Thanks to imaging and analysis techniques used by researchers at TU Delft, an international group of scientists has been able to gain more insight into the behaviour of cancerous cells. Delft researchers were the first to establish the changing positions of the ends of chromosomes (telomeres) in cells. It has been discovered that these telomeres behave differently in cancerous cells. An online article on this phenomenon has been published in the important American scientific journal PNAS.
Astronomers Using the VLT Discover Bright Cosmic Mirage Far Away
Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope, Rémi Cabanac and his European colleagues have discovered an amazing cosmic mirage, known to scientists as an Einstein Ring. This cosmic mirage, dubbed FOR J0332-3557, is seen towards the southern constellation Fornax (the Furnace), and is remarkable on at least two counts. First, it is a bright, almost complete Einstein ring. Second, it is the farthest ever found.
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UK scientists have identified bioactive plant chemicals in the most practical of staple foods, the potato. These natural chemicals have been associated with reduced blood pressure and they selectively affect a chemotherapeutic target for trypanosomes and similar diseases such as sleeping sickness.
“Potatoes have been cultivated for thousands of years, and we thought traditional crops were pretty well understood”, says food scientist Dr Fred Mellon from the Institute of Food Res
A report issued by the Royal Society in the U.K. sounds the alarm about the world’s oceans. “If CO2 from human activities continues to rise, the oceans will become so acidic by 2100 it could threaten marine life in ways we can’t anticipate,” commented Dr. Ken Caldeira, co-author of the report and a newly appointed staff scientist at the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology in Stanford, California.* The report on ocean acidification was released today by the Royal S
Map of gene control regions provides tool for understanding cells’ different roles
In another step to decipher information in the human genome, scientists have discovered the location and sequence of over 10,000 DNA regions that function as genetic on-off switches, or “promoters” in human fibroblasts. Fibroblasts are relatively generic, easily maintained, human cells that form connective tissues throughout the body. By knowing the specific sequences of DNA that control the ne
Consequences of inbreeding often undetectable prior to release into wild
Comparative studies of captive breeding strategies conducted at Rice University bolster the case for costly and sometimes troublesome breeding programs that preserve maximum genetic variability in small populations of endangered species.
Worldwide, zoos spend millions of dollars each year transporting rare animals thousands of miles in order to breed them with their most distantly related relativ
New ’cold crust’ model may help explain other Earth-shaping events
Geologists at Queen’s University have discovered that the time it takes for mountain ranges to form is millions of years shorter than previously thought. This controversial finding could have implications for our understanding of other geological processes that shaped the Earth, says Professor James Lee and postdoctoral fellow Alfredo Camacho of Queen’s Geological Sciences and Geological E
A new advanced turbine being tested at Wanapum Dam in Washington state produces nearly 5 percent more power, but before more are installed researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are getting input from several thousand fish.
The project is part of an upgrade to a hydroelectric power plant owned by Public Utility District No. 2 of Grant County, and utility officials want to know how fish-friendly the new minimum gap runner turbine is compared to the 40-year-old turbine it r
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Vienna University of Technology have developed a modular system that combines chemical and biological sensing tools capable of providing simultaneous, nano-level resolution information on cell topography and biological activity. The tools integrate micro and nanoscale electrodes into the tips of an atomic force microscope (AFM). A veritable Swiss army knife of sensors, the patented technique is currently being tested to combine other sensing
Wildfires in Alaska and Canada in 2004 emitted about as much carbon monoxide as did human-related activities in the continental United States during the same time period, according to new research by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The fires also increased atmospheric concentrations of ground-level ozone across much of the Northern Hemisphere.
The NCAR study, which indicates the extent to which wildfires contribute to atmospheric pollution, was publis
Physicists have a pretty good idea of what to expect when friction and adhesion occur in the visible world. You jam on the brakes, for instance, and your tires and the highway interact to stop your car. You glue two pieces of wood together, and they stick.
But how slippery or sticky are things that are too small to see? When solid surfaces no more than a thousand atoms across brush past each other, will they respond like the rubber and the road? Will they adhere like the wood and the glue?
Which is more likely to happen – you being in a car wreck or being bitten by a shark?
Those who answered that cars are greater killers win a free trip to the beach. It’s really no contest, says a Texas A&M University professor. Your chances of being in a wreck are far greater than being a shark’s lunch, says John McEachran, a professor of wildlife and fishery sciences who has studied sharks for years.
Worldwide, about one million people a year are killed in auto accide
The University of Chicago’s Nicolas Dauphas has developed a new way to calculate the age of the Milky Way that is free of the unvalidated assumptions that have plagued previous methods. Dauphas’ method, which he reports in the June 29 issue of the journal Nature, can now be used to tackle other mysteries of the cosmos that have remained unsolved for decades.
“Age determinations are crucial to a fundamental understanding of the universe,” said Thomas Rauscher, an ass
Predicted increases in precipitation due to warmer air temperatures from greenhouse gas emissions may actually increase sea ice volume in the Antarctic’s Southern Ocean. This finding from a new study adds evidence of potential asymmetry between the two poles and may be an indication that climate change processes may have varying impacts on different areas of the globe.
“Most people have heard of climate change and how rising air temperatures are melting glaciers and sea ice
University of California, Berkeley, researchers have invented a variation on the standard electronic transistor, creating the first “nanofluidic” transistor that allows them to control the movement of ions through sub-microscopic, water-filled channels.
The researchers – a chemist and a mechanical engineer – predict that, just as the electronic transistor became the main component of microprocessors and integrated circuits, so will nanofluidic transistors anchor molecular pr
Physiology is sometimes a crossroads where many different paths converge. Such is the case with acute respiratory distress syndrome, a severe and often fatal condition also known as adult respiratory distress syndrome or simply “shock lung.”
Acute respiratory distress syndrome can be caused by a number of underlying conditions, including smoke inhalation, a severe blow to the chest, bad pneumonia, septic shock, severe blood loss, or drug overdose. Although the causes vary greatly, t
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