Black holes are the most fuel efficient engines in the Universe, according to a new study using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. By making the first direct estimate of how efficient or “green” black holes are, this work gives insight into how black holes generate energy and affect their environment.
The new Chandra finding shows that most of the energy released by matter falling toward a supermassive black hole is in the form of high-energy jets traveling at near the speed of light
Women who undergo surgery for breast cancer followed by radiation therapy often experience breast deformities that can only be corrected through reconstructive surgery. Researchers at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, in collaboration with bioengineers at Carnegie Mellon University, have developed a polymer-based therapy for breast cancer that could serve as an artificial tissue filler after surgery and a clinically effective therapy. Their findings, based on studies with mice, wil
Will scientists ever find the elusive Higgs particle, the last of the fundamental particles predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics and postulated to play a major role in how fundamental particles get their masses? Are there undiscovered particles “beyond” those described by the Standard Model? Experiments expected to begin next year at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a new particle accelerator at the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN), will take up the search and explore
Manufacturing road map
Using a combination of experimental data and simulations, researchers have identified key parameters that predict the outcome of nanoimprint lithography, a fabrication technique that offers an alternative to traditional lithography in patterning integrated circuits and other small-scale structures into polymers.
Results of the three-year study, conducted by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Sandia National Laboratories, provid
Animal study shows promise for treatment of Alport syndrome
The discovery that bone-marrow derived stem cells can regenerate damaged renal cells in an animal model of Alport syndrome provides a potential new strategy for managing this inherited kidney disease and offers the first example of how stem cells may be useful in repairing basement membrane matrix defects and restoring organ function.
Led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), the findi
Health professionals need to use more than tape measures and scales to define and tackle obesity, according to a paper in the British-based Journal of Advanced Nursing.
A research review carried out by Maryanne Davidson from Yale University has discovered that many women don’t make the link between high weight and poor health and that culture plays a big role in how positively they see themselves.
She reviewed key papers published over a 10-year period to see how health pr
The researchers at the University of Helsinki, Finland, and University Hospital of Bonn, Germany, have coined the novel term “Bioportfolio” to describe viral genomic material remaining in the human body after infection. Using human erythrovirus as the example, the authors have demonstrated that viral genomic material persisting in the human body yields valuable information on viral phylogeny and on molecular epidemiology of infection.
Although these results are of greatest interest to th
VLT takes images of disintegrating comet P73/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3
On the night of April 23 to 24, ESO’s Very Large Telescope observed fragment B of the comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 that had split a few days earlier. To their great surprise, the ESO astronomers discovered that the piece just ejected by fragment B was splitting again! Five other mini-comets are also visible on the image. The comet seems thus doomed to disintegrate but the question remains in how much time.
An advanced laser-based instrument to help research into climate change is being developed for one of the world’s leading atmospheric research aircraft.
Professor Paul Kaye, Dr Edwin Hirst and Dr Richard Greenaway at the University of Hertfordshire’s Science and Technology Research Institute (STRI) have been commissioned by the US University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) to build the instrument for their new HIAPER (High-performance Instrumented Airborne Platform
The Nowgen Centre, the new multi-million pound, Manchester-based centre for genetics in healthcare and home of the North West Genetics Knowledge Park, will be officially opened on 25 April by Dr John Stageman, Vice President for Global Sciences and Information at AstraZeneca.
The Centre, which cost £4 million, has been jointly funded by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The Nowgen project is a collaboration betw
The prototype of a revolutionary new type of vehicle only one metre wide specially designed for cities has been developed by a team of European scientists. The vehicle combines the safety of a micro-car and the manoeuvrability of a motorbike, while being more fuel-efficient and less polluting than other vehicles.
The CLEVER (Compact Low Emission Vehicle for Urban Transport) vehicle is a £1.5 million collaborative project which has involved nine European partners from industry and research,
These images, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, show the Nanedi Valles valley system, a steep-sided feature that may have been formed in part by free-flowing water.
The HRSC obtained these images on 3 October 2004 during orbit 905 at a ground resolution of approximately 18 metres per pixel. The images have been rotated 90 degrees clockwise, so that north is to the right.
They show the region of Nanedi Valles, a roughly 800-k
New research shows how radical activists have triggered innovations that are helping move the UK in a more sustainable direction. Long seen as the bane of rational economic progress, these devotees to a greener lifestyle turn out to have been a key source of ideas that have seeded new industries in areas such as food, housing and energy. Rather than dismissing activists as hopelessly idealistic, mainstream business and policy should recognise how they create a diversity of options for sustainabil
The provision of care in Europe for adults born with heart disease is inadequate and there are too few specialist centres to support their ever-increasing numbers, according to international research published on-line today (Wednesday 26 April) in European Heart Journal[1] – the journal of the European Society of Cardiology.
“Society has invested a lot towards increasing the life expectancy of these children, but seems less interested when they are grown up,” said lead author Dr Ph
Research News from the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture
Fermenting beans and then cooking them not only reduces the majority of the soluble fibre that leads to flatulence, but also enhances their nutritional quality. Now we know which bacteria are important for the fermentation, reveal findings published online today in the SCI’s Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.
Beans are already an important source of nutrients, and many people would eat m
Gene regulation is a major issue in biology – how are different genes activated in different tissues or at different times in life, and how and which genes interact with each other? A major breakthrough in the understanding of this issue is about to be published in the scientific journal “PLoS Biology” by Miguel R. Branco and Ana Pombo, two Portuguese scientists at the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, Imperial College London, UK. The two scientists show that chromosomes in the nucleus of metabolical
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