Glass is a mysterious material, but when researchers apply pressure, it reveals secrets.
Using a variety of techniques, researchers at Argonne National Laboratory saw for the first time ever, the atomic structure of a dense, purely octahedral glass that has eluded scientists for decades. They also witnessed a continuous structural change in the glass, disproving the theory that tetrahedral glasses go through a distinct transition between low- and high-density phases.
“Lit
A fake Christmas tree may be more popular, but here’s a new reason to appreciate the real thing: Researchers have identified a group of anti-inflammatory compounds in the bark of the Scotch pine — widely used for Christmas trees — that they say could be developed into food supplements or drugs for treating arthritis and pain. The compounds, which show promise in preliminary cell studies, are likely to be found in other pine species as well, the scientists say.
Anti-inflammatory co
Wiping out a protein in skin cancer cells could significantly stall melanoma tumor development and increase the sensitivity of the cancer cells to chemotherapy, a Penn State College of Medicine study suggests.
The protein, Akt3, appears to be responsible for promoting tumor cell survival and development in 43 percent to 60 percent of non-inherited melanomas. “Our study showed that lowering Akt3 activity can reduce the tumor-creating potential of melanoma cells by making the cancer
A University of Colorado at Boulder research team has discovered evidence of microbial activity in a rock glacier high above tree line in the Rocky Mountains, a barren environment previously thought to be devoid of life.
Found in an intermittent stream draining from the glacier, the evidence includes traces of dissolved organic material and high levels of nitrates, said Mark Williams, a fellow at CU-Boulder’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. The high nitrate levels
Of all the world’s animals, only humans, some kinds of birds and perhaps some porpoises and whales learn the sounds they use to communicate with each other through a process of listening, imitation and practice. For the rest, including nonhuman primates, these sounds develop normally in the absence of external models.
Now Rockefeller University scientists have found that zebra finches, songbirds native to Australia, use infant-like strategies to learn their song. Some finches
New research suggests that rigid gas permeable contact lenses may help slow the progression of nearsightedness, or myopia, in young children.
At the end of a three-year study of more than a hundred 8- to 11-year olds, researchers determined that wearing rigid gas permeable (RGP) contact lenses slowed the progression of myopia by nearly 30 percent, compared to soft contact lens wear.
Only recently did researchers find that young children could handle the responsibility of
As Americans queue up anxiously for flu shots, new research proposes a different sort of mass vaccination program to combat Lyme disease – a vaccine drive for mice.
A Michigan State University disease ecologist leads a novel ecological approach to battle Lyme disease. It proposes that ground zero is the forest floor, and immunizing the tiny critters there offers hope to ultimately reduce the number of dangerous tick bites that infect some 23,000 people in 2002 in the United S
The authors of two studies this week report findings that offer new insight into how breaks in chromosomes can lead to the so-called genomic instability that is a hallmark of cancer. When DNA is damaged, as it routinely is during the life of cells, the damage must be properly repaired in order to keep chromosomes intact. Failure of the DNA repair process disrupts the structural stability of chromosomes, which must be intact in order to be properly segregated to daughter cells when cells divide.
Ten percent of all bird species are likely to disappear by the year 2100, and another 15 percent could be on the brink of extinction, according to a new study by Stanford University biologists. This dramatic loss is expected to have a negative impact on forest ecosystems and agriculture worldwide and may even encourage the spread of human diseases, according to the study published in the Online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) in December.
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have used canine DNA to identify a genetic mutation mechanism they believe is responsible for rapid evolutionary changes in the physical appearance of many species.
The findings, based on data gathered from hundreds of museum specimens of dogs and from blood samples of volunteered live dogs, offer a new explanation for the sudden, rapid rise of new species found in the fossil record. They also help explain the variability in
The language network of the brain seemed simpler in the past. One brain area was recognized to be critical for the production of language, another for its comprehension. A dense bundle of nerve fibers connected the two.
But there have always been naysayers who pointed to evidence that failed to fit this tidy picture. Now a study employing a powerful variant of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) confirms these suspicions. The study will be published December 13, 2004 in the online e
Anger and other negative emotions may be triggers for ischemic stroke, according to a study published in the December 14 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
The study found that people who had strokes were more likely to have experienced anger or negative emotions in the two hours prior to the stroke than at the same time the day before the stroke. They were also more likely to have reacted quickly to a startling event, such as getti
A patient who is technically blind, having suffered damage to the areas of the brain that process visual signals, has been able to react to certain visual signals. The case, described in this week’s online edition of Nature Neuroscience (Nature Neuroscience advance online publication, 12.12.02 at www.nature.com/neuro/) establishes beyond doubt, for the first time, that certain specific ‘visual recognition’ functions are processed in an area of the brain other than those normally associated with v
The European Commission today announces the creation of an annual funders’ forum to join European forces in the funding of life sciences. Life sciences comprise research which deals with all forms of organisms, like plants, animals and human beings. With about €30 billion invested annually in Europe, industry and public funding bodies like the national research councils or international research organisations put major funds into research and technological development in the areas of biotechnolo
Technological aids designed to prevent accidents at sea sometimes have the opposite effect as a contributory factor in collisions and groundings. In a new dissertation from Linköping University in Sweden it is proposed that cognitive and social aspects should be in focus in the design of conning bridges, rather than technology and components.
Margareta Lützhöft, a cognition scientist with several years of experience as a ship’s officer, traveled with fifteen vessels to study work
What is the relationship between atherosclerosis and the immune response and what are the possibilities for the development of a vaccine against cardiovascular disease? What role do stem cells play in angiogenesis and what are the possible clinical applications of stems cells in cardiac recovery?
These are few of the topics that will be discussed during the First European Vascular Genomics Network (EVGN) Conference, which starts today at New Hall College in Cambridge, UK. Chaired by
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