(Press-News.org) New research from the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) quantifies the potential impacts of increasing wind and solar power generation on the operators of fossil-fueled power plants in the West. To accommodate higher amounts of wind and solar power on the electric grid, utilities must ramp down and ramp up or stop and start conventional generators more frequently to provide reliable power for their customers – a practice called cycling.
The study finds that the carbon emissions induced by more frequent cycling are negligible ( END
NREL calculates emissions & costs of power plant cycling necessary for increased wind and solar
2013-09-25
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NASA's Hubble and Chandra find evidence for densest nearby galaxy
2013-09-25
Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory and telescopes on the ground may have found the most crowded galaxy in our part of the universe.
The ultra-compact dwarf galaxy, known as M60-UCD1, may be the densest galaxy near to Earth, packed with an extraordinary number of stars. This galaxy is providing astronomers with clues to its intriguing past and its role in the galactic evolutionary chain.
M60-UCD1, estimated to be about 10 billion years old, is near the massive elliptical galaxy NGC 4649, also called M60, about 54 million light ...
Astronomers discover densest galaxy ever
2013-09-25
Imagine the distance between the sun and the star nearest to it – a star called Alpha Centauri. That's a distance of about 4 light years. Now, imagine as many as 10,000 of our suns crammed into that relatively small space.
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New study shows how ICU ventilation may trigger mental decline
2013-09-25
PHILADELPHIA— At least 30 percent of patients in intensive care units (ICUs) suffer some form of mental dysfunction as reflected in anxiety, depression, and especially delirium. In mechanically-ventilated ICU patients, the incidence of delirium is particularly high, about 80 percent, and may be due in part to damage in the hippocampus, though how ventilation is increasing the risk of damage and mental impairment has remained elusive.
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Iowa State, Ames Lab chemists help find binding site of protein that allows plant growth
2013-09-25
AMES, Iowa – Using a new and super-sensitive instrument, researchers have discovered where a protein binds to plant cell walls, a process that loosens the cell walls and makes it possible for plants to grow.
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Finding that binding target has been a major challenge for structural biologists. That's because there are only tiny amounts of the protein involved in cell growth and because cell walls are very complex, said Mei Hong, one of the project's lead researchers who's ...
Lighting up can bring you down in colorectal surgery
2013-09-25
Infection, pneumonia, blood clots and kidney failure are all possible complications after any major surgery. A new study shows that smoking boosts the risk of such complications following some of the most common colorectal procedures, including surgery for colon cancer, diverticulitis or inflammatory bowel disease. Lighting up also increases a patient's risk of death after surgery compared with patients who have never smoked.
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Stepfamilies add to caregiver burden
2013-09-25
ANN ARBOR—Caregiving is always tough, but it's that much tougher when caregivers have to rely on family ties that are ambiguous, strained or virtually nonexistent, suggests a University of Michigan study.
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Living better with heart failure by changing what you eat
2013-09-25
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Diet can dramatically lower hypertension and improve heart function in patients with a common type of heart failure, according to research presented at today's Heart Failure Society of America meeting in Orlando, Fla.
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New CU-Boulder-led study finds 'microbial clock' may help determine time of death
2013-09-25
An intriguing study led by the University of Colorado Boulder may provide a powerful new tool in the quiver of forensic scientists attempting to determine the time of death in cases involving human corpses: a microbial clock.
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Late Cretaceous Period was likely ice-free
2013-09-25
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MicroRNA-31 might predict lung-cancer spread
2013-09-25
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Determining whether a patient's lung cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes is critical for identifying the most effective therapy, but it usually requires surgery. A new study suggests, however, that measuring levels of a particular molecule in a sample of tumor tissue might accurately answer the question.
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