Volume III Issue 11
November 2007 |
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 Mercury's
Soft Center
 By
tracking a subtle wobbling of the planet Mercury as it spins about its
axis, researchers using a trio of ground-based telescopes have found
strong evidence that the planet has a molten core. The researchers
showed that careful measurements of Mercury's spin -- to an accuracy of
one in 100,000 -- reveal that the planet's interior is decoupled from
its exterior, providing strong evidence of a molten core. The
researchers included astronomer Jean-Luc Margot of Cornell University,
Stan Peale of the University of California, Santa Barbara, Ray Jurgens
and Martin Slade of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA, and
Igor Holin of the Space Research Institute in Russia. While most models
for the formation of Mercury suggest the planet has an iron-rich core,
many predict that the core is solid after billions of years of cooling.
To obtain their measurements, the astronomers compared the properties of
the return signal as it struck the distributed telescope locations on
Earth's surface. The amplitude of the wobbling was twice what the
researchers expected for a solid planet, but on par with an object that
has a solid exterior and liquid core.
 Find out more about careers in
Science...
Physician
Quality Measures
 Several
new quality measures to help physicians provide high quality care to
patients were approved recently by the American Medical Association
(AMA)-convened Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement
(Consortium). The measures bring the total number of Consortium
physician quality measures to just under 200.
All Consortium measures are
available on the AMA
website for physicians to easily access. The Consortium was founded
in the year 2000 to bring physicians together to create measures to
implement best care practices, and with more than 100 national medical
specialty and state medical societies, government and medical board
members, the Consortium has already developed quality measures for
conditions like hypertension, asthma and heart failure. The Consortium
has developed performance measures that cover conditions that represent
80 percent of Medicare spending.
Find out more about careers in
medicine...
Job
Hunting? Visit College Career Centers
 The
secret to job-search success for new college graduates may be using
their campus career center, according to a new study conducted by the
National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). NACE's 2007
Graduating Student Survey found that 52 percent of students who reported
securing full-time jobs had applied for a job through a campus career
center-sponsored career fair, and 41 percent had posted their resumes
through their campus career center's web site. Interestingly, however,
the study found that the most effective methods weren't the most popular
among students.
Nearly 71 percent of the 12,000+ students responding to the survey
indicated that they had applied for a job by sending their resumes
directly to an employer's web site. The next most popular method,
reported by 47 percent of students, was to mail a resume directly to the
employer. Applying at a career center-sponsored job fair (44 percent)
and posting a resume through the career center web site (34 percent)
trailed in popularity.
Explore
other job hunting resources...
Find out more...
Degree
Profile: Veterinary Technology
 Owners
of pets and other animals today expect state-of-the-art veterinary care.
To provide this service, veterinarians use the skills of veterinary
technologists and technicians, who perform many of the same duties for a
veterinarian that a nurse would for a physician, including routine
laboratory and clinical procedures. Veterinary technologists and
technicians typically conduct clinical work in a private practice under
the supervision of a veterinarian -- often performing various medical
tests along with treating and diagnosing medical conditions and diseases
in animals.
 For
example, they may perform laboratory tests such as urinalysis and blood
counts, assist with dental prophylaxis, prepare tissue samples, take
blood samples, or assist veterinarians in a variety of tests and
analyses in which they often utilize various items of medical equipment,
such as test tubes and diagnostic equipment.
Besides working in private
clinics and animal hospitals, veterinary technologists and technicians
may work in research facilities, where they may administer medications
orally or topically, prepare samples for laboratory examinations, and
record information on an animal's genealogy, diet, weight, medications,
food intake, and clinical signs of pain and distress.
Find out more about careers in
Veterinary Technology...
Several
Diseases Similar at Molecular Level
 Alzheimer's disease,
Parkinson's disease, type 2 diabetes, the human version of mad cow
disease, and other degenerative diseases are more closely related at the
molecular level than scientists realized.
While still preliminary, the research, could help scientists develop
tools for diagnosing such diseases, and potentially for treating them
through "structure-based drug design," said David Eisenberg, a UCLA
chemist and molecular biologist who is part of the research team.
The researchers studied the harmful rope-like structures known as
amyloid fibrils -- linked protein molecules that form in the brain. The
fibrils contain a stack of water-tight "molecular zippers."
"With each disease, a different protein transforms into amyloid fibrils,
but all of these diseases are similar at the molecular level," Eisenberg
said.
If the molecular zipper is
universal in amyloid fibrils, as Eisenberg believes, is it possible to
pry open the zipper or prevent its formation?
Eisenberg's research team used X-ray analysis and a sophisticated
computer algorithm to study proteins known to be associated with human
diseases. When the computer said a protein will form an amyloid fibril,
it almost always did. And one team member is experimenting with various
compounds to break up the fibrils.
"Structural analysis of micro-crystals of proteins is an example of how
basic research can have a profound impact on our understanding of
health, biotechnology and other practical issues," said Parag Chitnis,
program director in National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of
Molecular and Cellular Biosciences. NSF, the Howard Hughes Medical
Institute and the National Institutes of Health supported the research.
Find
out more...
GENI
Project Helps Plan Future Internet
 If the proverbial genie
gave Internet users three wishes for an improved network what would they
ask for? Peace of mind about secure financial transactions? Protection
from hackers? Inventive new applications that improve the quality of
life? With support from the National Science Foundation, researchers are
working together to design a bold new research platform called GENI, the
Global Environment for Network Innovations.
As envisioned, GENI will
allow researchers throughout the country to build and experiment with
completely new and different designs and capabilities that will inform
the creation of a 21st Century Internet.
GENI is envisioned as a set of components including optical substrates,
forwarders, storage, process clusters, sensor fields, and wireless
regions combined with a software management framework. That
configuration will allow researchers to run thousands of experiments
simultaneously.
"GENI will give scientists a clean slate on which to imagine a
completely new Internet that will likely be materially different from
that of today. We want to ensure that this next stage of transformation
will be guided by the best possible network science, design,
experimentation, and engineering," said principal investigator and
project director Chip Elliott of BBN Technologies, the company that has
been selected to serve as the GENI Project Office. The office will work
closely with the computing research community to create and develop the
GENI design.
Find
out more...
Wind
Machine Simulates Cat 3 Hurricanes
 It
will huff, and puff, and blow the house in -- but only for research
purposes. University of Florida engineers have unveiled the world's
largest portable hurricane wind and rain simulator. Mounted on a
trailer, the industrial-sized behemoth is composed of eight 5-foot-tall
industrial fans powered by four marine diesel engines that together
produce 2,800 horsepower. To cool the engines, the system taps water
from a 5,000-gallon tank aboard a truck that doubles as the simulator's
tow vehicle. Engineers plan to use the simulator to blast vacant homes
with winds of up to 130 mph (Category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane
Scale) and high-pressure water jets that mimic wind-driven torrential
rain. The goal? To learn more about exactly how hurricanes damage homes,
and how to modify them to best prevent that damage. The simulator, which
cost about $500,000 in parts and labor, was designed and constructed
entirely by Forrest Masters, an assistant professor of civil and coastal
engineering, lab manager Jimmy Jesteadt, and a team of undergraduate
students.
Find
out more...
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