Channel 42
Science is the answer to everything.

In his State of the Union Address on Jan. 23, 2007, President Bush stated that, in order to substantially lower foreign oil imports, “We must increase the supply of alternative fuels, by setting a mandatory fuels standard to require 35 billion gallons of renewable and alternative fuels in 2017.”

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A molecule bridging two proteins that gives cells their shape and ability to migrate in a directed fashion may also shed light on how to keep cancer from spreading.

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For several decades, scientists have debated whether the Solar System formed as a result of a shock wave from an exploding star — a supernova — that triggered the collapse of a dense, dusty gas cloud that contracted to form the Sun and the planets. Now, astrophysicists at the Carnegie Institution have shown for the first time that a supernova could indeed have triggered the solar system’s formation under conditions of rapid heating and cooling.

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The Atlantic bluefin tuna is the largest and most sought-after of all tunas, weighing as much as 1,400 pounds and capable of fetching as much as $50,000 or more in Asian markets where its meat is a prized commodity, one big reason why its numbers have declined precipitously since the 1970s. New research findings reported in Science have critical implications for how bluefin tuna are managed.

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Not only are doctors, nurses, and firefighters essential during a severe pandemic influenza outbreak. So, too, are truck drivers, communications personnel, and utility workers. That’s the conclusion of a Johns Hopkins University article to be published in the journal of Biosecurity and Bioterrorism.

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As the United States and other nations commit to the path of biofuels production, 23 scientists call for sustainable practices in an industry that will, as MBL scientist Jerry Mellilo says, “reshape the Earth’s landscape in a significant way.”

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Arctic sea ice extent during the 2008 melt season dropped to the second-lowest level Sep. 14 since satellite measurements began in 1979 and may represent the lowest volume of sea ice on record, according to researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder’s National Snow and Ice Data Center.

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The most comprehensive geological review ever undertaken of the upper US Gulf Coast suggests that a combination of rising seas and dammed rivers could flood large swaths of wetlands this century in one or more bays from Alabama to Texas. The findings, which will be presented at next week’s annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Houston, stem from bayfloor sediment samples, radiocarbon tests and seismic surveys compiled over 30 years.

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Images of the brain’s fastest signals reveal an electromagnetic marker that predicts a patient’s response to a fast-acting antidepressant. Such use of a brain scanner could someday minimize trial-and-error prescribing and speed delivery of care, say NIMH researchers. Depressed patients showed increased activity in a mood-regulating hub near the front of the brain while viewing flashing frightful faces — the more the increase, the better their response to an experimental fast-acting medication called ketamine.

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Exposure to Bisphenol A, phthalates and flame retardants are strongly associated with adverse health effects on humans and laboratory animals. A special section in the October 2008 issue of Environmental Research, “A Plastic World” provides critical new research on environmental contaminants and adverse reproductive and behavioral effects.

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