Using a gene resurrected from the virus that caused the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic, recorded history’s most lethal outbreak of infectious disease, scientists have found that a single gene may have been responsible for the devastating virulence of the virus.
Writing today (Oct. 7, 2004) in the journal Nature, virologist Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Tokyo, describes experiments in which engineered viruses were made more pote
Physicists at the University of Bonn build quantum data memory
Physicists from the University of Bonn have succeeded in taking a decisive step forward towards processing quantum information with neutral atoms: in the latest issue of the ’Physical Review Letters’ vol. 93 (2004) they describe how they managed to set up a quantum register experimentally. Their next aim is to construct a quantum gate in which two or more atoms interact with each other in a controlled way. By combining th
Epsom-like salts believed to be common on Mars may be a major source of water there, say geologists at Indiana University Bloomington and Los Alamos National Laboratory. In their report in this week’s Nature, the scientists also speculate that the salts will provide a chemical record of water on the Red Planet.
“The Mars Odyssey orbiter recently showed that there may be as much as 10 percent water hidden in the Martian near-surface,” said David Bish, Haydn Murray Chair of Appli
Johns Hopkins team examines Kepler’s supernova using NASA’s three Great Observatories
On the night of October 9, 1604, sky watchers – including Johannes Kepler, an astronomer best known for discovering the laws of planetary motion – were startled by the sudden appearance in the western sky of a “new star” which rivaled the brilliance of the nearby planets. Now, exactly 400 years later, a pair of astronomers at The Johns Hopkins University is using NASA’s three Great Observatories to
High-tech isometrics helps persons on hypertension medication
Don’t try this at home, but a high-tech version of the muscle crowd’s hand-grip has demonstrated the ability to lower blood pressure, improve the flexibility of the carotid artery and heighten vasoactive sensitivity in people taking medication for hypertension.
Two studies at the McMaster University Department of Kinesiology Exercise and Metabolism Research Group sought to confirm earlier findings related to ris
Call To Rename Class Of Muscle-Derived IL-6 As “Myokines”
For the most of the past century, researchers have searched for a muscle-contraction-induced factor, which mediates some of the exercise effects in other tissues and organs such as the liver and adipose tissue. In their quest for this magic trigger, or class of effectors, it’s been referred to as the “work stimulus,” “work factor” or the “exercise factor.”
Bente Karlund Pedersen, professor of internal medicine at R
For people who buy clothing on television shopping channels, the hosts of the programs may play a significant role in leading them to make purchases.
A new study found that television shoppers who developed one-sided relationships with hosts of apparel programs were also more likely to buy clothing impulsively from these shows than were other shoppers. “Some viewers regard the hosts of shopping programs almost as being friends, and they develop a pseudo-relationship over time,” said S
University of Illinois researchers report that four consecutive days of moderate exercise in mice after they were infected with influenza protects them from dying, compared with mice that didn’t exercise. This protective effect was more evident in mice greater than 16 weeks of age, an age at which they are immunologically more mature. The takeaway message: exercise regularly because you never know when you’ll be exposed!
Jeffrey A. Woods, PhD., and graduate student Tom Lowder at the
Skimping most common among those who pay the most out-of-pocket, earn the least, or don’t have prescription drug coverage
A recent nationally representative survey of older adults finds that 18 percent of those with chronic conditions such as heart disease and depression skip some of their prescription medicines because of out-of-pocket cost pressures, and 14 percent do so at least every month. Based on the study’s findings, the authors estimate that every month, this cost-rela
The best approach for repairing breaks in the thin bone that separates the brain from the nasal cavity is through the nasal cavity, according to an analysis of 92 patients who had this increasingly common approach to treating a fortunately rare problem.
The intranasal endoscopic approach is the best way to treat a potentially very bad problem,” says Dr. Stilianos E. Kountakis, vice chair of the Medical College of Georgia Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and princi
Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have identified a circuit in the brain that appears crucial in converting short-term memories into long-term memories. The circuit links the major learning-related area of the brain to another region that governs the brain’s higher functions.
The studies open the way for eavesdropping on one of the central processes in learning and memory, says HHMI investigator Erin M. Schuman. She and graduate student Miguel Remondes of the Califo
Researchers from the University of Edinburgh are launching a new two-year study aimed at improving treatment for three of Scotland’s most common life-threatening diseases: heart disease, stroke and diabetes. The study will recruit 1,000 adults from one of the remotest parts of the UK– the North Isles of Orkney. The islands have been chosen for the project because the people living there are isolated geographically, which means they share a more similar environment: there is less variety in
Social cooperation is one of the most difficult adaptations for evolutionary biologists to explain because competition for resources inside the collective should lead to evolved traits that allow individuals to “cheat” the collective, win more resources and reproduce faster than their more cooperative neighbors — thus undermining the social collective. In new research, evolutionary biologists and geneticists at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine have isolated a genetic mechanism
A joint English Nature and RSPB scientific review comparing evidence about wildlife on organic and equivalent non-organic farms has concluded that organic farms are better for wildlife.
The review, published in the journal Biological Conservation, concludes that a wide range of wildlife including birds, bats, insects and wild flowers flourish on organic farms. In more than 50 comparisons it was usually, although not universally, true that organic farms had more individual wild ani
Understanding how microbes in the gut interact with the body could lead scientists and doctors to new a understanding and novel treatments for diseases say scientists from Imperial College London and Astra Zeneca.
In a review published today in Nature Biotechnology, researchers describe how microbes in the gut form the second largest metabolic ‘organ’ in the body and play a key role in disease processes alongside genetic and environmental factors. Microbes in the gut can weigh up to
A new investigation into extinctions caused by climate change has revealed that the giant deer, previously thought to have been wiped out by a cold spell 10,500 years ago, instead survived well into the modern era.
University College London (UCL) scientists scoured the continent to collect dozens of ancient bones and teeth which, when radiocarbon dated, revealed that the Eurasian giant deer survived to 7,000 years ago, much later than previously thought.
Giant deer first
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