examining less than one percent of the nation’s food. After last fall, Congress opened the purse strings enough to hire 750 additional inspectors, and new technology has made some inspections faster. But Thompson said danger remains. “I still believe that is the area we are subject to a terrorist attack in the future and one that could cause problems.” In perhaps the most shocking part of Thompson’s coments, he blamed the previously low number of inspectors on a vindictive Congress that punished the agency for former FDA Commissioner David Kessler’s efforts to regulate the tobacco industry.
Meanwhile…
DUST-SIZED CHIPS TO COMBAT BIOTERRORISM
Silicon chips the size of dust particles that can quickly detect biological and chemical agents have been developed by University of California, San Diego scientists. As reported by HealthScoutNews, the versatile chips can identify substances that can be dissolved in drinking water or sprayed into the air during a bioterrorist attack. “The idea is that you can have something that’s as small as a piece of dust with some intelligence built into it, so that it could be inconspicuously stuck to paint on a wall or to the side of a truck or dispersed into a cloud of gas,” UCSD researcher Michael Sailor said. Each chip is barcoded, and can be read using a laser detector to see what if any reaction has occurred. “When the dust recognizes what kinds of chemicals or biological agents are present, that information can be read … to tell us if the cloud that’s coming toward us is filled with anthrax bacteria or if the tank of drinking water into which we’ve sprinkled the dust is toxic,” Sailor said.