Ordinary alfalfa plants are being used as miniature gold factories that one day could provide the nanotechnology industry with a continuous harvest of gold nanoparticles.
An international research team from the University of Texas-El Paso (UTEP) and Mexico advanced the work at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL) – part of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) in Menlo Park, Calif. The researchers are using, as tiny factories, the alfalfa’s natural, physiological
’Something new and exciting’ found serendipitously
A compound that could potentially immobilize the AIDS virus or selectively extract radionuclides from nuclear wastes at various U.S.high-level storage sites has been developed by a researcher at Sandia National Laboratories who wasn’t even looking for it.
An article in the current issue of Science describes characteristics of the newly discovered, extremely active compound, called niobium heteropolyanions (het
Researchers have developed a unique vaccine that destroys a deadly toxin produced by the parasite that causes malaria, which kills more than two million people each year. The vaccine appears extremely promising in animal studies, they say.
If the drug works in humans, it could become a more effective and longer lasting anti-malarial vaccine than those currently available, according to the researchers.
Details of the research will be presented next week (Aug. 21) in Boston at the 2
Stress happens, and over the eons all species of living things have evolved all sorts of ways to cope. Now, new research has revealed that organisms as diverse as humans and plants share a common set of stress-protection maneuvers that are choreographed by the metabolic machinery in their cells.
The research led by Sarah M. Assmann, the Waller Professor of Plant Biology at Penn State, will be published in the 15 August 2002 issue of the journal Nature.
“We have shown, in more deta
A new laser procedure that requires only local anesthetic is effective in treating nasal passageway obstructions associated with a deviated nasal septum, according to an article in the July-September issue of The Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The procedure uses heat generated by a laser to soften cartilage abnormalities so that they can be flattened or shaped to clear the nasal passages.
The septum is the cartilage wall that divides and separates the
Find has implications for preservation of endangered species, livestock
With pinhead-sized grafts of testicular tissue from newborn mammals, scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have induced mice to produce fully functional sperm from evolutionarily distant species. The result has important implications for preserving the germ lines of critically endangered species as well as prized livestock.
The study, in which male mice produced functional gametes first from other mice
Finding May Present a New Target for Anti-Cancer Drugs
Researchers at the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center have found that a known cancer-causing gene, Ras, may exert its influence through very different pathways in humans than in mice, a finding that could offer tantalizing new targets for anti-cancer therapy.
While studying the Ras, gene, Duke researchers unexpectedly found that it activates an obscure group of proteins in humans, but not in mice, in order to turn normal c
New research by economists at the University of Warwick reveals that men who smoke but who want a long life should marry without delay as marriage reduces the risk of death by even more than the act of smoking increases the risk of dying.
University of Warwick researchers Professor Andrew Oswald and Dr Jonathan Gardner examined the data from the British Household Panel survey – a nationally representative sample of over 5,000 British households containing over 10,000 adults who had been stu
Researchers at Oxford University’s Physics Department have developed an extraordinarily versatile proximity sensor for the detection of objects, composed of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, ceramics, glasses and plastics. This new device could be used as a position or speed sensor in automotive suspension, gearbox and engine management systems, amongst many other uses.
Researchers had identified the need for a relatively simple, but highly versatile proximity sensor to detect the motion of a
Last year was characterised by extremes of weather all over the globe, making it the second-hottest year on record, beaten only by 1988. This year is set to follow that pattern, beginning with a major heat wave: during the first quarter of the year, temperatures were 0.71 degrees Celsius (1.3 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the mean for temperatures between 1961 and 1990. What`s behind the apparent increase in weather extremes? To answer this increasingly urgent question, we need precise and detailed
Looking into the interior of the Earth or the Sun is a bit similar to examining a baby in its mother`s womb using an ultrasound scan. Light cannot penetrate the area, so we make pictures in these cases using sound waves, which human ears cannot hear. With SOHO, ESA has probed deeply into the Sun using the sound-waves principle, and with great success. The future missions, Solar Orbiter and Eddington, will look inside our Sun and other stars, respectively, in a similar way.
Here on Earth, whe
The thigh length of babies in the womb is as strong an indicator of subsequent childhood – and potentially adult – blood pressure as birthweight, suggests a study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
Researchers scanned 707 developing fetuses to measure the dimensions of their abdomen and head circumferences and the length of the thigh bones (femurs). The growing babies were scanned five times each between 18 and 38 weeks of pregnancy. Blood pressure was then measured in 300
Very light smokers significantly increase their risk of a heart attack, shows research in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Furthermore, women are much more susceptible than men to the detrimental effects of tobacco, even if they don’t inhale.
The findings are based on a population sample of over 12,000 men and women taking part in the Copenhagen City Heart Study, which began in 1976.
The participants, all aged 20 or older at the start of the study, were monitored up
Routine parent-child bedsharing before 6 years of age appears to have no major impact on a child’s subsequent development or behavior — for better or for worse, the first long-term study of the practice reveals.
The researchers’ finding that there is “no evidence linking [early parent-child bedsharing], when engaged in responsibly, with any sort of problematic outcome” should give experts who caution against the practice reason to reconsider their advice, according to lead author Paul Oka
A unique combination of international cooperation and the latest Internet technology will allow Gemini Observatory to become the first international “cyber observatory.”
Gemini, with funding and support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), is blazing an Internet pathway that will provide its globally separated telescopes with a reliable data transfer connection. The connection will allow real-time remote observations and sharing of scientific data generated by the twin 8-meter telesc
For some time doctors have been using a vitamin A derivative, retinoic acid (RA), to treat several cancers, particularly prostate cancer and leukemia, and they are now experimenting with the drug to treat breast cancer. The great drawback to RA, however, is that it requires high levels of the medication in order to turn genes “on” and “off,” often triggering devastating and potentially fatal side effects.
Now, a Cornell University biochemist has learned how to make tumor cells up to 1,000 t
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