Humans have been tinkering with greenhouse gas levels in Earth’s atmosphere for at least 2,000 years and probably longer, according to a surprising new study of methane trapped in Antarctic ice cores conducted by an international research team.
The study showed wild gyrations of methane from biomass burning from about 1 A.D. to present, said Dominic Ferretti, lead study author and a University of Colorado at Boulder researcher with a joint appointment at the National Instit
A novel material that may demonstrate a highly unusual “liquid” magnetic state at extremely low temperatures has been discovered by a team of Japanese and U.S. researchers, according to tomorrow’s issue of Science.*
The material, nickel gallium sulfide (NiGa2S4), was synthesized by scientists at Kyoto University. Its properties were studied by both the Japanese team and by researchers from The Johns Hopkins University (JHU) and the University of Maryland (UM) at the Commerce
NSW Special Minister of State, John Della Bosca, today announced the results of new research which shows an alarming number of children are being put at risk through the improper use of seat belts and child restraints.
The research, undertaken by the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute with the Children’s Hospital at Westmead and the Sydney Children’s Hospital, examined crash and injury data for children aged 2-8 years who were in motor vehicle accidents.
“Our
New research into one of the world’s most social bacteria – Myxococcus xanthus, has discovered that it has a gourmet style approach to its consumption of phosphates, which provides a key clue to what makes it the most “social” of bacteria.
Myxococcus xanthus is amazingly social and co-operative for a bacterium. It “hunts” as a pack, it makes a collective decision with other M. xanthus whether to go dormant or not, and it even has methods of policing the behaviour of individua
Several nuclear receptor proteins appear to overlap in their ability to exert anti-inflammatory effects, according to new research by scientists at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Nuclear receptors are important drug targets for a number of diseases, for example, glucocorticoid receptors for asthma and arthritis. But use of drugs targeting these receptors is sometimes limited by unwelcome side effects. The new findings may suggest a way to overcome this obstacle.
In a
Biologists at New York University have discovered a system by which a random choice between two distinct cellular fates in the fruit fly eye becomes firmly established. Surprisingly, the genes involved are known ’tumor suppressor genes’, i.e. genes that are inactivated in some forms of cancer due to uncontrolled cell proliferation. Because the fly eye is highly amenable to genetic analysis, these findings, published in the latest issue of Cell, could help decipher the mechanisms by which
What exactly makes a stem cell a stem cell? The question may seem simplistic, but while we know a great deal of what stem cells can do, we don’t yet understand the molecular processes that afford them such unique attributes.
Now, researchers at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research working with human embryonic stem cells have uncovered the process responsible for the single-most tantalizing characteristic of these cells: their ability to become just about any type of ce
Based on superlattice nanobelts
A previously-unknown zinc oxide nanostructure that resembles the helical configuration of DNA could provide engineers with a new building block for creating nanometer-scale sensors, transducers, resonators and other devices that rely on electromechanical coupling.
Based on a superlattice composed of alternating single-crystal “stripes” just a few nanometers wide, the “nanohelix” structure is part of a family of nanobelts – tiny ribbon-l
If you already have a little spring in your step, a team of biologists at the University of Pennsylvania would like to them to good use by adding a few more springs in the form of a power-generating backpack. Details of their prototype “Suspended-load Backpack” were announced today in the journal Science. The device converts mechanical energy from walking into electricity – up to 7.4 Watts – more than enough energy to power a number of portable electronic devices at once.
“As efficient
Human evolution, University of Chicago researchers report, is still under way in what has become our most important organ: the brain. In two related papers, published in the September 9, 2005, issue of Science, they show that two genes linked to brain size are rapidly evolving in humans.
“Our studies indicate that the trend that is the defining characteristic of human evolution–the growth of brain size and complexity–is likely still going on,” said lead researcher for both p
MBL scientist invents backpack that empowers wearers to generate their own electricity
In an unprecedented breakthrough in the development of portable and renewable human-driven energy sources, an MBL (Marine Biological Laboratory) biomechanics expert who studies how muscle moves skeletons in fish and frogs has invented a backpack that gives new meaning to the term power walking.
In a paper published in the September 9 issue of Science, Lawrence C. Rome, a University of
The Innovative Regional Growth Core “BioOK” aims to establish the region Rostock-Schwerin – especially the AgroBioTechnikum Groß Lüsewitz – as a competence centre for the analysis, assessment and monitoring of agro biotechnological products and methods. Partners from science and economy co-operate to develop new, efficient and cost effective methods and to bring them to market in the One-top-Agency BioOK GmbH. The Initiative started with funding by the German Ministry of Education and Research,
At the Institut Curie, the CNRS team of Yohanns Bellaïche has just discovered a new cellular component that participates in the organization of cells in the epithelium. This tissue, which forms a barrier between our body and the outside world, is an extremely coherent structure of myriad cells that fit together according to very precise rules. This cohesion holds together the tissues that compose the organs and controls the “comings and goings” of various substances between the outside world and o
Tricking the body’s immune system into ignoring stem cells will be the key to successful stem cell transplants, according to Professor Maggie Dallman, Imperial College London, speaking today at the BA Festival of Science.
Professor Dallman is investigating how to trick the body into producing regulatory cells, which prevent the body’s immune system from attacking its own molecules, at the site of a stem cell transplant. If they were present when stem cells were introduced into
Mobile phones could one day have the memory capacity of a desktop computer thanks to a microchip that mimics the functioning of the brain, scientists report today (9 September) in the journal Science.
Researchers from Imperial College London, Durham University and the University of Sheffield say their new computer chip design will enable large amounts of data to be stored in small volumes by using a complex interconnected network of nanowires, with computing functions and decisions
New research into one of the world’s most social bacteria – Myxococcus xanthus, has discovered that it has a gourmet style approach to its consumption of phosphates, which provides a key clue to what makes it the most “social” of bacteria.
Myxococcus xanthus is amazingly social and co-operative for a bacterium. It “hunts” as a pack, it makes a collective decision with other M. xanthus whether to go dormant or not, and it even has methods of policing the behaviour of individua
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