The EU is now entering an agreement with Lund University regarding research into the desertification. The background is that 40 research organizations from 16 countries recently gathered in Madrid to launch an EU project (DeSurvey) about land degradation and desertification in Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America. The EU funding is about SEK 75 million. Lund University will be taking part as the only Scandinavian unit, in the person of Professor Ulf Helldén at the Department of Physical Geo
Two new 250 million year-old species of large, meat-eating amphibians have been discovered by researchers, including investigators from McGill University. Their findings published in today’s issue of Nature, describe the first and oldest amphibious carnivores from the Republic of Niger in West Africa.
“This the first evidence of carnivores in this area,” says McGill paleontologist, and co-author, Hans Larsson. “This find is particularly interesting because the animals we found are
The experiment on the International Space Station that will chase earthquakes
Lazio-Sirad is ready to gather data. The experiment is installed on the International Space Station and its aim is to trace the slight variations of the so-called Van Allen belts that seem to occur before earthquakes.
At the same time the experiment will gather data that will make possible the development of techniques of protection from radiation for astronauts. The astronaut Roberto Vittori wil
Researchers at Stockholm University have, together with colleagues in England, discovered a new way of treating and preventing hereditary breast cancer. The article, published in Nature, describes how the use of a chemical inhibitor can specifically kill tumour cells, which have a defect in the gene causing hereditary breast cancer. This new treatment targets only the tumour cells and is not likely to affect other healthy cells in the body. The discovery could also lead to a prophylactic treatme
Mechanical engineers at Purdue University have new findings offering promise for modifying household refrigeration technology with small devices to cool future weapons systems and computer chips.
The devices, called “micro-channel heat sinks,” circulate coolant through numerous channels about three times the width of a human hair. Such devices might be attached directly to electronic components in military lasers, microwave radar and weapons systems, as well as in future computers t
A team led by Dutch researcher Jan Boon from the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (Royal NIOZ) has discovered that one isomer of the toxic substance HBCD accumulates in dolphins and porpoises. The animals metabolise the other two isomers. HBCD has partially replaced other flame retardants already banned in Europe. However, according to the researchers it is still questionable whether HBCD is also less environmentally harmful. The results have just been published in the scientific jour
Dutch-sponsored researcher Keshav Ruthiya has made considerable improvements to a so-called slurry bubble column. The chemical industry uses these bubble columns for reactions between gases and liquids, for example, for organic wastewater purification or the synthesis of hydrocarbons. Various companies are interested in using Ruthiya’s results in commercial reactors.
Ruthiya investigated how catalyst particles adhere to gas bubbles in a slurry bubble column. Slurry bubble columns ar
Dutch-sponsored researcher Thuy Huynh has discovered that pigs get stressed if they become too warm. They go and lie on the slatted floor, wallow in urine, eat less and grow less as well. With cooling systems, such as floor cooling, sprinkling or water baths, the pigs remain cool and grow better.
Pigs in confinement find it difficult to lose body heat. Therefore their well being is strongly dependent on the ambient temperature. Huynh discovered that they huddled less at a temperatu
Basic building blocks of nanotech, carbon nanotubes will help carry the $850 billion electronics industry forward
A Case Western Reserve University engineer has created the “seeds” that can grow into today’s and tomorrow’s computer and phone chips.
In a development that could lead to smaller but more powerful computers and electronic communication devices, Massood Tabib-Azar, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Case, and engineering graduate s
Road warriors may no longer have to stay put in an airport lounge or Starbucks to access the high-speed Internet via an 802.11 Wi-Fi network. Thanks to software developed by two computer scientists at the University of California, San Diego, the time it takes to hand off from one Wi-Fi wireless network to the next can be dramatically shortened — overcoming a major obstacle in Wi-Fi roaming.
Jacobs School of Engineering professor Stefan Savage and graduate student Ishwar Ramani h
Weizmann Institute Scientists Reveal the Shape of a Protein That Helps Retroviruses Break into Cells
Retroviruses are among the trickier and more malicious disease agents, causing AIDS and cancers such as leukemia. The viruses manage to sneak into cells with the help of special protein assemblies scattered all over their surfaces. These retrovirus surface proteins cause the membrane envelope of the virus to fuse with the membrane of the cell, spilling virus RNA into the cell to wr
A group of Japanese scientists has used gene therapy to deliver three insulin transcription factors, MafA, PDX-1, and NeuroD, to the livers of diabetic mice. As a result, the mice experienced an increase in insulin gene expression and insulin production, raising the possibility that this could eventually be used to treat diabetes. The research appears as the “Paper of the Week” in the April 15 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, an American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biolo
Researchers at the University of Warwick have trashed the world’s biggest turbulence lab by turning a pleasant stream into a raging torrent – but they say their actions will lead to new understandings in one of the main unsolved problems in physics- turbulence.
Turbulence is one of the main unsolved problems in physics. Turbulent systems fluctuate wildly and understanding this will also help us understand (and put a number on the likelihood of) extreme events in other systems th
The way termite guts process food could teach scientists how to produce pollution-free energy and help solve the world’s imminent energy crisis. Speaking at the Institute of Physics conference Physics 2005 in Warwick today, Nobel laureate Steven Chu urged scientists to turn their attention to finding an environmentally friendly form of fuel. In an impassioned plea to some of the world’s brightest minds, he explained how he’s leading by example, and encouraged others to join the e
Contrary to established scientific thinking, you’d be roasted and not “spaghettified” if you stumbled into a supermassive black hole. New research being presented at the Institute of Physics conference Physics 2005 in Warwick will take a new look at the diet of the universe’s most intriguing object, black holes.
Black holes stand at the very edge of scientific theory. Most scientists believe they exist, although many of their theories break down under the extreme condi
Gene hunters at Johns Hopkins have discovered a common genetic mutation that increases the risk of inheriting a particular birth defect not by the usual route of disrupting the gene’s protein-making instructions, but by altering a regulatory region of the gene. Although the condition, called Hirschsprung disease, is rare, its complex genetics mimics that of more common diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease.
“It’s a funny mutation in a funny place,” says study leader Aravinda
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