The Norwegian National Committee on Polar Research has made a Policy Platform Document for Norwegian Research in the Antarctic 2005 – 2009, commissioned by the Research Council of Norway. The document implies a considerable upgrade of Norwegian Antarctic research.
Being the only country with both Arctic and Antarctic territories, Norway has a special obligation to develop knowledge concerning the polar areas. The new policy document states that Norwegian Antarctic research sho
CEA-Léti and Fraunhofer Microelectronics Alliance (VµE), two of the largest organizations for applied research in the field of micro and nanoelectronics in Europe, have signed an extension of their 2003 cooperation agreement, now including front-end technologies for micro and nanoelectronics.
The document was signed in a ceremony on the occasion of the Annual Conference 2004 of Fraunhofer IISB in Erlangen, Germany, competence center for front-end technologies within the VµE. CEA-
“Bacteria that fix nitrogen only do so when they sense that there is very little nitrogen available in their environment,” says Professor Ray Dixon (Project Leader at the JIC. “Normally the genes for nitrogen fixation are locked off and only unlocked and used when nitrogen levels in the environment fall. We have discovered a key piece of biochemistry that allows us to better understand how the lock operates and so may allow us to alter how it works”.
The bacterium Azotobacter vinel
Research began when doctors discovered that various members of the same family had Parkinson’s. There are many kinds of Parkinson’s and some are hereditary. Now, a group of scientists have identified the gene which produces the hereditary Park8 variant of Parkinson’s in four Basque families and another in the UK. The gene is called dardarina; a term derived from Basque which means tremble. The mutation of this gene is the cause of the hereditary Park8 variant of Parkinson’s.
The research
A more than 50 % increase in the life span of Zucker rats, a commonly used animal model for human obesity, was seen by enrichment of unhealthy food with a novel combination of plant sterols and mineral nutrients. Extensive studies in the University of Helsinki have shown that the increase in life span is mainly due to the ability of this new composition to lower serum cholesterol and lower blood pressure, and decrease obesity, which were all increased by the high-fat, high-salt diets without the
Optical technology can give the answer to when bruising happened and how. This can be important for cases of violent crime.
In court, a bruise can sometimes be important evidence. And the age of the bruise can be instrumental if a person is to be charged for the injuries in a crime. A cross-functional research team with the Norwegian University of Scence and Technology (NTNU) is currently developing a method, based on optical technology, for dating bruises. The method will be quic
Research scientists at the Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory in Oslo have developed a flow metre with fluid channels thinner than a strand of hair. The new device controls that patients receive the correct dosage of medicine.
The new invention is a micro-technological control instrument that can measure medicine flows. The active components in the sensor are only a few thousandths of a millimetre thick and the tiny device can measure liquid amounts of less than one-millionth of
Our ancestors had two nostrils, one front and one back, but no opening on the palate or in the throat. They could smell, but not breathe with their nose. How did our nose evolve? Per Ahlberg, Uppsala university, and Zhu Min, department of Vertebrate Paleontology in Beijing, China, has now found a fossil that explains the history of the nose.
Have you ever wondered, taking a deep breath of fresh autumn air and sensing how the smell of wet leaves tickles your nose, just how it ca
Cosmetic face cream used by fashionable Roman women has been analysed by scientists at Bristol University, UK, and then reproduced. The results of this unique opportunity to analyse the ingredients of the ’foundation’ cream are reported in Nature this week (4 November).
The cream was found to be composed of refined animal fat, starch and tin. The researchers then created their own version, made to the same recipe. When they rubbed the whitish cream into their skin, it p
University of Pittsburgh researchers have identified biomarkers that could result in earlier and more accurate diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a devastating disease that affects as many as 1.5 million Americans, and occurs 10 to 15 times more frequently in women. The results are published in the November 2004 issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism.
“This is the first report of abnormal levels of the protein erythrocyte-C4d in human disease,” said lead author Susan Ma
Study suggests prolonged preventive effect of breastfeeding and links irregular menstrual cycles to increased risk of disease
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), an inflammatory disease of the immune system, is between two and four times more likely to strike women than men. Among women, RA is more likely to develop when reproductive hormonal levels are changing, such as in the first few months following a pregnancy and around the time of menopause. Although previous researchers have stu
Advance could lead to new infertility treatments, source of adult stem cells
A team of researchers working with cells from mice has overcome a technical barrier and succeeded in growing sperm progenitor cells in laboratory culture. The researchers transplanted the cells into infertile mice, which were then able to produce sperm and father offspring that were genetically related to the donor mice. “This advance opens up an exciting range of possibilities for future research, from d
Scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have identified a protein that serves as a master regulator of skin cancer – a finding that could lead to new ways to prevent skin cancer before it starts.
The protein, called STAT3, had been known to be involved in cancer, but John DiGiovanni Ph.D., and his colleagues showed that activated STAT3 is necessary for skin cancer to begin and that without it, skin cancer can’t develop. The study, which appear
Findings may lead to genetic tests
Researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children (Sick Kids) and Mount Sinai Hospital (MSH) have discovered a possible genetic mechanism behind congenital heart defects. This finding has implications for understanding how congenital heart defects occur, and may lead to genetic tests for certain defects, such as proteins that determine how genes are expressed. This also opens new insights into how general chromosome properties can relate to specific
The biggest mass extinction of all time happened 251 million years ago, at the Permian-Triassic boundary. Virtually all of life was wiped out, but the pattern of how life was killed off on land has been mysterious until now. A team from Bristol University and Saratov University, Russia, have now laid the evidence bare.
The Bristol and Russian researchers have documented the event in Russia after looking at 675 specimens of amphibians and reptiles from 289 areas spanning 13 success
DNA breaks from radiation, toxic chemicals, or other environmental causes occur routinely in cells and, unless promptly and properly repaired, can lead to cancer-causing mutations. When the breaks cannot be repaired, and the cell is vulnerable to becoming cancerous, critical backup protection governed by the p53 protein kicks in. This protein is the end of the line in a vital signaling cascade that triggers cells with fatally damaged DNA to self-destruct so that they cannot cause cancer.
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