LabGrab

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.

An international collaboration of European research teams has just published an important study which directly attributes changes in mountain vegetation to climate change across the European continent.

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.