Seeking to catch an arms-race maneuver in action, researchers have uncovered new evidence to explain how bacteria in the process of infecting a plant can shift molecular gears by excising specific genes from its genome to overcome the host plant’s specific defenses.
Throughout evolution – in the wild and in crops cultivated by humans – plants have developed systems for resisting the attack of microbial pathogens, while these microbes themselves have depended on their abi
Improved materials may allow stents, tiny metal scaffolds inserted into blood vessels, to better deliver beneficial genes to patients with heart disease, by reducing the risk of inflammation that often negates initial benefits. The new technique, using a compound that binds in an extremely thin layer to bare metal surfaces, may have potential uses in other areas of medicine that make use of metallic implants.
Cardiologists frequently treat heart disease patients now by using stents to ex
Rutgers geneticists have reported groundbreaking research on the genetics of fertility. They have discovered two genes, aptly named egg-1 and egg-2, required for fertilization to take place. The proteins encoded by these genes are similar to low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptors, known from cholesterol and fat metabolism but never before specifically implicated in fertilization.
One in six couples is experiencing fertility problems worldwide, and people are asking why. This is a
The EUREKA E! 3418 LIG-HT project is set to bring the sun into the heart of the Austrian Tyrol town of Rattenberg in the depths of winter. A combination of heliotstats – mirrors that track the sun – and optical concentrators would make it possible to light up locations within the town that lies totally in the shadow of a 900-m high mountain for over three months of the year. The benefits would be psychological, economic and environmental.
Rattenberg was built just north of the
This week’s launch of MSG-2 will ensure that satellite images continue to be available to European weather forecasters well into the next decade. It also marks a new chapter in a long-term space experiment measuring the available energy that drives the weather as a whole, and helping to establish how much the Earth is heating up.
MSG-2’s main instrument is the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infra-red Imager (SEVIRI) which returns detailed 12-wavelength images of the Ear
A EU-sponsored project has developed a suite of tools that will enable biotech companies to mine through vast quantities of data created by modern life-science labs to find the nuggets of genetic gold that lie within.
The BioGrid project brought together six partners from the UK, Germany, Cyprus and The Netherlands to address one of the key problems facing the life sciences today.
“How to integrate the huge volume of disparate data – on gene expression, protein interactio
The Geological Society of London (Note 1) is convening a one-day meeting on January 9 2006 (Notes 2,3) to be chaired by its former President, Lord Oxburgh KBE FRS, to review the long-term management of radioactive wastes from a geoscientific perspective. The media are welcome to attend the meeting. There will be no news conference.
In 1999, the Geological Society of London and the British Geological Survey held a meeting that concluded deep disposal was the best technical and scientific opt
According to a well-known proverb “one apple a day keeps the doctor away“, suggesting that the healthy components which occur in fruits and vegetables can prevent diet-related diseases. Unfortunately, fresh fruits and vegetables are not always available and frozen food is not really handy either. What is less complicated, however, is dried food. During the past two years scientists from the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena and the Technische Universität Dresden/Germany as well as the Zittauer
How does the body go about generating blood vessels? This question has been studied by a research team from Uppsala University in collaboration with colleagues from the National Institutes of Health in the United States. The findings show that a relatively unknown protein, CLIC4, forms blisters that later develop into the hollow interior of the vessel. The study is being published in the December 23 issue of Journal of Biological Chemistry.
The scientists in the project mapped what protei
“Hydropeaking“ in rivers and streams is becoming a problem for water ecology, particularly for fish. Rapid change in the release of water from alpine hydroelectric power stations leads to artificial discharge variations on a daily and weekly basis. Of Switzerland’s larger rivers, one in four is influenced by such water surges. Together with the wide-spread river training and channelisation, such intermittent flow is one of the main causes for the biological deficits that can be observed, for exampl
Knowing how a mathematical theory developed improves a pupil’s understanding of it. This is the conclusion of Dutch researcher Iris van Gulik, who investigated how the history of mathematics can help pupils to learn this subject.
Van Gulik developed two teaching methods in which a mathematical theory was taught based on the history of its development. Firstly for 13 to 15-year-old high school pupils, geometry was introduced by studying 17th-century Dutch surveying in small
Dutch otolaryngologist Marein van der Torn hoped to develop a prosthesis that would improve the voice of people who had lost their vocal cords. He investigated the possibilities of a new type of voice prosthesis that produces vocal sound. The concept could be useful for female patients with a very weak voice: it would strengthen their voice and enable it to achieve a female pitch again. However, various practical problems need to be solved before the voice prosthesis can be used.
Sometim
How can you manage and design rivers such that no floods occur, whilst still ensuring navigation for shipping and a continuation of the agricultural, ecological and recreational functions? Dutch researcher Saskia van Vuren discovered that uncertainties in the behaviour of the riverbed play an important role in predicting the effects of design measures, such as lowering floodplains.
In view of future large-scale projects, such as river improvement measures in the project ’
The dissertation in the field of economic geography by Kristiina Korhonen, Lic.Sc. (Econ.), ”Foreign direct investment in a changing political environment: Finnish investment decisions in South Korea” will be publicly examined at the Helsinki School of Economics on Monday, December 19th, 2005. The public examination starts at 12:00 in the Stora Enso Hall of the Chydenia Building. The opponent is Professor Sam-Ock Park, PhD (Seoul National University), and the custos is Professor Jarmo Eronen,
A demonstration of the use of the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) for advanced railway traffic management and control recently took place near Johannesburg, South Africa.
The demonstration made use of EGNOS test signals currently available over Africa and was carried out as part of the Programme for the Development and Demonstration of Applications for Galileo and EGNOS (ProDDAGE), a contract with the Galileo Joint Undertaking. The realisation of the demon
A revolutionary portable brain scanner under development could aid the treatment, and in some cases help save the lives, of premature and newborn babies in intensive care.
By providing vital information about brain function at the cot side, the scanner avoids the need to move critically ill babies to conventional scanning facilities, which may involve sedating them and has a degree of risk. The data produced by the new scanner can be used to diagnose and assess conditions such a
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