Most of the concerns about climate change have focused on the amount of greenhouse gases that have been released into the atmosphere. But in a new study published in Science, a group of Rutgers researchers have found that circulation of the ocean plays an equally important role in regulating the earth’s climate…”We argue that it was the establishment of the modern deep ocean circulation – the ocean conveyor – about 2.7 million years ago, and not a major change in carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere that triggered an expansion of the ice sheets in the northern hemisphere,” says Stella Woodard, lead author and a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences.
Archives for October 2014
Worldwide Surge in ‘Great’ Earthquakes Seen in Past 10 Years
The annual number of “great” earthquakes nearly tripled over the last decade, providing a reminder to Americans that unruptured faults like those in the northwest United States might be due for a Big One. Between 2004 and 2014, 18 earthquakes with magnitudes of 8.0 or more rattled subduction zones around the globe. That’s an increase of 265 percent over the average rate of the previous century, which saw 71 great quakes, according to a report to the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America this week in Vancouver, British Columbia…One of the researchers scoping out Cascadia’s history of ancient earthquakes is Benjamin Horton, a professor in the department of marine and coastal science at Rutgers University.
Rutgers develops nutrient-packed lettuce
Blueberries may have been dubbed a “superfood” by some, but the fruit may have met its match with a new variety of lettuce developed by Rutgers University. Named Rutgers Scarlet Lettuce as a tribute to the school’s mascots, the Scarlet Knights, the variety is high in polyphenols and has a low glycemic index, according to a news release. Polyphenols are plant-based chemicals known for beneficial properties, such as helping with diabetes, metabolic syndrome and obesity.
New Brunswick Community Farmers Market Hosts Día de los Muertos Marigold Sales, Oct. 25 – 27
The Mexican holiday Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a time to celebrate and remember loved ones who have passed. It’s also a time when bright orange marigolds, or cempzuchilt, an Aztec term, are in high demand for the annual holiday. New Brunswick has a growing community of migrants from the Mexican state […]
NJ Secretary of Ag Tours Rutgers Turf Research Farm
New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Doug Fisher visited the Rutgers Plant Biology Research and Extension Farm in Adelphia on September 16. Faculty from the Turfgrass Breeding Project at the Rutgers Center for Turfgrass Science gave Fisher a tour of research plots and discussed types of grasses being evaluated and studied for breeding. Faculty on hand […]
Rutgers Residence Life, Local Elementary Schools Team Up For Monster Mash Halloween Celebration on Oct. 24
The 11th annual free Halloween Monster Mash, a collaborative community service event sponsored by Rutgers University Residence Life on the Cook/Douglass Campus, will be held Friday Oct. 24, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Cook/Douglass Recreation Center Gymnasium. The Halloween Monster Mash is a community outreach event that provides an alternative trick-or-treat experience to […]
Containing Ebola Like They Did in This Video Game [AUDIO]
Public health officials need to be able to predict how outbreaks like Ebola spread and grow. But that’s not so easy. Mainly because it requires knowing how real people will react. Human behavior ain’t so easy to plug into a computer model. But, then there was this bizarre and totally accidental video game incident that made real life disease outbreak modeling smarter. The story of “corrupted blood” in World of Warcraft is still inspiring epidemiologists. (Featuring Professor Nina Fefferman, department of Ecology, Evolution, & Natural Resources)
Fending Off Disease with a Fork: Rutgers Scarlet Lettuce Exceeds Blueberries in Polyphenol Content
Modern science is catching up with ancient wisdom. The expression “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” has been attributed to Hippocrates, father of medicine, around 431 B.C. Hippocrates’ adage is aptly illustrated by a glance down a supermarket produce aisle with its colorful display of deep red strawberries, fiery orange carrots, […]
Hot Pepper Plots Picked Clean in ‘HYOP’ 2014
In the second annual “Harvest Your Own Pepper” (HYOP) event on October 15, the hot pepper plots at Hort Farm III on Ryders Lane in New Brunswick were once again open to Rutgers faculty and staff to pick their own hot peppers left over from research variety trials. Albert Ayeni, ethnic crop specialist, and Tom […]
Big brown bats in N.J. thrive as smaller cousins decline
While New Jersey’s little brown bat population, ravaged by a fungal disease, continues to slip toward likely extinction, another species, the big brown bat, appears to be benefiting, with its numbers rising by as much as 50 percent in the state since w…