A new high-speed cargo catamaran could significantly reduce the number of lorry journeys on European roads thanks to a grant of almost one million euros from the EU’s Framework Programme.
PACSCAT (Partial Air Cushion Supported Catamaran) is a 30 month project to evaluate the possibility of using high-speed river transport to help deal with the rapid growth in freight movement throughout Europe. The capacity of each catamaran will be around 2,000 tonnes – the equivalent of 45 truck l
To defeat an enemy, you must first understand it, or so the saying goes. And for nearly every teenager and young adult, acne is a formidable foe, causing damage to their skin and their self-image that can leave long-lasting physical and emotional scars.
But University of Michigan researchers are working to defeat acne by understanding it better on a molecular level, and testing new ideas about how to treat it. They’ve enlisted armies of volunteers in their efforts to explore acne’s
How does the West Nile virus, which is transmitted by mosquitoes, survive the cold mosquito-free months of winter? In New York City, West Nile’s initial beachhead in North America, researchers found that the virus persisted in a kind of suspended animation in mosquitoes hibernating in sewers. But in much of the South, mosquitoes do not truly hibernate during winter — they just reduce their activity rate during cold periods, revving back up whenever the weather warms.
Understanding h
Blue light destroys certain structural elements in the eye, as was revealed by the Russian research team. The mechanism of this effect was studied, and protective measures were offered. The work was supported jointly by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) and the Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises (FASIE), project no. 02-04-08012.
Frankly, the results arising from the long-term study conducted by the team headed by Academician Michael Ostrovsky are
This week, UK particle physicists have demonstrated the world’s largest, working computing Grid. With over 6,000 computers at 78 sites internationally, the Large Hadron Collider Computing Grid (LCG) is the first permanent, worldwide Grid for doing real science. The UK is a major part of LCG, providing more than 1,000 computers in 12 sites. At the 2004 UK e-Science All Hands Meeting in Nottingham, particle physicists representing a collaboration of 20 UK institutions will explain to biolog
’Wounds may not heal the way we thought they did’
Bone marrow produces cells that not only help fight infection, but also permanently heal wounds, according to research at the University of Washington. Previously, researchers had not known that bone marrow contributed to the development of new skin in wounds. The findings will be published in the Sept. 3 issue of Stem Cells.
“Wounds may not heal the way we thought they did,” says Dr. Richard Ikeda, a biochemist at the Na
Ticks as small as a freckle can transmit a number of illnesses for which there is no vaccine and, in some cases, no cure. These creatures even could become bioterrorism weapons.
To find new ways to control the tiny animals and halt the spread of the pathogens they carry, Purdue University researchers and colleagues from the University of Connecticut Health Center, the University of Notre Dame and Massachusetts Institute of Technology are undertaking the job of unraveling the genetic
The bands of ancient Neanderthals that struggled throughout Europe during the last Ice Age faced challenges no tougher than those confronted by the modern Inuit, or Eskimos.
That’s the conclusion of a new study intended to test a long-standing belief among anthropologists that the life of the Neanderthals was too tough for their line to coexist with Homo sapiens. And the evidence discounting that theory lies with tiny grooves that mar the teeth of these ancient people.
Nean
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have developed a small molecule that mimics the action of a key “death-promoting” protein in cells, a finding that could lead to more effective cancer therapies with fewer side effects.
In the Sept. 3 issue of the journal Science, the researchers report on this new compound and how it behaves like the cellular protein Smac, a molecule that lifts barriers to cell death. Dr. Xiaodong Wang, professor of biochemistry and one of the au
Vulnerabilities inadvertently built into the U.S. power grid, which is one of the most complex systems ever constructed, have been identified by a research team lead by Reka Albert, assistant professor of physics at Penn State. The team’s topological analysis of the grid structure reveals that, although the system has been designed to withstand the random loss of generators or substations, its integrity may depend on protecting a few key elements.
“Our analysis indicates that
Spiral-shaped molecules, reinforced by chemical ’staples,’ could aid drug discovery
A part of the system that causes cells to self-destruct when they are damaged or unneeded has been harnessed to kill leukemia cells in mice, say scientists at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The discovery could aid in the discovery of new drugs for cancer and other diseases. The researchers plucked a critical “death domain” from a key molecule in the self-destruction mechanism of a cell,
Treatment to lower systolic high blood pressure in older persons is associated with substantial reduction of stroke and other cardiovascular diseases, Yale researchers report in the September 1 issue of Journal of the American Medical Association.
The Yale team critically reviewed medical literature on systolic blood pressure (SBP) in older persons between 1966 and 2004. They found strong clinical evidence to support the treatment of persons with systolic blood pressure of at least 160 mm Hg.
A research team at Yale has found that blocking a kind of cell death called apoptosis in fibrotic diseases of the lung, also blocks the fibrosis, opening new ways of looking at treatment for lung diseases such as pulmonary fibrosis.
Published in the August 2 issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine, the study, led by Jack A. Elias, M.D., of Yale, examined how a molecule called TGF-beta causes apoptosis and abnormal scarring in the lungs.
Elias said there are a varie
A common mineral can remove carbon dioxide from combustion gases, but in its natural state, it is glacially slow. Now, a team of Penn State researchers is changing serpentine so that it sequesters the carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning in hours, not eons.
“Serpentine naturally sequesters carbon dioxide over geologic time, but it is too slow to help us,” says Dr. M. Mercedes Maroto-Valer, assistant professor of energy and geo-environmental engineering and program coordinator fo
Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) researchers have successfully designed and improved a new type of cancer-killing compound by performing molecular surgery to stabilize the molecule so that it selectively triggers cell death.
The idea for developing the compound emerged from the HHMI laboratory of Stanley J. Korsmeyer, who leads one of the hottest research teams currently studying programmed cell death, or apoptosis, a genetic program that executes cells that are no longer need
USC researchers detail process of beak formation in journal Science
The shapes of avian beaks are determined by areas of active growth amidst areas of slow growth in a developing embryo, and are associated with activity levels of a specific protein called bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4), according to a group of researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. Their paper, which describes this molecular beak-shaping process, will be publish
Feedback
