New polymer use may yield cheaper way to separate hydrogen from impurities
Whether it’s used in chemical laboratories or the fuel tanks of advanced automobiles, hydrogen is mostly produced from natural gas and other fossil fuels. However, to isolate the tiny hydrogen molecules, engineers must first remove impurities, and the currently available methods can require substantial equipment or toxic chemicals.
Now, in the Feb. 3 issue of the journal Science, engineers have
Making vaccines against bird ‘flu is difficult and many problems need to be overcome before production begins of a vaccine for the disease, according to an article in the February 2006 issue of Microbiology Today, the quarterly magazine of the Society for General Microbiology.
There are worldwide anxieties about the spread of influenza and mutation of the H5N1 virus to acquire the ability to transmit easily from person to person. “Since many experts believe we are on the verge o
At the Institut Curie, CNRS and Inserm researchers have shown that Huntington’s disease may be treated using the drug FK506, which is also used clinically to prevent graft rejection. Like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, Huntington’s disease is characterized by the abnormal death of neurons.
The Institut Curie researchers have discovered that FK506 blocks the toxicity of the protein huntingtin, which causes the death of certain neurons leading to disease onset. FK506 is already used i
Cancer researchers at the University of Helsinki, Finland, in trying to find a novel tumor suppressor gene, instead found an important evolutionary change that occurred in a key developmental signalling pathway. The finding suggests a potential mechanism for evolution of complex intercellular signalling pathways. The results are published in today’s issue of the journal Developmental Cell.
A relatively small number of evolutionary conserved genes are responsible for controlling the devel
A new sleeping pill that increases dreaming sleep improves memory capacity, according to the results of new research.
With only 10% of the 20-30% of the population who suffer with insomnia taking medication, pharmaceutical companies have been searching for the perfect sleeping pill. And one company at least has developed a completely new type of drug that not only induces sleep, but also increases the dream phase, consolidating memory and improving one’s sense of wellbeing.
Atherosclerosis, an accumulation of fat and inflammation in arteries, causes myocardial infarction and stroke, two deadly complications. The risk factors for atherosclerosis are well known and include hypercholesterolemia, smoking, diabetes and high blood pressure. Protective factors may also be important in atherosclerosis but are poorly understood. A new study published in this month´s issue of Nature Medicine presents the discovery of such a protective mechanism, which could be of great im
The pesticide brew in many ponds bordering Midwestern cornfields is not only affecting the sexual development of frogs, but is making them more prone to deadly bacterial meningitis, according to a new study by University of California, Berkeley, scientists.
These physiological effects combine with environmental disruptions to make the life of a frog seem like something out of a horror movie and are likely among the factors causing a decline in amphibian populations worldwide, the
Scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science recently discovered a new source of well-preserved ancient DNA in fossil bones. Their findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Fossil DNA is a potential source of information on the evolution, population dynamics, migrations, diets and diseases of animals and humans. But if it is not well preserved or becomes contaminated by modern DNA, the results are uninterpretable.
The scient
Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have created polymer nanotubes that are unusually long (about 1 centimeter) as well as stable enough to maintain their shape indefinitely. Described in a new paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,* the NIST nanotubes may have biotechnology applications as channels for tiny volumes of chemicals in nanofluidic reactor devices, for example, or as the “world’s smallest hypodermic needles” for injecting molec
Is there a universal neural code for sensation, similar to the genetic code, in which the complexity of sense and experience can be reduced to a few simple rules? According to Prof. Ehud Ahissar of the Weizmann Institute’s Neurobiology Department, the answer might be no. He and his team have been studying how rats use their whiskers to sense their environment, and have found that the seemingly simple act of feeling out a 3-D object requires three different types of code.
Rats’ wh
A single gene apparently thwarts a disease-causing invader that creates a fuzzy gray coating on flowers, fruits and vegetables. But the same gene provides access to a different type of pathogen.
A Purdue University plant molecular biologist and his collaborators in Austria and North Carolina identified the gene that helps plants recognize pathogens and also triggers a defense against disease. The gene and its defense mechanisms are similar to an immunity pathway found in people
The Dermatochemistry laboratory of the University Louis Pasteur’s Institute of Chemistry (Strasbourg 1) becomes a partner in the integrated European research project Sens-it-iv whose aim is to develop alternative methods to animal testing in the area of allergy.
Even though animal experimentation remains, for the moment, the most reliable way of testing the allergenic potential of a chemical substance, the wish of the European Union is to gradually reduce the number of animals use
May lead to future treatments for heart failure, nerve disorders
Researchers worldwide are seeking to define ancient sections of our genetic code that may soon be as important to medical science as genes. A new wave of research is concerned with, not how genes work, but how small regulatory DNA sequences tell genes where, when and to what degree to “turn on.” As part of this effort, researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center scanned through the vast human DNA cod
The two ends of human DNA have different structures that are treated differently as a cell divides, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found in a study that could help lead to cancer therapies.
The study — published in the Feb. 3 issue of the journal Molecular Cell — focuses on the ends of DNA, which are capped by segments called telomeres. Each time the cell divides, the telomeres shorten. When they become too short, the aging cell can no longer divide. But in most
Duke University biologists have evolved a complex trait in the laboratory — using the pressure of selection to induce tobacco hornworms to evolve the dual trait of turning black or green depending on the temperature during their development. The biologists have also demonstrated the basic hormonal mechanism underlying the evolution of such dual traits.
Their experiments, they said, offer important insight into how complex traits involving many genes can abruptly “blossom” in
When cells age and stop dividing, how much do they contribute to whole-body aging? Brown University research strengthens the case for a strong connection by providing evidence that non-dividing or “replicatively senescent” cells can be found in large numbers in old animals. The research, led by John Sedivy, is the first to quantify the presence of these cells in any species. Results are published by Science.
Brown University biologists have uncovered intriguing evidence to suppor
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