Latest Ohio State University Stories

The Ohio State University Though scientists have long believed that complex organic molecules couldn’t survive fossilization, some 350-million-year-old remains of aquatic sea creatures uncovered in Ohio, Indiana, and Iowa have challenged that assumption. The spindly animals with feathery arms—called crinoids, but better known today by the plant-like name “sea lily”—appear to have been buried alive in storms during the Carboniferous Period, when North America was covered with...

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Feb. 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- In celebration of the heroes of the Underground Railroad, the Ohio Historical Society will provide free access to the internationally acclaimed Wilbur H. Siebert collection throughout February's Black History Month. The digital collection, available through Ohio Memory, the statewide digital collections in partnership with the State Library of Ohio, includes historical correspondence of Underground Railroad participants; photographs...

It seems like a great idea: Provide instant corrections to web-surfers when they run across obviously false information on the Internet. But a new study suggests that this type of tool may not be a panacea for dispelling inaccurate beliefs, particularly among people who already want to believe the falsehood. “Real-time corrections do have some positive effect, but it is mostly with people who were predisposed to reject the false claim anyway,” said R. Kelly Garrett, lead author of...

The Ohio State University It weighs half as much as a sports car, and turns on a dime—so its no surprise that the electric car being developed at Ohio State University needs an exceptional traction and motion control system to keep it on the road. With four wheels that turn independently, each with its own built-in electric motor and set of batteries, the experimental car is the only one of its kind outside of commercial carmakers’ laboratories. “It is considered one of the...

An experimental oral drug given to mice after a spinal cord injury was effective at improving limb movement after the injury, a new study shows. The compound efficiently crossed the blood-brain barrier, did not increase pain and showed no toxic effects to the animals. "This is a first to have a drug that can be taken orally to produce functional improvement with no toxicity in a rodent model," said Sung Ok Yoon, associate professor of molecular & cellular biochemistry at Ohio State...

A desire for expensive, high-status goods is related to feelings of social status - which helps explain why minorities are attracted to bling, a new study suggests. Previous research had shown that racial minorities spend a larger portion of their incomes than do whites on conspicuous consumption – buying products that suggest high status. But a new study showed that whites could be induced to crave expensive, high-status products if they imagined themselves in a low-status position....

A new study of the batteries commonly used in hybrid and electric-only cars has revealed an unexpected factor that could limit the performance of batteries currently on the road. Researchers led by Ohio State University engineers examined used car batteries and discovered that over time lithium accumulates beyond the battery electrodes – in the “current collector,” a sheet of copper which facilitates electron transfer between the electrodes and the car’s electrical system. This...

April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Scientists searching for rogue nukes have discovered an unlikely tool, astronomical radio telescopes. When they demonstrated that South Korean GPS stations detected telltale atmospheric disturbances from North Korea's 2009 nuclear test, a research team from Ohio State University discovered another unlikely tool. The discovery that underground nuclear explosions leave their mark on the outer reaches of Earth's atmosphere led to the...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online A new study has found that many planets in other solar systems may be more habitable than our very own. Astronomers and geologists at Ohio State University teamed up to search for alien life in a whole new way; by studying eight "solar twins" of our sun in order to measure the amounts of radioactive elements they contain. Those stars came from a dataset recorded by the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS)...

Bacteria that cause the tick-borne disease anaplasmosis in humans create their own food supply by hijacking a process in host cells that normally should help kill the pathogenic bugs, scientists have found. This bacterium, Anaplasma phagocytophilum (Ap), secretes a protein that can start this process. The protein binds with another protein produced by white blood cells, and that connection creates compartments that siphon host-cell nutrients to feed the bacteria, enabling their growth...