Physicists at JILA have designed and demonstrated a highly sensitive new tool for real-time analysis of the quantity, structure and dynamics of a variety of atoms and molecules simultaneously, even in minuscule gas samples. The technology could provide unprecedented capabilities in many settings, such as chemistry laboratories, environmental monitoring stations, security sites screening for explosives or biochemical weapons, and medical offices where patients’ breath is analyzed to monitor
In the twenty years since the discovery of high-temperature (Tc) superconductors, scientists have been trying to understand the mechanism by which electrons pair up and move coherently to carry electrical current with no resistance. “We are still at the beginning,” says Tonica Valla, a physicist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, who will give a talk on his group’s latest results at the American Physical Society meeting in Baltimore, Maryland on Thursday,
Whether depressed patients will respond to an antidepressant depends, in part, on which version of a gene they inherit, a study led by scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has discovered. Having two copies of one version of a gene that codes for a component of the brain’s mood-regulating system increased the odds of a favorable response to an antidepressant by up to 18 percent, compared to having two copies of the other, more common version.
Since the less common vers
An international team of physicists has converted three normal atoms into a special new state of matter whose existence was proposed by Russian scientist Vitaly Efimov in 1970.
In this new state of matter, any two of the three atoms–in this case cesium atoms– repel one another in close proximity. “But when you put three of them together, it turns out that they attract and form a new state,” said Cheng Chin, an Assistant Professor in Physics at the University of Chicago.
Chi
Body piercing is popular today in the United States and other western societies. One common type of body piercing is tongue piercing, which involves placing a “barbell”-type stud through the tongue. But wearing a tongue stud puts people at risk for chipped teeth, recessed gums, and nerve damage, warns the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD).
However, most people don’t realize that getting an oral piercing also places them at risk for developing a fatal infection or, in some cases, a min
Astronomers report an unprecedented elongated double helix nebula near the center of our Milky Way galaxy, using observations from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. The part of the nebula the astronomers observed stretches 80 light years in length. The research is published March 16 in the journal Nature.
“We see two intertwining strands wrapped around each other as in a DNA molecule,” said Mark Morris, a UCLA professor of physics and astronomy, and lead author. “Nobody has
University at Buffalo chemists have for the first time identified at wastewater treatment plants the metabolites of two antibiotics and a medial imaging agent.
The data, which the UB scientists will present tomorrow at the Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy being held in Orlando, will allow wastewater treatment plants to begin monitoring for these byproducts.
The results also reinforce concerns about excreted pharmaceutical compoun
New class of selective inhibitors paralyze essential plasmodium enzymes
The most dangerous variant of the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, infects up to 600 million people every year. The search for new effective therapies is thus an urgent area of research. An international team headed by François Diederich has now found a new point of attack: using a novel class of inhibitors, the researchers aim to block certain plasmodium enzymes known as plasmepsins, “starving ou
Study Offers Piece of “Missing Link” Needed in Understanding Receptor Function—Possibly Providing Safe, Ethical Source for Replacing Brain Cells, Reports March Journal of Nuclear Medicine
Japanese researchers have found a piece of the “missing link” about how bone marrow stromal cells restore lost neurologic function when transplanted into animals exhibiting central nervous system disorders, according to a study in the March issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.
“Our
A paper published in Nano Letters is first to show that bone cells will adhere to and grow on a carbon nanotube scaffold.
Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have published findings that show, for the first time, that bone cells can grow and proliferate on a scaffold of carbon nanotubes.
The paper, titled Bone Cell Proliferation on Carbon Nanotubes, appears in the March 8 edition of Nano Letters, a journal of the American Chemical Society. Lead aut
Problem gambling runs in families according to a University of Iowa study published online Feb. 24 in the journal Psychiatry Research. The study also found an excess of alcoholism, drug disorders and antisocial personality disorder in families with pathological gamblers.
This is the first study of its kind to include detailed family interviews of relatives of persons with pathological gambling, said Donald W. Black, M.D., professor of psychiatry in the UI Roy J. and Lucille A. Car
Researchers studying strains of a lethal canine virus and a related human virus have determined why the canine virus was able to spread so quickly from cats to dogs, and then from sick dogs to healthy dogs. Their studies may lead to a new understanding of the critical molecular factors that permit viruses to jump from one species to another — information that could be helpful in assessing how much of a threat avian influenza is to humans.
In advance online publication of a paper in the A
There is a great interest in biogas as an environmentally friendly alternative to oil and other fossil fuels. However, biogas has been criticized for releasing methane. As a greenhouse gas, methane is 20-25 times worse than carbon dioxide. But new calculations now show that biogas is nevertheless better than fossil fuels as long as the methane emissions are lower than 10-20 percent. It was previously believed that the cut-off point was about 5 percent.
“The margins are thus consi
Everybody who underwent a cardiogram at least once knows that the procedure is not quick in all respects. First, the patient has to undress, lie down and wait till a number of sensors are attached to him/her. But this is half the trouble. The obtained ECG is to be interpreted, that is to be determined how the heart works according to the waves recorded on the cardiograph tape. This is not done by the nurse who recorded the ECG, but by the medical specialist and probably within several days only.
Specialists of one of laboratories at the Department of Chemistry, Astrakhan State University, are sometimes involved in a strange exercise. They take a decent piece of smoked fish or sausage, grind it in a mincing machine, add water, shake it up for about 20 minutes, then filter it and throw away the disagreeable mass, into which the appetizing product was turned into. The remaining solution is analyzed. Here it becomes clear that one should not grudge at all the product used for the analysis. O
“Hydrogen power engineering — is energy of the future”, efforts are being undertaken in the US, Europe and Russia to implement the above postulate. We have tried to calculate the quantity of hydrogen needed to transfer to it all transport of big cities, i.e. the quantity that will be required to replace engine fuels. All calculations were based on maximum coefficients of efficiency and the most optimistic figures. The conclusions made from the obtained figures seem interesting not only for scientis
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