On 29-30 March the findings of ’Inside the Big Black Box’- a Europe-wide science and society project – will be revealed during a two-day seminar hosted by CERN 1 . The principle aim of Inside the Big Black Box (IN3B) is to determine whether a working scientific laboratory can capture the curiosity of the general public through visits.
IN3B was sponsored by the European Union to evaluate how effectively five laboratories – CERN in Switzerland, LNGS 2 in Italy, Demokri
NASA scientists have an explanation for one of the worst climatic events in the history of the United States, the “Dust Bowl” drought, which devastated the Great Plains and all but dried up an already depressed American economy in the 1930’s.
Siegfried Schubert of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., and colleagues used a computer model developed with modern-era satellite data to look at the climate over the past 100 years. The study found cooler than normal tropical
To test whether chemicals are toxic to humans, researchers need to use liver cells that have been freshly harvested from mice or other mammals. A new collection of stable cell lines, described in BMC Biotechnology this week, could reduce the numbers of animals needed in such experiments.
The MMH-GH cell lines are derived from the liver cells of transgenic mice. These cells have been engineered to secrete human growth hormone when they are exposed to toxic compounds. The cells also continuou
Surgical intervention to remove narrowing in the carotid artery (carotid endarterectomy) could substantially reduce the risk of major strokes in certain groups of patients if it is done sufficiently soon after a “warning stroke” or transient ischaemic attack (TIA), suggest authors of a UK study in this week’s issue of THE LANCET.
Peter Rothwell from the University of Oxford, UK, and colleagues analysed pooled data from two trials (the European Carotid Surgery Trial and North American Symptom
Epidemiological research from central Africa in this week’s issue of THE LANCET highlights how a new form of retrovirus – simian foamy virus (SFV) – can be transferred from primates to humans as a result of hunting for bush meat. Although the effect of simian foamy viruses on human health is not yet known, authors of the research state that a reduction in hunting and consumption of bushmeat will be necessary to prevent the spread of this retrovirus in humans.
The hunting and butchering of wi
Two teams of British scientists have produced the best evidence yet that our planet is experiencing a mass extinction. Two separate papers, published in Science 19 March and funded largely by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) highlight the serious concerns that have been growing among the world’s scientists for over ten years. John Lawton, chief executive of NERC and co-author of one of the papers said, ’Fossil records show five major extinctions. Current ext
Researchers in Hong Kong have discovered a way to help prevent the reactivation of the hepatitis B virus in women who are being treated with chemotherapy for breast cancer.
Dr Winnie Yeo told the 4th European Breast Cancer Conference in Hamburg: “In several developing countries, as many as twelve per cent of breast cancer patients carry the hepatitis B virus. These patients are at risk of developing HBV reactivation during chemotherapy, which is a well-known complication resulting in varyin
Work by scientists in The Netherlands has contradicted the notion that breast cancer metastases behave differently to their primary tumours.
PhD student, Britta Weigelt told the meeting of the 4th European Breast Cancer Conference today (Thursday 18 March) that, contrary to what had been thought previously, any primary breast cancer cell was capable of producing secondary cancer cells, which then spread to other parts of the body. These secondary cancer cells had a strikingly similar
Nanophotonics could well revolutionise the fields of telecommunications, computing and sensing, according to Professor Clivia Sotomayor Torres. But why is research into nanophotonics important?
It has the potential to provide ultra-small optoelectronic components, high speed and greater bandwidth. Professor Sotomayor Torres believes current research into fabricating nano-electronics could open the way for new methods of making nanophotonic devices, i.e. mass producing light handling devices
British ecologists have gathered compelling new experimental evidence on how tropical rain forest food webs are constructed, findings that may have important implications for their environmental management.
The research reported in Nature today (18 March) demonstrates how species that never meet may nevertheless influence each other’s ecology through shared parasites, and confirms the action of an important ecological theory in the highly biodiverse rain forest environment.
Eco
Invasive alien species are one of the greatest threats to global biodiversity. Part of their success may be due to rapid evolutionary changes when invaders adapt to the novel conditions in their invaded habitats.
Invasive plants, in particular, are believed to double-profit from a loss of their natural enemies and subsequent evolution of less chemically defended but more competitive genotypes which then take over their new habitats.
A recent study soon to appear in Ecology Letters
In light-contrasted ecosystems, ambient light and background colours influence the evolution of animal coloration. Because maximal conspicuousness is achieved for signals which are rich in the colours of ambient light but poorly reflected by background, different signals will be cryptic or conspicuous at different heights in tropical rainforest.
In the forthcoming issue of Ecology Letters, Gomez and Théry compare plumages of 40 species living in French Guiana. They demonstrate that predator
For species such as corals the dispersal of their larvae and restocking of damaged reefs is critical to their ability to survive the changes produced by global warming.
In the latest issue of Ecology Letters, David Ayre and Terry Hughes from the Australia’s Wollongong and James Cook Universities have for the first time used genetic data to show that individual coral reefs within the world’s largest tropical reef system (the Great Barrier Reef) must be buffered against such change
A power plant that generates energy from used nuclear waste and destroys it as well. Could this become a reality? A three-year research project involving 23 European partners coordinated by KTH is being launched to investigate the matter.
In the last few years great strides have been taken in research into so-called transmutation (see footnote) of nuclear waste. Therefore, the EU is now committing €4 million in Project Red Impact. The objective of the project is to present several alternati
Transplanting stem cells to a diseased retina may be a method of treating certain common eye disorders in the future. In her dissertation, Lund scientist Anita Blixt Wojciechowski reports research findings that enhance the knowledge needed to make this treatment possible.
Retinitis pigmentosa is a hereditary retinal disease that affects one person in 3,500 and leads to severe vision impairment or blindness. Age-related deterioration of the yellow spot, the part of the retina that is most cru
Thanks to ESA’s Mars Express, we now know that Mars has vast fields of perennial water ice, stretching out from the south pole of the Red Planet.
Astronomers have known for years that Mars possessed polar ice caps, but early attempts at chemical analysis suggested only that the northern cap could be composed of water ice, and the southern cap was thought to be carbon dioxide ice.
Recent space missions then suggested that the southern ice cap, existing all year round, could be a mixture
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