New source means new cellular communication
For 50 years, thousands of labs around the world have studied cells’ critical internal communications, and scientists had assumed the speakers were known. But now, in the Dec. 17 issue of Science, Johns Hopkins researchers report finding not just a new participant, but a brand new conversation that has implications for treating disease and understanding biology.
Much of cells’ internal communication revolves around two
Experiments led by Nicolas Dauphas of the University of Chicago and Chicago’s Field Museum have validated some controversial rocks from Greenland as the potential site for the earliest evidence of life on Earth.
“The samples that I have studied are extremely controversial,” said Dauphas, an Assistant Professor in Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago and a Field Museum Associate. Some scientists have claimed that these rocks from Greenland’s banded iron for
Hundreds of thousands of earthquake fatalities could be averted if building contractors and homeowners were alerted to elementary construction principles, especially in the world’s six deadliest earthquake countries led by Iran, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder seismologist.
Roger Bilham said Iran, Turkey, China and the Caucasus states run the highest risk among developing nations, while Japan and Italy are the most hazardous industrialized nations in terms of eart
A Swedish case where a certain type of stem cells has been transplanted to a foetus with a serious disease, was made public today. The results suggest that fetal mesenchymal stem cells may be a valuable source for transplantation and cell therapies.
A female foetus with multiple intrauterine fractures, diagnosed as severe osteogenesis imperfecta, was transplanted with HLA-mismatched mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in the 32nd week of gestation. At 35 weeks, the baby girl was
As Christmas becomes ever more materialistic, Caribbean families in Britain are increasingly turning to Kwaanza – a festival rooted in an African tradition – as the setting for their family celebrations, according to research sponsored by the ESRC.
Many will go to church on Christmas morning in what they see as part of their Caribbean tradition. But Kwaanza is now also widely celebrated by black people across the Caribbean, the UK and rest of Europe, usually alongside Christmas, o
As thousands of divorced and separated parents decide where their children will spend this Christmas, an ESRC-funded study into post divorce family life shows that fairness and equality between fathers and mothers may end up being unfair on the youngsters.
The Fathers 4 Justice movement, whose ‘Xmas Demo’ takes place on Saturday (December 18), is among those calling for family law to adopt a principle of pure equality between parents. Its members, with support from Bob Geldof, an
With the festive season almost upon us, the realities and complexities surrounding our traditional notions of Christmas as a time for families are examined in important new research sponsored by the ESRC.
As thousands of divorced and separated parents decide where their children will be for the celebrations, a study into post divorce family life shows that fairness and equality between fathers and mothers may end up being unfair on the youngsters.
The Fathers 4 Justice
Carbohydrates displayed on the surface of cells play critical roles in cell-cell recognition, adhesion, signaling between cells, and as markers for disease progression. Neural cells for instance use carbohydrates to facilitate development and regeneration and viruses recognize carbohydrates to gain entry into host cells. Identification of the specific saccharides involved in these processes is important to better understand cell-cell recognition at the molecular level and to aid the design of ther
Scientists in Southampton have developed non-invasive technology to measure the fluid pressure in the brain safely and painlessly which they hope will eventually reduce the need for a lumbar puncture. Collaborators in London now believe it could be a major advance in the diagnosis and treatment of conditions such as meningitis, head injury and sleeping disorders. It could even be used by astronauts in space.
At the Physiological Society meeting in London today (18 December), Dr Jea
A vision for the future of Southampton Oceanography Centre (SOC) is revealed today by the Director designate, Professor Edward Hill.
Professor Hill’s vision is for the Centre to be recognised internationally as the focus for oceanography in the UK. It will be renamed the ‘National Oceanography Centre, Southampton’ from 1 May 2005, when Professor Hill takes up his appointment, heralding the start of a new era for oceanographic and earth science research and education in this country
Rhesus macaques communicate between themselves using a complex series of sounds that can signify things as distinct as the presence of danger, particular social relationships, emotions or food alerts. Now scientists in the latest issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, while analyzing the brain areas activated during the recognition of these sounds, found that not only do monkeys seem to interpret these sounds using abstract representations like
Two months from now comes a landmark day in planetary history: the Kyoto Protocol finally comes into legal force on 16 February 2005. However Kyoto was intended only as an initial step in mitigating climate change: a 6000-strong Buenos Aires gathering due to conclude today has spent a fortnight discussing follow-up strategies, with ESA among them.
The 1997 Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change aims to lessen the effects of climate change by se
All stories have one beginning, one middle and one end. But with MECiTV’s interactive television (iTV) authoring platform, producers can easily create programmes in which viewers choose how the story unravels and ends.
As Carmen Mac Williams, MECiTV Project Manager at Cologne’s Institute at the Academy of Media Arts explains, MECiTV arose out of “discontent with traditional linear recording of political events or anything happening in the world, where only one viewpoint is pres
Scientists working at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission have developed a new way to interpret data from satellites observing the earth. The satellites monitor the nature, state and evolution of the earth’s vegetation. This enhanced monitoring capacity will make it more possible to determine the impact of major climatic events, such as the severe drought and heatwave in Western Europe in 2003. The new method involves the use of practical algorithms to interpret remote sensing data
Dutch researcher Johan Hoogboom has developed a technique for making LCDs (liquid crystal displays) without the need for cleanrooms. This technique is simpler and cheaper than current methods and is based entirely upon the self-ordering of molecules on a surface. Furthermore, the chemist has shown that these LCDs can be used to make DNA visible to the naked eye.
Hoogboom constructed a surface that can align liquid-crystal molecules. For this he designed and produced an aromatic
Dutch researcher Kirsten ten Tusscher has developed a model that can simulate the electrical behaviour of the heart during heart rhythm disorders. One of the things her model revealed is that the electrical activity of the heart during a rhythm disorder is much less chaotic than was originally thought.
Kirsten ten Tusscher first of all made a model that described the electrical behaviour of individual human heart muscle cells. She demonstrated that the behaviour of this model cor
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