Through the Sallyport | Rice Magazine

Through the Sallyport:

Fresh Perspective on Environmental Puzzles
By Mike williams
Gathering information is never easy for an environmental scientist, but it gets harder when monkeys are throwing, uh, stuff at you.

Global Warming’s Ecosystem Double Whammy
By Jade Boyd
Plants and soils act like sponges for atmospheric carbon dioxide, but new research finds that one abnormally warm year can suppress the amount of carbon dioxide taken up by some grassland ecosystems for as long as two years.

Pats on the Back

Weighing the Effects of CO2 Restrictions on World Energy Markets
By Franz Brotzen

If concerns about global warming lead politicians to impose restrictions on greenhouse gas–producing emissions, natural gas demand will rise substantially because it is the fossil fuel with the lowest ratio of CO2 emissions to energy output.

Heart of the Matter

By B.J. Almond

Heart failure is the leading cause of death in the United States, and the American Heart Association estimates the direct and indirect cost of heart failure in the United States for 2008 at nearly $35 billion. It’s a major predicament whose only solution seems to be the creation of a simple and reliable artificial heart.

Finding Molecular Clues to Wilson Disease
By JADE Boyd
It’s amazing how a single small mutation can have such a large effect. In the case of a subtle genetic change to a complex protein called ATP7B, the result is Wilson disease, a genetic disorder that alters the protein’s ability to work, causing copper to build up to toxic levels in the liver, brain, eyes and other organs.

Corrosion Control
It’s a slow process that usually occurs out of sight, silently but incessantly destroying the integrity and life span of buildings, bridges, pipelines and vehicles.

Prof Pursues Pill to Halt Gaucher’s, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s

By Mike Williams
What if a pill could keep the effects of Gaucher’s and similar diseases in check?

Green Pharmaceutical Production

by mike williams
What if you could bring medications to the marketplace faster and at lower prices?

Tiny Creature Is a Big Subject

by mike williams

What we have in common with tiny, amoeba-like sea creatures interests Nicholas Putnam.

‘Smart’ Shock Absorbers Take the Quake

by Jade Boyd
To envision what a building undergoes in an earthquake, Satish Nagarajaiah suggests imagining yourself standing in a moving bus or train.