One of the most advanced university cleanrooms in the world, the Nanofabrication Laboratory, at the Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience, MC2, at Chalmers University of Technology, in Göteborg, Sweden, is now offering European Universities and SME:s access, free of charge, to advanced micro- and nanotechnology fabrication resources.
MC2 is the leading Swedish research facility in nanoelectronics and photonics. MC2 has secured a contract with the European Commission to open up the
Even at very low levels, ozone–the principal ingredient in smog–increases the risk of premature death, according to a nationwide study to be published in the April edition of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
The study, sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control, found that if a safe level for ozone exists, it is only at very low or natural levels and far below current U.S. and international regulations. A 10 part-per-bil
Large amounts of a chemical that boosts ozone production are being transported to North America from across the Pacific Ocean in May, according to a new report by researchers from Georgia Tech. These higher levels of nitrogen oxides (NOx), arriving in late spring, could be contributing to significant increases in ozone levels over North America. The research appeared in volume 33 of the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
“It’s well-known that pollutants don’t always stay in
Preliminary result of IMS-II study presented at International Stroke Conference
Standard clot-busting medication combined with low-energy ultrasound appears to reopen clogged arteries in stroke patients better than medication alone, a pilot study led by University of Cincinnati researchers shows.
The findings, says the University of Cincinnati’s Joseph Broderick, MD, co-principal investigator of the study, are encouraging and support a much broader phase-3 trial pl
Current debate about the UK government’s proposed education reforms may be based on a false premise. Recent research suggests that education policy by itself contributes little to the rate at which people move between social classes, according to a new study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
Comprehensive schooling is neither less nor more effective at promoting social mobility than a selective system, says the research carried out by Dr Cristina Iannelli an
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine discovered that a key receptor protein is a critical component of the internal molecular clock in mammals. What’s more, this molecule –called Rev-erb– is sensitive to lithium and may help shed light on circadian rhythm disorders, including bipolar disorder. The findings, which also provide insight into clock-controlled aspects of metabolism, are reported in this week’s issue of Science.
“We’re interested in th
Humans are performing a high-stakes climate experiment by burning fossil fuels that release heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The outcome of that experiment is uncertain and computer models can do only so much to predict the future.
So scientists have been paying increasing attention to the geologic past, searching for possible lessons from ancient episodes of warming driven by natural processes which also might include emission of greenhouse gases. The research, discussed in
Researchers at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research are developing a method to determine in a matter of hours if someone has been exposed to a bioterrorism agent just by looking at the pattern of active genes in that person’s white blood cells. They report their findings today at the ASM Biodefense Research Meeting.
“Effective prophylaxis and treatment for infections caused by biological threat agents (BTA) rely upon early diagnosis and rapid initiation of therapy. Howeve
The majority of tiny marine plants weathered the abrupt climate changes that occurred in Earth’s past and bounced back, according to a Penn State geoscientist.
“Populations of plankton are pretty resilient,” says Dr. Timothy J. Bralower, head and professor of geoscience.
Bralower looked at cores of marine sediments related to thousands of years of deposition, to locate populations of these plankton during three periods of abrupt climate change. These abrupt changes wer
Models could help speed discovery of new drugs
In an important step toward accelerating drug discovery, researchers have created computer models of more than 900 cell receptors from a class of proteins known to be important drug targets. The models, which are now freely available to noncommercial users, promise to help scientists narrow their research inquiries, potentially speeding up the discovery of new drug compounds. The research appears in the February 17, 2006 issue of the
The discovery makes the fiery environment within a typical spiral or starburst galaxy look almost pastoral. Cornell researchers using the Spitzer Space Telescope say distant galaxies contain an inferno of very young, massive and violently evolving stars, packed together in tiny but extremely powerful cosmic globs.
The key to the discovery, paradoxically, is in the presence of delicate, glittery crystalline silicates called Forsterite. These are glassy particles that exist in the
Researchers at Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering have captured the best images ever produced of “sprites” — mysterious flashes of light resembling giant undulating jellyfish that can occur above strong thunderstorms — using a high-speed camera that recorded thousands of video frames a second.
The researchers said their findings could lead to a better understanding of the physics and chemistry of this fleeting, still-unexplained lightning phenomenon. They recor
For the first time, scientists have created a “spin triplet” supercurrent through a ferromagnet over a long distance. Achieved with a magnet developed at Brown University and the University of Alabama, the feat upends long-standing theories of quantum physics – and may be a boon to the budding field of “spintronics,” where the spin of electrons, along with their charge, is harnessed to power computer chips and circuits. Results are published in Nature.
Superconductivity occurs w
The Milky Way’s fastest observed pulsar is speeding out of the galaxy at more than 670 miles a second, propelled largely by a kick it received at its birth 2.5 million years ago.
Using the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), 10 radio telescopes spanning 5,000 miles from Hawaii to the U.S. Virgin Islands, James Cordes, professor of astronomy at Cornell University, his former student Shami Chatterjee, now of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and colleagues studied t
Biologists at Brown University and the University of California–Berkeley have discovered that two proteins team up to turn on an assortment of ovarian genes critical to the production of healthy eggs. This finding, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, sheds important light on the biochemical processes underpinning fertility.
Human eggs rely on handmaidens. Called granulosa cells, they surround eggs and deliver nutrients and hormones. Without granulos
Scientists have identified a new compound called CDDO-Im that protects against the development of liver cancer in laboratory animals. Experiments, led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, show CDDO-Im to be effective at doses 100 times lower than other compounds known to prevent cancer in people. Because of its makeup, the researchers believe CDDO-Im could be particularly effective in preventing cancers with a strong link to inflammation, such as liver, colon, pro
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