Barnacles use clot-like glue to stick to ships

September 27th, 2009 LONDON - A ship's fuel consumption can be reduced by about 20 per cent by designing it in such a manner that it exude slime from its hull, says an Indian-origin researcher. Rahul Ganguli of Teledyne Scientific in Thousand Oaks, California, says that the slime would form a gelatinous skin that continually sloughs off, taking with it the barnacles and other marine life forms that cause energy-sapping drag by accumulating on the ships' underside.

September 10th, 2009 Arctic exploration finds large underwater mountainWASHINGTON — Joint U.S.-Canada exploration of the Arctic sea floor discovered an unusual underwater mountain and evidence that could boost the two countries' claims that their boundaries extend farther north. For the past two months ships from the countries have ventured north in icy areas of the Arctic where almost no surface ships have been, in an effort to find out how far the continental shelf extends.

August 18th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a major breakthrough, researchers have duplicated the natural glue secreted by a tiny sea creature called the sandcastle worm, for developing a long-sought medical adhesive needed to repair bones shattered in battlefield injuries, car crashes and other accidents. Dr. Russell Stewart, who led the study, said that the traditional method of repairing shattered bones is to use mechanical connectors like nails, pins and metal screws for support until they can bear weight.

August 8th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new research, scientists have said that an ancient first century B.C. Greek statue, discovered off the coast of Croatia in 1998, may help researchers develop metals that are more resistant to "biofouling," the accumulation of critters that can eat away at ships' hulls.

July 27th, 2009 LONDON - An aerospace pioneer has proposed that in order to develop a lighter spacecraft, engineers would need to glue the fuel tanks to the inside of the craft. Rocket-driven spacecraft normally use strong, heavy-metal mountings to hold their fuel tanks in place within the fuselage.

July 1st, 2009 EPA proposes regulations to cut ship pollutionWASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing tougher rules to reduce air pollution from large oceangoing ships, including oil tankers and cargo vessels. The agency announced Wednesdays it is beginning work on a regulation that would cut harmful chemicals releases from smokestacks of ships within 200 miles of the U.S.

June 24th, 2009 Pentagon: No decision yet on North Korean shipWASHINGTON — The U.S. and its allies have not decided whether to contact and request inspection of a suspected North Korean arms ship that the U.S.

June 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists at the University of Chicago and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed an "electronic glue" that promises development of less expensive semiconductors. The electronic glue could accelerate advances in semiconductor-based technologies, including solar cells and thermoelectric devices that convert sun light and waste heat, respectively, into useful electrical energy.

May 14th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The US Coast Guard has released new rules for US-flagged ships passing through the piracy infested areas, including the Gulf of Aden and Malacca Strait. 'The Coast Guard worked to put together the new directive taking on the recent lessons learned and best practices of mariners,' Coast Guard spokesman Lieutenant Commander Chris O 'Neil said Wednesday.

May 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Stone Age humans who lived about 70,000 years ago were such good chemists that they made a sophisticated kind of natural glue by tweaking the chemical and physical properties of an iron-containing pigment, known as red ochre, with the gum of acacia trees for their shafted tools, according to a study. While it has long been believed that the blood-red pigment served a decorative or symbolic purpose, scientists also suspected that the pigment might have been purposely added to improve glue that held the peoples' tools together.

May 5th, 2009 Officials: Chinese ships approach US vessel at seaWASHINGTON — The Pentagon says Chinese ships came dangerously close to a U.S. surveillance ship in a possible repeat of an incident two months ago.

May 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Researchers at Ithaca College, US, have shed new light on the nature of the adhesive mechanism that snails use to attach themselves onto slippery surfaces, which could lead to developing surgical adhesives that would bind to wet surfaces and be less invasive than suturing mechanisms. This research follows up on an earlier study that identified the key characteristics controlling this transition from a water-based gel into a powerful yet flexible adhesive.The strength of the natural adhesive comes from the way long, rope-like polymers chemically tie together, or cross link, at certain points," said Andrew Smith, associate professor of biology.

April 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Italian actress Isabella Rossellini has developed a rather saucy hobby-watching and filming animals having sex. The 'Death Becomes Her' star has always had a keen interest in wildlife, but these days she is so smitten by animal mating that she spends hours capturing them in action on camera.

March 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Children and siblings of people with venous thrombosis, or blood clots in the veins, may be more than twice as likely to develop the condition than those without a family history, say Dutch researchers. Venous thrombosis typically begins in leg veins, although the clot may subsequently break off and travel to the lungs.

February 27th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Commercial ships account for almost half as much particulate pollution as the total amount released by cars, according to a new study. The study estimate that worldwide, ships emit about a million kilos of particulate pollution each year.