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JASON II reaches most of the world ocean floor and sends data ashore via the Internet

A new generation of remotely operated vehicle (ROV) capable of routine operation to depths of 6,500 meters (21,320 feet) and communicating its data back to shore via the Internet has been developed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). The vehicle, JASON II, recently completed its first science cruise off the coast of Washington and Oregon and is currently at sea in the Pacific wo

Balloons outfitted with innovative steering devices and robot probes could be the future of planetary exploration. Dr. Alexey Pankine, a fellow at the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC), presented an analysis of balloon applications for planetary science at the World Space Congress in Houston, Texas last month. His study, entitled Directed Aerial Robot Explorers or DARE, is funded by NIAC.

At the center of the DARE concept are balloons that can float in planetary atmospheres for man

2002 Outbreak May Claim 10,000 Harbor Seals

Scientists from Göteborg University in Sweden and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) report in an upcoming issue of the journal Ecology Letters that the 2002 outbreak of phocine distemper virus, or PDV, in European harbor seals may reduce the population by more than half and that future outbreaks with similar characteristics would significantly increase the risk of population declines. Their findings are the first epidemiol

MRI used in a breakthrough study to explore how we gather information

How do we learn? At the same time, when learning is conscious, does the brain engage in learning based on experience? Many scientists have believed that the two processes are independent of each other. Now, new research findings published in the current edition of the Journal of Neurophysiology, suggest otherwise.
Background

Procedural learning, such as perceptual-motor sequence learning, is thought

Age is the ’equalizer,’ according to a study that provides new insights into why women live longer than men

Men die earlier than women. This fact leads scientists and medical researchers to conclude that gender and age are two basic factors continuously affecting body functions, disease categories and even life expectancy. Previous research has determined that gender influences brain structure and functions; however, in considering the cardiac pacemaker, there is still debat

Biologists at the Farber Institute for Neurosciences at Thomas Jefferson University have shown for the first time in the laboratory that they can convert some adult human neural stem cells to brain cells that can produce dopamine, the brain chemical missing in Parkinson’s disease. If the researchers can better understand the process and harness this ability, the work may someday lead to new strategies in treating neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s.

Developmental biologist L

On Friday, November 8, Mats Hallman, Department of Odontology, Jaw Surgery, Umeå University in Sweden, will defend a thesis that presents favorable results from implanting bone powder from calves to anchor tooth implants in humans.

Tooth implants have long been a well-tested method to create permanent teeth in toothless sections of the jaw. In certain cases, however, patients have no bone in which to secure the titanium screws. In these cases it is necessary to rebuild the bone prior

A group of researchers at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have developed a novel DNA vaccine that helps the body resist the growth of cancerous tumors by choking off the tumors’ blood supply.

“We stimulate the immune system to recognize proliferating blood vessels in the tumor vasculature and to recruit killer T cells to destroy these vessels,” explains TSRI Immunology Professor Ralph Reisfeld, Ph.D., who conducted the study with Research Associate Andreas G. Niethammer, M.D., an

Indiana resident Luke Pascale runs two pizza restaurants and had worked out three times a week. He also enjoyed long bike rides with his wife, but last year, the pain in his hip became so severe he couldn’t stay on a bike for more than five minutes.

“I’m very active so the thought of having hip surgery was not pleasant,” said the 53-year-old father of four from St. John, Ind.

Instead of receiving the traditional hip replacement surgery, which uses a metal ball bearing in a polyeth

Mechanical engineers at Purdue University have discovered a simple and speedy method for pinpointing and fixing design flaws in new cars.

Douglas E. Adams, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue, said he stumbled across a mathematical solution to a design bottleneck in automotive engineering. Engineers now have to rely on complex, time-consuming mathematical models to solve design problems in new cars that are soon to begin rolling off the assembly line.

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Computer prescriptions are three times less likely to contain errors than handwritten prescriptions

Have you ever received a drug prescription from a physician that looked like chicken scratch? You’re not alone. Pharmacists sometimes have a hard time reading prescriptions and in some cases they also are incomplete. To avoid errors, pharmacists have to spend precious time tracking down prescribers to clarify illegible or possibly inaccurate prescriptions. A new study by researcher

A new technique enables doctors to directly examine the lining of milk ducts in the breast for early signs of cancer and other abnormalities, according to research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The researchers used the technique, known as ductoscopy, to detect breast abnormalities in women with a condition called pathologic nipple discharge (PND).

The findings are published in the October issue of the journal Surgery.

“This technique is more successful

Researchers are using a herpes virus that produces a firefly enzyme to illuminate the virus’s course of infection in mice and to help monitor the infection’s response to therapy. The work is published by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in the December issue of the Journal of Virology.

“This study demonstrates the feasibility of monitoring microbial infections in living animals in real time,” says study leader David A. Leib, Ph.D., associate prof

New research from investigators in the Centre for Neuroscience Studies at Queen’s University and the Centre for Brain and Mind at The University of Western Ontario has provided the first neuro-imaging evidence that the brain’s frontal lobes play a critical role in planning and choosing actions.

Their study is published today in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

The research team has found that a small region in the frontal lobe of the human brain is selectively activated when

An environmentally friendly solution to one of the world’s most notorious chemical contamination problems may be a step closer to reality, reports a research team from Purdue University and the University of British Columbia.

The team has identified one of the key stumbling blocks that prevent microorganisms from decomposing PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), a persistent and potentially hazardous industrial chemical that has become nearly ubiquitous in the environment. While capi

T cells and antibody-producing B cells carry out immune defense against specific pathogens such as viruses. Antibodies and T cell receptors are highly diverse molecules that can recognize millions of different molecules. Upon encounter of a foreign antigen (such as a molecule from the surface of a virus), T cells and B cells whose receptors match that particular antigen expand dramatically, providing the immune system with a large number of very specific defenders. After an attack is fought off, the