First-principles calculation explains the strange behavior of magnesium diboride
Magnesium diboride (MgB2) becomes superconducting at 39 degrees Kelvin, one of the highest known transition temperatures (Tc) of any superconductor. What’s more, its puzzling characteristics include more than one superconducting energy gap, a state of affairs anticipated in theory but never before seen experimentally.
Now theorists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Universit
Early Detection of Alzheimer’s Could Lessen the Impact
Incidence of Alzheimer’s Disease is expected to increase as the population of elderly grows. Early diagnosis and treatment will be the key to lessening the disease’s worst effects, but, how to spot the disease before its symptoms become serious (and harm is already done) is a challenge for health professionals. A new study by psychologists Konstantine K. Zakzanis, Ph.D., and Mark Boulos, B.Sc., of the University of
A comprehensive examination of how the unique head and snout affects maneuverability and the role of its electrosensory function for seeking food along the ocean floor
Why the peculiar head shape of the hammerhead shark developed as it did has been the subject of much speculation. The dorso-ventrally compressed and laterally expanded pre-branchial head is an unmistakable diagnostic feature of the sphyrnid sharks. This unique head shape has been termed the cephalofoil in recognition of
UCI researchers find that consumption of certain food types cause the constricting reptile to expend excessive energy in digestion
Gary Larson, creator of “The Far Side,” is noted for morphing animal scientific attributes into human behavior in his comic strips. Consider the sketch of a family of pythons lying about after Thanksgiving dinner. The snakes that consumed a mouse, some chicken and glucose are ready to go out and play football shortly after dining. But the pythons that indu
Angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels, is important in the healthy body for healing wounds and, in females, for the monthly reproductive cycle and during pregnancy. It is controlled in the body through the use of the body’s own angiogenesis inhibitors and stimulators. In certain diseases the body is unable to control blood vessel growth. In diseases such as cancer, diabetic blindness and psoriasis, excessive angiogenesis is occurring; and in diseases such as coronary artery disease and stroke
The event which occurred almost a hundred years ago in Podkamennaya Tunguska has drawn scientists` attention again. What actually exploded at that time in the remote taiga, the power of explosion being equal to the 50-megaton H-bomb? The hypothesis that it was a meteorite or any other extraterrestrial object has not quite satisfied inquisitive minds, since too many puzzles remain unsolved. A geologist Vladimir Epifanov, Siberian Research Institute of Geology, Geophysics and Mineral, reported to the
In this month’s Genome Biology, Mitch Kostich and colleagues from the Schering-Plough Research Institute (NJ, USA) have identified and mapped an important group of molecules known as protein kinases. These molecules are central to the communication of information both within and between cells, in a process known as cell signaling. Defective protein kinases are associated with hundreds of human diseases, including some types of cancer, and it is hoped that this map, which shows the relationships betwe
VLT Observes Wolf-Rayet Stars in Virgo Cluster Galaxies [1]
Do very massive stars form in metal-rich regions of the Universe and in the nuclei of galaxies ? Or does “heavy element poisoning” stop stellar growth at an early stage, before young stars reach the “heavyweight class”?
What may at the first glance appear as a question for specialists actually has profound implications for our understanding of the evolution of galaxies, those systems of billions of stars – the m
Meteorologists can no longer view the Earth as an isolated system. Both long-term climate changes and day-to-day weather show links with the Sun`s activity. Scientists therefore study the nature of those links intensely. With data from ESA`s spaceprobes SOHO, Cluster, and Ulysses, we now have the information we need to solve the mystery of how the Sun`s activity affects the climate here on Earth. This study is the first step in setting up a new type of weather forecast – the space-weather bulletin.
A team of geologists has determined the age of the oldest known meteorite impact on Earth – a catastrophic event that generated massive shockwaves across the planet billions of years before a similar event helped wipe out the dinosaurs.
In a study published in the Aug. 23 issue of the journal Science, the research team reports that an ancient meteorite slammed into Earth 3.47 billion years ago.
Scientists have yet to locate any trace of the extraterrestrial object itself or the gi
A researcher at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine is discovering how a gene known as E1A, found in a virus responsible for the common cold, renders tumor cells vulnerable to destruction.
“By explaining how E1A works, we hope to develop novel strategies to make human immunological defenses against tumors, as well as chemotherapy and radiation therapy, more effective in combating cancer,” said Dr. James Cook, chief of infectious diseases and a member of the UIC Cancer
Researchers at Case Western Reserve University report in the August 22 issue of Nature how magnesium activates microscopic ion channels in the membrane of a cell. These particular ion channels are important in controlling blood pressure. Scientists, the researchers say, can use this new finding in the quest to understand how magnesium helps to decrease blood pressure and also treat heart failure and stroke.
Calcium activated potassium channels are important microscopic pathways in the cell
HIV selectively inserts itself into active areas of a host cell’s genome, Salk Institute researchers have found for the first time. The fact that the virus hooks itself up to areas of the cell’s genome that are busy expressing themselves may help explain why HIV can replicate, or reproduce itself, so rapidly. The findings are being published as the cover article in the Friday, August 23, issue of the journal Cell.
“HIV seems to be targeting not just genes, but active genes,” said
Satellites show overall increases in antarctic sea ice coverWhile recent studies have shown that on the whole Arctic sea ice has decreased since the late 1970s, satellite records of sea ice around Antarctica reveal an overall increase in the southern hemisphere ice over the same period. Continued decreases or increases could have substantial impacts on polar climates, because sea ice spreads over a vast area, reflects solar radiation away from the Earth’s surface, and insulates the oceans from t
Testing pregnant women for gestational diabetes at 16-weeks of pregnancy is a more efficient way to screen for the disease than the current method of screening women during their third trimester, said Gerard Nahum, M.D., an associate clinical professor at Duke University Medical Center’s department of obstetrics and gynecology.
The earlier tests, Nahum said, allow women at highest risk for gestational diabetes to be identified and treated earlier, possibly heading off complications in both
Placing These Cells in Injectable Hydrogel May Provide New Way to Repair Joints
Johns Hopkins University researchers have caused stem cells from adult goats to grow into tissue that resembles cartilage, a key step toward creating a minimally invasive procedure that may one day be used to repair injured knees, noses and other body parts.
In this method, doctors would inject a fluid filled with stem cells and nutrients into damaged tissue, then use light to harden the liquid i
Feedback
