EarthScope, an enormous, nationwide earth science project, is poised to revolutionize understanding of earthquakes, fault systems, volcanoes and the North American continent’s structure.
But geologists can mine even more information from the project and engage nonscientists of all ages if they take a radically different approach to deciding where to focus attention and funding, said Ben van der Pluijm, a professor of geological sciences at the University of Michigan.
Dr. Terry Orr-Weaver and colleagues (MIT & Nagasaki University School of Medicine) present the first genetic analysis of the recently identified nucleosomal histone kinase, NHK-1. The authors generated NHK-1-mutant Drosophila fruit flies, and through cytological analysis of the resulting sterile female oocytes, determined that this histone kinase is necessary for disassembly of the synaptonemal complex, condensin loading, and the further acetylation of histones H3 and H4.
This work prov
With their long stalks and feathery arms, marine animals known as sea lilies look a lot like their garden-variety namesakes. Perhaps because of that resemblance, scientists had always assumed that sea lilies stayed rooted instead of moving around like their stalkless relatives, the feather stars.
But videos taken from a submersible research vessel at a depth of 430 meters (1410 feet) near Grand Bahama Island reveal that some sea lilies can creep along the ocean floor, apparently
Gene therapy could be used as an agent to protect normal tissues, including the esophagus and lung, from damage during a second administration of radiation therapy for non-small cell lung cancer, according to an animal study presented today by University of Pittsburgh researchers at the 47th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) in Denver.
“A major challenge in treating lung tumors with radiation is the toxicity of radiation to hea
Patients whose cancer has spread to the brain can avoid typical hair loss (alopecia) when treated with newer radiation techniques, thereby improving their quality of life while still controlling their cancer, according to a study presented October 16, 2005, at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology’s 47th Annual Meeting in Denver.
Most brain cancer patients whose cancer has spread to the brain receive whole brain radiotherapy. This treatment uses two simple rad
Scientists at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research have successfully demonstrated that a theoretical–and controversial–technique for generating embryonic stem cells is indeed possible, at least in mice.
The theory, called altered nuclear transfer (ANT), proposes that researchers first create genetically altered embryos that are unable to implant in a uterus, and then extract stem cells from these embryos. Because the embryos cannot implant, they are by definition not “
U-M discovery could help make bone marrow transplants more effective and an option for more patients
Researchers at the University of Michigan’s Comprehensive Cancer Center have discovered the secret weapon behind the most powerful form of cancer immunotherapy known to medicine.
Scientists call it the graft-versus-leukemia effect, and it occurs when new immune cells from donated bone marrow, called the graft, attack malignant cells in the patient and destroy them.
Study may also have implications for dieters
Mice with the mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease show improvements in their condition when treated with a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet. A report published today in the peer-reviewed, open access journal Nutrition and Metabolism, showed that a brain protein, amyloid-beta, which is an indicator of Alzheimer’s disease, is reduced in mice on the so-called ketogenic diet.
The report, by Samuel Henderson, from Accera
Researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center found no effects of type II diabetes on aggressiveness of prostate cancer but found that long-term survival is worse. The findings were presented today at the 47th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology in Denver, Colo.
Previous research suggests that insulin may spur the growth of prostate cancer cells. In type II diabetes, the body fails to properly use insulin, which can lead to an excessive amount of insulin
Early study shows spice stunts deadly spread to lungs
Curcumin, the main ingredient of turmeric and the compound that gives curry its mustard-yellow color, inhibits metastasis to the lungs of mice with breast cancer, report researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
The study, to be published in the Oct. 15 issue of the journal Clinical Cancer Research, reports that the spice appears to shut down a protein active in the spread of breast cancer
’Popping rocks’ found in deep sea give researchers clues about rare gases from ’young’ seafloor volcano
Scientists aboard the Scripps research vessel Roger Revelle this week solved a 45-year-old geological mystery.
In 1960, Scripps oceanographer Dale Krause reported the discovery of extraordinary deep-sea volcanic rocks in waters off Mexico, near Guadalupe Island, approximately 200 miles south of San Diego. When brought to the surface, the rocks spontaneously explo
An avian influenza virus isolated from an infected Vietnamese girl has been determined to be resistant to the drug oseltamivir, the compound better known by its trade name Tamiflu, and the drug officials hope will serve as the front line of defense for a feared influenza pandemic.
Scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, working with colleagues in Vietnam and Japan, report in a brief communication in next week’s edition (Oct. 20, 2005) of the journal Nature that a young
Study appears in Science
Just as hurricanes in the Gulf states and Guatemala have raised the risks of cholera outbreaks, researchers at Harvard Medical School have identified a new type of antibiotic against the cholera bacteria. While traditional antibiotics kill bacteria outright by interfering with processes essential for their survival, the new agent blocks production of bacterial proteins that cause the severe diarrhea associated with Vibrio cholerae infection.
“Wh
Evolutionary Trade-Off Exists Between Advantage and Disadvantage
Some viruses’ ability to exploit the human body’s own defenses to increase their replication may be both a blessing and curse, according to the findings of a study conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The process is known as antibody-dependent enhancement. Scientists believe antibody-dependent enhancement may allow the dengue virus to grow more rapidly in people who we
Heredity plays a major role in determining the blood lipid profile and heart rate variability of blacks and whites, two major risk factors for coronary artery disease, researchers say.
“There are some interesting ethnic differences in cardiovascular risk factors, including the fact that blacks tend to have higher HDL (high-density lipoprotein) and lower triglycerides, which is an advantage, and we suspect it is due to genetic influences,” says Dr. Catherine L. Davis, clinical hea
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory group discovers a paradox: hydrophobic H2O
Now you can extend that truism about oil and water to water and itself. Water and water don’t always mix, either.
The textbooks say that water readily comes together with other water, open arms of hydrogen clasping oxygen attached to other OH molecules. This is the very definition of “wetness.” But scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have observed a first: a single l
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