- Other Interesting arXiv Papers This Week Ending 12-5-13
The best of the rest from the Physics arXiv preprint server
The MASTER-II Network of Robotic Optical Telescopes. First Results
- New Milestone for CO2 Levels: Mauna Loa Observatory Records 400 PPM
We’ve hit 400 ppm of carbon dioxide, but we won’t know what that means for decades.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Scripps Institution of Oceanography say that the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere hit the symbolic milestone of 400 parts per million yesterday, up from about 280, the level it was at for thousands of years before the Industrial Revolution.
- Bacteria-killing Viruses Could Make Medical Implants Safer
Researchers attach “viral hitmen” to surfaces to demonstrate a possible antibacterial defense for catheters and other medical devices.
Medical implants like catheters and pacemakers can be a hotspot for bacteria, which grow in hard-to-treat films on the surface of such devices. Scientists and engineers are taking different approaches to changing the surface of implants so bacteria can’t take hold. For example, some groups are developing polymer films with structures that prevent bacterial growth (see “Pillowy Antibacterial Polymers”), while others are developing coatings that slowly release antibiotic compounds over time (see “Safer Joint Replacements” and “Innovators Under 35, 2007: Christopher Loose”). And now, researchers from Clemson University in South Carolina and the University of Southern Mississippi have described how a layer of bacteria-killing viruses could help prevent bacterial infections.
- Facebook's Latest Data Science Insight
In new study, Facebook’s science team says the company killed automatic sharing on “Offers” because the science said active sharing works better.
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