Significant advances in university research and other studies in the past two years are pointing toward Oregon as the possible epicenter of wave energy development in the United States.
This may lead to a major initiative to expand a technology that is now in its engineering infancy, and tap the constant heave of the oceans for a new era of clean, affordable and renewable electrical power. Electrical engineers at Oregon State University have pioneered the development of techno
A University of Michigan research team has found that introducing a growth factor protein into a mouth wound using gene therapy helped generate bone around dental implants, according to a new paper in the February issue of the journal Molecular Therapy.
In a patient with a sizeable mouth wound, replacing a tooth takes more than simply implanting a new one—the patient also needs the bone structure to anchor the new tooth in place. Such reconstructive surgery today involves
A Yale researcher and expert in the practice of acupuncture is conducting a three-year study on the effectiveness of this ancient Chinese practice in reducing low back pain during pregnancy.
The study is funded with a $400,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health and will include 150 women who are at least 24 weeks pregnant. The lead researcher, Shu-Ming Wang, M.D., associate professor of anesthesiology at Yale School of Medicine, was approached by a colleague three years
Rush is Only Chicago Medical Center Among 20 U.S. Sites in Clinical Study
Individuals with moderate to severe chest pains (angina) who have not found relief from medication may benefit from a new gene therapy approach being used by cardiologists at Rush University Medical Center to grow new blood vessels in the heart.
The phase II clinical research study uses vascular endothelial growth factor-2 (VEGF-2) in the form of a solution containing a DNA plasmid that is delivered
A new study has disclosed perhaps the strongest evidence to date for superfluidity in an exotic gas that mimics extreme behavior in Nature — ranging from high temperature superconductivity to the behavior of fundamental particles in the Big Bang, when the universe is believed to have begun in a huge burst of energy within a very small space. Although the gas was trapped by a laser beam within billionths of a degree of absolute zero, the lowest possible temperature, researchers said it behaved
Elderly also drive worse when chatting, but not as bad as expected
If you have been stuck in traffic behind a motorist yakking on a cellular phone, a new University of Utah study will sound familiar: When young motorists talk on cell phones, they drive like elderly people, moving and reacting more slowly and increasing their risk of accidents. “If you put a 20-year-old driver behind the wheel with a cell phone, their reaction times are the same as a 70-year-old driver who is not us
A key mechanism in the passing of genetic material from a parent cell to daughter cells appears to have been identified by a team of Berkeley researchers. Their study may explain how a complex of proteins, called kinetochores, can recognize and stay attached to microtubules, hollow fibers in the walls of biological cells that are responsible for the faithful segregation of chromosomes during cell division.
“In test tube experiments, we’ve found that the kinetochore proteins form
If successful, discovery could play an important role in putting a man on Mars
Robert Levis, Ph.D. (center), Director of the Center for Advanced Photonics Research, demonstrates the ultrafast laser beams used to detect the cyclic ozone reaction product. Assisting Levis are (L-R) Alexei Filin, Ph.D.; Ryan Compton; and Matthew Coughlan.
With nearly twice the energy of normal, bent-shaped ozone (O3), cyclic ozone could hold the key component for a future manned-mission
Or tell you when it’s time to reel in that big fish
In a world with an intensified need for security, Case Western Reserve University researchers are developing materials that could make consumers less susceptible to product tampering or failures. Using a mixture of conventional polymers with small amounts of tailored fluorescent dyes, Case researchers have discovered that the dyes function as natural, molecular sensors, creating light-emitting polymer blends that show mechanical s
In a study that sheds new light on how consumers choose between pleasurable or practical products, a University of Washington researcher has found that people are more likely to buy fun products, but only if the situation allows them the flexibility to rationalize their purchases.
According to Erica Okada, an assistant professor of marketing at the UW Business School, goods can be broadly categorized into hedonic goods that offer enjoyment and utilitarian goods that offer pra
Diffusion-weighted MRI is “extremely useful” in detecting Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), a close cousin of “mad cow” disease, very early in its progression–even before the onset of characteristic clinical findings, according to a new study by researchers from Showa University Northern Yokohama Hospital in Japan.
For the study, researchers analyzed nine cases of CJD in which MRI of the brain was performed during early, intermediate and late stages of the disease. At the early stage, re
Football fans faced with a frosty pitcher of beer and a heaping platter of wings on Super Bowl Sunday often respond as if it were fourth-and-goal — they go for it.
But weight-conscious people should heed the humble rat, which stays trim by instinctively cutting calories when indulging in alcoholic drinks, say researchers at the University of Florida’s psychology department and the Evelyn F. and William L. McKnight Brain Institute.
Rats also know how to say no to the brew, stopp
The February issue of GEOLOGY covers a wide variety of potentially newsworthy subjects. Topics include: earthquakes in the central Indian Ocean and possible break-up of the Indo-Australian tectonic plate; dynamics of the Chicxulub impact tsunami; sea-level rise and the future of reef islands; evidence for abrupt climate change triggered by meltwater from glacial Lake Iroquois; new evidence from the Late Ordovician of CO2 as driver of climate change; and new support for a causal relationship bet
Study is based on data compiled from remote sensing, censuses, and expert opinion
The February 2005 issue of BioScience, the monthly journal of the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS), includes a new assessment of rapid land-cover change around the world over the period from 1981 to 2000. Changes in the use to which land is put have important implications for climate change and loss of biodiversity, and affect local populations’ access to food and clean drinking
About nineteen percent of people have a genetic variation that may increase susceptibility to osteoporosis, a new study reveals. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis demonstrated that in women the variant gene speeds up the breakdown of estrogen and is associated with low density in the bones of the hip.
The study will be reported in the February issue of the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research and is available online.
The gene, named CYP
The Swift satellite’s Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) has seen first light, capturing an image of the Pinwheel Galaxy, long loved by amateur astronomers as the “perfect” face-on spiral galaxy. The UVOT now remains poised to observe its first gamma-ray burst and the Swift observatory, launched into Earth orbit in November 2004, is now fully operational.
Swift is a NASA-led mission dedicated to the gamma-ray burst mystery. These random and fleeting explosions likely sign
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