’Nanoshells’ enhance sensitivity to chemical detection by factor of 10 billion
New research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science finds that tailored nanoparticles known as nanoshells can enhance chemical sensing by as much as 10 billion times. That makes them about 10,000 times more effective at Raman scattering than traditional methods.
When molecules and materials scatter light, a small fraction of the light interacts in such a w
A little anxiety can be a good thing when it comes to cancer symptoms according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. They report that people with low overall anxiety levels were more apt to ignore symptoms of rectal cancer for long periods of time, thereby delaying treatment. In contrast, people with at least moderate levels of anxiety tended to quickly recognize symptoms such as rectal bleeding as a sign of serious illness.
“Almost everyone has
A new report by the National Academies’ National Research Council on the health effects of perchlorate, a chemical that in high doses can decrease thyroid function in humans and that is present in many public drinking-water supplies, says daily ingestion of up to 0.0007 milligrams per kilogram of body weight can occur without adversely affecting the health of even the most sensitive populations. That amount is more than 20 times the “reference dose” proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protect
Blood pressure levels drop in response to vegetarian diet, says lead article in Nutrition Reviews January 2005
A new scientific review shows that high blood pressure can be reduced with diet changes, especially a vegetarian diet. The new report analyzes the results of published studies and concludes that vegetarian populations have lower rates of hypertension, “the silent killer.” This report, authored by nutritionist Susan E. Berkow, Ph.D., C.N.S., and Neal D. Barnard, M.D., is the
Mount Desert Island Bio Lab unveils database
The Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory has publicly released a prototype of the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD: http://ctd.mdibl.org). CTD aims to advance understanding about the impact of environmental chemicals on human health. It is the first database to provide centralized, integrated, and curated molecular and toxicology data from diverse organisms for scientists worldwide.
“It is becoming increasingly well a
NASA scientists using data from the Indonesian earthquake calculated it affected Earth’s rotation, decreased the length of day, slightly changed the planet’s shape, and shifted the North Pole by centimeters. The earthquake that created the huge tsunami also changed the Earth’s rotation.
Dr. Benjamin Fong Chao, of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. and Dr. Richard Gross of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. said all earth
Threatened by habitat loss, poaching, pollution and other factors, wildlife species across the globe are declining in number at an alarming rate. Scientists from the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in New York City have been monitoring endangered wildlife populations for more than 100 years. For decades, traditional capture and tag methods have been a primary tool, but they are not the most efficient when dealing with large animals and animals in remote locations. The WCS’s re
People that live in Florida would expect the sands from the state beaches to blow into the air, and usually don’t think of the sands and dust from the Saharan Desert twirling around them. However, winds do carry the desert dust across the Atlantic Ocean, and scientists have been studying what they do to Florida Thunderstorms.
Scientists have discovered that these tiny particles of dust from the Saharan desert can affect thunderstorms in Florida in various ways. Dust affects
College and high school students can now see how Earth’s climate is changing without leaving their computers.
NASA and other organizations use NASA’s global climate computer model (GCM) to see how Earth’s climate is changing. A GCM calculates many things, such as how much sunlight is reflected and absorbed by Earth’s atmosphere, the temperature of the air and oceans, the distribution of clouds, rainfall, and snow, and what may happen to the polar ice caps in th
Mayo Clinic Proceedings study finds small tumors detectable with gamma camera
Using a new specially designed gamma camera for breast imaging, Mayo Clinic researchers report in the January issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings their success with a system they call molecular breast imaging. “By optimizing the camera to detect smaller breast lesions, this technique should aid in the detection of early-stage breast cancer, something that was not possible with conventional gamma cameras,”
A baby’s first sounds, other than crying, may baffle parents. Is that soft “coo” the sound of contentment? Boredom? Nothing more than a reflex?
Little is known about baby’s talk and just as little is known about how babies perceive and process words and sounds from adults and the world around them. It is through understanding how infants and toddlers develop life-long language skills that researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine hope to help deaf infant
When our solar system was young, its biggest babies–Jupiter and Saturn–threw tantrums by the trillion. The huge planets hurled ice-covered rocky bodies from the inner solar system far past the orbit of Pluto. Some of those bodies revisit their old neighborhood as “long period” comets, which have been called the Rosetta Stone of the solar system because their pristine composition holds the key to understanding how Earth and similar planets formed. Astrophysicists from the University of Minne
The likelihood of a large number of future cases of vCJD remains small claim researchers from Imperial College London.
According to research published today in Journal of the Royal Society Interface, the team believe there will be around 70 future cases of vCJD arising from the consumption of BSE-infected beef. At most this could rise to a total of around 600 deaths, although the researchers feel this is unlikely.
This work follows on from a study in 2003 at Derriford Ho
A trio of massive, young star clusters found embedded in a star cloud may shed light on the formation of super-star clusters and globular clusters.
The discovery, made with images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope, is being presented today by You-Hua Chu and Rosie Chen of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Kelsey Johnson of the University of Virginia to the American Astronomical Society meeting in San Diego. This finding indicates that super-star clusters may b
New research involving more than one million people indicates that having high fasting serum glucose levels and diabetes are risk factors for several major cancers, according to a study in the January 12 issue of JAMA.
Diabetes mellitus is a serious and costly disease that is becoming increasingly common in many countries, including Korea, the site of this study, according to background information in the article. Recent data show that approximately 150 million people have diabetes
High consumption of red and processed meat over a long period of time is associated with an increased risk for a certain type of colon cancer, according to a study in the January 12 issue of JAMA.
Meat consumption has been associated with colorectal cancer in previous studies, but the strength of the association and types of meat involved have not been consistent, according to background information in the article. Few studies have evaluated long-term meat consumption or the relat
Feedback
