Duke University researchers exploring ways to build ultrasmall electronic devices out of atom-thick carbon cylinders have incorporated one of these “carbon nanotubes” into a new kind of field effect transistor. The Duke investigators also reported new insights into their previously published technique for growing nanotubes in straight structures as long as half an inch.
Duke assistant chemistry professor Jie Liu will report on these and other nanotube developments during three talks at a na
Rice engineers find evidence of little-understood force in everyday emulsions
Scientists at Rice University have discovered that a little-understood tensile force, which was previously thought to be an oddity found only in the types of plastics used to make bulletproof vests, occurs in everyday emulsions like mayonnaise and salad dressing.
First identified about 25 years ago, the phenomenon known as “negative first normal stress difference” refers to an attractive force that
Study also confirms that psoriasis is widespread across US
A study released Saturday in a special issue of the Journal of Investigative Dermatology (JID) finds that many adults with relatively small areas of psoriasis on their skin nevertheless report high levels of dissatisfaction with their current treatment, and also feel that psoriasis is a problem in their daily life. In all, an estimated 1.75 million adults in the United States say their psoriasis is a problem for them in everyd
Mathematicians test simplified formula to predict winning baseball percentages
Is your local Major League Baseball team better than its record suggests? Math researchers are considering alternatives to the Pythagorean Theorem of Baseball, devised by baseball statistician Bill James. Introduced in the 1980s, the “theorem” predicts the winning percentage of a baseball team based on how many runs the team scores–and how many runs it allows.
Websites, including ESPN’s, oft
Agricultural research by Boston College’s Harrison
Kevin G. Harrison, an assistant professor in Boston College’s Geology and Geophysics Department, has published new research on a farming technique that can both increase crop yields and reduce the release of carbons that develop into greenhouse gases. In the book Changing Land Use and Terrestrial Carbon Storage, Harrison and his co-authors, Michelle Segal (BC master’s degree in 2003) and Matthew Hoskins (BC bachelor’s degree in 2000)
Mayo Clinic researchers have discovered genetic mutations in heart patients that make them vulnerable to heart failure because they produce an abnormal protein that can’t decode stress messages from the body.
Mayo researchers are the first to realize that these proteins do not recognize the stress alarm. As a result, they can’t properly respond to cue adjustments within the heart that normally manage stress. These defects make the heart muscle susceptible to damage. The Mayo Clini
A pilot study using radiofrequency (RF) ablation to treat small breast cancers has found the procedure feasible and safe, according to an article appearing in the April issue of the journal Radiology.
“This study has added another potential weapon to the breast cancer treatment arsenal,” said the study’s lead author, Bruno D. Fornage, M.D., who is a professor of radiology and surgical oncology at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
RF ablation tre
Researchers at Brown Medical School in Providence, R.I., have reported that stent placement should be considered the standard of care for treating patients with abnormal circulation, or “ischemia” to the legs, due to obstruction of the iliac arteries. The iliac arteries are large arteries in the pelvis that supply blood to the legs. The study appears in the April issue of the journal Radiology.
Lower-extremity ischemia, a type of peripheral vascular disease (PVD), occurs when arteries in th
New multi-million dollar investment gives 5,000 remaining gorillas new lease on life
The world population of the Endangered eastern lowland gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri), found almost exclusively in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has plummeted by more than 70 percent in the past decade. Scientists estimate that fewer than 5,000 individuals remain, down sharply from 17,000 in 1994.
But a new multi-million dollar investment to save the gorilla is expected to
Gamma ray bursts (GRBs) are the most powerful explosions in the Universe, yet it is only in the last few years that astronomers have started to understand them. This ongoing quest to solve the mysteries of gamma ray bursts will be boosted next September when a new US/UK/Italian space observatory, called Swift, will be launched.
Dr. Julian Osborne (University of Leicester) will describe this exciting mission and the discoveries that can be expected from Swift on Tuesday 30 March, during the
Astronomers have discovered ten previously unknown likely black holes in the Andromeda Galaxy by means of a powerful new search technique they have devised. The Andromeda Galaxy is the nearest neighbouring spiral galaxy, 2.5 million light years away. Drs Robin Barnard, Ulrich Kolb and Carole Haswell of the Open University and Dr Julian Osborne of The University of Leicester used the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton orbiting X-ray observatory to find what are probably black holes lurking in dou
How do you know if a stranger will be nice or nasty? Professor Cliff Summers’ group at the University of South Dakota has found that you can predict the social status of male lizards before they fight. What is more, green Anolis lizards show their fighting fitness through a colour signal on their face.
Wayne Korzan has discovered that how fast you recover from stress, to participate in feeding and courtship, can also foreshadow dominant social rank. Fast lizards are dominant lizards. As in
Scientists have developed a ‘magic box’ containing dormant organisms that can be woken up anytime and anywhere to test the toxicity of contaminated waters and soils. This new technology, called Toxkits, will be described by Professor Guido Persoone (Gent University, Belgium) and Dr. Kirit Wadhia (ALcontrol laboratories) on Monday 29th March at the annual SEB meeting in Edinburgh (29th March – 2nd April 2004, sessions A13.12 and A13.13).
“Toxkits are revolutionary tools which provide a cheape
In spring, thoughts turn to sex, and three-spined stickleback females set about finding the most attractive mate. Their method of selection is to choose the male with the most attractive red belly, so it’s not surprising that Dr. Victoria Braithwaite (University of Edinburgh) has discovered that female sticklebacks become more sensitive to red during the breeding season. What is surprising is that the males do too! “This actually makes good sense” says Dr. Braithwaite. “Sticklebacks are very territo
Scientists from the New Jersey University of Medicine and Dentistry have discovered a whole new class of enzymes which may represent a major advance in understanding the way bacterial cells self destruct under stress, researchers will hear on Wednesday, 31 March 2004, at the Society for General Microbiology’s meeting in Bath.
“These enzymes, called messenger RNA interferases, attack extremely accurately targeted sequences in bacterial messenger RNA”, says Professor Masoyori Inouye of th
Major differences found between genomes of oral pathogen and related spiral-shaped bacteria that cause syphilis and lyme disease
Three centuries after a pioneering Dutch microbiologist first observed the spiral-shaped oral pathogen Treponema denticola, scientists have deciphered the bacterium’s entire DNA sequence and used comparative genomics to cast new light on other spirochete microbes.
The study by scientists at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) and collabo
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