A robust, new geographic information systems (GIS) software tool developed by a University at Buffalo geographer is helping the U.S. Forest Service to more quickly and accurately assess and contain the devastation wrought by forest fires, such as last summer’s Hayman Fire, Colorado’s worst wildfire ever. That fire, which covered more than 137,000 acres and blazed for more than two weeks, destroyed 133 homes and caused damage of approximately $39 million.
The new tool, to be presen
Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) researches and their colleagues have discovered that escort molecules are required to usher pheromone receptors to the surface of sensory neurons where they are needed to translate chemical cues.
In an interesting twist, the researchers found that the escort molecules belong to a family of proteins, called the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), which plays an important role in the immune system. The researchers speculate that in addition to being
A close relative of a common little-understood human virus that causes an estimated 23 million episodes of intestinal illness, 50,000 hospitalizations and 300 deaths each year has been discovered in mice. The finding by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis is reported in the March 7 issue of the journal Science.
Discovery of the new virus, known as murine norovirus 1 (MNV-1), may lead to a better understanding of its disease-causing cousins known as No
Scientists from the University of Colorado at Boulder have proposed a long-sought answer to how atmospheric sulfate aerosols are formed in the stratosphere.
Conducted by researchers at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, or CIRES, the research shows how a fundamental molecular process driven by sunlight may play a significant role in determining the planet’s energy budget.
The research was a collaboration between Veronica Vaida, chair of the CU-B
Scientists at the University of the West of England and the University of Sheffield have won funding to create a robotic system based on the whiskers of a rat.
The system would mimic the biological rat whisker and would provide an entirely new and groundbreaking modality for mobile robots working in confined spaces.
Known as ‘Whiskerbot’ the project will bring together experts in robotics from UWE with experts from Sheffield University who specialise in computer modelling of the brains o
Exactly fifty years ago, Watson and Crick revealed the structure of DNA, unleashing a scientific revolution. On the anniversary of that momentous discovery, the world’s leading science journal, Nature, will publish new and groundbreaking genetic research by Bangor University scientist, Dr. Isabelle Colson. Isabelle is an expert in evolutionary biology, the study of how life evolves, and for 18 months she was an invaluable part of a Manchester-based team studying mutation in yeast – a seemingly simple
Authors of a research letter in this week’s issue of THE LANCET highlight how screening for Down’s syndrome based on maternal age and four markers in maternal blood should be used worldwide-the quadruple test is far more effective than screening based on maternal age alone.
Screening for Down’s syndrome is widely practised early in the second trimester of pregnancy (weeks 14 to 22). The quadruple test calculates the risk of a Down’s syndrome term pregnancy from maternal age and the concentr
Long-time farmers’ friend shows promise against parasitic worms
Roundworms, hookworms, watch out. Scientists this week announced that a soil bacterium’s crystal proteins, long an effective weapon against many insect pests, are toxic to some nematodes, too.
The crystal proteins – created by some strains of Bacillus thuringiensis, more commonly known as Bt – thwart the development of some nematodes and kill others outright. The findings raise the possibility that thes
New work by researchers in the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins may allow them to halt the smoking-induced cellular events that lead to 99 percent of all small cell lung cancers (SCLC). The research is reported in the March 5, 2003, issue of Nature.
The researchers found that a primitive cellular pathway, called Sonic Hedgehog (named for the cartoon character and spiky hairs it develops on fruit flies) stays turned on long after it should be turned off in some lung cancers.
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Patients who have had colorectal cancer may reduce their risk of suffering a recurrence by taking an aspirin daily, according to a new study conducted by a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill physician and colleagues around the United States.
The study showed that subjects who took 325 milligrams of aspirin each day had a 35 percent lower risk of developing polyps in their colons during the period examined than did patients who received an inactive placebo. Polyps are considered pre
Breakthrough could help resolve serious problems in oceanography and climate research
Scientists at Johns Hopkins University and the University of California-Irvine have finally been able to field-test theories about how wind transfers energy to ocean waves, a topic of debate since the 19th century that had previously proved impossible to settle experimentally.
The new results may help lead the way to the resolution of a longstanding problem in scientists’ understanding
The JNK signaling pathway allows cells to respond to changes in their extracellular environment and in doing so, controls many aspects of cell function including cell proliferation, differentiation and death. Studies have also shown that this pathway plays a role in cancer, although it has been unclear whether active JNK signaling can accelerate or protect cells from becoming cancerous. Several studies using cultured cells have suggested that JNK signaling may be important for promoting tumor cell de
Biochemist Daniel R. Gallie at the University of California, Riverside and his research team of Zhong Chen, Todd Young, Jun Ling, and Su-Chih Chang report in the March 18, 2003, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) that they have developed technology that increases the amount of vitamin C in plants, including grains, by increasing the amount of the enzyme that is responsible for recycling vitamin C. “The ability to increase the level of vitamin C in plant food will enh
UCLA chemists report in the Feb. 28 issue of Science a room-temperature chemical method for producing a new form of carbon called carbon nanoscrolls. Nanoscrolls are closely related to the much touted carbon nanotubes — which may have numerous industrial applications — but have significant advantages over them, said Lisa Viculis and Julia Mack, the lead authors of the Science article and graduate students in the laboratory of Richard B. Kaner, UCLA professor of chemistry and biochemistry.
Because of Earth’s dynamic climate, winds and atmospheric pressure systems experience constant change. These fluctuations may affect how our planet rotates on its axis, according to NASA-funded research that used wind and satellite data.
NASA’s Earth Science Enterprise (ESE) mission is to understand the Earth system and its response to natural and human-induced changes for better prediction of climate, weather and natural hazards, such as atmospheric changes or El Nino events that
Scientists at the University of Manchester have turned back the evolutionary clock to reveal a hidden mechanism for differentiation between species of the same family, according to an article published in the journal Nature this week. The finding sheds new light on how different species may have arisen and questions the very notion of how we define individual species.
The work, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Wellcome Trust, was c
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