Women born in the summer have fewer children on average than women born at other times of the year, according to research published today (Thursday 29 April) in Europe’s leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction[1].
The findings, from a study of more than 3,000 Austrian women, show that despite the advent of modern contraception a woman’s birth month influences her reproductive performance, just as it has been found to do within historic populations.
Lead researcher
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are developing a system to rapidly produce hydrogen from gasoline in your car. “This brings fuel cell-powered cars one step closer to the mass market,” said Larry Pederson, project leader at PNNL. Researchers will present their developments at the American Institute for Chemical Engineers spring meeting in New Orleans, on April 27th, 2004.
Fuel cells use hydrogen to produce electricity which runs the vehicle
The fish farming industry can be one of the most important sources of value creation in Norway’s future. “The long-term view that steers knowledge development can give Norwegian fish farming the same important role that oil has had,” says Harald Sveier, Senior Reseacher in EWOS Innovation.
Senior Researcher Harald Sveier of EWS Innovation has recently, together with 30-some other industry actors, worked out a scenario for Norwegian fish farming. The work takes place in the fish farming progr
Very Large Telescope Witnesses Close Interaction in Galaxy Family
Stars like our Sun are members of galaxies, and most galaxies are themselves members of clusters of galaxies. In these, they move around among each other in a mostly slow and graceful ballet. But every now and then, two or more of the members may get too close for comfort – the movements become hectic, sometimes indeed dramatic, as when galaxies end up colliding.
ESO PR Photo 12/04 shows an example of such a co
Representatives from 47 countries and more than two dozen international organisations met in Tokyo last week, coming a significant step closer to achieving the goal of an integrated Earth monitoring network.
The Japanese capital was the location of the fourth Group on Earth Observations (GEO) summit. GEO is an intergovernmental working group charged with developing a plan for a co-ordinated global Earth Observation network providing data on environmental factors for both scientific and human
New Saint Louis University research sheds light on how obesity occurs
Saint Louis University researchers believe they’ve won a major skirmish in the battle of the bulge, and their findings are published in the May issue of Diabetes.
“We figured out how obesity occurs,” says William A. Banks, M.D., professor of geriatrics in the department of internal medicine and professor of pharmacological and physiological science at Saint Louis University School of Medicine. “The next st
Shipboard marine scientists from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, will release a nontoxic red dye into the Atlantic Ocean off New Jersey during the week of May 2 to help reveal the contents and fate of Hudson River water after it joins the Atlantic.
The dye release is the first of three experiments in Rutgers’ ongoing study of the Hudson River Plume – the mix of river water and substances that flow into the ocean at a rate of 500 billion gallons per day. Preliminary studies indi
At the nano-level, gold acquires a new shine, a new set of properties and a host of potential new applications
All that glitters is not gold, goes the old adage.
But the shrinking frontiers of science require a qualifier: Gold itself does not always glitter.
In fact, if gold is created in small enough chunks, it turns red, blue, yellow and other colors, says Chris Kiely, who directs the new Nanocharacterization Laboratory in Lehigh’s Center for Advanced Materi
Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers have identified a gene that, when altered makes cells and animals age prematurely and die. The findings, reported in the May 1 edition of Genes and Development, may provide a new target for therapies that force cancer cells to an early death.
The gene, called PASG (Proliferation Associated SNF2-like Gene), normally works by decreasing the activity of other genes in two different ways: helping to add chemical groups to DNA, in a process known as
The progression from HIV infection to AIDS and death from AIDS is more rapid in people living in developing countries than those living in the United States and Europe, according to researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences and Chiang Mai University in Thailand. The researchers tracked the length of time between HIV infection and AIDS among young Thai men. They also studied the death rate of the men 5-7 years after th
Since the advent of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) nearly 20 years ago, scientists have been trying to overturn this method for analyzing DNA with something better. The “holy grail” in this quest is a simple method that could be used for point-of-care medical diagnostics, such as in the doctor’s office or on the battlefield.
Now chemists at Northwestern University have set a DNA detection sensitivity record for a diagnostic method that is not based on PCR — giving PCR a legitimate ri
Researchers at Emory University have identified a specific mutation in a sodium channel gene (SCN1A) that is associated with epilepsy syndrome in a family. The findings were presented at the American Academy of Neurology in San Francisco on Tuesday, April 27th . The finding adds to a growing body of information about links between genetic mutations and epilepsy; more than two dozen genes implicated in the disease have been discovered to date, according to the Epilepsy Foundation.
“The premi
Scientists have demonstrated, for the first time, that transistors made from single-walled carbon nanotubes can operate at extremely fast microwave frequencies, opening up the potential for better cell phones and much faster computers, perhaps as much as 1,000 times faster.
The findings, reported in the April issue of Nano Letters, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society, add to mounting enthusiasm about nanotechnology’s rev
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a nanoscale technology for investigating biomolecular processes in single living cells. The new technology enables researchers to monitor and study cellular signaling networks, including the first observation of programmed cell death in a single live cell.
The “nanobiosensor” allows scientists to physically probe inside a living cell without destroying it. As scientists adopt a systems approach to st
Baggage screeners have just seconds amid loud airport noises and the pressure of rushed airline travelers to scan X-rays of carry-on items for weapons. How good they are at finding one may depend on the specificity of their training, say researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The findings, published in the May issue of the journal Psychological Science, suggest that initial training of federal airport screeners needs to last long enough for them to be exposed to a var
Analyzing a blood sample for the presence of disease markers, either in a doctor’s office or on the battlefield, could soon become as quick and easy as scanning the bar-code of a grocery item. Using nanotechnology, researchers at Northwestern University have developed a way to label tiny disease markers in blood with unique DNA tags, which they call bio-bar-codes. The tags can then be scanned by an instrument to identify diseases ranging from cancer to Alzheimer’s, or identify exposure to b
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