Wooley technique ’linchpin’ to success
Using a technique pioneered by Washington University in St. Louis chemist Karen Wooley, Ph.D., scientists have developed a novel way to make discrete carbon nanoparticles for electrical components used in industry and research.
The method uses polyacrylonitrile (PAN) as a nanoparticle precursor and is relatively low cost, simple and potentially scalable to commercial production levels. It provides significant advantages over existing
Two at a time
A computer scientist at Washington University in St. Louis has developed a novel technique to extract more DNA from a single sequence reaction than is normally possible, reducing both cost and time of the sequencing process.
Michael R. Brent, Ph.D., associate professor of computer science, has applied software developed in his Washington University laboratory that sorts through the maze of genetic information and finds predicted sequences.
“Normally,
’Strapped in’ by wing dykes
The oldest data available on the Missouri River – from the logs of Lewis and Clark – show that water flow on the river today is far more variable than it was 200 years ago. The data also show that the river is some 220 yards narrower at St. Charles, Mo., today at 500 yards across than in 1804 when it spread out some 720 yards.
These changes are due to modifications of the river by the Army Corps of Engineers, say Robert Criss, Ph.D., pro
Chemicals have limited effects on controlling it and there are no known resistant varieties of processing pumpkin to withstand an attack of the deadly blight known as Phytophthora capsici (P. capsici). Now, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign suspect that rotating crops that are not susceptible to the disease may be a solution to the problem.
In a recent study, 45 species of crop and weed plants were screened for their susceptibility to P. capsici. Although 22 crop
It is virtually impossible for a prospective Magellanic penguin mother to find or build a soft spot to lay her eggs. So it turns out that her eggs come with extra-thick shells to withstand being laid on hard surfaces and survive being kicked around during penguin fights.
But it takes a lot of extra calcium to produce thicker shells, and a penguin can’t just run to the corner drugstore to pick up some calcium-rich antacid tablets. New research led by a University of Washington biologist
Computers, for all of their computational muscle, do not hold a candle to humans in the ability to recognize patterns or images. This basic quandary in computational theory – why can computers crunch numbers but cannot efficiently process images – has stumped scientists for many years.
Now, researchers at Arizona State University have come up with a model that could help unlock some of the secrets of how humans process patterns and possibly lead to smarter robots. The advance concerns oscil
Long-exposure images of the giant elliptical galaxy M87 by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, together with radio observations, have provided spectacular evidence of repetitive outbursts from the vicinity of the galaxy’s supermassive black hole. Magnetized rings, bubbles, plumes and jets ranging in size from a few thousand to a few hundred thousand light years point to ongoing violent activity for hundreds of millions of years.
“The hot X-ray emitting gas extending for hundreds of
Contrary to what some scientists have suggested, key intracellular particles known as ribosomes serve as mechanical matchmakers or readout devices rather than acting chemically to speed up reactions in the body the way enzymes do, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers and colleagues have discovered.
A report on the findings by Drs. Annette Sievers and Richard Wolfenden of the UNC School of Medicine appears in the new issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Scien
Comparative studies of leaf evolution in the California Chaparral
In an article published in the May 2004 issue of The American Naturalist, David D. Ackerly (Stanford University) compares the evolution of twelve lineages of the California Chaparral.
Which came first–trait or environment? This question lies at the heart of the study of adaptation by natural selection. In Mediterranean-type climates, many woody plants have small, tough, evergreen leaves (dubbed ’scleroph
In an article published in the May 2004 issue of The American Naturalist, Wilte G. Zijlstra (University of Leiden), Marc J. Steigenga (University of Leiden), P. Bernhardt Koch (University of Erlangen), Bas Zwaan (University of Leiden), and Paul M. Brakefield (University of Leiden) explore the relationship between hormones and environmental adaptation in butterflies.
Hormones are crucial for the development of organisms. In the tropical butterfly, Bicyclus anynana, ecdysone affects eyespot si
News leads from the USDA FS Southern Research Station
The following are leads for stories on ongoing Forest Service research to restore habitat for the Louisiana pine snake, red-cockaded woodpecker, cerulean warbler, Indiana bat, American eel, and North American freshwater mussels.
Louisiana Pine Snake – Louisiana pine snake, a species of conservation concern, is associated with the longleaf pine forests of the West Gulf Coastal Plain. Craig Rudolph uses radiotelemetr
If it seems that there have been quite a few rationales for going to war in Iraq, that’s because there have been quite a few – 27, in fact, all floated between Sept. 12, 2001, and Oct. 11, 2002, according to a new study from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. All but four of the rationales originated with the administration of President George W. Bush.
The study also finds that the Bush administration switched its focus from Osama bin Laden to Saddam Hussein early on – only fiv
Variety may be the spice of life — and a key contributor to an expanding waistline.
Research by Brian Wansink, a professor of marketing and nutritional science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, challenges the conventional notion that a person’s ability to control eating and stick to a successful diet has solely to do with willpower.
Little-understood contextual cues — such as how food is displayed and its variety of colors — can lead people to overindulg
The trees of the future may stem from advances in gene discovery research at Purdue University that could lead to domesticated trees, the forestry equivalent of crop plants like corn and soybeans.
“I think this is the future of forestry,” said Richard Meilan, an associate professor of molecular physiology with Purdue’s Hardwood Tree Improvement and Regeneration Center who has demonstrated a way to rapidly identify genes in poplar trees and determine their function.
“Our goal i
Tests to diagnose endometrial hyperplasia, a condition where the uterus lining becomes overgrown, are more accurate than experiments have suggested. A study published this week in BMC Medicine shows that delays in verifying test results have led to underestimates of test accuracy. Researchers from Birmingham Women’s Hospital systematically reviewed all the published research on the accuracy of diagnostic tests for endometrial hyperplasia. They found that if researchers waited more than
Among the model systems for studying development, the zebrafish has become prized because its transparent embryo develops outside the mother’s body. The zebrafish has helped biologists identify many genes involved in embryogenesis and, because it’s a vertebrate animal, has become a valuable resource for identifying genes involved in human disease. Zebrafish are the focus of two research articles and an accompanying news feature in this issue of PLoS Biology.
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