Biophysicists have developed a method for studying, in real time, a nanoscale “docking and undocking” interaction between small pieces of ribonucleic acid (RNA), a technique that may be broadly useful in studying structural changes in RNA that affect its function. The research at JILA, a joint institute of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and University of Colorado at Boulder, may have applications in the design of effective new drugs based on small RNA strands.
Astronomers and supporters from eight institutions around the country who are developing the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) will gather at The University of Arizona Steward Observatory Mirror Lab on Saturday, July 23, to celebrate the casting of the first of seven 8.4- meter (27-foot) mirrors for the facility.
With this casting, the GMT becomes the first extremely large ground-based telescope to start construction.
The GMT will feature six giant off-axis mirrors around
A ground-breaking comparative genomics study appears online today in the journal Genome Research. Led by Adam Siepel, graduate student in Dr. David Haussler’s laboratory at the University of California, Santa Cruz, the study describes the most comprehensive comparison of conserved DNA sequences in the genomes of vertebrates, insects, worms, and yeast to date.
One of their major findings was that as organism complexity increases, so too does the proportion of conserved bases
A team of scientists led by Cornell University’s Dr. John Schimenti reports today that an extraordinary number of genes are required for prenatal mammalian development. The researchers estimate that up to 19% of all genes are vital for embryogenesis in mice. Their study, which is one of the largest functional genomics projects described to date, is published in today’s online edition of the journal Genome Research.
In addition to the important implications for understanding mammal
Nearly 20 million people worldwide are infected with a parasitic ailment called Chagas Disease, and nearly a third of those will develop severe heart trouble. Although options for treatment are poor and there are no vaccines, a new study by scientists at the University of Georgia of proteins in the parasite that causes the disease may offer hope.
The first-ever global survey of protein expression in the four lifecycle stages of Trypanosoma cruzi, the parasite that causes the dise
Panel publishes recommendations to minimize risk of altering animals’ ’moral status’
An expert panel of stem cell scientists, primatologists, philosophers and lawyers has concluded that experiments implanting, or grafting, human stem cells into non-human primate brains could unintentionally shift the moral ground between humans and other primates. Writing in the July 15 issue of Science, the panel reports its recommendations for minimizing the chances that experim
Delving deep into the molecular subtleties of a strain of mice engineered to age rapidly, scientists have found that an accumulation of genetic mutations prompts a cascade of programmed cell death that seems to underpin the aging process.
Writing today (July 15, 2005) in the journal Science, a team of scientists led by University of Wisconsin-Madison geneticist Tomas A. Prolla describes a series of experiments in mutant and normal mice that peel away some of the root secrets of m
Mercury and DDT are 60X higher as a result of bird droppings, say researchers
Seabirds are the surprising culprits in delivering pollutants – through their guano – to seemingly pristine northern ecosystems, a new Canadian study shows.
The most common form of wildlife in the Arctic, seabirds are responsible for transporting most of the human-made contaminants to some coastal ecosystems, the researchers found. “The effect is to elevate concentrations of pollutants such a
Dr. Robert Husson and colleagues have found two serine threonine kinase genes (pknA and pknB) that regulate cell shape, and possibly cell division, in the bacterial pathogen, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The researchers identified three in vivo substrates of PknA and PknB, one of which (Wag31) is an important factor in controlling bacterial cell division and cell shape.
Overexpression of either Pkn protein results in a cell shape defect. Dr. Husson is confident that “these findings desc
Dr. Stephen Burden and colleagues demonstrate that the DNA-binding protein, Runx1 (AML1), directs the expression of 29 genes involved in the prevention of skeletal muscle wasting. Using mice deficient in runx1 specifically in skeletal muscle cells, the researchers determined that Runx1 activation is necessary to sustain muscle by limiting the autophagy of denervated myofibers.
Dr. Burden believes that their findings “raise the intriguing possibility that congenital myopathies, which do
An international group of researchers working in more than 20 laboratories around the globe have determined genetic blueprints for the parasites that cause three deadly insect-borne diseases: African sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis and Chagas disease. The research, funded in part by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, is published in this week’s issue of Science. Knowing the full genetic make-up of the three parasites–
The four spacecraft of ESA’s Cluster fleet have reached their greatest distance from each other in the course of their mission to study Earth’s magnetosphere in three dimensions.
This operation, marking the fifth anniversary of Cluster in space, transforms Cluster in the first ‘multi-scale’ mission ever. In one of the most complex manoeuvres ever conducted by ESA spacecraft, three of the spacecraft were separated to 10 000 kilometres from each other, with the fourth spacecraft at 1
Thanks to extensive GPS measurements and analyses by TU Delft and its scientific partners, unique images showing the development of the earthquake on 26 December 2004 in South East Asia have been created. This is the first time that a quake of such magnitude has been recorded and made visible using GPS. Today, Thursday 14 July 2005, an article on this subject will be published in the scientific journal Nature.
In the past few years, working together with French, Indonesian, Malaysia
Millions of vehicles produced each year are transported by purpose-built car carrying ships that can be turned around quickly. Research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council confirms that as a consequence of technical, infrastructure and production changes in the industry, crew members have experienced a decline in work/life balance. Shore leave for many may amount to having time for a telephone call home at the port of destination only – before needing to set sail again.
Astronomers Having Used ESO Telescopes Start Analysing Unique Dataset on the Comet Following the Deep Impact Mission
Ten days after part of the Deep Impact spacecraft plunged onto Comet Tempel 1 with the aim to create a crater and expose pristine material from beneath the surface, astronomers are back in the ESO Offices in Santiago, after more than a week of observing at the ESO La Silla Paranal Observatory. In this unprecedented observing campaign – among the most ambitious ever
Free protons from acids associate with 1, 2 or 3 molecules of water and the structures can be identified by unique infrared laser spectrum signatures, according to a report in Science by Yale professor of chemistry Mark A. Johnson and his collaborators at Yale, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Georgia.
Acids yielding free protons are common in biological and chemical systems and the measurement of pH to determine acidity of an aqueous solution is a simple, stand
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