The Natural Disaster Hotspots report released earlier this year showed that the U.S. Gulf Coast is among the world’s most at-risk regions in terms of human mortality and economic loss due to storms like Katrina and Rita.
The study, which was produced by researchers from the Center for Hazards and Risk Research, The International Research Institute for Climate Prediction (IRI), the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), the Lamont-Doherty Earth
University of Illinois at Chicago researchers report that a protein that regulates key signaling pathways in cells also plays a role in controlling the active movement or migration of cells. The finding may suggest new pharmaceutical therapies for treating a variety of diseases, including cancer.
The protein, known as Raf Kinase Inhibitor Protein, or RKIP, controls activity of kinases, a type of enzyme that acts as a key component in the biochemical signaling pathways responsible f
Breast cancer is a very common malignancy with serious health effects that often involves women in the prime of their lives. Drolet and colleagues report on the work experience of women recently diagnosed with breast cancer.
Compared to matched health control women, women with breast cancer who remained free of the disease for at least 3 years after diagnosis were much more likely than healthy women to be absent from work for 4 weeks or more (85% vs. 18%). However, by the th
Researchers at Johns Hopkins have identified three new genetic mutations in brain tumors, a discovery that could pave the way for more effective cancer treatments.
The Hopkins team, in conjunction with researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Md., discovered DNA abnormalities in two tyrosine kinase proteins already known to disrupt normal cell activity and contribute to tumor formation.
The discovery of these mutations is especially significant, t
The juice of the pomegranate, say researchers at University of Wisconsin Medical School, shows major promise to combat prostate cancer – the most common invasive cancer and the second-leading cause of cancer death in American men.
With more than 230,000 new cases of prostate cancer expected to be diagnosed this year alone in the U.S. and the outlook poor for patients with metastatic disease, researchers are looking for new strategies to combat the disease. Earlier research at
The biological clock controls the circadian rhythms of a wide range of physiological and behavioral processes, from fluctuating hormone levels to sleep–wake cycles and feeding patterns. While it’s well known that circadian clock elements sense and respond to light cycles, much less is known about how daily temperature cycles affect the clock’s timing mechanism in vertebrates. In the open-access journal PLoS Biology, Kajori Lahiri, Nicholas Foulkes, and their colleagues study temperatur
One teenager likes to snowboard off a cliff. Another prefers to read a book and wouldn’t think of trading places. Why these differences exist is a mystery, but for the first time researchers have identified a possible genetic explanation behind risk-seeking behavior.
Scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have found that a specific neurodevelopmental gene, called neuroD2, is related to the development of an almond-shaped area of the brain called the amygdala, t
Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered that a drug currently being tested against cancers might help children with a rare, fatal condition called Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, which causes rapid, premature aging.
Children with progeria appear normal until they’re 6 months to a year old, but then begin developing symptoms normally associated with old age — wrinkled skin, hair loss, brittle bones and atherosclerosis, which usually causes their deaths by about age 1
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have demonstrated the room-temperature operation of a heterojunction bipolar transistor laser, moving it an important step closer to commercialization. The scientists describe their work in the Sept. 26 issue of the journal Applied Physics Letters.
“We have shown that the transistor laser, even in its early state of development, is capable of room-temperature operation at a speed of 3 gigahertz,” said Nick Holonya
Transplantation of insulin-producing pancreatic beta-cells shows great promise as a treatment for type 1 diabetes, but development of this therapy has been hampered by a severe shortage of donor beta-cells, which are obtained from decreased human donors. In research published in the October issue of Nature Biotechnology, Ji-Won Yoon, PhD, Professor of Pathology and Director of the Rosalind Franklin Comprehensive Diabetes Center at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, Dr. Naoya Koba
An idea from a young marine biologist at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton is revolutionising oceanography in the deep oceans. Dr Ian Hudson has been getting the oil industry to sign up to a project that has captured the imagination of companies and oceanographers across the world.
Animals in the deep oceans are now being filmed using robotic vehicles and cameras operated by oil companies. As they seek out new oil reserves on the deep-sea floor or carry out mainten
Power plants of the future may be designed to provide electricity solely for an individual housing estate, village, factory or college. That’s the prediction of University of Southampton engineer Dr Tom Markvart.
He claims large-scale systems of electricity generation used at present waste considerable amounts of energy by producing unwanted heat. It is also difficult to incorporate environmentally-friendly sources of energy such as wind farms and solar panels because of their inter
Based on the recommendations of asteroid experts, ESA has selected two target asteroids for its Near-Earth Object deflecting mission, Don Quijote.
Don Quijote is an asteroid-deflecting mission currently under study by ESA’s Advanced Concepts Team (ACT). Earlier this year the NEO Mission Advisory Panel (NEOMAP), consisting of well-known experts in the field, delivered to ESA a target selection report for Europe’s future asteroid mitigation missions, identifying the relevant criter
’Making Europe more attractive for researchers’ – The Conference is organised jointly by European research centres, universities and industry, with the support of the European Commission and will take place in Tuscany (Pisa/Livorno), Italy, between 28th and 30th September 2005.
Press conference: 30th September 2005, 12:10-12:45 hrs in Livorno (Goldoni Theatre – centre of the Town)
The conference will be held:
28th, 29th September 2005 – Pisa (CNR Researcher Centre
Big apes share more than 90% of our genome and still we are undoubtedly very different. So what is it that gives us our unique “humanness” and higher intelligence ? In an article about to be published in the ’journal Medical Hypotheses’ a group of Portuguese researchers propose that the differences which separate apes and humans, such as brain size and intellect, can be explained by differences in thyroid and steroids hormones.
It is now well accepted that intelligence is de
Two design engineers at the University of Warwick have devised a simple 250 pounds plastic shield that could play a significant role in eliminating the card skimming cash machine fraud that costs banks tens of millions of pound. However, now the researchers fear arrest if they are to try and take their device forward.
Falling technology cost and increasing technical sophistication of fraudsters have led to a boom in the criminal use of hidden cameras and card “skimming” devices
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