PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Drainage ditches can help clean up field runoff

2013-01-04
(Press-News.org) This press release is available in Spanish.

Vegetated drainage ditches can help capture pesticide and nutrient loads in field runoff, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists report. These ditches—as common in the country as the fields they drain—give farmers a low-cost alternative for managing agricultural pollutants and protecting natural resources.

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) ecologist Matt Moore at the agency's National Sedimentation Laboratory in Oxford, Miss., and his colleagues conducted the research. ARS is USDA's chief intramural scientific research agency.

Until recently, the primary function of many edge-of-field ditches was to provide a passage for channeling excess water from crop fields. Many farmers controlled ditch vegetation with trimming or dredging to eliminate plant barriers that could impede the flow of runoff.

But in one of Moore's first studies, he evaluated the transport and capture of the herbicide atrazine and the insecticide lambda-cyhalothrin for 28 days in a 160-foot section of a vegetated agricultural drainage ditch in Mississippi. One hour after he started a simulated runoff event, 61 percent of the atrazine and 87 percent of the lambda-cyhalothrin had transferred from the water to the ditch vegetation. At the end of the ditch, runoff pesticide concentrations had decreased to levels that were generally non-toxic to downstream aquatic fauna.

Moore also conducted work in California and determined that vegetated drainage ditches helped mitigate pesticide runoff from tomato and alfalfa fields. As a result, USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) state office in California included vegetated agricultural drainage in their Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). This meant farmers who installed the ditches could be reimbursed for up to 50 percent of the cost. Moore's research also contributed to the decision by NRCS managers in Mississippi to include vegetated agricultural drainage ditches in the state's EQIP.

###

Read more about Moore's studies in the January 2013 issue of Agricultural Research magazine.

USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call 866-632-9992 (Toll-free Customer Service), 800-877-8339 (Local or Federal relay), 866-377-8642 (Relay voice users).



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

A temperature below absolute zero

A temperature below absolute zero
2013-01-04
This press release is available in German. What is normal to most people in winter has so far been impossible in physics: a minus temperature. On the Celsius scale minus temperatures are only surprising in summer. On the absolute temperature scale, which is used by physicists and is also called the Kelvin scale, it is not possible to go below zero – at least not in the sense of getting colder than zero kelvin. According to the physical meaning of temperature, the temperature of a gas is determined by the chaotic movement of its particles – the colder the gas, the slower ...

Western neuroscience study reveals new link between basic math skills and PSAT math success

2013-01-04
New research from Western University provides brain imaging evidence that students well-versed in very basic single digit arithmetic (5+2=7 or 7-3=4) are better equipped to score higher on the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT), an examination sat by millions of students in the United States each year in preparation for college admission tests. In findings published today in The Journal of Neuroscience research led by Daniel Ansari, Associate Professor in Western's Department of Psychology and a principal investigator at the Brain and Mind Institute, showed by ...

DARPA selects SwRI K-band space crosslink radio for flight development as part of System F6 program

2013-01-04
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently selected Southwest Research Institute to provide the flight low-rate crosslink wireless communications platform for the System F6 Program. The System F6 Program, which is envisioned to culminate in an on-orbit demonstration in 2015–2016, is designed to validate a new space mission concept in which a cluster of smaller, wirelessly connected spacecraft replaces the typical single spacecraft carrying numerous instruments and payloads. This "fractionated" architecture enhances survivability, responsiveness ...

When will genomic research translate into clinical care -- and at what cost?

2013-01-04
BOSTON – Genomic research is widely expected to transform medicine, but progress has been slower than expected. While critics argue that the genomics "promise" has been broken – and that money might be better spent elsewhere -- proponents say the deliberate pace underscores the complexity of the relationship between medicine and disease and, indeed, argues for more funding. But thus far, these competing narratives have been based mostly on anecdotes. Ramy Arnaout, MD, DPhil, a founding member of the Genomic Medicine Initiative at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), ...

Rainfall, brain infection linked in sub-Saharan Africa

Rainfall, brain infection linked in sub-Saharan Africa
2013-01-04
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The amount of rainfall affects the number of infant infections leading to hydrocephalus in Uganda, according to a team of researchers who are the first to demonstrate that these brain infections are linked to climate. Hydrocephalus -- literally "water on the brain" -- is characterized by the build-up of the fluid that is normally within and surrounding the brain, leading to brain swelling. The swelling will cause brain damage or death if not treated. Even if treated, there is only a one-third chance of a child maintaining a normal life after post-infectious ...

Researchers seek longer battery life for electric locomotive

Researchers seek longer battery life for electric locomotive
2013-01-04
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Norfolk Southern Railway No. 999 is the first all-electric, battery-powered locomotive in the United States. But when one of the thousand lead-acid batteries that power it dies, the locomotive shuts down. To combat this problem, a team of Penn State researchers is developing more cost-effective ways to prolong battery life. The experimental locomotive's batteries, just like automotive batteries, are rechargeable until they eventually die. A leading cause of damage and death in lead-acid batteries is sulfation, a degradation of the battery caused ...

Outsourced radiologists perform better reading for fewer hospitals

2013-01-04
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Experience working for a particular hospital matters when it comes to the performance of radiologists who work for outsourcing teleradiology companies, according to a team of researchers, whose finding could have important implications, given the growing use of telemedicine. "More than half of all hospitals now use teleradiology services," said Jonathan Clark, assistant professor of health policy and administration, Penn State. "Hospitals send their X-rays, CT scans, MRIs and other images to outsourcing companies who then forward the images to ...

Scripps physicians call for change in cancer tissue handling

2013-01-04
SAN DIEGO – Genetic sequencing technology is altering the way cancer is diagnosed and treated, but traditional specimen handling methods threaten to slow that progress. That's the message delivered this week in a column appearing in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) by Scripps Clinic physicians Eric Topol, Kelly Bethel and Laura Goetz. Dr. Topol is a cardiologist who serves as chief academic officer of Scripps Health and director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute (STSI), leading Scripps' genomic medicine research efforts. Dr. Bethel ...

Research update: Jumping droplets help heat transfer

2013-01-04
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Many industrial plants depend on water vapor condensing on metal plates: In power plants, the resulting water is then returned to a boiler to be vaporized again; in desalination plants, it yields a supply of clean water. The efficiency of such plants depends crucially on how easily droplets of water can form on these metal plates, or condensers, and how easily they fall away, leaving room for more droplets to form. The key to improving the efficiency of such plants is to increase the condensers' heat-transfer coefficient — a measure of how readily heat ...

Your brain on Big Bird

Your brain on Big Bird
2013-01-04
Using brain scans of children and adults watching Sesame Street, cognitive scientists are learning how children's brains change as they develop intellectual abilities like reading and math. The novel use of brain imaging during everyday activities like watching TV, say the scientists, opens the door to studying other thought processes in naturalistic settings and may one day help to diagnose and treat learning disabilities. Scientists are just beginning to use brain imaging to understand how humans process thought during real-life experiences. For example, researchers ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Teen loneliness triggers ‘reward seeking’ behaviour

How fast mRNA degrades linked to autoimmune disease risk

What stiffening lung tissue reveals about the earliest stages of fibrosis

Kessler Foundation’s Trevor Dyson-Hudson, MD, honored with James J. Peters Distinguished Service Award from ASCIP

Tiny fish open new horizons for autism research.

How eye-less corals see the light

Storing breast milk for specific times of day could support babies’ circadian rhythm

Growing a new, pencil-shaped structure of gold named “quantum needles”

Transparent mesoporous WO₃ film enhances solar water splitting efficiency and stability

Protostellar jet detection in Milky Way’s outer region reveals universal star formation

New research uncovers a ‘ghost’ of the Australian bush

Study establishes link between rugby and dementia

Can courts safeguard fairness in an AI age?

Less than half of England has access to Mounjaro on the NHS months after roll-out

Study highlights cultural differences in parenting and reveals that how babies are soothed matters more than how fast

Claims on baby food fail to stack up

Potential molecular link between air pollutants and increased risk of Lewy body dementia revealed

Deaths from high blood pressure-related kidney disease up nearly 50% in the past 25 years

U.S. survey finds salt substitutes rarely used by people with high blood pressure

Researchers map key human proteins that power coronavirus replication, pointing to new treatment strategies

Single hair strand could provide biomarker for ALS, Mount Sinai study finds

Bio-oil made with corn stalks, wood debris could plug orphaned fossil fuel wells

Can the 'good' bacteria in your mouth act as probiotic cavity fighters?

This common fish has an uncommon feature: Forehead teeth, used for mating

UI Health performs first islet cell transplant with Lantidra

Study shows not all dietary proteins are digested the same way

MSU study finds accessible wireless ultrasounds are accurate

Scientists review breakthrough methods to disrupt toxic “forever chemicals” in water

Ghost sharks grow forehead teeth to help them have sex

How stress and social struggles fuel America’s obesity crisis

[Press-News.org] Drainage ditches can help clean up field runoff