What kind of mysteries and scientific intrigue await the European Space Agency’s Venus Express once it has left Earth for its nearest planetary neighbour in 2005? A closer inspection promises to reveal a planet that is hugely different from our own despite a few similarities.

Astronomers often call Venus the Earth’s twin because both are about the same size and have the same mass. In other ways, however, Venus seems to be an altogether different class of planet. Scientists are keen

Molekularabdrucke in Polymermaterialien als Reaktionsgefäße für die Pharmaforschung

Materialien mit winzigsten Hohlräumen, die andere Moleküle als “Gäste” aufnehmen können, spielen eine bedeutende Rolle in Wissenschaft und Technik. Ein besonders interessantes Verfahren zur Herstellung von Materialien mit passgenau zugeschnittenen Hohlräumen ist das so genannte “Molecular Imprinting”. Die als spätere Gäste vorgesehenen Moleküle werden dabei als Schablone eingesetzt: In ihrer Gegenwart

Ein Verfahren zur schnelleren Analyse von Wasserverschmutzung hat die australische Griffith University in Zusammenarbeit mit der Lincoln University in Neuseeland entwickelt. Organische Verschmutzungen können jetzt innerhalb einer Stunde nachgewiesen werden.

Bei der alten und bei der neuen Methode wird die organische Verschmutzung anhand des biochemischen Sauerstoffbedarfs in einer Wasserprobe gemessen. “Das bisherige Messverfahren dauert aber fünf Tage”, sagt Dr. Richard John vom Institut f

Exosomes are minute, natural membrane vesicles secreted by various types of cells of the immune system. They are of enormous interest to oncologists, who are now using them in clinical trials as tumor-antigen bearers to trigger tumor rejection by the body.

On the basis of studies in vitro and in mice, INSERM doctors and research scientists at the Institut Curie proposed a novel mode of functioning of exosomes in the December 2002 issue of Nature Immunology. It seems that exosomes can indire

Airplane wings or railway rails are examples of mechanical components constantly submitted to stress. They consist of materials (metal alloys) with properties that may change under stress. To understand and improve such materials, it is essential to observe them on a microscopic scale. The ESRF and the ILL make today a step forward into looking deep inside engineering components. Thanks to the use of complementary neutron and synchrotron X-ray beams, these two centres offer a unique tool to measure s

Avoiding stressful life events and learning effective coping skills may help avert flare-ups of multiple sclerosis (MS) in women with the disease, new findings suggest.

Researchers recruited 23 women with MS from the Multiple Sclerosis Clinic at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and followed them for a year. Each week, the women completed questionnaires asking about MS symptoms and life events, such as starting a new job, finding out that a child is doing poorly in school, having