A Cambridge PhD student is following in his great-great-grandfather’s footsteps by helping to measure the speeds of up to one million stars passing near the Sun – a huge advance on the efforts of his ancestor who was able to measure the speeds of only 100 stars over a century ago. The first data release is being announced today.
“The speeds of stars reveal where they were born,” said George Seabroke, a graduate student at the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge. “We’re tr
Some people are born, live and die in the one village. Others cross the world to new homes. Stars do the same. Our Galaxy is a melting-pot of stars from different places.
A team of 55 astronomers from 10 countries is today [Friday 10 February] releasing data on 25 000 stars to the rest of the astronomical community — data that will help sort the travellers from the stay-at-homes, and unravel the history of the Galaxy.
“Some stars were formed in our Galaxy. Others were
An innovative method of categorizing myosin—one of three molecular “motors” that produce movement within the cells of the body—has dramatically increased the amount of information available about these essential proteins. The studies lay the groundwork for development of treatments for conditions ranging from certain kinds of blindness and kidney disease to neurodegenerative disorders and parasitic diseases such as malaria.
All complex organisms use myosin and its relatives, kinesin and
Radiologists can make a more accurate preoperative diagnosis of damage to knee cartilage by using four radiologic ’signs’, a recent study found. Using the four signs to identify the extent and type of damage to knee cartilage makes interpreting MRIs with higher degrees of accuracy easier for any radiologist, regardless of their level of expertise.
During the course of this study, reviewers correctly identified 17 (89%) of 19 radial meniscal tears using the four radiologic signs
Much faster technology allows AFM to capture nano movies, create material properties images
While a microphone is useful for many things, you probably wouldn’t guess that it could help make movies of molecules or measure physical and chemical properties of a material at the nanoscale with just one poke.
Georgia Tech researchers have created a highly sensitive atomic force microscopy (AFM) technology capable of high-speed imaging 100 times faster than current AFM. This t
The effect of corrosion has an impact on about 3% of the world’s Gross Domestic Product. From a positive point of view, however, chemical attack of metal surfaces may result into surface nano-structures with very interesting technological applications such as catalysts and sensors. Therefore, a better understanding of corrosion processes is required to both prevent it and make the most of it. Scientists from Germany and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) have highlighted a self-
Rhesus macaque DNA sequence available in free, public databases
A multi-center team has deposited the draft genome sequence of the rhesus macaque monkey into free public databases for use by the worldwide research community, the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announced today.
The rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) is the second non-human primate, after the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), to have its genome seque
A University of Florida engineer is the latest researcher to design a tiny, easy-to-manufacture motion sensor, a development that could help popularize the sensors as standard equipment in personal electronics, medical devices and other applications.
The sensor, which measures about 3 square millimeters or one-tenth of an inch, is not the smallest motion sensor ever invented. But it is extremely sensitive, draws only a tiny amount of electrical power and — most important – is one of a
Biologists at Purdue University have taken a “snapshot” of a Velcro-like protein on a cell’s surface just after it attached to the dengue virus, a linkup thought to initiate the early stages of infection.
The virus, which is spread by mosquitoes, infects more than 50 million people annually, killing about 24,000 each year, primarily in tropical regions.
During the earliest stages of infection, the dengue virus attaches to the “carbohydrate recognition domain,” or
Chemical engineer Kamalesh Sirkar, PhD, a distinguished professor at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and an expert in membrane separation technology, is leading a team of researchers to develop a breakthrough method to desalinate water. Sirkar, who holds more than 20 patents in the field of membrane separation, said that using his technology, engineers will be able to recover water from brines with the highest salt concentrations. The Bureau of Reclamation in the Department of Interi
Need another reason to eat your vegetables? New research shows that some of them contain chemicals that appear to enhance DNA repair in cells, which could lead to protection against cancer development, say Georgetown University Medical Center researchers.
In a study published in the British Journal of Cancer (published by the research journal Nature) the researchers show that in laboratory tests, a compound called indole-3-carinol (I3C), found in broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage
Tyrannosaurus rex, meet your newest –– oldest –– cousin.
Florida State University paleobiologist Gregory M. Erickson sliced up some ancient dinosaur bones uncovered in China to help an international team of scientists identify a new genus and species. Despite striking skeletal differences and only subtle similarities, the FSU researcher determined that the two remarkably intact specimens were cousins of North America’s hulking Tyrannosaurus rex.
Make that distant c
Researchers at the University of Minnesota Medical School and the Brain Sciences Center at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center have discovered a new way to assess how brain networks act together.
Work funded by the MIND Institute (New Mexico) led Apostolos P. Georgopoulos, M.D., Ph.D., professor of neuroscience, neurology, and psychiatry, and collaborators to a novel way to assess the dynamic interactions of brain networks acting in synchrony, as reported in a recent issue of th
Tree rings and ice cores also help scientists build up picture of global warming
The temperature of the northern hemisphere has increased over a larger area in the last century than at any time in the past millennium a report published in Science reveals this week.
The study finds that the number of ’hot spots’ has increased dramatically in the Northern Hemisphere in the last century compared to the past 1200 years ¨C adding to the growing evidence of wide-scale
Ohio State University planetary scientists have found the remains of ancient lunar impacts that may have helped create the surface feature commonly called the “man in the moon.”
Their study suggests that a large object hit the far side of the moon and sent a shock wave through the moon’s core and all the way to the Earth-facing side. The crust recoiled — and the moon bears the scars from that encounter even today.
The finding holds implications for lunar prospectin
Misfolded and damaged proteins are common to all human neurodegenerative diseases. Clumps of these aggregated proteins destroy neurons within the brain and cause disease. But explanations for the mechanism that actually causes cell death have varied widely, puzzling scientists and leading them to ask whether Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s and Creutzfeldt-Jakob diseases and familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are related diseases or very different diseases.
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