(Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB)) The new magnetic resonance tomograph which is delivered to its new location on Sept. 11, will be the only one of the modern 7 tesla generation in the world, in which a metrology institute is also involved. And for the first time in the world, cardiovascular research carried out on such a device is now also to play an important role.

(The Earth Institute at Columbia University) An ongoing rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide from burning of fossil fuels might be kept below harmful levels if emissions from coal are phased out within the next few decades, say researchers. They say that less plentiful oil and gas should be used sparingly as well, but that far greater supplies of coal mean that it must be the main target of reductions.

(DOE/Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility) New theory work at the US Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility has shown that more than half of the spin of the proton is the result of the movement of its building blocks: quarks. The result, published in the Sept. 5 issue of Physical Review Letters, agrees with recent experiments and supercomputer calculations.

(DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory) DOE has just released the 27th edition of the Transportation Energy Data Book. Specialized skills and instruments are helping a major manufacturer of microturbines make products expected to set new standards for performance and reliability.Fragments of tektites, natural glass objects, discovered by a team of geologists and geochemists help support a theory that a meteorite may be responsible for the sudden climate change that devastated large mammals in North America 11,000 years ago.

(Imperial College London) A new type of drug could alleviate pain in a similar way to cannabis without affecting the brain, according to a new study. The research demonstrates for the first time that cannabinoid receptors called CB2, which can be activated by cannabis use, are present in human sensory nerves in the peripheral nervous system, but are not present in a normal human brain.

Scientists have discovered a fundamental shift in an enzyme’s function that could help expand the toolbox for engineering biofuels and other plant-based oil products.

In Abraham Stroock’s lab at Cornell, the world’s first synthetic tree sits in a palm-sized piece of clear, flexible hydrogel — the type found in soft contact lenses. Stroock and graduate student Tobias Wheeler have created a “tree” that simulates the process of transpiration, the cohesive capillary action that allows trees to wick moisture upward to their highest branches.

Water’s unrivaled omnipresence and the crucial role it plays in life drive scientists to understand every detail of its unusual underlying properties on the microscopic scale. Researchers now report how water solvates its intrinsic hydroxide (OH-) anion. Unraveling this behavior is important to advance the understanding of aqueous chemistry and biology.

Researchers have achieved a milestone in materials science and electron microscopy by taking a high-resolution snapshot of the transformation of nanoscale structures.

(University of Alaska Fairbanks) More than 150 scientists are expected to attend the 59th annual American Association for the Advancement of Science Arctic Division conference in Fairbanks, Alaska, Sept. 15-17, 2008.