’Hyperactive’ antifreeze protein has eluded researchers for more than 30 years
A surprising discovery by Queen’s researchers helps explain why fish swimming in icy sea water don’t freeze.
The team, led by Biochemistry Professor Peter Davies, has identified a new “antifreeze” protein found in the blood of winter flounder enabling the fish to withstand temperatures as low as -1.9 degrees Celsius: the freezing point of sea water. The antifreeze plasma protei
A systematic program of research into the reproductive physiology of killer whales by a team of scientists from SeaWorld, the National Zoological Park, and the Zoological Society of San Diego has culminated in the first live births of any cetacean–the group of marine mammals that includes whales and dolphins–by means of artificial insemination.
In a report set for publication in the journal Biology of Reproduction, the team, headed by Dr. Todd R. Robeck, based at SeaWorld San Antonio, not
Johns Hopkins team that included a trauma surgeon renowned for his treatment of gunshot victims has found that exposing at-risk children and teenagers to grizzly videos and photos of these patients’ wounds can significantly change the youths’ beliefs about the value and consequences of aggression.
The study, by researchers with the Johns Hopkins Injury Prevention and Community Outreach Collaborative (HIPCOC), was presented recently at the annual meeting of the Society of Black Aca
If you have spent time boating or fishing in freshwater, there is a good chance you have encountered a pearly mussel. Elliptical in shape, with iridescent inner shells, humans have appreciated the animals since prehistoric times. Coveted for their pearls and mother-of-pearl shells; their meat has been a resource for both humans and wildlife. In a BioScience paper published this week, a team of scientists report that something troubling has been happening in our nation’s freshwaters— once-abundant pe
A new Mayo Clinic study shows that couples using in vitro fertilization have the same likelihood of successful pregnancy whether the sperm used is frozen or fresh. Researchers presented the results today at the annual scientific meeting of the American Urological Association in San Francisco.
“Without these data, we were concerned that frozen sperm might reduce the birth rate,” says Alan Thornhill, Ph.D., senior author of the study and director of the Mayo Clinic in vitro fertilization labor
Study could help identify mechanism of magnetoreception in animals and humans
Migrating birds stay on track because of chemical reactions in their bodies that are influenced by the Earth’s magnetic field, a UC Irvine-led team of researchers has found.
The birds are sensitive even to rapidly fluctuating artificial magnetic fields. These fields had no effect on magnetic materials such as magnetite, indicating that the birds do not rely on simple chunks of magnetic material in t
Human beings are more aroused by rewards they actively earn than by rewards they acquire passively, according to brain imaging research by scientists at Emory University School of Medicine. Results of the study, led by first author Caroline F. Zink and principal investigator Gregory S. Berns, MD, PhD, of Emory’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, are published in the May 13 issue of the journal Neuron.
The Emory scientists used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to m
Scientists studying the Big Bang say that it is possible that string theory may one day be tested experimentally via measurements of the Big Bang’s afterglow.
Richard Easther, assistant professor of physics at Yale University will discuss the possibility at a meeting at Stanford University Wednesday, May 12, titled “Beyond Einstein: From the Big Bang to Black Holes.” Easther’s colleagues are Brian Greene of Columbia University, William Kinney of the University at Buffalo, SUNY, Hiranya Peir
Data gathered over seven years by a University of California, Berkeley, researcher have played a key role in convincing the National Park Service and the California Department of Fish and Game to remove trout from some high-altitude lakes in California’s Sierra Nevada to save the disappearing mountain yellow-legged frog.
UC Berkeley post-doctoral fellow Vance T. Vredenburg showed that introduced trout have devastated native frog populations over the past 50 years in formerly fish-free h
NYU neuroscientists provide direct evidence that the hippocampus is involved in the representation and retrieval of long-term memories
The formation of new memories and the retrieval of older memories are both evidenced in the hippocampus region of the brain, according to recent research by NYU neuroscientists.
The role of the hippocampus in the formation of new memories has been well-documented, but the contribution of this structure to the representation and retrieval of l
Up to 20 million homes in Europe could be powered by clean renewable energy from the sea, according to ocean energy expert Teresa Pontes of Portugal, who was speaking at the EurOCEAN marine science and policy event in Galway today (12th May). She estimated that, by harnessing energy from waves and marine currents, Europe would produce around 200 TerraWatt (200 million megawatt) hours per year of electrical power.
“The oceans contain a huge energy resource with different origins,” said Ms. Te
U of T physicists have developed a way to entangle photons which could ultimately lead to an extremely precise new measurement system.
Their study appears in the May 13 issue of the journal Nature. The findings could ultimately prove useful in developing ways to measure gravitational waves or the energy structure of atoms, and could also help in the development of “quantum computers.” (Quantum computers work according to the principles of quantum mechanics, which describes atoms, pho
Massive Star Observed that Forms through a Rotating Accretion Disc
Based on a large observational effort with different telescopes and instruments, mostly from the European Southern Observatory (ESO), a team of European astronomers has shown that in the M 17 nebula a high mass star forms via accretion through a circumstellar disc, i.e. through the same channel as low-mass stars.
To reach this conclusion, the astronomers used very sensitive infrared instruments to penetrate th
Scientists will soon be extracting the deepest Arctic sedimentary cores ever drilled from the Lomonosov Ridge, in the deep oceans more than 2,000 km off the coast of Norway. They will core to a depth of about 500 metres under the seabed. From studying these cores the researchers expect to answer questions such as ’what caused the ice-age?’ So far the deepest oceanic sediment core extracted from the Arctic is only from a depth of 16 metres.
Seafloor sediments conceal a rich history
A wedge of earth and sky 14 feet high and 3 feet deep near here may help scientists worldwide better understand the ecological impact of global climate change.
It’s an ecosystem where native plants must react to rain and temperature extremes along a dusty, winding road under an intricate, watchful plan of three Texas Agricultural Experiment Station scientists.
Thick white plastic stretches over 14-foot tall galvanized steel arches like giant, protective umbrellas to shelter 8
A team of researchers has reported that chronic wasting disease (CWD) can be transmitted through environments contaminated by whole carcasses or excrement of animals infected with the pathogen that causes CWD. The research confirms long-held theories that CWD can be indirectly spread through environmental sources, in addition to direct interactions between infected and healthy mule deer. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health, the study
Feedback
