Story tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, July 2015
2015-07-16
(Press-News.org) To arrange for an interview with a researcher, please contact the Communications 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.
ENERGY - Samsung savings ...
Although variable refrigerant flow heat pumps are known to have advantages, higher initial costs and difficulty in quantifying those benefits serve as deterrents to their widespread use. ORNL's flexible research platform, however, provides a solution that enables researchers to characterize real-world performance. In a controlled showdown, Samsung's variable refrigerant flow heat pump outperformed a conventional rooftop unit, providing heating and cooling savings of 80 percent and 26 percent, respectively. The evaluation was performed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory's flexible research platform, an instrumented two-story small office building with 10 thermal zones. [Contact: Ron Walli, (865) 576-0226; wallira@ornl.gov]
VEHICLES - New catalyst looms big ...
Gains in engine efficiency are often accompanied by emissions challenges, but a catalyst developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers could provide a solution. The mixed oxide catalyst features low-cost materials and potentially overcomes the problem of inhibition, in which nitrogen oxides, copper oxide and hydrocarbons effectively clog the catalyst designed to cleanse a vehicle's exhaust stream. This happens as these three pollutants compete for active surface sites on the catalyst. But now a catalyst composed of copper oxide, cobalt oxide and cerium oxides that was studied in simulated exhaust streams shows considerable promise - and it does this at low temperatures without using precious metals. [Contact: Ron Walli, (865) 576-0226; wallira@ornl.gov]
MATERIALS--Cleaner crude ...
Crude oil refinement can be an extremely costly chemical process. In an effort to reduce energy and cost demands, Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers Anibal Ramirez-Cuesta and Stuart Campbell are collaborating with University of Nottingham (UK) researchers to develop metal-organic frameworks--substances that can catch and separate different gases during refinement. These porous metal-based compounds have potential applications across the chemical industry, and are produced with water-based solvents, rather than chemical solvents, making separation processes cleaner. The research team plans to collaborate with engineers in industry to bring this process closer to being used on the commercial level. [Contact: Eric Gedenk, (865) 241-5497; gedenked@ornl.gov]
CLIMATE--Energy data portal ...
A new addition to Data.gov, home of the U.S. government's open data, focuses on the connection between climate change and the nation's energy infrastructure. Curated by an Oak Ridge National Laboratory-led team, the "Energy Infrastructure" theme contains federally created scientific and technical resources related to the potential effects of climate change on the U.S energy sector and other critical infrastructure. The team's goal is to make climate data more accessible for policy analysts, researchers, decision makers, application developers and others to add value through the development of new tools and applications. "Data are increasingly becoming an indispensable resource for those working to enhance the nation's resilience to climate variability and change," said Benjamin Preston, deputy director of the Climate Change Science Institute at ORNL. [Contact: VJ Ewing, (865) 241-6645; ewingvj@ornl.gov]
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2015-07-16
A new report from the World Health Organisation urges the global community to accelerate action against rabies and other neglected zoonotic diseases.
The WHO report - 'The Control of Neglected Zoonotic Diseases: from advocacy to action' - says rabies can be eliminated through existing knowledge and tools. It urges accelerated action by the global community.
The study says that achieving a world free from dog-mediated human rabies in just 15 years is possible because of existing management tools - but only if there is increased investment.
The Global Alliance for ...
2015-07-16
Shooting a firearm requires coordinating many actions that depend upon core cognitive abilities, including the critical ability to stop just before pulling the trigger. People who have difficulty inhibiting responses are more likely to shoot unarmed civilians in simulated scenarios, but response inhibition training can help to reduce these shooting errors, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
"Our findings indicate that shooting abilities can be predicted, in part, by cognitive abilities, ...
2015-07-16
A new pilot study in Parkinson's disease suggests a new era of clinical research which removes the barrier of distance for both scientists and volunteers. The research, which appears in the journal Digital Health, could also enable researchers to leverage the rapid growth in personal genetic testing to better diagnose, and potentially treat, a wide range of diseases.
"These findings demonstrate that remote recruitment and conduct of research visits is feasible and well-received by participants," said Ray Dorsey, M.D., M.B.A., a neurologist at the University of Rochester ...
2015-07-16
July 16, 2015 - Did you belong to community, sports, or other clubs in your teens? If so, you might be more likely to survive into your late seventies, suggests a study in Psychosomatic Medicine: Journal of Biobehavioral Medicine, the official journal of the American Psychosomatic Society. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.
People who were club members at age 18 are at lower risk of death by age 78, according to the report by Ian Deary, PhD, and colleagues of University of Edinburgh. The study adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that social participation ...
2015-07-16
Cannabis -- marijuana, hashish -- was used as a go-to medical remedy by societies around the world for centuries. But the therapeutic use of marijuana was banned in most countries in the 1930s and '40s due to a growing awareness of the dangers of addiction. The significant medical benefits of marijuana in alleviating symptoms of such diseases as Parkinson's, cancer, and multiple sclerosis have only recently been reinvestigated.
A new study published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research by Tel Aviv University and Hebrew University researchers explores another promising ...
2015-07-16
Previously identified associations between TV viewing and a less healthful diet may stem from exposure to advertisements of high calorie foods and 'distracted eating' rather than the activity of sitting itself, although sitting time remains an independent risk factor requiring public health focus. These findings are according to a new study by American Cancer Society investigators conducted in collaboration with the Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition and the University of Texas School of Public Health. For their study, published in Preventive Medicine, researchers examined ...
2015-07-16
The following press release and accompanying images can be found at: http://news.agu.org/press-release/suns-activity-controls-greenland-temperatures/
Sun's activity controls Greenland temperatures
AGU Contact:
Leigh Cooper
+1 (202) 777-7324
lcooper@agu.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The sun's activity could be affecting a key ocean circulation mechanism that plays an important role in regulating Greenland's climate, according to a new study. The phenomenon could be partially responsible for cool temperatures the island experienced in the late 20th century and potentially ...
2015-07-16
WASHINGTON -- A new multispectral microscope, one capable of processing nearly 17 billion pixels representing 13 individual color channels in a single image, has been successfully demonstrated by a team of researchers from the United States and Australia. This is the largest such microscopic image ever created. This level of multicolor detail is essential for studying the impact of experimental drugs on biological samples and is an important advancement over traditional microscope designs, which have fallen short when it comes to imaging large, spectrally diverse samples. ...
2015-07-16
(Boston)--Having high blood pressure in your 50's may impact your ability to keep track or plan ahead in your 80's.
This study reports a connection between high blood pressure at a younger age can affect cognition many years later. It currently appears in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.
Life expectancy is on the rise and people the age of 80 are the fastest growing demographic in the world. Several studies have demonstrated that high cardiovascular risk at midlife, particularly hypertension, is linked to subsequent increased risk of dementia. However, there is ...
2015-07-16
A newly identified species of feathered dinosaur is the largest ever discovered to have a well-preserved set of bird-like wings, research suggests.
Palaeontologists working in China unearthed the fossil remains of the winged dinosaur - a close cousin of Velociraptor, which was made famous by the Jurassic Park films.
Researchers say its wings - which are very short compared with other dinosaurs in the same family - consisted of multiple layers of large feathers. They found that the species' feathers were complex structures made up of fine branches stemming from a central ...
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[Press-News.org] Story tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, July 2015
