A team of astrophysicists from the CEA (Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique), the Université Paris 7 Denis Diderot and the CNRS in France has discovered that one of Saturn’s rings has a spiral shape and has published its results today in the American journal Science. This unusual astronomical configuration is perhaps the result of a collision with a recently formed small moon. The discovery is a great opportunity for astrophysicists who think that this ring is the only place in our solar s
Two studies on carbon nanotubes by CEA DRECAM researchers have just been published in Physical Review Letters and Applied Physics Letters. The first study presents an innovative and experimentally verified theoretical law to predict and characterize the deformation of a carbon nanotube subject to an electrical field. The second study applies this knowledge to produce a nano-switch using innovative dimensioning and positioning control techniques.
MEMs technologies (microelectromech
Using sunlight to power our homes and offices is an unaccomplished dream due to the still inefficient technology for a better use of solar energy. The study of photosynthesis in plants could provide new clues by explaining how they absorb almost 100% of the sun-light reaching them, and how they transform it into other forms of energy. Researchers Michael Haumann and Holger Dau, from the Freie Universität Berlin, used the X-ray source of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) to invest
This release contains a summary of some significant astronomical and space events that will be taking place during December. It has been written in order to assist the media in planning and researching future stories related to space science and astronomy, particularly those with UK involvement. It is not intended to be fully comprehensive. Dates and times may be subject to change.
1 DECEMBER: BEYOND EINSTEIN: LIVE WORLDWIDE WEBCAST
To celebrate Einstein Year (World Year of
Feeling thin or fat is an illusion constructed in the brain, according to a new study published in the journal Public Library of Science Biology. The collaborative study led by UCL (University College London) used a trick called the Pinocchio illusion to scan people’s brains while they experienced the sensation that their waists were shrinking. The study reveals which parts of the brain are involved in body image and may shed some light on anorexia and body dysmorphic disorder, where suffere
During the congress of the Sociedad Española de Cardiología (Spanish Cardiology Association), held recently in Barcelona, specialists from Navarre received the prize for the best paper presented, from amongst the hundreds presented. It involved research on hypertension undertaken jointly by scientists from the Navarre Health Service and two centres at the University of Navarra: the Centre for Applied Medical Research (CIMA) and the University Hospital.
The paper was entitled, “La cardiot
The application of conservation agriculture techniques to cereal crops in the semiarid zones of Navarre – 57% of the surface area given over to crop cultivation in Navarre, is most profitable for conventional agriculture and improves the quality of the soil, apart from contributing to the sustainability of the environment. This was the conclusion of the agricultural engineer, Mª José Imaz Gurruchaga in her PhD thesis recently defended at the Public University of Navarra.
The study w
“At long last, there is recognition of the issues which have turned students off, and driven teachers away, from science education”, Julian Wigley, ex-Head of Science, Perry Beeches School, Birmingham
Science investigation and experiments in schools are being squeezed out, threatening the UK’s economic competitiveness and future capacity for innovation, according to a report and an opinion poll published, today, by NESTA (The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts)
Despite millions of dollars spent by IT companies, digital security still contains more holes than a Swiss cheese. One European project plans to plug those holes by creating a virtual security framework independent of both devices and the networks they are trying to access.
SEINIT, the Security Experts Initiative, offers the promise of seamless security regardless of hardware, software or access protocol, whether it’s mobile phones, bluetooth, WiFi, ethernet or broadban
The relationship between the size of a brain structure and the ability to recover from traumatic experiences also may influence overall personality type, according to a study from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers. In a followup to earlier findings that an area of the brain called the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) appears thicker in those who can better control their emotional response to unpleasant memories, the investigators found that study participants who exhibited better
Findings in the Prestigious “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences” Describe How Natural Nanoparticles Can Be Adapted to Fight Cancer
Marillion Pharmaceuticals, an emerging biotechnology company developing cancer therapeutics, announced that the science underlying its core technology was published in the “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences” (PNAS), a peer-reviewed journal. Marillion´s nanoplatform conjugates tumor-homing molecules to naturally occurrin
The farther away a woman lives from a radiation therapy facility, the less likely she is to get lumpectomy with adjuvant radiation therapy for early stage breast cancer, and may instead get mastectomy, according to a new study. Published in the January 1, 2006 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study reveals that being older, of Hispanic origin, or unmarried at diagnosis were also associated with decreased likelihood of treatment with lumpectomy and rad
A pair of articles from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center makes the case that patients would receive better care if physicians and researchers would address the issue of tobacco use after a cancer diagnosis and monitor tobacco use during clinical trials that test new agents.
One study, to appear in the January issue of the journal Cancer but available online Nov. 28, suggests that the time to help tobacco users quit is the moment they are diagnosed with canc
Findings have implications for better-designed gene therapies
A human DNA-associated protein called LEDGF is the first such molecule found to control the location of HIV integration in human cells, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. This study, published in this week’s early online edition of Nature Medicine, describes the first clear target for modulating where viruses insert into the human genome, which has i
Short-term use of painkiller drugs in the same family as ibuprofen does not increase the risk of having a heart attack. The results of a large study, published today in the open access journal BMC Medicine, confirm that taking traditional non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in the recommended dose for less than a year does not increase the risk of having a heart attack. When taken regularly for more than one year, however, some traditional NSAIDs can slightly increase the risk of non-fa
JCB Flu Pandemic Working Group Members (Ross E.G. Upshur, Karen Faith, Jennifer L. Gibson, Alison K. Thompson, C. Shawn Tracy, Kumanan Wilson, Peter A. Singer) are available for advance interviews Weds-Fri Nov. 23-25. Please call to schedule a time. Media can preview the study, “Stand on Guard for Thee,” to be released Nov. 28, online at http://www.utoronto.ca/jcb/home/documents/pandemic.pdf.
Coping effectively with a predicted influenza pandemic that threatens to affect the h
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