Microbes are everywhere, but when they are in mined soils, they react with the mineral pyrite to speed up acidification of mine run-off water. Scientists have been trying to understand the chemistry behind this process that eventually leads to widespread acidification of water bodies and deposition of heavy metals. What a new study has found seems to defy the laws of chemistry: microbes react with the pyrite surface, coating it with chemicals that would be expected to hinder further reactions. Despit
UMHS study finds inaccurate, old information on nearly one-third of Web sites
Unlike more common cancers like breast cancer, prostate cancer or melanoma, few people understand the basic facts about what causes bladder cancer and how it is treated. So when patients are diagnosed with bladder cancer, they often turn to the Internet for information.
But a new study by researchers at the University of Michigan Health System found 32 percent of Web sites about bladder cancer cont
The introduction and widespread use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for HIV-infected persons in San Francisco in the late 1990s reduced their risks of infecting partners by 60 percent, according to a study conducted by researchers from the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) and UCSF.
“While we found that antiretroviral use alone may account for a 60 percent reduction in risk of HIV transmission, a concurrent increase in risk behavior meant that rates of new in
Comparing ecological impacts of fishing gears
Sea turtles, starfish, dolphins, and seabirds are routinely caught and killed or injured in fishing gears aiming to catch other marine life bound for human consumption. This so-called bycatch can outweigh the actual target species by as much as 20 times. In addition, fishing gears inflict damage to corals and other seafloor habitats. “Shifting gears: assessing collateral impacts of fishing methods in US waters,” which appears in this month
Researchers at Johns Hopkins say that combining various types of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging techniques more accurately sorts cancers from benign masses in breast tissues than any single imaging techniques. Their findings are presented in the October issue of Radiology.
Magnetic resonance imaging scanners can be calibrated to take images that highlight a specific type of human tissue. For example, so-called T1-weighted imaging sequences are best at imaging fatty tissues, while T2-weight
Authors of a hypothesis article in this week’s issue of THE LANCET propose that the emergence of Crohn’s disease in the second half of the 20th century-the same time that domestic refrigerators became widely available-is no coincidence. The authors suggest that certain types of bacteria that can survive in refrigerated food may be implicated in Crohn’s disease.
Crohn’s disease is thought to be caused by environmental factors (diet, lifestyle, smoking) among genetically susceptible individua
Physicians can now identify overweight people at very high risk of developing heart disease, thanks to research published this week in BMC Cardiovascular Disorders. People who suffer from heart disease are more likely to produce smaller versions of a protein called apolipoprotein(a).
Being overweight increases your risk of suffering from heart disease. However other factors, such as having high levels of low-density lipoprotein in the blood, also play a role. Now it seems that the size of
Try as we may to suppress memories of highly stressful experiences, they nevertheless come back to bother us – even causing attacks of intense fear or other undesirable behavioral impairments.
Now, a group of German, Israeli and British scientists and students have found that a gene-based approach offers promise for development of a treatment that can suppress these reactions, while not impairing memory itself.
In an article appearing as the cover story in the current issue of Mo
For the first time, researchers using laboratory techniques alone and no animal hosts have isolated sex-cell precursors from mouse embryos, coaxed the cells into a sperm-like form, used them to fertilize mouse eggs, and ultimately formed earlystage embryos. The research may offer a breakthrough tool for studies of embryonic cells and gene delivery, potentially helping scientists develop treatments for infertility and providing insight into the growth of certain tumors. The researche
While Mars can claim some unique features – the largest volcano and the deepest canyon in the solar system – its rocky, dusty, cold landscape has yet to yield signs of the ultimate prize: life.
Three simple words – follow the water – have become the mantra of astrobiologists studying the Red Planet because the presence of water is believed to be a prerequisite for life, either past or present.
But as scientists look for evidence of water on Mars, they are faced with an underlying
Using an orbiting camera designed to block the light from the sun and stars, an international team of solar physicists has been able for the first time to directly image clouds of electrons surrounding Earth that travel from the sun during periods of solar flare activity.
These electron clouds, a part of the solar atmosphere that extends millions of miles from the sun, cause geomagnetic storms that can disrupt communications satellites, expose high-flying aircraft to excess radiation and ev
Draft sequence aligned with human genome
The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), today announced the first draft version of the genome sequence of the chimpanzee and its alignment with the human genome. All of the data have been deposited into free public databases and are now available for use by scientists around the world.
The sequence of the chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes, was assembled by NHGRI-funded teams led
The pattern of rainfall in the Washington Cascades strongly affects long-term erosion rates in the mountain range and may cause bedrock to be pulled up towards the Earth’s surface faster in some places than others, according to a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded study published in this week’s issue of the journal Nature. The results are the first convincing evidence of such effects, on mountain-range scales.
“The data strongly suggest that precipitation controls erosion ra
An analysis of ground water and stream pollution 30 years after an agricultural study of nitrate began suggests that nitrate fertilizer can influence the watershed for decades.
Nitrate pollution from agricultural fertilizers can make water unsafe to drink, and may be causing a “dead zone” near the outlet of the Mississippi River in the Gulf of Mexico. For these reasons, farmers are being encouraged to alter their practices to use nitrogen more efficiently, but environmental improvemen
For the first time, an international research program involving the Department of the Interior’s U.S. Geological Survey has proven that it is technically feasible to produce gas from gas hydrates. Gas hydrates are a naturally occurring “ice-like” combination of natural gas and water that have the potential to be a significant new source of energy from the world’s oceans and polar regions.
Today at a symposium in Japan, the successful results of the first modern, fully integrated p
Astrobiologists disagree about whether advanced life is common or rare in our universe. But new research suggests that one thing is pretty certain – if an Earthlike world with significant water is needed for advanced life to evolve, there could be many candidates.
In 44 computer simulations of planet formation near a sun, astronomers found that each simulation produced one to four Earthlike planets, including 11 so-called “habitable” planets about the same distance from their stars as Earth
Feedback
