A scientist from the University of Manchester has discovered the first identified droplets of spider blood in a piece of amber up to 20 million years old.
Two droplets of blood, technically known as haemolymph, have been preserved in the amber which also contains the spider – Filistatidae – a family commonly found in South America and the Caribbean.
The droplets are the first identified examples of spider blood ever found in an amber fossil. It is possible the blood cou
Novel study, finding, receive additional attention from American Foundation for AIDS Research
A new weapon in the battle against HIV may come from an unusual source — a small tropical frog. Investigators at Vanderbilt University Medical Center reported this month in the Journal of Virology that compounds secreted by frog skin are potent blockers of HIV infection.
The findings could lead to topical treatments for preventing HIV transmission, and they reinforce the valu
Molecular electronics is the ultimate miniaturization of electronics. In this area of research, scientists have been studying the movement of electrons through individual molecules in an effort to understand how they might control and use the process in new technologies. Computers and thousands of other devices could become vastly faster, smaller and more reliable than conventional transistor-based (wire-based) electronics.
A team of Ohio University and Brazilian physicists has tak
Virginia Commonwealth University chemists have created a new molecular receptor for a fluorescent dye used to track a drug candidate’s activity inside cell membranes.
These findings may help researchers more efficiently design, evaluate and test new drugs like antibiotics and therapeutics for genetic diseases, such as cystic fibrosis and Bartter’s syndrome, because they will know precisely where the drug is acting inside a cell.
According to the study in the Journal of the
ESO’s VLT Captures Image of Spiral Galaxy NGC 1350
Eighty-five million years ago on small planet Earth, dinosaurs ruled, ignorant of their soon-to-come demise in the great Jurassic extinction, while mammals were still small and shy creatures. The southern Andes of Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina were not yet formed and South America was still an island continent.
Eighty-five million years ago, our Sun and its solar system was 60,000 light years away from where it now
Scientists at Rosalind Franklin University publish new findings in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
A methamphetamine epidemic rages across the United States with addicts blinded by uncontrollable desires for a drug that eventually thrusts them into a dire and catastrophic existence. Doctors don’t have any effective treatments for these addicts, or for any other drug addicts; drug addiction is a disease that remains a medical mystery. A recent study led
Insights may advance vaccines for related viruses including dengue fever
A monoclonal antibody that can effectively treat mice infected with West Nile virus has an intriguing secret: Contrary to scientists’ expectations, it does not block the virus’s ability to attach to host cells. Instead, the antibody somehow stops the infectious process at a later point.
“This was a complete surprise to us, but it gives us some very useful insights,” says senior author D
By altering a molecule called Stat1, which is involved in cellular immune signaling, scientists have succeeded in making the molecule more responsive and thus more efficient. This old protein with a new twist may eventually be used to improve the body’s defense against infection.
Stat1 is involved in immune responses that are initiated by proteins called interferons. These proteins are produced by the cells of the immune system in response to challenges by foreign agents suc
Just released analyses by USDA Forest Service researchers reveal underlying patterns in wildland arson. Research forester Jeff Prestemon and economist David Butry, both from the FS Southern Research Station economics unit at Research Triangle Park, NC, have developed a model that can help law enforcement agencies better predict where and when fires might be set in wildland areas and adopt strategies to reduce the risk of arson.
Over 1.5 million fires are set by arsonists each
Placing shredded tires on top of — rather than in — landfills can save money and benefit the environment, researchers from the University of Illinois say.
Timothy Stark, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Krishna Reddy, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago, recently evaluated the use of shredded tires as a drainage material in waste-containment systems. Shredding tires i
MIT mathematicians have discovered how certain insects can climb what to them are steep, slippery slopes in the water’s surface without moving their limbs — and do it at high speed.
Welcome to the world of the tiny creatures that live on the surface of ponds, lakes and other standing bodies of water. There, “all the rules change,” said David Hu, a graduate student in the Department of Mathematics and first author of a paper on the work to appear in the Sept. 29 issue of Natur
Too much time in the tavern can be hazardous to your health–and not just for the drinkers bending their elbows or scrapping with the bouncer, according to a new study done in part at the University of Alberta.
A joint study published in the September edition of Applied Ergonomics by the University of Alberta and Napier University of Scotland, shows that servers, cooks and bartenders risk serious injuries while doing their everyday jobs serving up suds and finger foods.
Physicists who work with a concept called string theory envision our universe as an eerie place with at least nine spatial dimensions, six of them hidden from us, perhaps curled up in some way so they are undetectable. The big question is why we experience the universe in only three spatial dimensions instead of four, or six, or nine.
Two theoretical researchers from the University of Washington and Harvard University think they might have found the answer. They believe the way o
Flavanol-rich cocoa drink improved blood vessel function in smokers.
Phytochemicals known as flavanols, which are found in chocolate, fruits and vegetables, can boost the levels of nitric oxide in the blood of smokers and reverse some of their smoking-related impairment in blood vessel function, according to a new study in the Oct. 4, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
“While the long-term benefits of such improvements remain to be establ
Researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, have made the surprising discovery that flaviviruses, which cause such serious diseases as West Nile fever, yellow fever and forms of encephalitis, evade immune system defenses in different ways depending on whether they are transmitted by mosquitoes or ticks. This finding could lead to new approaches to developing vaccines and treatments against these illnesses.
Important clues to the environment in which the early Earth formed may be emerging from Purdue University scientists’ recent study of a particular class of meteorites.
By examining the chemistry of 29 chunks of rock that formed billions of years ago, probably in close proximity to our planet, two Purdue researchers, Michael E. Lipschutz and Ming-Sheng Wang, have clarified our understanding of the conditions present in the vicinity of the ancient Earth’s orbit. Because
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