For the third time in as many years, glaciologist Lonnie Thompson has returned from an Andean ice field in Peru with samples from beds of ancient plants exposed for the first time in perhaps as much as 6,500 years.
In 2002, he first stumbled across some non-fossilized plants exposed by the steadily retreating Quelccaya ice cap. Carbon dating showed that plant material was at least 5,000 years old.
Then in 2004, Thompson found additional plant beds revealed by the co
Understanding macrophages could lead to ways to prevent HIV-associated dementia
Bacteria-eating cells that generally fight infection may cause dementia in HIV patients, University of Florida and University of California at San Francisco researchers have found.
Macrophages, long-living white blood cells often considered the scavengers of the immune system, actually may damage a part of the brain where many memories are stored in their attempt to attack the virus there, acc
Findings Could Lead To New Immune Therapy for Breast Cancer
A team from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has shown that by using a cancer vaccine based on the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes, they can cure mice with established breast tumors. Cancer vaccines, which are more properly described as immunotherapy, work by boosting an immune response against tumor-associated antigens. Using Listeria, the researchers, led by Yvonne Paterson, PhD, Professor of Microb
Ames Laboratory researchers explore the new frontier of metabolomics
The biotech field of genomics gives scientists genetic roadmaps to link certain genes to diseases. The subsequent study of proteins produced by certain genes spawned the field of proteomics.
Now, a group of researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory at Iowa State University will use $1.02 million in DOE start-up funding to begin understanding the chemical processes that take place withi
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered a way to significantly increase the amount of electric current carried by a high-temperature superconductor, a material that conducts electricity with no resistance. This is an important step in the drive to create superconductor-based electric and power-delivery devices, such as power transmission lines, motors, and generators. The results are explained in the September 12, 2005, online edition of
Findings may lead to advances in on-chip data transmission
New research from Rice University has demonstrated an important analogy between electronics and optics that will enable light waves to be coupled efficiently to nanoscale structures and devices.
The research is available online from the journal Nano Letters and will appear in an upcoming print edition.
“We’ve discovered a universal relationship between the behavior of light and electrons,” said st
Can you see me now?
Researchers at MIT may not be able to hear your cellphone call, but they have found a way to see it. They mapped a city in real time by tracking tens of thousands of people traveling about carrying cellphones.
Using anonymous cellphone data provided by the leading cellphone operator in Austria, A1/Mobilkom, the researchers developed the Mobile Landscapes project, creating electronic maps of cellphone use in the metropolitan area of Graz, Austria, the
Researchers say marital problems affect men and women equally
Spouses in a poor marriage are more likely to be stressed during the workday, a finding that could mean a greater likelihood of strokes and heart disease for both husband and wife, according to researchers at Brandeis University and University College in London.
In a study published in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine, the researchers also found that a bad marriage impacts stress levels of men and women equall
The recent discovery of citrus greening (huanglongbing) in samples collected from trees in South Florida poses a definite threat to Florida’s $9 billion commercial citrus industry. Proper identification and eradication methods are needed to reduce the amount of crop loss caused by this disease, say plant pathologists with The American Phytopathological Society (APS). Citrus greening is a bacterial disease that affects the phloem system of citrus plants causing the infected trees to yellow, dec
In a world where “supersize” has entered the lexicon, there are some things getting smaller, like cell phones and laptops. Dartmouth researchers have contributed to the miniaturizing trend by creating the world’s smallest untethered, controllable robot. Their extremely tiny machine is about as wide as a strand of human hair, and half the length of the period at the end of this sentence. About 200 of these could march in a line across the top of a plain M&M. View images of the microrobot:
In a study of adult monkeys who were exposed to moderate amounts of alcohol in utero, scientists have found that prenatal exposure to alcohol – even in small doses – has pronounced effects on the development and function later in life of the brain’s dopamine system, a critical component of the central nervous system that regulates many regions of the brain.
Writing in the current issue (Sept. 15, 2005) of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, a team of re
A new drug appears to offer pain relief and increased mobility to rheumatoid arthritis patients who have exhausted their other medical treatment options. A researcher at the Stanford University School of Medicine led a six-month, multicenter clinical trial that found patients were more than twice as likely to have significant improvement with the new drug than with standard therapy. The findings are reported in the Sept. 15 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
The stud
Even the subtlest hints of anger or hostility in their environment sets physically abused children on prolonged ’alert’, even if a conflict has nothing to do with them.
The tendency to stay attentive of nearby discord is probably a natural form of self-preservation in children who routinely face aggression. But it may also explain why abused children are often so distracted at school, write researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in the journal Child Developme
Like the flashing of fireflies and ticking of pendulum clocks, the signals emitted by multiple nanoscale oscillators can naturally synchronize under certain conditions, greatly amplifying their output power and stabilizing their signal pattern, according to scientists at the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
In the Sept. 15 issue of Nature,* NIST scientists describe “locking” the dynamic magnetic properties of two nanoscale oscill
Addicts crave drugs and suffer relapse not just because of the alluring high of drugs, but also because they are compelled by the powerful, haunting memory associations with the environment surrounding their drug taking. Thus, treatments that could eliminate those memory associations could prove effective in treating addiction, researchers believe.
In two papers in the September 15, 2005, issue of Neuron, two groups of researchers report important progress toward such treatments, s
Professor Gwendolen Jull and Dr Michele Sterling of the UQ Division of Physiotherapy are conducting two clinical trials investigating recovery following a whiplash injury.
One trial is examining whether a multi-professional treatment approach is necessary following a whiplash injury. The other trial is examining the progression of symptoms following a whiplash injury.
Whiplash injury is commonly associated with neck pain, impaired movement and can be distressing.
Feedback
