News tagged with field experiment

Deterring signals: Tobacco plants advertise their defensive readiness to attacking leafhoppers

Following herbivory, plants produce jasmonic acid, a hormone which activates several plant defense reactions. Scientists found that leafhoppers can evaluate whether tobacco plants are ready for defense when attacked. If jasmonate-signaling ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 23, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Robosquirrels versus rattlesnakes

Robot squirrels from the University of California, Davis, are going into rattlesnake country near San Jose, continuing a research project on the interaction between squirrels and rattlesnakes.

Electronics / Robotics

created Apr 03, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

At 10, GRACE continues defying, and defining, gravity

(PhysOrg.com) -- Just as the lead characters in the popular Broadway musical "Wicked" sing about defying gravity, the low-Earth orbiting twin spacecraft of NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Mar 19, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

'Gravity is climate' - 10 years of climate research satellites GRACE

For the first time, the melting of glaciers in Greenland could now be measured with high accuracy from space. Just in time for the tenth anniversary of the twin satellites GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Mar 16, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (8) | comments 5

MSU geneticist helps find butterfly gene, clue to age-old question

(PhysOrg.com) -- Years after sleeping in hammocks in the wilds of Peru and Panama, collecting hundreds of thousands of samples of colorful insects, Mississippi State assistant professor Brian Counterman now ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Jan 30, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

NASA cold weather airborne campaign to measure falling snow

Beginning Jan. 17, NASA will fly an airborne science laboratory above Canadian snowstorms to tackle a difficult challenge facing the upcoming Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite mission -- measuring ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jan 13, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Holiday shopping? Why does rubbing elbows turn consumers off?

Although holiday sales and events try to drive as many customers to retail stores as possible, a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research shows that the crowding may drive them away as well.

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Dec 13, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

New study shows how integrated institutions can lead diverse populations to cooperate in rebuilding countries

(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the most pressing issues in world affairs today is state building: how countries can construct stable, inclusive governments in which a variety of religious and ethnic groups coexist.

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Dec 09, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Texas drought visible in new national groundwater maps

(PhysOrg.com) -- The record-breaking drought in Texas that has fueled wildfires, decimated crops and forced cattle sales has also reduced levels of groundwater in much of the state to the lowest levels seen ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Nov 30, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 9

Earth's outer core deprived of oxygen: study

The composition of the Earth's core remains a mystery. Scientists know that the liquid outer core consists mainly of iron, but it is believed that small amounts of some other elements are present as well. Oxygen ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Nov 23, 2011 | popularity 3.3 / 5 (10) | comments 12 | with audio podcast

Eye on ionization: Visualizing and controlling bound electron dynamics in strong laser fields

(PhysOrg.com) -- Subatomic events can be remarkably counterintuitive. Such is the case in theoretical physics when, under certain specific conditions, atoms exposed to intense infrared laser pulses remain ...

Physics / General Physics

created Oct 19, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 3 | with audio podcast feature

Glow-in-the-dark millipede says 'stay away'

As night falls in certain mountain regions in California, a strange breed of creepy crawlies emerges from the soil: Millipedes that glow in the dark. The reason behind the glowing secret has stumped biologists ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Sep 26, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Swift action can help protect rice farmers in Sahel from climate change

Rice farmers in the Sahel region will be able to successfully grow rice in a sustainable way despite climate change if they amend their irrigation in the short term and rice varieties are developed able to cope with higher ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Sep 13, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 2

Divot resistance in golf course turfgrass

Golf courses, known for their calm scenic views and precise grass patterns, take daily abuse. Divots created by golf strokes are a common occurrence, and can be a costly problem for golf course maintenance operations. Although ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Aug 10, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Waging war on invasive plant species: Effects of invasives persist even after removal

(PhysOrg.com) -- Invasive species cost an estimated $1.4 trillion annually in their environmental and economic impacts worldwide and are second only to habitat loss as a threat to biodiversity. As scientists ...

Biology / Ecology

created Aug 10, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0