Were we to grasp those overlying trend lines, both private companies and the regulators themselves could begin to do some very useful planning.

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After this initial success, the researchers tested the effects of statins in living animals by injecting the drugs directly into the tissue overlying the skullcaps of mice.

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Scientists recently discovered that once the snow melts in the Earth's northern forests, the surface releases a significant amount of heat into the overlying atmosphere that influences global weather systems.

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The oil trajectory that actually occurs will depend critically both on the short-term evolution of the Loop Current, which feeds into the Gulf Stream, and on the state of the overlying atmosphere.

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Nelson's injuries destroyed all three main skin layers - the epidermis, dermis and hypodermis (the top, middle and bottom), in some places right down to the periosteum, the membrane overlying the bone.

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Using elevation data from Nasa's ICESat, cross-checked with other Nasa satellites, the team was able to map the rise and fall of the overlying ice, and hence areas where water pooled or flowed away.

BBC: Satellite images reveal the changes in volume of water

So by firing radio pulses through the overlying sheet and recording the return echoes, scientists can plot both the depth of the rock bed and - by definition - the thickness of the ice covering.

BBC: Antarctic ice volume measured