While their friends enjoy the latest hit tunes, people who are tone deaf – in scientific terms, suffering from amusia – are excluded from the fun, unable to tell one note from another. The disorder can be congenital, present from birth, or acquired following injury to the brain. In an article published online August 29, 2005, in the Annals of Neurology (www.interscience.wiley.com/journal/ana), researchers now report the first objective measurement of the brain deficit in congenital amusia.
Although minimally invasive prostate removal aided by a robot can lead to less blood loss, shorter hospital stays and fewer complications, there is no evidence that the procedure improves cure rates, according to a new technology assessment.
In addition, robotic surgery, in high demand among patients, can lose money for hospitals because of its expense and special training required, according to the new review of studies by ECRI.
ECRI is a nonprofit health services res
Foggy windows and lenses are a nuisance, and in the case of automobile windows, can pose a driving hazard. Now, a group of scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) may have found a permanent solution to the problem. The team has developed a unique polymer coating — made of silica nanoparticles — that they say can create surfaces that never fog.
The transparent coating can be applied to eyeglasses, camera lenses, ski goggles … even bathroom mirrors, they say.
An unusual type of antibiotic being developed by chemists at Notre Dame University shows promise in defeating deadly “superbugs” — highly drug-resistant staph bacteria that are an increasing source of hospital-based infections. The novel antibiotics, which could some day save lives, were described today at the 230th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.
The new antibiotics are synthetic forms of cephalosporin, a broad-spectrum a
When it comes to fighting stains, “greener” is better. Chemists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill say they have developed an alternative material for making stain-resistant coatings that does not lead to the contamination of the environment with PFOA, a pervasive chemical that has been termed a “likely carcinogen” by an EPA advisory board.
PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) is used directly in the manufacture of the coatings used in nonstick cookware and is also pro
Performing quantum calculations on a supercomputer, scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have characterized a material that might allow on-board refueling of hydrogen powered vehicles.
Researchers, led by Maciej Gutowski, looked at different crystalline structures of a compound made up of nitrogen, boron and hydrogen – NBH6 – and found one that might be more stable compared to ammonia borane, a molecular crystal built of NH3BH3 molecules. Ammonia borane can hold
X-rays yield pictures and chemical clues that may help trace contaminants, thwart terrorists
As part of the search for better ways to track and clean up soil contaminants, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University have developed a new way to “image” the internal chemistry of bacteria. The technique will allow scientists to “see” at the molecular level how soil-dwelling microbes interact with various pollutants. T
Supercritical fluid carbon dioxide used; melt properties provide monitor
There is a lot of excitement about incorporating nano particles into polymers because of the ability to improve various properties with only a small percent of the particles. “You can improve the barrier to gases, such as hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and oxygen. You can increase material strength with little increase in weight,” said Don Baird, professor of chemical engineering at Virginia Tech.
Bu
Using a water droplet 1 trillion times smaller than a liter of club soda as a sort of nanoscale test tube, a University of Washington scientist is conducting chemical analysis and experimentation at unprecedented tiny scales.
The method captures a single cell, or even a small subcellular structure called an organelle, within a droplet. It then employs a powerful laser microscope to study the contents and examine chemical processes, and a laser beam is used to manipulate the cel
ESA’s multi-sensor Envisat satellite has gathered a unique view of Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico. While an optical image shows characteristic spiralling cloud patterns, a simultaneous radar observation pierces through the clouds to show how Katrina’s 250-kilometre-an-hour an hour winds scour the sea surface.
Envisat simultaneously acquired these images at 1550 UTC (1150 US Eastern Daylight Saving Time) on 28 August, with its Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrom
Research published by the University of Helsinki, Finland, indicates that cytostatic and radiation therapies administered before stem cell transplantation often damage children’s permanent teeth.
Detrimental effects of cytostatic and radiation therapies on dental development have been known for a long time, but knowledge about the dental consequences of high-dose anticancer therapy preceding stem cell transplantation has so far been scarce. Päivi Hölttä, Licentiate in Dentistry,
A new nanotechnology tool that will dramatically cut the cost of leading-edge nano research at the sub-50nm scale has been developed by EU researchers. It could lead to Next Generation Lithography (NGL) technology.
The commercially available first generation tool is low cost compared to sub-50nm alternatives. For example, electron beam lithography costs €2m per machine, whereas the Soft Ultraviolet (UV) Imprint machine developed by SOUVENIR project costs in its basic version wel
The first rhino ever conceived by artificial insemination has died in the womb a few hours before its birth. The death occurred on August 9 in the Budapest Zoo. The mother of the unborn rhino, Lulu (aged 25), had suffered from uterine bleedings. The reason for the complication was presumably a partial separation of the placenta 12 hours prior to birth, says scientist Dr. Thomas Hildebrandt of the Berlin-based Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW). He and his colleagues from the IZW had dev
Montreal researchers identify new anti-cancer, anti-infection response control mechanism
Dr. André Veillette, a researcher at the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM), and his team will publish in the upcoming issue of the prestigious journal Nature Immunology of Nature Publishing Group, a discovery that could significantly advance the treatment of cancers and infectious diseases. Current treatments frequently achieve only limited results with these types of di
Rats given morphine show bigger biological and behavioral signs of stress-induced anxiety even after going off the drug
A new study has found that opiate drugs such as morphine leave animals more vulnerable to stress. This means that stress and opiates are in a vicious cycle: Not only does stress trigger drug use, but in return the drug leaves animals more vulnerable to stress. The study, conducted at the University of New South Wales, helps to explain why people who use opiates
A Duke University chemist has found differences in how ultraviolet light affects the photochemistry of human pigments that he says may explain why red-haired people are more prone to skin cancer than those with black hair.
Duke chemistry professor John Simon and his collaborators used a broadly-tunable ultraviolet laser and a special microscope to distinguish between the oxidation potentials of pigments of redheaded and black-haired people. Oxidation potentials measure how li
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