A group of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute, at the University of California in San Diego, and at the Oregon Hearing Research Center and Vollum Institute at Oregon Health & Science University have discovered a key molecule that is part of the machinery that mediates the sense of hearing.
In a paper that will appear in an upcoming issue of the journal Nature, the team reports that a protein called cadherin 23 is part of a complex of proteins called “tip links” that are on hair ce
Halting the development of certain pancreatic, ovarian, colon and lung cancers may be possible with therapy based on recent Purdue University research.
By investigating a single molecule that influences cell growth, a research group in the Purdue Cancer Center, including Brian S. Henriksen, has gained new insight into the chain of events that make some cancer cells divide uncontrollably – insight that may eventually lead to a way to break that chain, stopping cancer in its tracks. The molec
Researchers have developed a method to reconstitute bone marrow and blood cells from embryonic stem (ES) cells. As reported in The Journal of Experimental Medicine, this method was effective even in genetically mismatched mice. If the same is true in humans, this would remove the need to find genetically matched human bone-marrow donors for patients with leukemia, immune deficiencies and autoimmune diseases.
ES cells are cells derived from embryos that have the potential to grow into many d
Viruses, often able to outsmart many of the drugs designed to defeat them, may have met their match, according to new research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The findings show that the introduction of a harmless molecule that uses the same machinery a virus needs to grow may be a potent way to shut down the virus before it infects other cells or becomes resistant to drugs. The results are published in the March issue of the journal, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.
The damage that traffic fumes can do to vegetation close to roads has been the subject of new research carried out at the University of Bradford.
PhD student Keeley Bignal monitored moss and lichen over a six-month period to compile the study. Keeley took specimens from sites where there is no pollution and placed them at various distances from busy roadsides.
She said: “We are using lichens and mosses because they are known to be sensitive to air pollution.
“Previously
Russian scientists have discovered territories in the North that will run the greatest risk in the course of permafrost thawing, they have also calculated degree of risk for towns, industrial facilities and main lines.
Global climate warming makes attacks on permafrost. Accurate forecast is very important as the permafrost ground status would drive the future of all northern towns and industrial facilities. Researchers of the State Hydrological Institute (St. Petersburg) have undertaken such
High-quality nanopowders made of refractory ceramics are a rare and very expensive material. All known methods of their manufacturing face the same problems – scanty quantities, extensive variety of particle sizes and expensive production. Researchers from the town of Tomsk have invented and manufactured a device to produce a choice selection of particles – all particles are equal to the required size and inexpensive. The project has been funded by two foundations – the Russian Foundation for Basic R
Is there an alternative to using GM crops in agriculture to eradicate the need for applying excessive phosphate fertiliser? John Hammond of UK’s Horticulture Research International thinks so. Working in collaboration with Nottingham University, he is developing a diagnostic test that tells when plants are low on phosphorus so they can be fertilised by precision management rather than the current practice of fertilising indiscriminately. Dr Hammond will present his results at the Society for Experimen
Fish may only have a 3-second memory, but lobsters certainly don’t. Professor Jelle Atema’s group at the Boston University Marine Program has discovered that when two lobsters fight, the loser remembers the winner and determines the intensity of a later fight when the two meet again. Male lobsters can use the smell of urine to distinguish between individual opponents. The consequences of a ‘boxing match’ between two male lobsters, after which the ‘nose’ of either the loser or winner was disabled so t
At last! An excuse for those of us who take our work-related stress out on our family. Dr. Øyvind Øverli of the University of Oslo has discovered that dominant rainbow trout reduce their stress levels by venting their frustration on socially subordinate animals. Presenting his results at the annual SEB meeting in Edinburgh (29th March – 2nd April 2004, session A15.8), Dr. Øverli suggests that this method of stress reduction may be an evolutionarily conserved strategy, which may increase our understan
Every now and then a new, nasty version of the influenza virus sweeps across the world. Health experts have known for a long time that these worldwide outbreaks of fatal disease start in birds. Now scientists are uncovering for the first time the secrets of the viruses which can make the jump from birds to humans, according to research to be presented tomorrow, Tuesday 30 March 2004, at the Society for General Microbiology’s meeting in Bath.
“Most bird flu viruses cannot normally infect
Using tiny amounts of gold and a genetic ’hairpin probe’, US scientists have developed a sensor which will aid hospitals in the fight against serious infections such as Staphylococcus aureus, researchers from the University of Rochester, New York, will announce tomorrow, Tuesday 30 March 2004, at the Society for General Microbiology’s meeting in Bath.
The feat of micro-engineering is the latest response by medical researchers against the constant and continuing threat from hos
Yet another extraordinary ability of the active ingredient in aspirin, salicylic acid, has just been identified by plant scientists working at the University of Cambridge, researchers heard today, Monday 29 March 2004, at the Society for General Microbiology’s meeting in Bath.
“We all recognise its bitter taste and pain-killing abilities, but the importance of the active ingredient of aspirin, called salicylic acid, is even greater”, says Dr John Carr of the Department of Plant Sciences
West Nile virus and dengue fever, two of the most feared diseases spread by mosquitoes and other biting insects, could be controlled in future by using techniques learned from studying the influenza virus, fruit flies and plants, according to scientists from the University of California speaking today, Monday 29 March 2004, at the Society for General Microbiology’s meeting in Bath.
“We can study the way insects fight off viruses by looking at fruit flies”, says Professor Shou-Wei Ding of th
The blood-sucking ticks that spread microbes, causing disease in livestock and people, are very sensitive to the weather. So different sorts of microbes cycle between ticks and their hosts in the UK and in other parts of Europe where the summers are warmer and drier. This has obvious implications for the possible effects of global warming on the spread of vector-borne diseases, such as malaria, Oxford University scientists said today, Monday 29 March 2004, at the Society for General Microbiology’s meet
Russian researchers produce crystals of various colors and shades based on yttrium, aluminium and oxygen. Outwardly, they practically do not differ from well-known semiprecious garnet stones. However, artificially produced crystals possess higher solidity, and the color variety is much wider than that of their natural “relatives”.
Sometimes a minor thing is sufficient to change the situation beyond recognition. That is particularly important in chemistry, especially in chemistry of crystals.
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