First comprehensive proteomic analysis of how proteins change as an animal develops
Carnegie Mellon University scientists have performed the first comprehensive proteome analysis of protein changes that occur in a developing animal, making surprising findings that could require scientists to revise standard thinking about how proteins orchestrate critical steps in embryonic development.
Their findings could one day provide a sensitive way to measure how drugs or environmental
A drug commonly prescribed to halt pre-term labor and stave off premature birth might leave the brains of children susceptible to other chemicals ubiquitously present in the environment, according to research conducted on laboratory animals by Duke University Medical Center pharmacologists. Their new study found that rats exposed to the pre-term labor drug terbutaline suffer greater brain cell damage than those not given the drug upon secondary exposure to the insecticide chlorpyrifos.
The
Biochemists have performed detailed structural studies that reveal for the first time how an enzyme key to DNA replication stalls when an error occurs, to allow it to be corrected. Without such instantaneous braking, such mistakes in DNA replication would wreak havoc on DNA replication, killing the cell.
To their surprise, the scientists observed how the enzyme, DNA polymerase, retains a “short-term memory” of mismatches, in some cases halting itself past the point of the mismatch, so that
Dr. Miles Brennan of the Eleanor Roosevelt Institute at the University of Denver (ERI) and Dr. Ute Hochgeschwender of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation have patented a method of reducing insulin resistance that could lead to potential treatments for diabetes accompanying obesity.
Insulin is a hormone that prompts cells to store glucose, a natural sugar, while another hormone called glucagon has the opposite effect, prompting cells to release stored glucose into the bloodstream. In he
Engineers at Purdue University are developing a system that will enable people to search huge industry databases by sketching a part from memory, penciling in modifications to an existing part or selecting a part that has a similar shape.
“It’s like a special kind of Google that lets you search for parts based on their three-dimensional shapes,” said Karthik Ramani, a professor of mechanical engineering and director of the Purdue Research and Education Center for Information Systems in
A single strand of plant or animal DNA may contain tens of thousands of genes, each programmed to produce a specific protein essential for the growth or survival of the organism. The challenge for geneticists is to isolate individual genes and determine their function – a painstaking process often requiring years of laboratory trial and error.
Now an international research team has discovered a technique that dramatically streamlines this process for certain kinds of genes. Developed by sc
Jim Clapp (University of Ulster) will reveal how bird droppings can be used to measure radioactive fall-out in the environment. Solid urate spheres found in bird excretions can be screened for man-made pollutants such as radioactive caesium, providing a new non-invasive way to monitor the environment. Mr. Clapp will present his latest results today at the annual meeting of the Society for Experimental Biology at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh (29 March – 2 April 2004).
“This is a new meth
Erosion of genetic diversity of crop plants has for several decades been making it necessary to develop initiatives for protecting these plant resources. One strategy is in-situ conservation of crop plants. The model currently advanced involves maintaining the varieties to be conserved isolated in reserves, protected from entry of other varieties from elsewhere and cultivated according to ancestral farming practices. Researchers from the IRD and the CIMMYT of Mexico (1) used work previously conducted
Educational experts have challenged the Government to provide specialist teachers in Citizenship in order to stem the growing tide of Islamophobia post 9/11.
University of Leicester staff and students have highlighted the need for changes in the curriculum in order to promote an inclusive national identity. Their views are expressed in the latest edition of the journal ’Race Equality Teaching’.
Professor Audrey Osler, Director of the Centre for Citizenship Studies in Education at t
During recent observations from the ESA Mars Express spacecraft in orbit around Mars, methane was detected in its atmosphere.
Whilst it is too early to draw any conclusions on its origin, exciting as they may be, scientists are thinking about the next steps to take in order to understand more.
From the time of its arrival at Mars, the Mars Express spacecraft started producing stunning results. One of the aims of the mission is analysing in detail the chemical composition of the M
An international team of astronomers has used the UK’s 2.5-m Isaac Newton Telescope on La Palma in the Canary Islands to map the Andromeda Galaxy (otherwise known as M31) and a large area of sky all around it. Their work over the last few years has created the most detailed image of a large spiral galaxy that currently exists.
Dr Mike Irwin of the University of Cambridge, one of the team leaders, reports on some of the latest findings on Wednesday 31 March, when he will tell the RAS Nat
Are longer sperm more successful than shorter sperm in the race for life? This is one of the questions Dr. Matthew Gage (University of East Anglia) will be addressing on Wednesday 31st March 2004 at the annual SEB meeting in Edinburgh (29th March – 2nd April 2004). Dr. Gage will present evidence that sperm speed, size and shape all matter when it comes to male success in sperm competition.
Sperm competition is a widespread phenomenon that occurs when sperm of more than one male compete to fe
Are you a mosquito magnet? If you are, it’s not your sweet smelling blood that attracts them, scientists say – you simply lack a chemical that some humans produce that masks your attractiveness to bugs, tricking them into thinking that you are not a suitable host. “For the first time, we can identify exactly which chemicals the insects respond to”, says James Logan, who will be presenting his work at the annual SEB meeting in Edinburgh (29th March – 2nd April 2004, session A6.9). James Logan (Rotham
When the European Huygens probe on the Cassini space mission parachutes down through the opaque smoggy atmosphere of Saturn’s moon Titan early next year, it may find itself splashing into a sea of liquid hydrocarbons. In what is probably the first piece of “extraterrestrial oceanography” ever carried out, Dr Nadeem Ghafoor of Surrey Satellite Technology and Professor John Zarnecki of the Open University, with Drs Meric Srokecz and Peter Challenor of the Southampton Oceanography Centre, calculate
The French explorer, Gilles Elkaïm, who left North Cape (Norway) in May 2000, has almost completed the seventh and final stage of his 12,000 km solo trek along the rim of the Arctic Ocean, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, on foot, kayak, skis, by sled pulled by himself or by dogs… with help from ESA.
The “Arktika” expedition is nearing its conclusion. Gilles Elkaïm and his twelve sled dogs, who, last May, set up summer camp in a disused military base, close to Cape Shelagskiy (the most n
Emissions from ships may bring as much nitrogen oxide to the atmosphere as the total amount of emissions coming from the USA. International shipping along the Norwegian coast and in the Northern Atlantic Ocean contributes largely to the formation of ground-level ozone and acidification of the shores.
Air pollution from ships may be twice as bad as shown by previous estimates. In high traffic areas emissions may affect the climate just as much or even more than other forms of emissions. This
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