Author: Nate DeGraff

Published on Sep 17, 2019

Disrupting Key Protein Alters Biological Rhythms in Water Flea

Phys.org
Researchers from NC State have shown that the E75 protein is a key regulator of some biological rhythms through interactions with nitric oxide. Suppression of E75 results in longer molt cycles and reduced numbers of offspring in the water flea, Daphnia magna. The work also raises questions about the ability of nitric oxide from environmental sources to disrupt biological rhythms that are critical to population sustainability. 

Published on Sep 12, 2019

This Comic Creator Hopes His Terrible Ideas for Producing Energy Will Inspire You to Think of Better Ones

Time
Your backyard has lots of easily reachable space — could you trigger vacuum decay and solve the world’s energy problems forever? To answer this question, I contacted astrophysicist and end-of-the-universe expert Katie Mack, who teaches at NC State. 

Published on Sep 10, 2019

A New Timeline of the Day the Dinosaurs Began to Die Out

The New York Times
These results provide “unprecedented insights” into what transpired the first day of the Cenozoic, said Paul Byrne, a planetary geologist at North Carolina State University who was not involved in the research. It’s one thing to suspect impact-triggered chaos based on computer simulations, he said, but “it’s quite another to see it.” 

Published on Aug 30, 2019

Astronaut Chats With Students at NC State from Outer Space

Spectrum News
High schoolers and middle schoolers packed the student union at NC State University Friday to hold a conversation that’s out of this world. Christina Koch is currently onboard the International Space station. She is a graduate of N.C. State University She took questions about daily life and the future of space exploration. 

Published on Aug 30, 2019

Preparation Key to Success in Space for NC State Grad, Astronaut

WRAL
On Friday NASA astronaut and NC State grad Christina Koch talked with students at her alma mater about what it’s like to live and work in Earth’s orbit. NASA Mission Control in Houston connected NC State’s campus with the International Space Station. 

Published on Aug 27, 2019

Nuking Hurricanes Out of the Sky ‘Doesn’t Make Sense at All’

Popular Science
Since the dawn of nuclear explosives, citizens and scientists alike have speculated that the government might be able to repurpose weapons of war as weapons of weather. Most recently, President Donald Trump asked why we couldn’t just nuke hurricanes out of the sky. Meteorologists are wincing at the reappearance of this all-too-familiar myth. “It is a spectacularly bad idea,” says Gary Lackmann, a meteorologist and professor at North Carolina State University’s department of marine, earth and atmospheric sciences. 

Published on Aug 23, 2019

Christina Koch, Tar Heel of the Month, Explores From the International Space Station

The News & Observer
The NC State University graduate always has been adventurous, pushing herself to channel her fears into sharp focus to accomplish her goals. And her historic path from growing up in Eastern North Carolina to outer space has been unconventional — with a few stops in the arctic between her NASA jobs. 

Published on Aug 20, 2019

McGahan’s Deanship Extended

NC State Provost Warwick Arden has extended the deanship of College of Sciences Dean Chris McGahan. 

Published on Aug 19, 2019

Audio Recordings Bolster Reef Life Science

Coastal Review Online
In a study summarized in a recent post at North Carolina Sea Grant’s Hook, Line & Science blog, researchers from North Carolina State University explored how fish use cultch reefs, or reefs created by depositing shell and other material in shellfish waters, as habitat. 

Published on Aug 15, 2019

Environment Also Shaped Population Variation in First Americans, NC State Study Finds

WRAL Tech Wire
The first Americans – humans who crossed onto the North American continent and then dispersed throughout Central and South America – all share common ancestry. But as they settled different areas, the populations diverged and became distinct. A new study from North Carolina State University shows that facial differences resulting from this divergence were due to the complex interaction of environment and evolution on these populations and sheds light on how human diversification occurred after settlement of the New World.