University of Alberta Canada

Exercise, diet and lifestyle changes can prevent diabetes in people at high risk

Study shows that preventive benefits of healthy behaviour begin early and last for years.

 People at high risk of developing diabetes can prevent its onset if they exercise, improve their diet and make one other lifestyle change such as seeking counselling or quitting smoking, according to recently published findings from medical researchers at the University of Alberta.

Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry researcher Christina Korownyk and her team, which included the Alberta Research Centre for Health Evidence, published their findings in the peer-reviewed Annals of Internal Medicine. Their results confirm similar findings by other groups.

“This is reassurance for those who are at risk of developing diabetes that there is good evidence to support comprehensive lifestyle interventions in preventing diabetes,” she said. “The benefits begin early on, within the first year, and lasted for years after the interventions ended.”

 See more at: http://news.ualberta.ca/newsarticles/2013/november/exercise-diet-lifestyle-changes-can-prevent-diabetes-in-people-at-high-risk

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Utah State university, Logan

Space Dynamics Lab Sensor Launched

Two Miniature Orbital Temperature References instruments — MOTRs — built by Utah State University Research Foundation’s Space Dynamics Laboratory were successfully launched Nov. 25 and are heading to the International Space Station.

The instruments will test a technology critical for maintaining accurate calibration of the space-based temperature sensors used for many satellite programs.

The MOTR instruments were carried in the Progress 53 cargo vehicle which lifted off on a Soyuz rocket at 1:53 (MST) Nov. 25 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and is scheduled to dock with the International Space Station Nov. 29 when the MOTR instruments will undergo further testing.

“This launch is a key milestone in a several-year effort for the MOTR team and for SDL,” said Gail Bingham, SDL’s project scientist for the MOTR mission. “This is a first step in space qualifying a critical technology for improving our understanding of the Earth’s environment and on long term space missions.”

 See more at:  http://www.usu.edu/ust/index.cfm?article=53433

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University of Washington, Seattle

Study: Greenhouse gas might have warmed early Mars enough to allow liquid water

The mystery of how the surface of Mars, long dead and dry, could have flowed with water billions of years ago may have been solved by research that included a University of Washington astronomer.

There is evidence that Mars had water at its surface 3.8 billion years ago or before, but scientists are divided on how that might have happened, especially since the sun was about 30 percent fainter back then, thus less able to melt water ice on Mars.

Earlier efforts with computer models to simulate a warm, wet Mars using only carbon dioxide and water have not been successful. Now, researchers at Pennsylvania State University and the UW have published a paper arguing that the presence of a third ingredient alters that outcome, strengthening the greenhouse effect — where heat energy from sunlight is trapped in the atmosphere — enough to warm the surface and allow liquid water.

See more at: 

http://www.washington.edu/news/2013/11/25/study-greenhouse-gas-might-have-warmed-early-mars-enough-to-allow-liquid-water/

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Standford University, California

High-energy gamma ray burst could re-shape astrophysics theories, Stanford scientists say

Stanford physicists played a key role in monitoring and analyzing the brightest gamma ray burst ever measured, and suggest that its never-before-seen features could call for a rewrite of current theories.

This past April, an incredibly bright flash of light burst from near the constellation Leo. Originating billions of light years away, this explosion of light, called a gamma ray burst, has now been confirmed as the brightest gamma ray burst ever observed.

Astronomers around the world were able to view the blast in unprecedented detail and observe several aspects of the event for the first time ever. The data could lead to a rewrite of standard theories of how gamma ray bursts work.

See more at: 

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/november/gamma-ray-burst-112113.html

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Indiana University

A digital archaeologist to unveil ancient Roman emperor's villa, virtually

 Indiana University’s first archaeo-informaticist, Bernie Frischer, will bring to life one of the Roman Empire’s best-known and best-preserved imperial villas -- Hadrian’s Villa -- during a public launch of the Digital Hadrian’s Villa Project on Friday, Nov. 22, in Washington, D.C.

Frischer, a digital archaeologist and one of the first academics to use 3-D computer modeling to reconstruct cultural heritage sites, spent five years leading the development of a 3-D virtual world modeling the Roman emperor Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli, Italy. The virtual simulation interprets the entire 250 acres and the more than 30 buildings of the second-century site.

Using a live 3-D multi-user online learning environment, visitors can interactively explore the entire villa complex. Arelated website documents the state of the site today and gives the scholarly background needed to understand the virtual simulation.

See more at http://news.iu.edu/releases/iu/2013/11/hadrians-villa.shtml

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University of Cambridge

Fruit bat population covering central Africa is carrier of two deadly viruses

A population of fruit bats which is found across much of continental Africa is widely infected with two deadly viruses that could spread to humans, new research reveals.

The study, conducted jointly by the University of Cambridge and the Zoological Society of London’s Institute of Zoology and published today in the journal Nature Communications, found that the “gregarious” bats span over 4 500 km of central Africa (around the distance from California to New York). The researchers also discovered that thirty-four per cent of the bats had been infected with Lagos bat virus, a disease similar to rabies, and 42 per cent had been infected with henipaviruses.

See more at : http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/fruit-bat-population-covering-central-africa-is-carrier-of-two-deadly-viruses

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University of Cambridge

Anti-fraud lasers and inks for transparent electronics

Two prototypes – a detection device which users lasers to fight fraud, and a piano which demonstrates the potential of printed electronics – have been unveiled by Cambridge researchers.

 A detection device which uses printed lasers to identify counterfeit goods has been developed by researchers, who say that it could help to make products more resistant to fraud.

The detector is one of a number of innovations covered in a new report by the Cambridge Innovation and Knowledge Centre (CIKC), which has been developing advanced manufacturing technologies for photonics and electronics.

The same document also outlines a new method for printing graphene, showing how the one atom-thick material could be used to make cheap, printed electronics. Using a graphene-based ink, researchers have demonstrated this by creating a transparent, flexible piano.

See more at: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/anti-fraud-lasers-and-inks-for-transparent-electronics

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