In the face of global climate change, increasing the use of renewable energy resources is one of the most urgent challenges facing the world. Further development of one resource, solar energy, is complicated by the need to find space for solar power-generating equipment without significantly altering the surrounding environment. New work from Carnegie's Rebecca R. Hernandez (now at University of California Berkley), Madison K. Hoffacker, and Chris Field found that the amount of energy that could be generated from solar equipment constructed on and around existing infrastructure ...

Northwestern University scientists have developed a robust new material, inspired by biological catalysts, that is extraordinarily effective at destroying toxic nerve agents that are a threat around the globe. First used 100 years ago during World War I, deadly chemical weapons continue to be a challenge to combat. The material, a zirconium-based metal-organic framework (MOF), degrades in minutes one of the most toxic chemical agents known to mankind: Soman (GD), a more toxic relative of sarin. Computer simulations show the MOF should be effective against other easy-to-make ...

"Warmer air transports more moisture and hence produces more precipitation - in cold Antarctica this takes the form of snowfall," lead author Katja Frieler from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) explains. "We have now pulled a number of various lines of evidence together and find a very consistent result: Temperature increase means more snowfall on Antarctica," says Frieler. "For every degree of regional warming, snowfall increases by about 5 percent." Published in the journal Nature Climate Change, the scientists' work builds on high-quality ice-core ...

Researchers have discovered a valley underneath East Antarctica's most rapidly-changing glacier that delivers warm water to the base of the ice, causing significant melting. The intrusion of warm ocean water is accelerating melting and thinning of Totten Glacier, which at 65 kilometres long and 30 kilometres wide contains enough ice to raise global sea levels by 3.5 metres. The glacier is one of the major outlets for the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, which is the largest mass of ice on Earth and covers 98 percent of the continent. Climate change is raising the temperature ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. - A new study confirms that snowfall in Antarctica will increase significantly as the planet warms, offsetting future sea level rise from other sources - but the effect will not be nearly as strong as many scientists previously anticipated because of other, physical processes. That means that many computer models may be underestimating the amount and rate of sea level rise if they had projected more significant impact from Antarctic snow. Results of the study, which was funded by the National Science Foundation, were reported this week in the journal ...

About one quarter of the global seafloor is extremely nutrient poor. Contrary to previous assumptions, it contains oxygen not just in the thin surface layer, but also throughout its entire thickness. The underlying basement rocks contain oxygen as well. An international research team made these new discoveries through analysis of drill cores from the South Pacific Gyre. In the latest issue of Nature Geoscience the scientists also point out the potential effects on the composition of Earth's interior because oxygen-containing deep-sea sediment has a different mineral composition ...

The underlying mechanism behind an enigmatic process called "singlet exciton fission", which could enable the development of significantly more powerful solar cells, has been identified by scientists in a new study. The process is only known to happen in certain materials, and occurs when they absorb light. As the light particles come into contact with electrons within the material, the electrons are excited by the light, and the resulting "excited state" splits into two. If singlet exciton fission can be controlled and incorporated into solar cells, it has the potential ...

Climbing rats, seabirds and tropical gophers are among the 15 animal species that are at the absolute greatest risk of becoming extinct very soon. Expertise and money is needed to save them and other highly threatened species. A new study shows that a subset of highly threatened species - in this case 841 - can be saved from extinction for about $1.3 billion a year. However, for 15 of them the chances of conservation success are really low. The study published in Current Biology concludes that a subset of 841 endangered animal species can be saved, but only if conservation ...

New heart imaging technology to diagnose coronary heart disease and other heart disorders is significantly more accurate, less expensive and safer than traditional methods, according to a new study by researchers from the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City. Researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute compared Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT), currently the most commonly used imaging diagnostic tool, with a new imaging technology -- coronary-specific Positron Emission Tomography (cardiac PET/CT). They ...

Montreal, March 16, 2015 -- Does a predilection for porn mean bad news in bed? That's the conclusion of many clinicians and the upshot of anecdotal reports claiming a man's habit of viewing sex films can lead to problems getting or sustaining an erection. But a new study from UCLA and Concordia University -- the first to actually test the relationship between how much erotica men are watching and erectile function -- shows that viewing sexual films is unlikely to cause erectile problems and may even help sexual arousal. The study, published in the online journal Sexual ...

This news release is available in German. The lithium ion battery currently is the most widespread battery technology. It is indispensable for devices, such as laptops, mobile phones or cameras. Current research activities are aimed at reaching higher lithium storage densities in order to increase the amount of energy stored in a battery. Moreover, lithium storage should be quick for energy supply of devices with high power requirements. This requires the detailed understanding of the electrochemical processes and new development of battery components. The materials ...

SAN DIEGO (March 16, 2015) -- Despite the advent of a new generation of stents, patients with multiple narrowed arteries in the heart who received coronary artery bypass grafting fared better than those whose arteries were opened with balloon angioplasty and stents in a study presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session. The findings echo past studies, which have shown patients with multiple narrowed arteries have better outcomes with coronary artery bypass grafting, also known as CABG or heart bypass surgery, than with angioplasty, ...

SAN DIEGO (March 16, 2015) -- Obese patients with atrial fibrillation who lost at least 10 percent of their body weight were six times more likely to achieve long-term freedom from this common heart rhythm disorder compared to those who did not lose weight, according to a study presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session. The study is the first to track the long-term effects of weight loss and the degree of weight fluctuation on atrial fibrillation burden. Patients who lost more weight and maintained a more stable weight over four ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- When March Madness kicks off this week, you might expect the bleachers to be filled with alumni and students from the competing colleges. In fact, only about a third of die-hard college sports fans are alumni of their teams' universities, and another third never attended college at all, according to a new Duke University study. The new research by Charles Clotfelter, a professor of public policy, economics and law at Duke's Sanford School of Public Policy, draws upon an unusual source for its conclusions: obituaries. Clotfelter's article, "Die-Hard ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Subsistence farmers in Africa, the Americas and the Caribbean are learning how to construct raised planting beds and install drip irrigation systems to boost their agricultural productivity, conserve water and perhaps even halt the rapid advance of desertification in some drought-prone regions. This educational effort, led in large part by nonprofit groups and private donors, is getting a boost from Scientific Animations Without Borders, an initiative that produces animated educational videos that can be played and shared on cellphones and other digital ...

Commitment to well being of others difficult to sustain over long run Personal redemption narrative sustains motivation to engage in prosocial behavior African-Americans more likely to be motivated by stories of personal redemption Redemptive stories sustain hope that sacrifices today may produce future dividends EVANSTON, Ill. --- Middle-aged Americans who show high levels of societal involvement and positive mental health are especially likely to construe their lives as stories of personal redemption, according to new Northwestern University research. Previous ...

A review of clinical trial data suggests vitamin D supplementation was ineffective at lowering blood pressure (BP) and should not be used as an antihypertensive, according to an article published online by JAMA Internal Medicine. Intervention studies have produced conflicting evidence on the BP-lowering effect of vitamin D. An increasing number of clinical trials of have studied vitamin D and cardiovascular health, according to the study background. Miles D. Witham, B.M., B.Ch., Ph.D., of the University of Dundee, Scotland, and coauthors analyzed clinical trial data ...

An analysis of publicly available outbreak data suggests that substandard vaccination compliance is likely to blame for the recent measles outbreak linked to Disneyland in California, according to an article published online by JAMA Pediatrics. Without vaccination, measles is highly contagious. The recent outbreak started in December 2014, although the index case has not yet been identified. The rapid growth of cases indicates that a substantial percentage of the exposed population may be susceptible to measles infection due to lack of, or incomplete, vaccination, according ...

A study of brain aging finds that being male was associated with worse memory and lower hippocampal volume in individuals who were cognitively normal at baseline, while the gene APOE ?4, a risk factor for Alzheimer disease, was not, according to an article published online by JAMA Neurology. Typical cognitive aging may be defined as age-associated changes in cognitive performance in individuals free of dementia. To assess brain imaging findings associated with typical aging, the full adult age spectrum should be included, according to the study background. Clifford ...

Inadequate vaccine coverage is likely a driving force behind the ongoing Disneyland measles outbreak, according to calculations by a research team at Boston Children's Hospital. Their report, based on epidemiological data and published online by JAMA Pediatrics, indicates that vaccine coverage among the exposed populations is far below that necessary to keep the virus in check, and is the first to positively link measles vaccination rates and the ongoing outbreak. By examining case numbers reported by the California Department of Public Health and current and historical ...

There are only five bodies in our solar system that are known to bear rings. The most obvious is the planet Saturn; to a lesser extent, rings of gas and dust also encircle Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune. The fifth member of this haloed group is Chariklo, one of a class of minor planets called centaurs: small, rocky bodies that possess qualities of both asteroids and comets. Scientists only recently detected Chariklo's ring system -- a surprising finding, as it had been thought that centaurs are relatively dormant. Now scientists at MIT and elsewhere have detected a possible ...

March 16, 2015 - As more women veterans seek health care in the Veterans Administration (VA) system, effective approaches are needed to ensure that their unique needs are recognized and met. A special April supplement to Medical Care collects new studies from an ongoing research initiative to inform health care policy for women veterans. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer. "The goal of this supplement is to disseminate new research findings related to the planning, organization, financing, provision, evaluation and improvement of health services and/or outcomes ...

URBANA - University of Illinois scientists have engineered a "jailbreaking" yeast that could greatly increase the health benefits of wine while reducing the toxic byproducts that cause your morning-after headache. "Fermented foods--such as beer, wine, and bread--are made with polyploid strains of yeast, which means they contain multiple copies of genes in the genome. Until now, it's been very difficult to do genetic engineering in polyploid strains because if you altered a gene in one copy of the genome, an unaltered copy would correct the one that had been changed," ...

NEW YORK, March 16, 2015 - Newer drug-coated stents that keep arteries open have similar long-term rates of death compared with traditional bypass surgery for patients with more than one diseased coronary artery. The findings come from a clinical registry study, led by cardiologists at NYU Langone Medical Center, which appears in this week's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. In the study, a sample of over 9,000 patients who received the latest stents were no more likely to die in the few years following the procedure, compared to a matched sample of over ...

SAN DIEGO (March 16, 2015) -- Among patients with heart failure and atrial fibrillation, those who underwent catheter ablation were less likely to die, be hospitalized or have recurrent atrial fibrillation than patients taking a heart rhythm regulating drug, according to a study presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session. Catheter ablation was most successful in procedures where ablation was required in other areas in addition to the pulmonary vein, researchers said. Heart failure and atrial fibrillation often co-occur and are two ...