A new study undertaken by researchers at UCLA, Uppsala University and National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution and published in the journal Molecular Ecology, suggests that plans to reintroduce American gray wolves to the Western US will not restore the population to the near same extent of genetic diversity it originally boasted.
As a result of the most extensive and systematic predator elimination program ever practiced by a government, the gray wolf was eradicated f
If you’ve ever been tempted to drop a friend who tended to freeload, then you have experienced a key to one of the biggest mysteries facing social scientists, suggests a study by UCLA anthropologists.
“If the help and support of a community significantly affects the well-being of its members, then the threat of withdrawing that support can keep people in line and maintain social order,” said Karthik Panchanathan, a UCLA graduate student whose study appears in Nature. “Our stud
Stem cell source is disposable umbilical cord blood
A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine confirms that stem cells derived from the umbilical cords of newborn babies are a viable and effective transplant source for thousands of leukemia patients who have no other treatment option.
“As many as 16,000 leukemia patients diagnosed each year require a bone marrow transplant, but have no matched relative or can’t find a match in the national bone m
In the future, the phrase smarty pants might be taken quite literally, referring to trousers embedded with electronic “intelligence” so that they change color, for example, in response to their surroundings.
The timing of this vernacular twist will depend on when plastic “chips” become practical–so cheap and reliable that electronic circuits can be printed not only on clothing but also on paper, billboards and nearly anything else. Unlike today’s largely silicon-based tech
Terrorist attacks like those on Sept. 11, large-scale industrial accidents like Three Mile Island, hurricanes like Andrew, or earthquakes like the one in Northridge, Calif., that killed 60 people–these are all what economists call low probability, high consequence events. Making economic decisions about how to prepare for such “extreme events” is a difficult process. Under what circumstances are the benefits of strengthening a building against explosions or earthquakes worth the costs? A new s
The meadows of eelgrass found in lagoons along the Atlantic seacoast have a long history of providing a habitat for fish and invertebrates of many species. Despite this long history, it has proven difficult to document and quantify the relationships between eelgrass cover and the abundance of fish and crabs on a larger scale.
An article in the current issue of the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series describes experiments by URI Graduate School of Oceanography (GSO) biological o
These images, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, show Crater Hale in the Argyre basin of the southern hemisphere of Mars.
The images show an area close to the northern rim of the Argyre basin, located at latitude 36° South and longitude 324° East. The image was taken with a ground resolution of about 40 metres per pixel during Mars Express orbit 533 in June 2004.
Slight periodic colour and brightness variations in
A protein that the heart produces during its development could be redeployed after a heart attack to help the organ repair itself, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have found.
The mouse-study findings could eventually lead to new treatments for heart disease in humans and could even change the way healthcare providers respond to people suffering from heart attacks. The research appears today’s edition of Nature and is available online. “If the protein ha
A multidisciplinary paediatrics research team has been awarded the “Amagoia” prize by the Sociedad Vasco-Navarra de Pediatría for its work, “Study of bone mass and its determinant factors in female children and adolescents affected by eating habit disorders”. The research was led by Dr. Cristina Azcona, responsible for the Paediatric Endocrinology Unit at the Department of paediatrics at the University Hospital in Navarre.
The patients affected by eating habit disorders are at g
Dr Eddie Moxey of the University of Surrey recently gave a speech at the IEE seminar on the Changing Face of Robotics. His speech concentrated on the use of robotics in space.
The talk reviewed the past, present and future of the two main strands of space robotics research and development On-Orbit Servicing (OOS) and Planetary Exploration.
Since the deployment of the Canadarm, on the Space Shuttle, OOS has steadily developed from a fascinating research topic into a po
The sterilization of Britain’s endoscopes is revealed as haphazard and lacking, in a survey unveiled today by the Patients Association to MPs and Peers in the House of Commons.
The poll, among healthcare professionals, reveals that five per cent of those questioned didn’t clean their instruments between patients; more than a half reuse the sterilising fluid; many endoscopes never make it to the Central Sterile Department at the end of each clinic; and there are no uniform gui
VLT Interferometer Studies the Inner Region of Circumstellar Discs [1]
One of the currently hottest astrophysical topics – the hunt for Earth-like planets around other stars – has just received an important impetus from new spectral observations with the MIDI instrument at the ESO VLT Interferometer (VLTI).
An international team of astronomers [2] has obtained unique infrared spectra of the dust in the innermost regions of the proto-planetary discs around three young
A paper published in today’s Nature suggests that global warming could rapidly accelerate due to a positive feedback mechanism caused by water vapour or rainfall. The paper, which examines a period of rapid climate change 55 million years ago, during the Paleocene and Eocene, offers a clear indication of how gradual global warming can rapidly speed up, causing catastrophic effects.
Until recently, the prevailing view was that the temperature rise during the Paleocene/Eocene,
All major U.S. manufacturers fit ESC as standard on numerous SUV models
Hanover, Germany, November 23, 2004. Continental AG is continuing to expand its…
All major U.S. manufacturers fit ESC as standard on numerous SUV models
Hanover, Germany, November 23, 2004. Continental AG is continuing to expand its…
Discovery offers hope for a pharmaceutical intervention to treat some forms of retinitis pigmentosa
Gene mutations that impair the ability of photoreceptor cells to properly dispose of waste – and as a result cause the blinding eye disease retinitis pigmentosa – have been identified by vision researchers at the University of Utah’s Moran Eye Center. The discovery raises concerns that carbonic anhydrase inhibitors (medications often used to treat both heart and eye diseases) ma
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