Research to Aid Astronauts Also Could Help Bed-Ridden Patients on Earth
These boots weren’t made for walkin’, but “space boots” under development at the University of Houston may help astronauts stay healthy and readjust more quickly to walking again on terra firma.
University of Houston researchers have developed technology that could help combat the loss of muscle mass, strength and coordination experienced by astronauts during long-duration stints in microgravity. The sys
UH Solar Cell Research Has Applications for Space Exploration, Clean Cars
New technologies designed to harness the power of the sun may hold the key to successful moon colonies, cheaper and lighter-weight satellites, and cleaner-burning, more efficient car engines.
Solar cells, electronic devices that convert sunlight into useful electricity, would be an important resource for powering future industrial bases or colonies on the moon. Alex Freundlich, research professor of ph
Excessive noise, such as jet aircraft flying overhead, impairs children’s reading ability and long-term memory, a Cornell University environmental psychologist and his European colleagues conclude in a study of schoolchildren living near airports.
“This is the first long-term study of the same children before and after airports near them opened and closed. It nails down that it is almost certain that noise is causing the differences in children’s ability to learn to read,” says Ga
Findings published in this month’s issue of Clinical Cancer Research and featured on the journal’s cover, may bring researchers one-step closer to the development of tumor markers to detect colon cancer early, before it has had a chance to spread and when it is easier to cure, say researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI). These tumor markers – elevated levels of proteins or other substances in the blood, urine or tissue that indicate the presence of cancer – als
New technology used to analyse dissolved organic matter in river water could also help scientists detect and monitor pollution, according to a new research published in the journal Hydrological Processes.
Dissolved organic matter is found in all river water, and can come from both a natural source such as the soil, as well as human sources such as organic pollutants. It can produce natural fluorescence which can be seen using high-tech equipment.
Researchers from Newcastle Univers
A new use of old technology could lead to handheld scanning diagnostic devices (as seen in Star Trek!) one day becoming a reality.
Writing in the October issue of Biologist, Steve Mitchell and colleagues (Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine, London) envisage a future where, ‘an entire individual could be quickly scanned using a handheld device. Extrapolating further, such a scan could provide a virtually instant readout of an individual’s biochemistry, revealing potential ill
Eye specialists at the University of Leicester are using a new technique of ‘lighting up the brain’ to investigate and understand eye diseases.
The Ulverscroft Foundation has funded a new five-year research post at the University to probe into the link between the eyes and the brain with a view to increasing knowledge about common eye problems and improving treatment for patients. The Foundation is a charity that the funds production of large print books for visually impaired people.
New research into how biodiversity is generated and maintained in the seas surrounding hostile Polar Regions is reported in this month`s Proceedings of the Royal Society (Biological Sciences).
British Antarctic Survey biologist David Barnes studied `battles` between rock-dwelling marine organisms in shallow seas from the Poles to tropics to come up with a `league table` and a `polar pecking order` that lead to a greater understanding of extreme environments and how marine organisms may reac
New gene therapy procedures, DNA-based sensors, and other medical applications may be possible using a new method to initiate and control chemical reactions on DNA strands, developed by a team of chemists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory. The new technology uses specially designed nanometer-sized semiconductors–less than a billionth of an inch in size.
The technology is based on the group’s discovery of “conductive linkers”–small organic molecules th
Nothing seems more down-to-Earth than dirt, but scientists are going to space to understand how earthquakes and related strains and stresses disturb soil and sand.
When Space Shuttle Columbia lifts off in January, it will carry the Mechanics of Granular Materials (MGM) experiment, which studies soil behavior under conditions that cannot be duplicated on Earth — the microgravity, or low-gravity created as the Shuttle orbits Earth.
Results from this granular mechanics research can le
But new study sheds light on what makes leaves turn red
Groundhog behavior is supposedly a harbinger of spring.
Wooly Bear Caterpillars are a possible portent of the severity of winter.
But who knows when the Vermont forests will blaze with autumnal gold, orange and scarlet?
Not the weather forecasters, not the almanacs, not some octogenarian recluse Vermonter. Leave that to the scientists.
Here in Vermont where one out of four of the forests’
Researchers receive grant to use robots to improve walking
Irvine, Calif. — Paralysis from spinal cord injury was significantly reversed by adding tiny nerves from the rib cage and mixing them with a powerful growth inducer found in most nerve cells, a UC Irvine and Long Beach Veterans Administration Medical Center study has found.
The study, conducted in rats, suggests that nerve cells can be inserted and stimulated to grow through damaged areas of the spinal cord, perhaps
University of Georgia scientist leads team
A team of researchers, led by a University of Georgia scientist, has developed the first transgenic system for removing arsenic from the soil by using genetically modified plants. The new system could have a major impact on arsenic pollution, which is a dramatic and growing threat to the environment and to human and animal health worldwide.
The scientists were able to insert two genes from the common bacterium Escherichia coli that allow
Scientists are beginning to change their thinking about why the immune systems of most people infected with HIV cannot control the spread of the virus while the immune systems of a rare group of individuals, called long-term nonprogressors, can. For some time, scientists thought that people who could not control HIV had too few HIV-fighting white blood cells called CD8+ T cells. However, a new study suggests the difference is not the number but the quality of these cells: both nonprogressors and othe
Researchers have conducted the most definitive study of its kind to show that sleeping on the stomach increases the risk of U.S. infants for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Previously, researchers had relied largely on overseas studies for making the recommendation that infants be placed on the back to sleep in order to reduce their risk for SIDS.
The study focused primarily on SIDS cases among African Americans, a group at roughly twice the risk for SIDS than are Caucasians. The findin
The plant Bizkaiko Txin-Txor Berziklategia (BTB), located in La Orkonera, Ortuella (Bizkaia, Basque Country) is the first plant of the Basque Autonomous Region dedicated to the assessment of waste derived from construction and demolition. Its set up, after an investment of 2,6 million euros, is going to prolong the average life of dumping sites.
The construction company Pavisa and the public corporation Garbiker, dependent on the Regional Council of Bizkaia, have designed the plant BTB for
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