Carbon nanotubes—a hot nanotechnology with many potential uses—may find one of its quickest applications in the next generation of standards for optical power measurements, which are essential for laser systems used in manufacturing, medicine, communications, lithography, space-based sensors and other technologies.
As described in a forthcoming paper in Applied Optics,* scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Renewable Energy
Coming full circle has new meaning for researchers who demonstrated a promising new approach integrating scientific experimentation and mathematical modeling to study a key signaling pathway that helps cells decide whether to grow or die.
With implications for disease characterization, biotechnology and drug design, the approach tested by researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and the Georgia Institute of Technology offers an efficient way of gaining useful
A team of applied mathematicians, physicists, and biologists has discovered how the Venus flytrap snaps up its prey in a mere tenth of a second by actively shifting the curved shape of its mouth-like leaves. Their study, published in the Jan. 27 issue of the journal Nature, investigates the series of events that occur from the time the plant’s leaves are stimulated to the time the trap is clamped shut.
“Our work complements prior research,” says Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan, G
A Johns Hopkins-led study designed to evaluate the ability of etanercept to maintain disease remissions in a serious autoimmune disorder has failed to show any benefit. Etanercept, also called Enbrel, is a common treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and other types of joint inflammation.
“We had hoped that this approach to the treatment of Wegener’s granulomatosis would be useful in preventing disease relapses,” says John H. Stone, M.D., associate professor of medicine, dire
Researchers have discovered a way to make light sensitive cells in the eye by switching on a single gene.
According to research published online today in Nature, the team from Imperial College London and the University of Manchester, have discovered that activating the melanopsin gene in the nerve cells causes them to become light responsive, or photoreceptive.
Using mouse cells, the researchers found that melanopsin could be used to make neurones light responsive. T
A UK based team of researchers has found that regular epidemics of syphilis in the USA are due to the intrinsic cyclical nature of the disease. They show that changes in the immunity of the population cause periodic syphilis outbreaks, rather than changes in sexual behaviour, as was previously thought.
According to research published today in Nature, the team from Imperial College London and funded by the Medical Research Council and the Royal Society suggest that syphilis outb
The storage of hydrogen in fuel cell powered cars can probably be greatly improved by increasing the working temperature of the fuel cell. With the use of magnesium powder, the storage of hydrogen can take place more efficiently and safely and at a higher temperature. This is the conclusion of Gijs Schimmel, who will defend his PhD thesis at TU Delft on 1 February.
One of the main problems in the transition to a hydrogen economy is the storage of hydrogen, for use in vehicles, for
ESA’s SMART-1 captured its first close-range images of the Moon this January, during a sequence of test lunar observations from an altitude between 1000 and 5000 kilometres above the lunar surface.
SMART-1 entered its first orbit around the Moon on 15 November 2004. It has spent the two months following spiralling down to the Moon and testing its array of instruments.
The first four days after being captured by the lunar gravity were very critical. There had been
A special unit to assess the recent earthquakes and tsunami disasters in Asia and to harvest the lessons learned from the international relief effort has been launched by Cranfield University’s Resilience Centre.
The Resilience Centre, a partnership between Cranfield University at Shrivenham and the Defence Academy of the UK, was founded in July 2004 to maximise the extensive defence and security management and technology expertise available at both Cranfield and the Defence Acade
Greenhouse gases could cause global temperatures to rise by more than double the maximum warming so far considered likely by the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), according to results from the world’s largest climate prediction experiment, published in the journal Nature this week.
The first results from climateprediction.net, a global experiment using computing time donated by the general public, show that average temperatures could eventually rise by up to 11°
The art of communication becomes a science when dealing with computers. Laying the foundations for future research in human-computer interactions, PF-STAR’s speech and gesture databases, and virtual agents open up new approaches to machine-based communications.
Completed in September 2004, the IST project PF-STAR aimed to lay the foundations for future research efforts in Multilingual and Multisensorial Communication, or MMC for short. Over the project’s two-year term, research
EU agricultural policy has its roots in the post-war food shortages and is completely outmoded today. The problems of colossal surpluses of meat and butter and dramatically rising costs indicate that something must be done. But this requires planning models and methods to make it possible to carry out the necessary reforms in a sensible way.
What would happen, for example, in various European countries if the EU were to eliminate its subsidies for sugar or grain? How would vari
A key process that enhances the production of nuclear energy in the interior of dense stars has been re-created in the laboratory for the first time by physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The work may help scientists study topics such as nuclear fusion as a possible energy source and demonstrates a new method for studying and modeling dense stellar objects such as white dwarfs.
The NIST experiments, described in the Jan. 18 issue of Physical Revi
A simple, chemical way to attach electrical contacts to molecular-scale electronic components has been developed by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The recently patented* method attaches a layer of copper on the ends of delicate molecular components to avoid damage to the components that commonly occurs with conventional techniques.
Molecular electronics–designing carbon-based molecules to act as wires, diodes, transistors and other micr
At the III International Symposium on Advanced Therapy for Chronic Inflammatory Bowel Disease, held in Madrid, the biotechnological company, Progenika, presented a DNA-chip the purpose of which is the optimisation of the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn’s disease and Ulcerous Colitis).
The project developing the biochip, known as the IBDChip, was carried out with the collaboration of Dr. Miquel Sans of the Gastroenterology Serv
Mayo Clinic researchers have identified a previously unknown form of muscular dystrophy, a group of genetic diseases characterized by progressive weakness and muscle degeneration. This newly identified form develops after age 40 and causes heart muscle damage, limb muscle weakness and nerve damage. The researchers have named the newly defined disorder “zaspopathy” (Zas-PO-path-ee).
Some 50,000 Americans have some form of muscular dystrophy, and there are currently no cures. M
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