The recently released Hubble Space Telescope Ultra Deep Field (HUDF) – the most sensitive image of the distant universe ever obtained – has provided UK astronomers with a window on star formation when the universe was young, revealing some of the earliest star forming galaxies yet detected.
The research was led by Dr Andrew Bunker at the University of Exeter and graduate student Elizabeth Stanway at the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge University. Their results have been accepted
ESA’s Earth Observation Programme Board met at the Eden Project in Cornwall on 21 and 22 September. An agreement was reached at this meeting among ESA’s Member States to release a total of €80m to fund the next stage of the ESA component of the European GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) initiative.
Part of this funding will cover a socioeconomic assessment of the benefits of GMES and the follow-on to the work already done by ESA on definition and demonstrati
Results of a randomised trial in this week’s issue of THE LANCET suggest that a single daily 400 mg dose of imatinib—known to be a first-choice treatment for gastro-intestinal stromal tumours (GIST)—is sufficient to induce a therapeutic response; a doubling of a daily dose can slightly improve progression-free survival for patients.
Imatinib is approved worldwide for use in GIST, tumours which do not respond to conventional chemotherapy, which have a prevalence of around 20 per 100,
This week’s lead editorial discusses the benefits and potential risks of allowing genomic information to be freely available on the internet—and supports the recent report by the US National Research Council recommending that such information should remain freely accessible to all.
The editorial comments: ‘But while free and open access to these data is a boon to science, it carries some risk: among the genome sequences freely available on the internet are those for more than 100 pa
Researchers from the University of Warwick have found that routine physiotherapy for mild to moderate low back pain is no more effective than a single advice session with a physiotherapist.
UK physiotherapists treat around 1.3 million people for low back pain each year, but there is very little evidence for its effectiveness. International guidelines vary but generally recommend advice to remain active.
The study, published in this week’s British Medical Journal, involved
The unique connectivity pattern of a brain region determines the type of information available to it, and hence influences its function. Defining these patterns enhances our knowledge of human brain architecture and function. Non-invasive in vivo definition of brain connectivity patterns complements functional imaging and provides new understanding of disorders associated with developmental or regional alterations of brain connectivity. There are extensions to this approach to clinically important i
Too much heat can destroy a sturdy automobile engine or a miniature microchip. As scientists and engineers strive to make ever-smaller nanoscale devices, from molecular motors and switches to single-molecule transistors, the control of heat is becoming a burning issue. The shapes of molecules really matter, say scientists from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Scranton who timed the flow of vibrational heat energy through a water-surfactant-organic s
Eating more soy-rich foods could reduce the spread of breast cancer – a new study from the University of Ulster has revealed.
Dr Pamela Magee, from the School of Biomedical Sciences, has been investigating the effects of a group of dietary compounds, found almost exclusively in soy foods, in the prevention of cancer spread.
Dr Magee said: “Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer affecting women in the western world, with 950 women in Northern Ireland alone sufferin
Seismologists, Ecuadorian officials, area residents could benefit from improved data
A rumbling South American volcano has gone wireless: Computer scientists at Harvard University have teamed up with seismologists at the University of New Hampshire and University of North Carolina to fit an Ecuadorian peak with a wireless array to monitor volcanic activity. The sensors should help researchers, officials, and local residents understand and plan for eruptions of Tungarahua, one of Ec
Morphine-free poppy
A handful of genes in a morphine free poppy could hold the key to producing improved pain management pharmaceuticals. Norman, the ’no-morphine’ poppy, is superior to morphine producing poppies as it produces thebaine and oripavine – compounds preferred by industry in the manufacture of alternative high value pain-killers.
CSIRO’s Dr Phil Larkin, and The Australian National University’s Anthony Millgate and Dr Barry Pogson have been wor
Government targets to get lone parents into work may be frustrated because lone parents are twice as likely to leave their jobs as other newly employed people, a new study shows.
The number of lone parents entering work increased over the 1990s, but high job exit rates are impeding efforts to reach the Government’s target of 70 per cent employment for lone parents by 2010. According to new research published today (September 23 2004), up to 15 per cent of lone parents move into work
To develop new therapeutic approaches to cancer, it is essential to understand the long and extremely complex process that underlies it, in other words the various stages of cancer development from the initial mutation to the tumor. Having already identified the alteration that leads to Ewing’s sarcoma, a bone cancer which afflicts young people, an Inserm team at the Institut Curie has recently used a combination of novel techniques to show that there 86 deregulated genes in these tumors. One of
A new vision for radio astronomy is bringing together all 20 of Europe’s leading radioastronomy institutes. They plan to build on existing collaboration and significantly enhance the quality and quantity of science currently produced by European astronomers.
RadioNet will create an integrated radio astronomy network providing European scientists with access to world-class facilities along with a research and development plan aimed at supporting and enhancing these facilities. This
A consortium of researchers, farmers and a major baker are working together to fill future supermarket shelves with loaves of bread that will arrest the plummeting levels in the UK diet of a mineral that plays a significant role in male fertility and the prevention of some cancers.
The mineral selenium is of particular importance to men with its role in male fertility and in the prevention of prostate cancer but research has also shown that it can help in the prevention of cardiovasc
A recent paper in The Political Quarterly provides insights into the extent of declining electoral participation amongst young British voters and discusses the need to examine in further detail whether we are witnessing a profound generational shift in youth politics.
The relatively lower proportion of young citizens casting their votes at general elections has previously been attributed to differences in stages of the political life-cycle. However, unprecedented declines in turno
To mark the 50th anniversary of CERN ’s creation, local Swiss and French authorities have clubbed together to offer the Organization a spectacular illumination of the 27-kilometre ring of the Large Hadron Collider accelerator. At 20:00 sharp on 29 September, Micheline Spoerri, Head of Geneva’s Department of Justice, Police and Security, will throw the switch for 24 powerful ‘skytracer’ floodlights to light up the night sky of the Geneva – Pays de Gex region.
This illumination forms
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