In order to understand the dynamics of glaciers and ice sheets as well as their interactions with climate, we need fundamental detailed knowledge about the way in which glaciers and ice sheets move. The way water is routed through glaciers is highly significant for their movement since the water pressure at the base of the glacier directly influences its speed. The water pressure acts as a hydraulic jack and pushes that glacier forwards during high water pressure events. This may increase the
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) want to attract some of the world’s most promising scientists to Central Europe. To help them establish their first independent laboratories there, the organizations are launching the EMBO/HHMI Startup Grants – three-year awards of $75,000 U.S. annually. The new scheme was announced at the EMBO/HHMI Meeting of Central European Scientists in Budapest, Hungary.
The EMBO/HHMI Startup
Using a global network of radio telescopes, scientists have measured the speed of the winds faced by Huygens during its descent through the atmosphere of Titan.
This measurement could not be done from space because of a configuration problem with one of Cassini’s receivers. The winds are weak near the surface and increase slowly with altitude up to about 60 km, becoming much rougher higher up where significant vertical wind shear may be present.
Preliminary estimates
BU team’s nanomechanical device bridges classic and quantum physics
Nanotechnology leapt into the realm of quantum mechanics this past winter when an antenna-like sliver of silicon one-tenth the width of a human hair oscillated in a lab in a Boston University basement. With two sets of protrusions, much like the teeth from a two-sided comb or the paddles from a rowing shell, the antenna not only exhibits the first quantum nanomechanical motion but is also the world’s fastest mov
Last year was the fourth warmest year on average for our planet since the late 1800s, according to NASA scientists.
To determine if the Earth is warming or cooling, scientists look at average temperatures. To get an “average” temperature, scientists take the warmest and the coolest temperatures in a day, and calculate the temperature that is exactly in the middle of those high and low values. This provides an average temperature for a day. These average temperatures are then ca
University of Rochester scientists investigating the link between PCBs, pesticides and Parkinson’s disease demonstrated new and intricate reactions that occur in certain brain cells, making them more vulnerable to injury after exposures.
In two papers published in the journal NeuroToxicology (Dec. 2004 and Feb. 2005), the group describes how polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) disrupt dopamine neurons, which are the cells that degenerate during the course of Parkinson’s disease. Re
From person to piranha to petunia, it’s pretty easy to spot different species in the human-scale part of the plant and animal kingdoms. But a new study shows that species differences aren’t so clear, at least as currently measured, when it comes to microscopic bacteria.
MSU researchers have spotted significant differences in genetic libraries among thought-to-be similar bacteria strains. The results, published this week in the journal the Proceedings of the National
Ancient wisdom, technological savvy
Researchers at the University of Washington have blended the past with the present in the fight against cancer, synthesizing a promising new compound from an ancient Chinese remedy that uses cancer cells’ rapacious appetite for iron to make them a target.
The substance, artemisinin, is derived from the wormwood plant and has been used in China since ancient times to treat malaria. Earlier work by Henry Lai and Narendra Singh, both UW
Chronic nicotine exposure increases tangles in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease
UCI researchers have determined that chronic nicotine exposure worsens some Alzheimer’s-related brain abnormalities, contradicting the common belief that nicotine can actually be used to treat the disease.
In the latest online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers report that chronic nicotine exposure increases neurofibrillary tangles – the bundles
KALIX has combined its experience with new technology to develop the new KX2000 tube filler and KP2000 cartoning machine. With this new technology, specially designed for the cosmetics industry, KALIX’s machines optimise flexibility, ergonomics, capacity and size, as well as facilitating packaging line cleaning and maintenance. KALIX will be present at the Interpack trade fair in Düsseldorf (Germany) from 21 to 27 April 2005.
The KX2000 tube filler can process plastic, aluminium, la
An international team of scientists has used gene therapy in two separate studies to renew brain cells and restore normal movements in monkeys and rats with a drug-induced form of Parkinson’s disease.
The research, detailed online in the scientific publications Brain and The Journal of Neuroscience, essentially describes one strategy to halt Parkinson’s disease at its onset and another strategy to treat the devastating side effects that occur when treating the d
Assay to be made commercially available
If you’re an organization dedicated to humane alternatives to the use of animals in research and you want to conduct research of your own that requires using animals as part of the testing, what do you do? In the case of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, you invent your own test.
PCRM president Neal Barnard, M.D., announced today that PCRM has developed the world’s first cruelty-free insulin assay, a test u
Uncharted area of umbilical cord offers hope
University of Toronto researchers have discovered an ample source of stem cells in an uncharted part of the umbilical cord, providing new hope for bone marrow transplants and tissue repair.
The study, published in the February issue of Stem Cells, outlines how researchers discovered that the jelly-like connective tissue surrounding the blood vessels of the human umbilical cord, the so-called “Wharton’s Jelly,” is rich in me
’At a snail’s pace’
Earth and planetary scientists at Washington University in St. Louis are studying snail fossils to understand the climate of northern Africa 130,000 years ago.
While that might sound a bit like relying on wooly bear caterpillars to predict the severity of winter, the snails actually reveal clues about the climate and environment of western Egypt, lo those many years ago. They also could shed light on the possible role weather and climate played in
Effect pronounced when caregivers experience own health problems or care for especially needy spouses
When elderly people need assistance with the activities of daily life, one might assume that the best people to care for them would be the ones who know them best–their spouses. But, as a team of researchers at the University of Pittsburgh report in this month’s issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, being married to one’s caregiver could be a prescr
A steroid hormone released during the metabolism of progesterone, the female sex hormone, reduces the brain’s response to stress, according to research in rats by scientists at Emory University School of Medicine, the Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Atlanta’s Center for Behavioral Neuroscience. The scientists found evidence that the progesterone metabolite allopregnanolone reduces the brain’s response to corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), a peptide hormone that play
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