Student teams ready to battle Lunar Terrain at NASA’s 17th Annual Great Moonbuggy Race
More than 100 student teams from around the globe will drive their specially crafted lunar rovers through a challenging course of rugged, moon-like terrain at NASA’s 17th annual Great Moonbuggy Race in Huntsville, Ala., April 9-10.
Some 1,088 high school, college and university students from 20 states and Puerto Rico, Canada, Germany, Bangladesh, Serbia, India and Romania are expected to participate in the race at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center.
Students begin to prepare for the event each year during the fall semester. They must design, build and test a sturdy, collapsible, lightweight vehicle that addresses engineering problems similar to those overcome by the original Apollo-era lunar rover development team at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville in the late 1960s.
The buggies are based on the design of those classic rovers, which American astronauts drove across the moon’s surface during the Apollo 15, 16 and 17 missions in the early 1970s. Teams of students build their vehicles using trail bike tires, aluminum or composite-metal struts and parts. The best teams drive trains, gears, suspension, steering and braking systems they find or construct.
Top prizes are awarded to the three teams in both the high school and college/university divisions that post the fastest race times, which include assembly and penalty times. A variety of other prizes are given by race corporate sponsors. These include “rookie of the year” and the “featherweight” award, presented to the team with the lightest, fastest buggy.
NASA’s Great Moonbuggy Race is one of many educational projects and initiatives the agency conducts each year to attract and engage America’s next generation of scientists, engineers and explorers. They will carry on the nation’s mission of exploration to unchartered destinations in our solar system.
“NASA is committed to inspiring young people in science, technology, engineering and math, and the Great Moonbuggy Race is an excellent way for us to reach out to young people and get them excited and involved in technical opportunities available to them,” said Mike Selby, an avionics technical assistant in the Marshall Center’s Engineering Directorate. While completing his engineering degree at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Selby was a member of the school’s moonbuggy teams, helping them to a second-place finish in 1995 and to first place in 1996. Since 2001, he has served each year as a volunteer scorekeeper.
The race is hosted by the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, and is sponsored by Lockheed Martin Corporation, The Boeing Company, Northrop Grumman Corporation, and Jacobs Engineering ESTS Group, all of Huntsville.
For more information about the competition, visit: http://moonbuggy.msfc.nasa.gov
NASA announces new rocket engine testing opportunity at Stennis
NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Stennis, Miss., unveiled an initiative today to chart the future of the nation’s premier rocket engine testing facility.
Stennis Director Gene Goldman announced plans for the center to test Aerojet AJ26 rocket engines for Orbital Sciences Corp. as part of a NASA partnership with the companies.
“We’re excited about this program and the opportunity to collaborate with two of the world’s leading space technology companies,” Goldman said. “This also helps pave the way to the future for Stennis. Testing the AJ26 engine not only supplies a service for the Taurus II program, it also provides Stennis a unique opportunity will help sustain the skills and capabilities we need for future test projects.”
The AJ26 testing is part of NASA’s new direction for space exploration. Under NASA’s proposed fiscal year 2011 budget, NASA will work closer with commercial interests to develop space travel capabilities.
The Aerojet AJ26 is a prime example of that new direction and of the immediate future of Stennis, which completed engine testing for remaining space shuttle flights last July. The AJ26 is the first new engine in years to be tested at Stennis and representative of the commercial work the facility now is pursuing. The center also provides RS-68 rocket engine testing for Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne.
Stennis operators have been modifying their E-1 Test Stand since last April in order to test the AJ26 engines. Work has included construction of a 27-foot-deep flame deflector trench, which was toured by media during the Feb. 24 press conference.
Orbital is working in partnership with NASA under the agency’s Commercial Orbital Transportations Services (COTS) joint research and development project. Orbital is under contract with NASA through the Commercial Resupply Services program to provide eight cargo missions to the ISS through 2015. The AJ26 Aerojet engines will power Orbital’s Taurus II space launch vehicle for the supply missions.
“Our team is very excited to begin the ground testing of the AJ26 engine here at Stennis, one of the great rocket engine testing facilities in the world,” Orbital President and Chief Operating Officer J.R. Thompson added. “We have worked with the NASA’s Stennis staff and our Aerojet counterparts to develop and install facility upgrades to accommodate our particular needs, and we are pleased with the results. As currently envisioned, each AJ26 engine that will be used aboard our Taurus II rocket will come through the Stennis facility for prelaunch testing, prior to being integrated with the rocket.”
Source: NASA
UC Berkeley Extension announces free and low-cost public events for Spring 2010
Programs to highlight green chemistry, technology in education, the Obama administration, and interior design
The newest developments in green chemistry, the impact of technology on education, an in-depth analysis of President Obama’s first 15 months in office, and the latest trends in working with color are the subjects of this spring’s public lecture series from UC Berkeley Extension. These free and low-cost public programs are part of how UC Berkeley Extension fulfills its mission to bring the educational excellence of the University of California, Berkeley, to the community.
Can We Achieve a Sustainable Future? The Role of Green Chemistry
Discover the latest developments in green chemistry, a growing field that is reducing and eliminating the use of hazardous substances in the environment. Join Dr. Robert Peoples, director of the American Chemistry Society’s Green Chemistry Institute, for a lively dialogue about green chemistry’s role in weaning the public off petroleum and tackling the challenges of global sustainability.
Thursday, March 25, 6:30-8 p.m.; UC Berkeley campus, 105 Stanley Hall; free
The 29th Annual Panel on the Presidency: Obama Settles In
During his first 15 months in office, President Obama has faced a series of political challenges: an economic crisis, record-breaking unemployment, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and health care reform. Join political experts and commentators for a lively discussion of the president’s performance and what may lie ahead. Presented by the Institute of Governmental Studies and UC Berkeley Extension.
Monday, April 12, 6:30-8 p.m.; UC Berkeley campus, 155 Dwinelle Hall; free
How Technology Is Transforming the World of Education
Collaborative technology and interactive media are dramatically changing education in the classroom and how students learn. Join Chris Walsh, director of innovation and design for New Tech Network, for an inside look at the major trends in the use of Web 2.0 — from e-learning to professional development — as he outlines important steps that educators, parents, and students can take now to prepare for the changes ahead.
Saturday, April 17, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.; UC Berkeley campus, 160 Kroeber Hall; free
The Power of Color
This fast-paced lecture offers insight into working with color, including how to use color indexes, how to pick colors for any space, and how to understand the latest trends in color. Through in-class exercises, learn how seeing and vision are distinguished, how light influences color, and how pigments are harmonized.
Saturday, May 1, 10 a.m.-12 p.m.; UC Berkeley Extension Art and Design Center, 95 Third St.; $10
For more information or to reserve a seat for any of these events, visit: extension.berkeley.edu/prog/public.html
Next Generation Weather Environmental Satellite Marks Major Milestone
The development of a new series of weather and environmental monitoring satellites has marked a significant milestone with the delivery and the beginning of spacecraft integration efforts for a key science instrument.
The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) will be one of five instruments to fly on the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP) spacecraft. VIIRS is regarded as a key component in NPP’s suite of instruments because it will provide highly detailed imagery of clouds, vegetation, snow cover, dust storms, sea surface temperature and other environmental phenomena.
NPP is a joint mission to extend the time series environmental data records initiated with NASA’s Earth Observing System, including measurements made by the Terra, Aqua, and Aura satellites, and to provide risk reduction for NPOESS instruments, algorithms, ground data processing, archive, and distribution prior to the launch of the first NPOESS spacecraft.
“The delivery of the VIIRS instrument marks a long awaited and huge step towards completing the integration of the NPP mission. VIIRS will be the fourth flight instrument integrated onto the NPP spacecraft, only the CrIS instrument remains,” said Ken Schwer, NPP Project Manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
The Raytheon Corporation, El Segundo, Calif., built VIIRS under contract to the NPOESS prime contractor, Northrop Grumman. The ITT Corporation, Fort Wayne, IN, is building CrIS also under contract to the NPOESS prime contractor, Northrop Grumman. Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo., under contract to the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center built the NPP spacecraft and is performing the integration and checkout of the NPP spacecraft.
NPP is scheduled for launch in Fall 2011 aboard a Delta rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
The NPP Project is a joint effort of the NPOESS Integrated Program Office (IPO), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center manages the NPP mission on behalf of the Earth Science Division of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters.
NPOESS represents the next-generation low-Earth orbiting weather and climate monitoring satellites that will provide operational and long-term weather and climate data for both military and civilian use for the next two decades.
The NPOESS will collect a massive amount of very precise earth surface, atmospheric and space environmental measurements from a variety of on-board sensors. This volume of data will allow scientists and forecasters to monitor and predict weather patterns with greater speed and accuracy.
For more information about NPOESS, visit: http://jointmission.gsfc.nasa.gov/
2010 Carnegie Science Awardees announced
Carnegie Science Center announced the winners of its 2010 Carnegie Science Awards, sponsored by Eaton Corporation.
Carnegie Science Center established the Carnegie Science Awards program in 1997 to recognize and promote outstanding science and technology achievements in western Pennsylvania. Celebrating its 14th year, the Carnegie Science Awards have honored the accomplishments of more than 250 individuals and organizations that have improved lives through their commitment and contributions in science and technology.
“This is Eaton’s thirteenth year as a sponsor and we are proud to be associated with a program that recognizes corporations and individuals devoted to science and technology,” said Jerry Whitaker, president of the Americas for Eaton Corporation’s Electrical Sector. “These regional assets have an impact that expands far beyond their local footprint into the global marketplace.”
The Carnegie Science Awards program helps fund Science Center exhibits and educational programs that reach thousands of young people to broaden their perspective about careers in the fields of science and technology,” said Ron Baillie, Henry Buhl, Jr. Co-Director of Carnegie Science Center. “And through our Science Connections mentoring program, many of the awards recipients engage young people in the real-world practice of the sciences.”
“Each year the Carnegie Science Awards shines the spotlight on extraordinary researchers, entrepreneurs, and educators working in science and technology fields,” said Ann Metzger, Henry Buhl, Jr. Co-Director of Carnegie Science Center. “Our region generates amazing talent and cutting-edge technology and advances in science-related industries. The Awards program recognizes the best and the brightest the region has to offer.”
Awardees will be honored during a formal celebration at Carnegie Music Hall on May 7, 2010. Keynote speaker for the ceremony is Chris Carmichael, founder and CEO of Carmichael Training Systems, Inc. (CTS) and personal coach to cancer survivor and seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong.
2010 Carnegie Science Award recipients include:
Chairman’s Award
Thomas E. Starzl, MD, PhD
Advanced Manufacturing Award
C. Edward Eckert, PhD
Apogee Technology, Inc.
Advanced Materials Award
Di Gao, PhD
University of Pittsburgh
Analysis & Reporting Award
Luis Fabregas
Andrew Conte
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Catalyst Award
Allegheny County Health Department
Corporate Innovation Award
McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine
Elementary Educator Award
Beth Cooper
Butler Area School District
Middle Level Educator Award
Arlynn Adamerovich
Ligonier Valley Middle School
High School Educator Award
Jeanne Campbell Suehr
Yough School District
School District Award
Franklin Regional School District
University / Post-Secondary Educator Award
Alison Slinskey Legg, PhD
University of Pittsburgh
*Special Achievement in Environmental Education Award*
Laura Branby
Wendy Kedzierski
Jim Palmer
Creek Connections, Allegheny College
University/Post-Secondary Student Award
Bryan Brown
University of Pittsburgh
Emerging Female Scientist Award
Charleen T. Chu, MD, PhD
University of Pittsburgh
Start-Up Entrepreneur Award
Razi Imam
Landslide Technologies, Inc.
Entrepreneur Award
Lalit Chordia, PhD
Thar Technologies, Inc.
Environmental Award
Devra Davis, PhD
Environmental Health Trust
Information Technology Award
Luis Von Ahn, PhD
Carnegie Mellon University
Life Sciences Award
Andrew Schwartz, PhD
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
2010 Carnegie Science Award Honorable Mentions include:
Analysis & Reporting Award
Jeff Fraser
Pittsburgh Quarterly
Catalyst Award
Terrence Collins, PhD
Institute for Green Chemistry
Corporate Innovation Award
Plextronics, Inc.
Elementary Educator Award
Daniel Arnold
George C. Marshall Elementary School
High School Educator Award
Evelyn Breitigan
Avella Area Junior/Senior High School
High School Educator Award
Jade Leung
Shaler Area High School
University / Post Secondary Educator Award
Thad Zaleskiewicz, PhD
University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg
Start-Up Entrepreneur Award
Patrick Daly
Cohera Medical, Inc.
Emerging Female Scientist Award
Kacey Marra, PhD
University of Pittsburgh
Emerging Female Scientist Award
Alison Barth, PhD
Carnegie Mellon University
Environmental Award
Gregory Lowry, PhD
Carnegie Mellon University
*New Award for 2010*
Source: Carnegie Science Center
FDA approves new treatment for Type 2 Diabetes
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Victoza (liraglutide), a once-daily injection to treat type 2 diabetes in some adults.
Victoza is intended to help lower blood sugar levels along with diet, exercise, and selected other diabetes medicines. It is not recommended as initial therapy in patients who have not achieved adequate diabetes control on diet and exercise alone.
Insulin is a hormone that helps prevent sugar (glucose) from building up in the blood. People with type 2 diabetes have difficulty making and using insulin. Victoza is in a class of medicines known as glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists that help the pancreas make more insulin after eating a meal.
“Diabetes is a leading cause of death and disability, with more than 1.5 million new cases diagnosed annually,” said Mary Parks, M.D., director, Division of Metabolism and Endocrinology Products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “Controlling blood sugar levels is very important to preventing or reducing the long term complications of diabetes, and Victoza offers certain patients with type 2 diabetes a treatment option for controlling their blood glucose levels.”
In five clinical trials involving more than 3,900 people, pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas) occurred more often in patients who took Victoza than in patients taking other diabetes medicines. Victoza should be stopped if there is severe abdominal pain, with or without nausea and vomiting, and should not be restarted if pancreatitis is confirmed by blood tests. Victoza should be used with caution in people with a history of pancreatitis.
The most common side effects observed with Victoza were headache, nausea, and diarrhea. Other side effects included allergic-like reactions such as hives.
Victoza was not associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular events in people who were mainly at low risk for these events. FDA approved Victoza, however, with several post-marketing requirements under the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act (FDAAA) to ensure that the company will conduct studies to provide additional information on the safety of this product.
In addition to a cardiovascular safety study to specifically evaluate the cardiovascular safety of Victoza in a higher risk population, the company also is required to conduct a 5-year epidemiological study using a health claims database to evaluate thyroid and other cancer risks as well as risks for seriously low blood glucose levels (hypoglycemia), pancreatitis, and allergic reactions. To specifically evaluate the risk of medullary thyroid cancer, the company is required to establish a cancer registry to monitor the rate of this type of cancer in the United States over the next 15 years.
In animal studies, Victoza caused tumors of the thyroid gland in rats and mice. Some of these tumors were cancers, which were significantly increased in rats who received excessive doses that were 8-times higher than what humans would receive.
It is not known if Victoza could cause thyroid tumors or a very rare type of thyroid cancer called medullary thyroid cancer in people. For this reason, Victoza should not be used as the first-line treatment for diabetes until additional studies are completed that support expanded use. Also, Victoza should not be used in people already at risk for medullary thyroid cancer, such as those who have medullary thyroid cancer in the family or those with a rare genetic condition known as Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia syndrome type 2.
To ensure the safe and effective use of this product, Victoza was approved with a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy consisting of a Medication Guide and a Communication Plan to help patients and providers understand the risks of Victoza and to ensure that the benefits of the drug outweigh the risk of acute pancreatitis and the potential risk of medullary thyroid cancer.
Victoza is manufactured by Novo Nordisk of Bagsvaerd, Denmark.
Questions and Answers: Safety Requirements for Victoza (liraglutide)
Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Study: Era of rapid growth in biomedical research over
After a decade of remarkable growth, total annual funding for biomedical research in the U.S. has decelerated and may have even fallen when adjusted for inflation. That is the conclusion of a study today published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
“The era of rapid expansion in biomedical research funding that began in the 1990’s has ended,” said Ray Dorsey, M.D., a neurologist at the University of Rochester Medical Center and lead author of the study. “Looking back at this period, one of the striking observations is that while research funding increased, the number of novel treatments entering the market remained steady. If research funding levels are to return to a phase of growth, we should examine funding priorities, particularly in health services research, and barriers to the development of new therapies.”
The authors compiled data from government sources, trade organizations, and industry financial reports to create a profile of biomedical research funding from 2003 to 2007. Over the five year period, annual research funding increased from $75.5 to $101.1 billion. Adjusted for inflation, funding grew by an average annual rate of 3.4% over the period. Using incomplete data, the authors estimated research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and industry for 2008 at $88.8 billion, which, when adjusted for inflation, represents a decrease in funding.
The study is a follow-up to a similar analysis published in 2005 by the same authors that showed that biomedical research funding from all sources had tripled in nominal value and doubled when adjusted for inflation between 1994 and 2003. The annual growth rate in funding over the period was more than twice as fast at 7.8%.
This deceleration in funding, if unchanged, has a significant potential impact for the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries and academic research institutions that rely on government and private funding. As has been noted in other reports, the flat-lining of federal funding for biomedical research in particular has a cascading effect on the national academic research enterprise, leading to scientists spending more of their time chasing funding, influencing career choices of new graduates, discouraging higher risk research, and curtailing the establishment of new scientific programs and construction of new research facilities.
The growth in research funding that began in the 1990s fueled a significant expansion in academic research and many universities became engines for economic growth in their communities. Consequently, the deceleration in research funding could have a profound effect on communities where academic research, health care, and biotechnology have become major economic players.
Approval of New Drugs and Devices Stagnant
While funding has generally increased over the period examined, this growth has not been accompanied by an increase in the number of new drug and device approvals by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). For example, the number of new molecular entities, essentially drugs that have not been marketed in the U.S. previously, approved by the FDA in 2003 was 21 and in 2008 was 17. Similar trends were observed for new biologics, as measured by biologic license applications, and devices, as measured by device pre-market application approvals.
“The relative lack of new therapeutic advances has been a decade-long problem that continues to persist despite previous large investments in research funding,” said Dorsey. “The current model is not working well if the desire is to approve new novel therapies to improve health. We need to modify incentives to reward risk and increase support for companies pursuing early stage and innovative research.”
Increasingly, the model for drug development has the pharmaceutical industry devoting a large portion of its spending for late-stage clinical trials as opposed to drug discovery research. The large pharmaceutical companies have largely abdicated the role of early stage research and development to smaller companies that often serve as the bridge between academic research and the market. These smaller companies, in turn, then develop relationships (either through partnerships or acquisitions) with larger companies once they have proven they have a viable product. However, these smaller firms, with limited resources and capital, face considerable risk and increasing pressures to generate promising results in short time frames from impatient markets. The model currently creates little incentive for investors to put capital into companies who are engaged in research that may be innovative, but has a higher risk of failure.
Biomedical vs. Health Services Research
The analysis also reveals that health services research represents a fraction of the nation’s $2 trillion in annual health care spending. This research – which is funded by foundations and federal agencies such as the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NIH, and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services – is intended to improve health care quality and access and control costs by examining the impact of financial, social, technological, and organizational factors on public health.
The study’s authors contend that, in the context of the ongoing national debate over how to control growth in health expenditures, which now exceed $2.3 trillion in the U.S., and impending legislation in Congress that will dramatically increase the number of people with health insurance, spending on health services research, which was $2.2 billion in 2008, is inadequate.
“We spend almost $5 for every $100 in national health expenditures on biomedical research, but we spend less than a dime on ensuring those treatments reach the right people and the right time,” said Dorsey. “Given the massive changes in health care that may occur in the very near future, we need to dedicate more resources to understanding the most effective and efficient ways of delivering care.”
Industry Funding Up, NIH Funding Shrinks
Industry – pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device firms – supplies the largest proportion of total research spending at 58%, followed by the federal government at 33%. Industry research and development funding increased by 25% between 2003 and 2007 with growth in research activity by medical device (59%) and biotechnology companies (41%) significantly outpacing pharmaceutical companies (14%).
The study found that funding from the National Institutes of Health – which is by far the single largest supporter of biomedical research – decreased by 12% between 2003 and 2008 when adjusted for inflation. Total federal funding for biomedical research increased by 0.7% over the period, that is in contrast to the period between 1994 and 2003 when federal research funding increased by 100%.
Additional authors include: Christopher Beck, Ph.D., Jason Reminick, Benjamin George, Zachary White-Stellato all with the University of Rochester; Jason de Roulet, M.D. with University Hospitals Case Medical Center; Joel Thompson, M.P.H. with the University of Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences; and Hamilton Moses III, M.D. and Ashley Thai with Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Moses is also with the Alerion Institute. The study was funded with support from the National Center for Research Resources, part of the National Institutes of Health.
For more information about the initiative, visit: http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/story/index.cfm?id=2736
Source: University of Rochester Medical Center
NASA selects New Jersey teacher Peloquin to inspire next generation explorers
Corey Peloquin, Coleman Middle School teacher in Tampa, N.J., has been awarded a fellowship with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The Endeavor Science Teaching Certificate Project was created to allow teachers an opportunity to carry back to the classroom a greater understanding of NASA discoveries to inspire a next generation of explorers, scientists, engineers and astronauts.
“Through the program, educators learn how to deliver cutting-edge science into the classroom, promoting science, technology, engineering and mathematics education,” said Joyce Winterton, assistant administrator for education at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “This includes proven NASA and NASA-sponsored educational resources to meet specific learning goals.”
The program provides workshops and online graduate courses with NASA content and materials with a focus towards students in K-12 classrooms. NASA is also working in partnership with state departments of education to ensure program participation is accredited towards state certification requirements.
Project fellows will earn graduate credit and a certificate of completion in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) from Teachers College, Columbia University, N.Y.
The project is administered by the U.S. Satellite Laboratory Inc., of Rye, N.Y. Funding for the program is provided through the NASA Endeavor Teacher Fellowship Trust Fund, in tribute to the dedicated crew of the space shuttle Challenger.
For additional information about the Endeavor Science Teaching Certificate Project and other NASA education programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/education
Source: NASA
Black carbon deposits on Himalayan ice threaten Earth’s Third Pole
Black soot deposited on Tibetan glaciers has contributed significantly to the retreat of the world’s largest non-polar ice masses, according to new research by scientists from NASA and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Soot absorbs incoming solar radiation and can speed glacial melting when deposited on snow in sufficient quantities.
Temperatures on the Tibetan Plateau — sometimes called Earth’s “third pole” — have warmed by 0.3°C (0.5°F) per decade over the past 30 years, about twice the rate of observed global temperature increases. New field research and ongoing quantitative modeling suggests that soot’s warming influence on Tibetan glaciers could rival that of greenhouse gases.
“Tibet’s glaciers are retreating at an alarming rate,” said James Hansen, coauthor of the study and director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York City. “Black soot is probably responsible for as much as half of the glacial melt, and greenhouse gases are responsible for the rest.”
“During the last 20 years, the black soot concentration has increased two- to three-fold relative to its concentration in 1975,” said Junji Cao, a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and a coauthor of the paper.
The study was published December 7th in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“Fifty percent of the glaciers were retreating from 1950 to 1980 in the Tibetan region; that rose to 95 percent in the early 21st century,” said Tandong Yao, director of the Chinese Academy’s Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research. Some glaciers are retreating so quickly that they could disappear by mid-century if current trends continue, the researchers suggest.
Since melt water from Tibetan glaciers replenishes many of Asia’s major rivers — including the Indus, Ganges, Yellow, and Brahmaputra — such losses could have a profound impact on the billion people who rely on the rivers for fresh water. While rain and snow would still help replenish Asian rivers in the absence of glaciers, the change could hamper efforts to manage seasonal water resources by altering when fresh water supplies are available in areas already prone to water shortages.
Researchers led by Baiqing Xu of the Chinese Academy drilled and analyzed five ice cores from various locations across the Tibetan Plateau, looking for black carbon (a key component of soot) as well as organic carbon. The cores support the hypothesis that black soot amounts in the Himalayan glaciers correlate with black carbon emissions in Europe and South Asia.
At Zuoqiupu glacier — a bellwether site on the southern edge of the plateau and downwind from the Indian subcontinent — black soot deposition increased by 30 percent between 1990 and 2003. The rise in soot levels at Zuoqiupu follows a dip that followed the enacting of clean air regulations in Europe in the 1970s.
Most soot in the region comes from diesel engines, coal-fired power plants, and outdoor cooking stoves. Many industrial processes produce both black carbon and organic carbon, but often in different proportions. Burning diesel fuel produces mainly black carbon, for example, while burning wood produces mainly organic carbon. Since black carbon is darker and absorbs more radiation, it’s thought to have a stronger warming effect than organic carbon.
To refine this emerging understanding of soot’s impact on glaciers, scientists are striving to gather even more robust measurements. “We can’t expect this study to clarify the effect of black soot on the melting of Tibetan snow and glaciers entirely,” said Cao. “Additional work that looks at albedo measurements, melting rate, and other types of reconnaissance is also needed.”
For example, scientists are using satellite instruments such as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the NASA satellites Terra and Aqua to enhance understanding of the region’s albedo. And a new NASA climate satellite called Glory, which will launch late in 2010, will carry a new type of aerosol sensor that should be able to distinguish between aerosol types more accurately than previous instruments.
“Reduced black soot emissions, in addition to reduced greenhouse gases, may be required to avoid demise of Himalayan glaciers and retain the benefits of glaciers for seasonal fresh water supplies,” Hansen said.
For more information and related images, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/carbon-pole.html
Effort to regenerate injured spinal cords turns to a new model
For more than 400 years, scientists have studied the amazing regenerative power of salamanders, trying to understand how these creatures routinely repair injuries that would usually leave humans and other mammals paralyzed — or worse.
Now, fueled by a highly competitive National Institutes of Health Grand Opportunity grant of $2.4 million, a multi-institutional team of researchers associated with the University of Florida McKnight Brain Institute’s Regeneration Project has begun creating genomic tools necessary to compare the extraordinary regenerative capacity of the Mexican axolotl salamander with established mouse models of human disease and injury.
Researchers want to find ways to tap unused human capacities to treat spinal cord injury, stroke, traumatic brain injury and other neural conditions, according to Edward Scott, Ph.D., principal investigator for the GO grant and director of the McKnight Brain Institute’s Program in Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine.
“The axolotl is the champion of vertebrate regeneration, with the ability to replace whole limbs and even parts of its central nervous system,” Scott said. “These salamanders use many of the same body systems and genes that we do, but they have superior ability to regenerate after major injuries. We think that studying them will tell us a lot about a patient’s natural regenerative capacities after spinal cord injury and nerve cell damage.”
The issue of what controls organ regeneration was named among the top 25 major questions facing scientists in the next quarter century by Science magazine in 2005, Scott said. With medical science continually adding years to the human lifespan, the importance of “rebuilding and restoring” old tissues and organs is growing. But science had to enter the 21st century to fully explore the use of the highly regenerative axolotl as a model for human disease.
“Only now have new genetic, molecular and cellular technologies as well as scientific knowledge of the salamander, mouse and human genomes and ‘regeneromes’ risen to a level where scientists can compare systemwide responses to injury,” according to Dennis A. Steindler, Ph.D., executive director of UF’s McKnight Brain Institute and a co-investigator on the grant.
“I am extremely hopeful with the discoveries being made in comparative regenerative biology that the questions surrounding cell and tissue regeneration in the human following injury or disease are going to be answered,” Steindler said. “It is going to take broad, multidisciplinary collaborations across a number of scientific fields, but we are making that happen. I think the GO grant shows that these efforts are recognized and valued on a national level.”
GO grants are funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and are intended to support research with high short-term impact and a high likelihood of enabling growth and investment in biomedical research and health-care delivery.
“NIH Grand Opportunity grants support high-impact projects, which lay the foundation for whole new fields of investigation,” said Naomi Kleitman, Ph.D., repair and plasticity program director at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. “This important model of regeneration is one of several being developed in organisms that can repair themselves, using genetics to find links to mammals. We’ll continue to watch the progress of these exciting studies to ensure that discoveries of genes that promote regeneration are one day applied to improving human health.”
The Regeneration Project is also supported by private foundations such as the Thomas H. Maren Foundation and the Jon L. and Beverly A. Thompson Research Endowment, the UF Office of the Vice President for Research, and an anonymous donor, Steindler said. Enhancing the discovery process are Regeneration Project research fellows — scientists who work across institutes and universities to advance discoveries in tissue and organ regeneration to the clinic.
Even without help, people are capable of a certain degree of regeneration. Humans can regrow fingertips and even more than half of their liver. But they cannot replace whole limbs and restoring parts of their brain and spinal cord is a daunting challenge.
“The axolotl is the highest, most complex organism that can still do this clever trick of completely reconstructing a whole body part in adulthood,” said Arlene Chiu, Ph.D., a scientific adviser for the Regeneration Project and director of New Research Initiatives at Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope. “I like to think of it in construction terms where we need both the materials such as bricks and beams and the architect’s plans. In regenerative medicine, can we learn where the biological blueprint resides, and understand the basis of restoring and reorganizing many different types of lost cells and tissues? Muscles, bones, nerves and blood vessels all have to be reconstructed at the right time and in the right place, all in perfect coordination with the original biological master plan.
“It may sound like science fiction, but the reality is the salamander is able to do all of these things,” she said. “We are not so far removed that we can’t relate to them, learn from them and try to apply their secrets to improve our capacity to regenerate.”
As discoveries are made, more researchers will begin using the axolotl as a model for exploring regenerative techniques, according to S. Randal Voss, director of the Salamander Genome Project at the University of Kentucky.
“We’ve analyzed genes in common between the axolotl salamander and humans, and found out we share about 90 percent of our genes in a one-to-one sense,” Voss said. “It could be that small but important changes in the way these genes function in an injury environment affect the repair process, but somehow the salamander is able to use these genes for regeneration, while people are not.”
The team has already referenced human and mouse genes with axolotl counterparts.
“We started this with a list of genes in humans and mice that are involved in repair processes and matched them with their counterparts in the axolotl genome,” Scott said. “Ultimately, what makes the axolotl a great model for regeneration is that the model systems we are most familiar with — mice and humans — do not regenerate very well. By comparing how a mammal and a salamander respond to injuries, we can identify genes or proteins that we can now add back to the mammalian system to make it regenerate better.”
Source: University of Florida Health Science Center