The December earthquake and tsunami that killed approximately 300,000 people in the Indian Ocean region was so powerful that no point on Earth went undisturbed, pointing to the need for more active warnings about the consequences of future events, according to University of Colorado at Boulder seismologist Roger Bilham.
Bilham offers his perspective in “A Flying Start, Then a Slow Slip,” an overview of findings on the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake published in the May 20 issue of Scie
Epidemiological modelling of routine use of low dose aspirin for the primary prevention of coronary heart disease and stroke in those aged 70 BMJ Online First
The benefits of giving low dose aspirin to healthy people from the age of 70 to prevent heart disease are offset by increased cases of serious bleeding, argue researchers in a study published online by the BMJ this week.
Using a model, the team simulated the broad implications of routine use of aspirin in a popul
Oscillations begun by the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake in December 2004 are providing important information about the composition of the Earth as well as the size and duration of the earthquake, according to a report in the journal Science by an international group of scientists led by Professor Jeffrey J. Park of the Department of Geology and Geophysics at Yale University.
“Just like thumping a watermelon to hear if it is ripe, after a big earthquake thumps our planet we measure the n
Quake was twice as strong, but much slower than thought
The Sumatra-Andaman earthquake that generated a deadly tsunami on Dec. 26 was stronger and slower than most seismologists thought, according to scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology in India and the United States Geological Survey (U.S.G.S.).
Using data from global positioning system (GPS) stations around the Pacific and Indian oceans, including previously unav
New report details public opinion and fast-changing science landscape
The confusing welter of state laws regarding human cloning for reproductive purposes and for research uses reflects a national political impasse on regulating cloning, according to a new report by The Genetics & Public Policy Center, a project of The Pew Charitable Trusts and Johns Hopkins University. This lack of a national consensus comes at a time when rapid advances in cloning technology make crafting br
Researchers at The Jackson Laboratory have discovered a genetic link to porencephaly, a rare but devastating neurological condition.
Their research, published in the May 19 issue of the journal Science, may have significant implications for preventing the disease in humans.
Usually exhibited in infants shortly after birth, symptoms of porencephaly include mental retardation, cerebral palsy or epilepsy. The brains of porencephaly patients show degenerative cavities and lesio
The earthquake that generated the Sumatran-Andaman Islands tsunami caused massive devastation, but exactly what happened beneath the ocean is the focus of modeling activities by an international team of geoscientists.
“The earthquake rupture ran a distance equivalent to the distance from Jacksonville, Florida to Boston, Mass.,” says Charles J. Ammon, associate professor of geosciences at Penn State. “This earthquake lasted just under 10 minutes, while most large earthquakes take o
Nuclear transfer yields immune-matched human embryonic stem cell lines from patients with spinal cord injury, juvenile diabetes and immune deficiency
Research from the Republic of Korea’s Seoul National University published in this week’s edition of Science represents a major advance in the science of using stem cells to repair damage caused by human disease and injury, according to Gerald Schatten, Ph.D., professor and vice chair of research development in the department of
A protein identified by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine appears to play a major role in the release of neurotransmitters and therefore communication between nerve cells.
In a report that is the cover article in the current issue of the journal Cell, Dr. Hugo Bellen, BCM professor of molecular and human genetics and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, and his colleague Dr. P. Robin Hiesinger demonstrate that a protein called Vha100-1, a member of the pore-for
By surrounding fluorescent dyes with a protective silica shell, Cornell University researchers have created fluorescent nanoparticles with possible applications in displays, biological imaging, optical computing, sensors and microarrays such as DNA chips. These are all applications for which quantum dots have been used or are being considered. But the new Cornell nanoparticles offer an appealing alternative because of their greater chemical inertness and reduced cost.
“People hav
For the first time, scientists have shown that humans use an immune defense process common in plants and invertebrates to battle a virus. The new finding that human cells can silence an essential part of HIV’s genetic make-up could have important implications for the treatment of people infected with the virus. Led by Kuan-Teh Jeang, M.D, Ph.D., of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part the National Institutes of Health, the researchers published their find
Humans and other animals may appear to be symmetrical on the outside, but symmetry is only skin deep. Many body organs, such as the stomach, the heart and the liver, are tipped to the right or left side. So how does the developing embryo distinguish left from right? Salk scientists have now discovered that the foundations for the basic left-right body plan are laid by a microscopic ’pump’ on the outer surface of the embryo’s underside that wafts chemical messengers over to the left
Dextromethorphan, an over-the-counter medication that silences coughs, may help fibromyalgia patients quiet over-reacting nerves that amplify ordinary touches into agony.
A University of Florida study documents, for the first time, that dextromethorphan temporarily reduces the intensity of fibromyalgia “wind-up,” a snowballing pain response to minor, repetitive physical contact. The discovery, described in the May issue of The Journal of Pain, also enables researchers to rul
Embryonic stem cells with identical genomes grow into distinctive tissues, such as heart, bone, and brain. At one time, scientists believed the differences among cell types arose from various sets of genes switched on inside developing cells. Then, studies showed that adult neurons uniquely lack a protein that permanently turns off neuronal genes in the rest of the body’s cells.
Now, it turns out that precursor nerve cells contain that same repressive protein after all. In
Improved techniques and supportive care have resulted in a growing number of long-term survivors of stem cell transplants, though little is known about the impact transplants have on patients’ lives long after treatment. To find the answers, researchers from the City of Hope Cancer Center and the University of Minnesota assessed 854 cancer patients that had undergone stem cell transplants, taking a detailed look at the aftereffects of the procedure in the years following the transplant. Their re
A robot’s sensitivity to touch could be vastly improved by an array of polymer-based tactile sensors that has been combined with a robust signal-processing algorithm to classify surface textures. The work, performed by a team of researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is an essential step in the development of robots that can identify and manipulate objects in unstructured environments.
“We are developing artificial tactile sensors that will imitate the
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