Researchers from Columbia and Purdue universities have recently utilized an interesting method to infer the timeframe of the volcanic events which created Ubehebe Crater in Death Valley National Park. By examining rock samples which had been created in those events, these researchers are the first team to utilize Beryllium-10 dating techniques to infer time periods of explosive volcanism.

Methods for a large-scale scientific mission to a subglacial lake in Antarctica were published earlier this month in the journal Reviews of Geophysics.

Researchers at Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) have created the world’s first chimeric monkeys, which may contain as many as six distinct genomes. Named Roku, Hex, and Chimero, these rhesus monkeys were produced by successfully aggregating multiple embryos and implanting the mixed embryo into a surrogate mother.

At what point does it become "easier" for us to run rather than to walk? Many of you reading this might be thinking; "right, umm never" ... but surprising research out of NC State’s Human PoWeR (Physiology of Wearable Robotics) Lab proves that the muscles of the body might be helping make that decision for us.

NC State University biomedical engineers Dr. Gregory Sawicki and Dr. Dominic Farris have discovered that around 4.5 miles per hour, running makes better use of an important calf muscle than walking, and therefore is a much more efficient use of the muscle’s – and the body’s – energy.

The results from this unique study are published online this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A recent two-part study from Tel Aviv University on the music-listening habits of teenagers currently aged 13 to 17 predicts that one out of every four teens will suffer from early hearing loss in their adult lives. The increased prevalence is largely due to the misusage of portable listening devices (PLDs) such as iPods and other MP3 players at high volume and for extended periods of time. While the study did not appear to correlate the prevalence of early hearing loss with other risk factors such as genetic predisposition, lead author Chava Muchnik cautions that “in 10 or 20 years it will be too late to realize that an entire generation of young people is suffering from hearing problems much earlier than expected from natural aging.” The results are published in the International Journal of Audiology.

Fossil evidence of an ancient sauropod, the classification which contains some of the largest animals to ever walk the earth, has recently been uncovered on the Antarctic continent by an Argentinian research team.

New insights into the evolution of quadrupedal movement in pre-tetrapodal species have been recently developed through behavioral and morphological analyses of a species of African lungfish.

We know a lot of you don't seem to have enough hours in the day this time of year, but what does seem to keep getting longer are your holiday shopping lists. If that sounds familiar we're happy to tell you that this is it. This is going to be YOUR year. The year you get it all done well before the holidays even start--with gifts that are educational, or fun, or fun and educational, or just plain strange--so you can wow your friends, impress the smarties and, perhaps more importantly, one-up your rotten sister's 'best aunt' status.

That's because we LabGrabbers have taken it upon ourselves to do all the exhaustive gift searching for you! The result is our annual Science Slant Holiday Gift List, and this year's list might just be our best one yet. From clothing and toys to gadgets and games (what do you mean your best friend doesn't have an EEG mindset yet?) the guide is packed with a slew of science-slanted gifts. We're pretty sure there really is something for everyone so enjoy the guide, pick some gifts and get back to what's really important (hint: holiday buffets!). If you can't find anything in 2011 that fits try our 2009 gift list or 2010 gift list.

US Department of Energy researchers from the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) reported in a recent paper that they have engineered the first bacterial strain that can digest the biomass of non-food crops and synthesize the sugars into all three forms of transportation fuel - gasoline, diesel and jet biofuels.

A "Brinicle" ... what the heck is that?

Yup - that's exactly what we said when we saw this article from Nature news ... 'Brinicle' ice finger of death....

In the Antarctic, as new sea ice forms on the ocean surface it leaves behind brine that is so salty and dense, it rapidly sinks towards the sea floor. As this salty slurry sinks, it instantly freezes the water surrounding it - forming a salt icicle, or a brinicle - which freezes everything in its spidery path, including starfish and sea urchins.