Ecologists have long asked, Why is the world green? In other words, why aren’t herbivores, such as insects and grazing animals, more successful at eating the world’s green leaves, also known as plant biomass? In the May 2006 issue of American Naturalist, Steven D. Allison (University of California, Irvine) asks the same questions a different way: Why is the ground brown? Why don’t the organisms that break down the carbon in the soil consume it all?
Some of the same ecologic
Physicists at Harvard University, George Mason University and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have discovered new quantum effects in ultracold gases that may lead to improved understanding of electrical conductivity in metals.
In work presented at the March meeting of the American Physical Society* in Baltimore, Md., the researchers calculated the properties of an “artificial crystal” of ultracold atoms in a lattice formed by intersecting laser beams. The
In the April 1 issue of G&D, Dr. Cory Abate-Shen (UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School) and colleagues resolve the long-standing question of how homeoproteins selectively bind their DNA targets in vivo.
In marked contrast to their precise target recognition in vivo, in vitro, homeoproteins bind DNA quite promiscuously. In their upcoming paper, Dr. Abate-Shen and colleagues demonstrate that the PIAS1 SUMO E3 ubiquitin ligase protein underlies the in vivo DNA-binding specificity of t
Los Alamos scientists, working with collaborators from around the world, recently observed experimental evidence of solitary vibrations (solitons) in a solid. First observed as localized waves on the surface of water more than a century ago, the concept of solitons in solids was only theorized as possible two decades ago. The results of their discovery of random localized vibrations in a 3-D solid will add new knowledge to the field of solid-state physics and could have implications for other areas
The Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) today applauded a decision today by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the Tibetan antelope, also known as “chiru,” as an endangered species. Through a series of expeditions to China’s windswept Chang Tang Reserve over the past two decades, WCS had played a key role in sounding the alarm about the dramatic decline of this elegant animal due to poaching.
The antelope’s wool, considered the finest in the world, is used for “sh
Cervical cancers that take up a lot of blood sugar, or glucose, are more resistant to treatment than those that are less glucose-hungry, according to research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The researchers also found that the high glucose-uptake tumors can be identified with PET scans, which are already routinely used to determine tumor size and lymph node involvement in cervical cancer patients.
PET scans monitor the amount of a radioactive glucose trace
Clear skies for Red Storm
A new series of measurements — the next step in evolution of criteria to determine more accurately the efficiency of supercomputers — has rated Sandia National Laboratories’ Red Storm computer the best in the world in two of six new categories, and very high in two other important categories.
Red Storm had previously been judged 6th fastest in the world on the old but more commonly accepted Linpack test.
The two first-place ben
An ambitious five-year project will attempt to make eye-tracking technologies more affordable for people with disabilities and extend the potential use of the devices to enable users to live more independently.
The Communication by Gaze Interaction (COGAIN) project will examine current state-of-the-art technologies, develop new software standards to extend the available products and research new applications for the technology based on end-users’ real needs.
“It’s a
Cosmetic considerations and a perceived lack of patent opportunities could be stopping the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries from investing in the development of a new therapy proven to be effective in the treatment of MRSA.
According to a leading scientist based at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) photodynamic or dye therapy could be an effective alternative therapy for the hospital superbug.
Around 5000 people die and many thousands more suffer long term
Robotiker-Tecnalia has designed a wireless Braille keyboard for ONCE (the Spanish National Association for the Blind) which is compact and incorporates bluetooth technology. The design is such that it enables visually impaired persons (more than 80,000 in Spain and more than a million in Europe) to use this communication interface with a number of current appliances and devices, such as PCs and PDA / Pocket PCs or mobile cell phones.
Thus, those persons with a visual disablement will have
Braquitherapy guided by ecoendoscopy has enabled a therapeutic approach to injuries, hitherto inaccessible by other means.
Braquitherapy involves the local administration of radiotherapy by means of the implantation of radioactive seeds. It involves a technique used in treatment for cancer of the prostate gland, uterus, bronchial tubes and other locations. The technique developed at the University of Navarra University Clinic enables access to tumorous lesions in the area along the
A quarter of the men who had vasectomies at a clinic didn’t return for any follow up tests to make sure that the procedure had worked, according to research published in the April issue of the British–based urology journal BJU International.
And only a fifth of the 436 men turned up for both of the tests needed to finally put them in the clear, according to a study carried out by researchers at the Cleveland Clinic Glickman Urological Institute in Ohio, USA.
Of the 75
British scientists are joining colleagues from around the world today (Thursday March 30th 2006) at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in the USA to share the first results from a new neutrino experiment. The Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search (MINOS) is designed to study ghostly particles called neutrinos and in particular to study how the three different types are able to transform one into the other. In their first data release, the MINOS team has already reached the sensi
Malaria kills a child every thirty seconds in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to recent estimates. It is a huge problem currently threatening over 40% of the world’s population and still on the increase. The infection causes more than 300 million acute illnesses and at least a million deaths annually, and is recognised as a major factor impeding the development of some of the poorest nations.
Past strategies to kill off mosquitoes with insecticides failed as they developed resistance
A new method of delivering chemotherapy to cancer patients without incurring side effects such as hair loss and vomiting is being developed.
The method, produced at the University of Bath, involves using tiny fibres and beads soaked in the chemotherapy drug which are then implanted into the cancerous area in the patient’s body.
These fibres are bio-degradable and compatible with body tissue, which means they would not be rejected by the patient’s body. They gradually tur
Scientists at CEFAS (UK) have found that the migration pattern of wild cod is much less restricted by environmental temperature than laboratory studies suggest. Previously, research in the lab indicated that the preferred temperature range of cod was between 11-15ºC. However scientists following movements of wild cod equipped with electronic tags that record depth and temperature have found that whilst some fish prefer deeper cooler waters, others tagged at the same time prefer to swim in shallowe
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