A better understanding of the ground beneath our feet may be the key to improved seasonal weather forecasts, say an international team of environmental scientists in the journal Science today.
Researchers investigating the impact of soil moisture on rainfall have found that, across the globe, there are at least three hotspots where rainfall seems to be directly influenced by the amount of moisture in the soil, leading to the tantalising possibility of more accurate long-term weat
University of Michigan researchers have discovered a way to self-assemble nanoparticles into wires, sheets, shells and other unusual structures using sticky patches that make the particles group themselves together in programmed ways. This method could be used to fabricate new materials and devices for nanotechnology.
Using computer simulation of model particles, Zhenli Zhang, U-M research fellow in chemical engineering, and Sharon Glotzer, U-M associate professor in chemical engineer
Most of the million-plus people having LASIK each year to correct their vision are happy with the results, according to a 15-year literature review that indicates most reasons for discontent could be resolved with more patient education before surgery.
“Basically this confirms our own clinical experience: patients are happy, patients turn out well,” said Dr. Balamurali Ambati, ophthalmologist and corneal specialist at the Medical College of Georgia.
Dr. Ambati was asked
Researchers at the University of Minnesota have identified, for the first time, a gene variation associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a complex, inflammatory autoimmune disease that affects multiple organs. The gene variation, known as PTPN22, is found in approximately 16 percent (or one in six) of healthy Caucasians in the United States. However, nearly one in four (or 23 percent) lupus patients carry this variant, which has also now been associated with risk for type 1 diabetes and r
A toxic chemical used in hand soaps, cleaners and other personal care products to kill germs is deposited and remains in the environment long after the products are used, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The chemical—3,4,4’-trichlorocarbanilide (triclocarban), marketed under the trademark TCC™—is a non-agricultural polychlorinated phenyl urea pesticide that has been widely used for decades to kill bacteria. The researchers were among the first to d
Ents, orcs and hobbits may have trod upon New Zealand soils, but beneath the Southern Island lies a giant earthquake fault that may help seismologists understand how the Earth moves and bends, according to a Penn State seismologist.
“One of the issues that makes the Alpine fault interesting is that while it is a strike slip fault for most of its length, it begins in a transition from a subduction zone to a strike slip fault,” says Dr. Kevin Furlong, professor of geosciences. “Most o
New tool offers scientists great flexibility
Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have successfully targeted unnatural sugar molecules with chemically unique functional groups onto the surfaces of cells in living animals without altering the animals’ physiology.
The achievement is a significant advance in the promising new field of metabolic engineering because it provides a new tool with which researchers can label specific cells in whole animals so that they can dif
A defect in the action of a newly discovered protein may play a central role in muscular dystrophy, a disease of progressive muscle degeneration with no known cure.
Scientists at UCSF’s Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center discovered in an animal model of the disease that during periods of intense muscle activity, muscles remain excited too long and degenerate if the protein fails to transport the neurotransmitter acetylcholine away from the nerve-muscle synapse. Muscle d
Researchers report they now can predict whether some parents are more likely than others to have a second child with the “isolated” form of cleft lip and palate, one of the world’s most common birth defects, according to results of a study published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine. The research was supported in part by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Heal
Findings point to a different way to treat sleep disorders and anxiety
UC Irvine pharmacology researchers have found how a recently discovered brain protein plays a major role regulating sleep and stress – a discovery that can lead to a new class of drugs for treating ailments ranging from sleep and anxiety disorders to attention deficit disorder.
The UCI team conducted tests to see how neuropeptide S (NPS) affected behavioral responses in rodents. They found that NPS in
A group of researchers at the Public University of Navarre, led by Senior Lecturer in Zoology, Elena Urdaneta Artola, have studied both the mechanisms whereby foodstuffs known as functional act at a gastrointestinal level as well as their possible beneficial effects on the health of individuals.
The study, which will continue until 2006, has received the Ortiz de Landazuri Scholarship for 2004. This is an annual award by the Department of Health of the Navarre Government in reco
Deep-sea ecosystems (at depths of >1000 m) comprise more than 60% of the Earth surface, and are the main reservoirs of global biodiversity.
Climate changes are expected to induce significant modifications in biodiversity on the global scale, yet little is known on the impact of recent climate changes on the deep-sea biodiversity. In the forthcoming issue of Ecology Letters, Danovaro, Dell’Anno and Pusceddu demonstrate that an extensive climate anomaly, which occurred in the Easter
A new type of artificial hip, more robust and longer lasting than conventional artificial joints, is to undergo clinical trials and could be available for patients within five years.
These ‘ceramic-on-metal’ joints cause less damage to the surrounding bone than conventional artificial hips, therefore many recipients will avoid the need for further surgery. They could also lower the age at which it is practical for patients to undergo hip replacement, helping them to continue to lead
A room where people smoke contains dozens or hundreds of times higher air concentrations of endotoxins than smoke-free indoor air. This has been shown by a research team from Lund University. Endotoxin is the name of a group of poisonous substances produced by bacteria and naturally occurring in the air and elsewhere. In normal low concentrations, endotoxins are not dangerous; indeed, they might play a role in protecting us against allergies. But at higher levels of concentration they induce seri
Researchers in London are to explore the effectiveness of gingko, a complementary medicine traditionally used to treat circulatory problems, as a treatment for early dementia.
The study of 250 patients aged over 55 will seek to find out whether GPs can help patients by prescribing the supplement to those with memory loss, one of the early symptoms of dementia.
It will be the first to test gingko as a treatment for those who are still living in the community and are being t
Timing is everything and our circadian clock, allows us (and almost every other organism on the planet), to predict the daily changes in our environment, such as light and temperature.
The University of Leicester is one of the main UK centres for clock and photoreceptor research, and new findings on the biology of the cryptochrome and light entrainment in the fruitfly (Drosophila melanogaster) by a team of Leicester biologists, led by Dr Ezio Rosato, have made a significant contri
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