For many patients with advanced breast cancer, the cancer drug Herceptin (trastuzumab) has offered new hope when traditional cancer drugs failed to work, shrinking tumors and sending some patients into remission.
Now Dihua Yu, M.D., Ph.D., and her colleagues at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have uncovered a powerful new cancer-fighting property of Herceptin, an antibody-based drug that targets a protein on breast cancer cells called HER-2 (also called ErbB2). Th
The one-night-a-year spawning of massive star corals (Montastraea species) off of the Florida coast generates millions of infant corals, each of which has the potential to help replenish coral reefs that have undergone significant environmental damage in recent years.
Even so, the chance that these bundles of eggs and sperm released in early September will result in healthy new individuals capable of replenishing reefs depends on many factors, most importantly the establishment of sy
West Virginia’s hot, humid and rainy summer this year couldn’t have made for better conditions for the under-the-radar marijuana growers who give law enforcement fits in the Mountain State.
Authorities last year confiscated 70,000 plants, and the West Virginia State Police are predicting to at least do that in 2004.
In a state topped by hard-to-get-to mountaintops and slashed by rugged ravines and isolated valleys, the challenge isn’t always knowing where the pot is today.
Researchers have coaxed RNA to self-assemble into 3-D arrays, a potential backbone for nanotech scaffolds. These RNA structures can form a wider variety of shapes than double-stranded DNA can and are easier to manipulate than many protein alternatives.
Peixuan Guo of Purdue University and his colleagues report the findings in the August 11, 2004, issue of the journal Nano Letters.
RNA (ribonucleic acid) molecules are best known for implementing the genetic information en
Using a combination of imaging techniques, researchers have determined the mechanics that allow some viruses to invade cells by piercing their outer membranes and digesting their cell walls. The researchers combined their findings with earlier studies to create a near-complete scenario for that form of viral assault.
The results have a dual benefit: they show the inner workings of complex, viral nanomachines infecting cells (in a process nearly identical to some viral infections of
Spam is a massive problem – it currently accounts for between 1/3 and 1/2 of all emails and costs companies billions of dollars as the result of lower productivity, loss of legitimate messages and the need for increased bandwidth and storage. In a bid to try solve the problem, IBM has brought together scientists from different areas of research division to develop an enterprise anti-spam filtering system which combines several different filtering technologies to create the ultimate anti-spam syste
One of the most widely used plastics in the world — PVC — could be on the verge of becoming more fire retardant and environmentally friendly, thanks to the work of researchers at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va.
PVC is practically ubiquitous in our society, especially in many homes. Household products from water pipes to shower curtains and house siding to window shades and wall coverings are made from poly(vinyl chloride).
Polymer chemists developed
Engineers at Ohio State University have incorporated clay and other chemicals into a paint that keeps metal from corroding — and reveals when an airplane, boat, or bridge needs to be repainted.
Though the paint is still under development, early tests have shown that it prevents corrosion just as well as commercial paints that are less environmentally friendly.
The new paint is unique because its pigment contains tiny particles of clay that capture the chemicals that cause co
A traveler experiences jet lag when his or her internal clock becomes out-of-synch with the environment. Seasonal Affective Disorder, some types of depression, sleep disorders and problems adjusting to changes in work cycles all can occur when an individual’s biological clocks act up. Recent studies have even found links between these molecular time-pieces and cancer.
Microscopic pacemakers—also known as circadian clocks—are found in everything from pond scum to human beings and ap
A new class of water-soluble quantum dots made from small numbers of gold atoms could be the basis for a new biological labeling system with narrower excitation spectra, smaller particle size and fluorescence comparable to systems based on semiconductor quantum dots.
Providing the “missing link” between atomic and nanoparticle behavior in noble metals, these multi-electron “artificial atoms” could also serve as light-emitting sources in nanoscale optoelectronics and in energy tr
Researchers have found that a common aquatic plant removes many persistent organic compounds that are discharged into natural waters and engineered wetlands.
Environmental engineers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have found that various chlorinated, fluorinated and mixed chloro-fluoro compounds are taken up and sequestered in the plant tissue of their model plant species – duckweed (Lemna minor), a floating aquatic plant. These organic compounds are representative of the
University of Arizona scientists have discovered that meteorites, particularly iron meteorites, may have been critical to the evolution of life on Earth.
Their research shows that meteorites easily could have provided more phosphorus than naturally occurs on Earth — enough phosphorus to give rise to biomolecules which eventually assembled into living, replicating organisms.
Phosphorus is central to life. It forms the backbone of DNA and RNA because it connects these molec
Solar hydrogen fuel dream will soon be a reality
Australian scientists predict that a revolutionary new way to harness the power of the sun to extract clean and almost unlimited energy supplies from water will be a reality within seven years.
Using special titanium oxide ceramics that harvest sunlight and split water to produce hydrogen fuel, the researchers say it will then be a simple engineering exercise to make an energy-harvesting device with no moving parts and emitting n
Diabetes is one of the major causes of vision loss and blindness in the UK. Now optometry researchers at Aston University’s new £10 million Academy of Life Sciences are to carry out a ground-breaking new study which will lead to a greater understanding of visual problems experienced by diabetics.
Their research, which is the first of its kind in the world, will measure the effects of the daily cycle of blood sugar levels on the vision of diabetic patients via detailed eye examination
New raw materials are proving a technological leap in packaging.
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has developed new products from potatoes and grain for the packaging, paper, construction and medical technology industries. The new glues and paper coatings developed from starch are economical, durable and can be completely recycled. They also enable lighter packaging products. The starch products and their manufacturing methods signify an enormous step forward for the packag
As the advance of global warming becomes more certain, accurate predictions about its impacts are still largely guesswork. How can we know what long-term warming will do to complex ecosystems? One way is to do a large experiment and see what happens. A new study published in the journal Ecology shows that artificially warming the seawater by 3.5oC in a California bay had dramatic effects on 150 species of seaweeds and animals.
David Schiel (University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zeal
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