ETH researchers discovered a very unusual mechanism of plastic deformation in the Earth’s mantle. Furthermore, they have predicted a new family of mantle minerals. These discoveries shed new light on the plastic flow of mantle rocks inside our planet – the process that controls plate tectonics and the associated earthquakes, volcanism, and continental drift.
Plastic flow in the Earth’s mantle is the microscopic process behind plate tectonics and the associated continental drift,
Orthopedic Surgeons at Rush Are Co-Developers of Implant That Focuses on Shape, Not Size
The first knee replacement shaped to fit a woman’s anatomy has received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and will be distributed to orthopedic surgeons to use next week. Dr. Aaron G. Rosenberg and Dr. Richard A. Berger, orthopedic surgeons at Rush University Medical Center, were two of the 10 developer surgeons who sought to address shape-related differences of a wo
Unique mouse model helps solve protein mystery
A question long debated among Alzheimer’s disease researchers has been definitively answered by scientists at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease in San Francisco.
Using a unique mouse model, Gladstone Investigator Yadong Huang, MD, PhD, and his team have proven that, under certain conditions, neurons produce Alzheimer’s-linked apolipoprotein E.
Also known as apoE, this cholesterol-carryin
University of Utah study reveals another contributor to polar warming
Arctic climate already is known to be particularly prone to global warming caused by industrial and automotive emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Now, a University of Utah study finds a surprising new way society’s pollutants warm the far north: the Arctic’s well-known haze – made of particulate pollution from mid-latitude cities – mixes with thin clouds, making them better able to tra
Although young adults are faced with a diversity of life choices, they seem to be coming to terms with themselves and their lives in their 20s, says new University of Alberta research that shows psychological well-being improves after adolescence and girls improve faster than boys.
Dr. Nancy Galambos from the Department of Psychology followed a sample of the same cohort of people over a seven-year period and looked specifically at how 18-25 year olds make the transition from a
Therapeutic design acts locally, could reduce recurrence of blocked blood vessels
A new tactic in the battle against cardiovascular disease – employing nanoengineered molecules called “nanolipoblockers” as frontline infantry against harmful cholesterol – is showing promise in early laboratory studies at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
In a paper scheduled for publication June 12 in the American Chemical Society’s journal Biomacromolecules and now appeari
Teenage boys have feelings, too, and when it comes to matters of the heart, they may not be so fleeting after all. Not far beneath the bravado often on display is an unsure adolescent who finds it hard to express emotions that, while new, are nonetheless often sincerely felt.
Boys are more vulnerable and emotionally engaged in romantic relationships than previously thought, according to the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study led by Drs. Peggy Giordano, Monica Longmore and We
Prediction of species’ distributions is central to diverse applications in ecology, evolution and conservation science. There is now increasing electronic access to vast sets of occurrence records in museums and herbaria all over the world, yet there has been little effective guidance on how best to use this information to model and predict species distributions.
A recent study in the journal Ecography by an international team of researchers now offers the by far most comprehensive mo
Neptune’s large moon Triton may have abandoned an earlier partner to arrive in its unusual orbit around Neptune. Triton is unique among all the large moons in the solar system because it orbits Neptune in a direction opposite to the planet’s rotation (a “retrograde” orbit). It is unlikely to have formed in this configuration and was probably captured from elsewhere.
In the May 11 issue of the journal Nature, planetary scientists Craig Agnor of the University of California,
A Kansas State University research team is prototyping a small, inexpensive remote-control plane as a sensing tool, also known as an unmanned aerial vehicle, to collect environmental data. The team plans to test it over the Konza Prairie Biological Station near Manhattan this summer.
If the sensing tool performs as the team hopes, it will be made available to climate scientists, who would then be able to reconstruct it to obtain high-resolution images and reliable data.
NASA and university researchers have found that thunderstorms over Tibet provide a main pathway for water vapor and chemicals to travel from the lower atmosphere, where human activity directly affects atmospheric composition, into the stratosphere, where the protective ozone layer resides.
Learning how water vapor reaches the stratosphere can help improve climate prediction models. Similarly, understanding the pathways that ozone-depleting chemicals can take to reach the stratosph
Don’t even think about trying to pronounce it. Although it is found in many organisms including humans, glycosylphosphatidylinositol has remained a mouthful for laymen and a puzzle for scientists. And yet GPIs, as science thankfully calls these cellular lipids, are important in numerous biological functions, including disease transmission.
Now, for the first time, cellular biologists at the University of Georgia have developed new tools to study and localize GPIs in living organisms
Research reveals significant link to melanoma
Fifty years of medical studies show that sun exposure is a primary component in the development of melanoma, the most serious and deadly type of skin cancer, report leading dermatologists in the April 2006 issue of Dermatology Surgery.
“Though genetics may play a role in the development of some melanomas, there’s overwhelming evidence that shows sun exposure adversely affects patients both with and without genetic pre
Brain tumor specialists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center are poised on the brink of a new era
M. D. Anderson: Setting the Benchmark in Brain Tumor Treatment
Promising chemo, therapeutic viruses, cutting-edge surgery debut at Brain Tumor Center
Brain tumor specialists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center are poised on the brink of a new era.
The molecular revolution that has led to improvements in treating other cancer typ
New research published today in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism showed the first positive effect of testosterone on bone density, body composition and emotional, cognitive and behavioral function in women with low testosterone levels resulting from under-active pituitary glands.
Loss of ovarian and/or adrenal function can cause many women to experience hypopituitarism or under-active pituitary glands, and therefore low levels of testosterone, which is responsible for
A team of researchers working at the University of Bristol has found a potential new treatment for listeriosis, a deadly form of food poisoning. Their work is reported in Nature Medicine.
The group, led by Professor Jose Vazquez-Boland, has shown that one particular antibiotic – fosfomycin – can treat Listeria in the body, despite it being ineffective in laboratory conditions.
Because it was not effective in the laboratory, this drug has never been considered for the treat
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