Having marked its first anniversary on orbit, NASA’s Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) satellite has hit its stride. In concert with other satellites, SORCE’s observations of the sun’s brightness are helping researchers better understand climate change, climate prediction, atmospheric ozone, the sunburn-causing ultraviolet-B radiation and space weather.
In fall 2003, SORCE was fortunate to see and measure exceptionally high levels of the sun’s activities. In
An experiment which forced E. coli bacteria to adapt or perish showed that, in a pinch, they were capable of improvising a novel molecular tool to save their skins.
“The bacteria reached for a tool that they had, and made it do something it doesn’t normally do,” said James Bardwell, an associate professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology at the University of Michigan. “We caught evolution in the act of making a big step.”
This big step also turns out to be a new w
Exploring the role of predators in keeping pathogens at bay
Lyme disease, bubonic plague, and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome–all potentially serious disease threats to people–are carried by non-human vertebrates, most often rodents, who are the host species for a plethora of pathogens. Recent outbreaks of Monkeypox and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome have generated fresh concern about how pathogens move from non-human carriers to people. The paper, “Are predators good for your heal
A new study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden shows, for the first time, an association between coronary heart disease and oral health in women. Recent results have also shown that serological factors, might provide insight into the reported epidemiological association between periodontitis and cardiovascular disease.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the Western industrialized world. Classic risk factors such as smoking, obesity and high blood lipids do not ex
Late arriving passengers are an never-ending headache for airports, but IST-project ADAMANT will trial a wireless network at this year’s Summer Olympic Games in Athens that uses smart antenna technology to get passengers to their gates on time.
The airport network under development – a hybrid 2.5G system that incorporates a blend of GSM and 3G standards – is comprised of two components: the technology for the wireless networks, and the passenger and staff support system. Project manager La
One in five asthmatic patients are sensitive to aspirin, yet many are unaware that they are at risk of a potentially life threatening reaction known as aspirin induced asthma, warn researchers in this week’s BMJ.
Aspirin induced asthma is a severe reaction to aspirin and other commonly used painkillers, but controversy exists over its prevalence.
Researchers analysed 21 studies of asthmatic patients and found the prevalence of aspirin induced asthma to be 21% in adults and 5% in chi
Results of a phase III study from Germany in this week’s issue of THE LANCET suggest that a tumour-based vaccine could reduce disease recurrence and increase survival of patients who have had surgery for kidney cancer.
3% of cancer occurs in the kidney, with around 12,000 renal-cancer deaths a year in the USA. Removal of part or all of the kidney (nephrectomy) is the standard treatment for renal cancer, although other treatments after surgery (eg, radiotherapy, chemotherapy) are not effectiv
Discovery suggests that a ’live virus’ vaccine may offer best defense against avian flu
Researchers at the University of Rochester have identified a protein in the immune system that appears to play a crucial role in protecting against deadly forms of influenza, and may be particularly important in protecting against emerging flu viruses like the avian flu. The researchers believe that a vaccine made with a live but weakened strain of flu virus – such as the inhaled flu vaccine intro
Knowing our partner is in pain automatically triggers affective pain processing regions of our brains, according to new research by University College London (UCL) scientists. The study, published in the 20th February edition of the journal Science, asked whether empathizing with the pain of others involves the re-activation of the entire pain network underlying the processing of pain in our selves. The results suggest that empathy for pain of others only involves the affective, but not sensory comp
Since the development of superconducting electronic devices there has been a need to develop a three terminal transistor like device sensitive enough to measure small voltage and current signals typical of those associated with single electron and photon events.
A group of researchers in the Department of Particle & Nuclear Physics at Oxford University has designed a superconducting device with properties analogous to those of a traditional semiconducting transistor. The Quatratran (Quasipar
At sea, when you approach land? Tellmaris’ prototype system provides up-to-date 3D information to orient sailors as and when they dock.
Two years after initial market research and interviews with over 800 pleasure boat users, the IST-funded TellMaris team (consisting of firms and research institutes from Norway, Finland, Germany and Greece) has developed three prototypes for areas of the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. Sailors and leisure boat tourists were chosen as the test sam
JEMA, the company based in Lasarte in the Basque Country, has recently put into operation the two energy supply plants designed and manufactured for the European EFDA (the European Fusion Development Agreement)-JET nuclear fusion experimental reactor at Culham in the United Kingdom. This reactor is one of the plants on which ITER, the largest research project in the world, has been based.
With this achievement JEMA has carried out more than 2 years of intense work in research, design and con
Researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg have discovered a molecular “switch” that guides the development of the eye in a fish called medaka. The interaction of two proteins determines whether cells divide or specialize at a key moment as the eye forms. Researchers are keenly interested in such switches because the decision to replicate or differentiate is crucial to many processes, from the proper growth of embryos to the development of cancer. The story appears
Water is simple, right? It is a simple, stable molecule – two hydrogen atoms strongly bonded to an oxygen atom. It is common in the universe, existing at a wide range of temperatures. As a liquid, it has interesting properties that allow it to dissolve many substances. It is basic to life, and it makes up most of your body.
However, a vigorous argument about some fundamental physical properties of this ubiquitous substance has been raging for over half a century. Now, a new finding to be pu
A compound currently used to treat patients with severe sepsis also protects brain cells in an unexpected way, say researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center in the Feb. 19 issue of the journal Neuron.
Doctors currently use a modified version of activated protein C or APC to reduce inflammation or increase blood flow in patients with severe sepsis, and last year neuroscientist Berislav Zlokovic, M.D., Ph.D., led a team that showed that the compound also protects the cells tha
UCSF researchers have made a notable advance in the effort to illuminate the existence of adult stem cells in the human brain, identifying a ribbon of stem cells that potentially could be used to develop strategies for regenerating damaged brain tissue – and that could offer new insight into the most common type of brain tumor.
The study, conducted by investigators in the UCSF Department of Neurological Surgery, is the cover story in the Feb. 19 issue of Nature.
The researchers co
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