Sometimes it takes time to uncover nature’s secrets. Take the case of callimicos, also called Goeldi’s monkeys, a reclusive and diminutive South American primate. Discovered a century ago by Swiss naturalist Emil August Goeldi, the animals were once considered to be a possible “missing link” between small and large New World monkeys.
But new findings from the first long-term studies of the monkeys in the wild seem to indicate that this is not the case, although the animals have a uniqu
Targeting a master molecule that helps cancer cells survive when blood oxygen levels are low may offer a potentially powerful strategy for blocking tumor growth, say researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
The molecule, “hypoxia-inducible factor 1,” or HIF-1, controls production of a number of other proteins, such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which work in concert to help nurture these stressed cancer cells. Researchers show that genetically jam
Full development of the sense of smell in mammals is dependent on functional activity during critical periods in development, according to a study by researchers at Yale, Rockefeller and Columbia Universities and published in the journal, Science.
In mammals, the connection between odor and the brain occurs over a single nerve connection. The olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) that have the same odorant receptor (OR) are directed to regions of the olfactory bulb, where they coalesce into a si
Maps are tools to show you where you are going, but they can also show you where you came from. That principle drives the work of Roberto Rodríguez and Patrisia Gonzales, who study ancient maps, oral traditions and the movement of domesticated crops to learn more about the origins of native people in the Americas.
“How do you bring memory back to a people that were told not to remember?” asks Rodríguez. As longtime scholars and syndicated columnists, Gonzales and Rodríguez explore this issu
What happened in Vegas didn’t stay in Vegas for device’s inventors
Back in 2002, Stanford University engineers Kevin Montgomery, PhD, and Carsten Mundt, PhD, found themselves bored at a conference in Las Vegas. So they did what you’d expect from any researchers stuck in Sin City with frequent thoughts about life in outer space: They headed to a casino, downed a few cocktails and drew up a plan for the ideal physiological monitor for astronauts.
But here’s
An international team of astronomers using the world’s biggest telescopes have directly measured the mass of an ultra-cool brown dwarf star and its companion dwarf star for the first time. Barely the size of the planet Jupiter, the dwarf star weighs in at just 8.5 percent of the mass of our Sun. This is the first ever mass measurement of a dwarf star belonging to a new stellar class of very low mass ultra-cool dwarf stars. The observation is a major step towards our understanding of the types of
An international team of astronomers, led by Hervé Bouy from the Max Planck Institute, Garching, Germany and the Observatoire de Grenoble, France, have for the first time measured the mass of an ultra-cool brown dwarf star. The team performed the measurements using four of the most powerful telescopes available. This is the first-ever mass measurement of an L-type star belonging to the new stellar class of very low-mass stars, discovered a few years ago. With a mass of 6.6% of the solar mass, this ce
Trait anger is a tendency to experience frequent and intense episodes of anger.
Individuals with high levels of trait anger, along with low levels of anger control, are likely to commit alcohol-related aggression.
Researchers suggest these individuals refrain from alcohol consumption. Despite its powerful pharmacological effects on the central nervous system, alcohol does not facilitate aggression in all persons or in all situations. Trait anger – a tendency to experi
Images collected during the Cassini-Huygens close fly-by of Saturn’s moon Phoebe give strong evidence that the tiny moon may be rich of ice and covered by a thin layer of darker material.
Its surface is heavily battered, with large and small craters. It might be an ancient remnant of the formation of the Solar System.
On Friday 11 June, at 21:56 CET, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft flew by Saturn’s outermost moon Phoebe, coming within approximately 2070 kilometres of the satell
In the near future, images obtained from magnetic resonance will be common. The aim of the TRAC project is to be able to see internal organs 3-dimensionally using a non-invasive technique. Currently images of the liver are being worked with, but it is hoped that the technique will be useful for any internal structure or tissue.
Vicomtech is one of the enterprises located in the Miramón technological Park. Here they work with, amongst other things, computer-treated images. One of the lines of
Bad weather is bad news for any ship. High-speed craft, able to skim open seas at 35 knots or more, are particularly vulnerable in strong winds. But captains may soon base their sail decisions on real-time information, generated by sophisticated new on-board equipment.
Some 300 high-speed vessels today criss-cross busy European sea routes. Though popular with passengers, they are more prone to cancellation than traditional ships when the weather turns nasty. According to Marielle Labrosse o
Liver cirrhosis is approximately the 12th leading cause of death in the United States.
Roughly half of these deaths may be from alcohol use and/or abuse.
New findings indicate that how and when drinkers consume alcohol may be as important as the amount consumed.
Effects may also vary by gender. Liver disease was the 12th leading cause of death in the United States in the year 2001, accounting for roughly 27,000 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Co
A new research study published in the June issue of Cancer Cell identifies the molecular events that contribute to a notoriously treatment-resistant form of T cell leukemia.
The findings reveal that disruption of immune cell differentiation is central to disease progression and provide new avenues for development of future therapeutics.
T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) accounts for 10%-15% of pediatric and 25% of adult ALL cases. A gene called TAL1/SCL is frequently act
Your doctor may soon be able to check on your recovery after a hospital stay by texting your mobile phone. Researchers, writing in BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making today, have developed and tested a wireless patient monitoring system that could help detect patient suffering at a distance.
Keeping up-to-date with a patient’s condition once they have left hospital can help doctors to “detect patient suffering earlier and to activate a well-timed intervention”.
Researc
Implications for tissue regeneration, birth defects and heart disease
In early development, how do cells know to put the right spacing between ribs, fingers and toes? How do they communicate with each other to form symmetrical and repeated patterns such as zebra stripes or leopard spots?
For the first time, UCLA researchers have recreated the ability of mammalian cells to self-organize, forming evenly spaced patterns in a test tube. Published in the June 22, 2004 issue of the
USC/UT ’Quantum Dot’ nanodevices promise improved night vision goggles, medical sensors and more
Researchers at the University of Southern California and the University of Texas at Austin have built and tested a device based on nanostructures called quantum dots that can sensitively detect infrared radiation in a crucial wavelength range. Quantum dot IR receptor unit.
The atmosphere is opaque to most infrared, but it is transparent for a narrow “window” between 8 a
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