| January 30, 2004 |
| Smallpox
in 50-year-old tissues detected by integrated diagnostics approach:
A rare, preserved specimen of human tissue infected with Variola virus,
the causative agent of smallpox, has given scientists the unique opportunity
to test modern diagnostic capabilities for the virus. |
| A
new twist on the mad cow: In a surprising twist on a timely
topic, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute are presenting evidence
that mad cow disease prions cannot kill neurons on their own and that normal,
healthy cellular prion protein may be a direct accomplice in unleashing
neuronal destruction. |
| During
earthquakes, mineral gel may reduce rock friction to zero:
Researchers have discovered a mineral gel created when rocks abrade each
other under earthquake-like conditions. If present in faults during a quake,
the gel may reduce friction to nearly zero in some situations, resulting
in larger energy releases that could cause more damage. |
| Molecular
level discovery could play role in development of new antibiotics:
Chemists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have uncovered
the molecular activity of an enzyme responsible for naturally turning a
small protein into a potent antibiotic known as a lantibiotic. |
| Counting
atoms that aren't there, in stars that no longer exist: Researchers
at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have reached
for the stars - and seen what's inside. |
| International
Space Station Status Report: An unmanned Russian Progress resupply
ship blasted off successfully today from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan
to deliver 2 tons of food, fuel and supplies to the residents of the International
Space Station. |
January 29, 2004 |
| World
shark attacks sink again, may signal long-term trend: The number
of shark attacks worldwide took a dip for the third straight year, in part
perhaps because more people are realizing the ocean is a wild place instead
of a backyard swimming pool, a new University of Florida study finds. |
| Brain
structure implicated in early onset depression: Teenagers suffering
from depression may have abnormal brain structure, according to new research. |
| NIST/University
of Colorado Scientists create new form of matter - A fermionic condensate:
Scientists at JILA, a joint laboratory of the Department of Commerce's National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado
at Boulder (CU-Boulder) report the first observation of a 'fermionic condensate'
formed from pairs of atoms in a gas, a long-sought, novel form of matter. |
| Rosetta
Æ a new target to solve planetary mysteries: Rosetta is scheduled
to be launched on board an Ariane-5 rocket on 26 February from Kourou, French
Guiana. |
| X-ray
shout echoing through space: ESA's X-ray observatory, XMM-Newton,
has imaged a spectacular set of rings which appear to expand, with a speed
a thousand times faster than that of light, around the point in the sky
where a powerful gamma-ray explosion took place in early December. |
| Pacific
dictates droughts and drenchings: The cooler and drier conditions
in Southern California over the last few years appear to be a direct result
of a long-term ocean pattern known as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO),
according to research presented at the 2004 meeting of the American Meteorological
Society. |
January 27, 2004 |
| New
study shows Neanderthals were not our ancestors: Scientists,
led by NYU paleoanthropologist Katerina Harvati, use computer imaging techniques
to settle the issue of the Neanderthal role in human evolution. |
| Disappointment
in search for Beagle 2: No contact has been made with the Beagle
2 lander, despite repeated efforts over the last few days to communicate
via the Mars Express and Mars Odyssey spacecraft and the Jodrell Bank radio
telescope in Cheshire, UK. |
| Earliest
evidence of humans affecting aquatic ecology in Canada, United States:
New findings from Canadian scientists dispel the belief that European settlers
were the first humans to cause major changes to Canadian and U.S. freshwater
ecosystems. |
| URI
oceanographers investigate link between last Ice Age and Indonesian volcanic
eruptions: Approximately 75,000 years ago, a massive explosive
eruption from a volcano in western Indonesia (Toba caldera) coincided with
the onset of the Earth's last Ice Age. |
| Puzzling
height of polar clouds revealed: Scientists have discovered
why icy clouds found at the edge of space are higher at the South Pole than
at the North. |
| Dazzling
halos illuminate our dusty galaxy: The discovery of a unique
phenomenon: a beautiful set of expanding X-ray halos surrounding a gamma-ray
burst which have never been seen before, has been announced by an international
team of astronomers led by Dr Simon Vaughan of the University of Leicester. |
January 26, 2004 |
| The
Pentaquark - The strongest confirmation to date: An international
team of physicists has provided the best evidence to date of the existence
of a new form of atomic matter, dubbed the 'pentaquark.' |
| Scientists
grow neurons using nanostructures: Scientists at Northwestern
University have designed synthetic molecules that promote neuron growth,
a promising development that could lead to the reversal of paralysis due
to spinal cord injury. |
| One
type of carbon so resilient it skews carbon cycle calculations:
Scientists interested in the Earth's carbon cycle - something that must
be understood to assess the ongoing effects of carbon dioxide created by
human actions, such as driving cars - have a new problem. |
| Earthquakes
kill thousands in 2003; deadliest year since 1990: According
to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), 2003 closed as the deadliest year
for earthquakes since 1990, 25 times more fatal than 2002; 43,819 deaths
have been reported for the past year. |
| New
algorithm speeds simulations of complex fluids: Computer simulations
play an essential role in the study of complex fluids - liquids that contain
particles of different sizes. |
| International
Space Station Status Report: Expedition 8 Commander Mike Foale
and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri are preparing for next week's arrival
of their first packages from home in almost three months. |
January 22, 2004 |
| Thailand
Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever epidemics spread in waves emanating from Bangkok:
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health studying
dengue hemorrhagic fever epidemics in Thailand have determined that the
disease radiates outward in a traveling wave from Bangkok, the nation's
largest city, to infect every province in the country. |
| Livermore
scientists unveil melting point of iron: Two scientists at
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have discovered that iron in Earth-core
conditions melts at a pressure of 225 GPa (or 32 million pounds per square
inch) or about 5,100 kelvins (8,720 degrees Fahrenheit). |
| Researchers
describe cell activity leading to disruption of neuron migration:
An interaction between two brain proteins that leads to abnormal brain development
has been identified by researchers at the University of California, San
Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine in a study published in the January 22,
2004 issue of the journal Neuron. |
| Emotion-regulating
protein lacking in panic disorder: Three brain areas of panic
disorder patients are lacking in a key component of a chemical messenger
system that regulates emotion, researchers at the NIH's National Institute
of Mental Health (NIMH) have discovered. |
| Estrogen
makes the brain more vulnerable to stress: High levels of estrogen
may enhance the brain's response to stress, making women more vulnerable
to mental illnesses such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD), according to a Yale study. |
| Reward
mechanism involved in addiction likely regulates pair bonds between monogamous
animals: The reward mechanism involved in addiction appears
to regulate lifelong social or pair bonds between monogamous mating animals. |
January 21, 2004 |
| New
advance to combat antibiotic-resistant pneumonia and malaria:
New biochemical studies may hold clues to more powerful malaria and pneumonia
treatments that could save more than 2 million lives worldwide. |
| Exposure
to carcinogens not proportionally decreased by reduction in smoking:
Smokers who substantially reduce the number of cigarettes they smoke per
day are exposed to lower amounts of a potent tobacco carcinogen; however,
the reduction in the amount or concentration of the carcinogen exposure
is often transient and is not proportional to the reduction in cigarettes
smoked. |
| NASA
satellites improve response to global agricultural change:
Smokers who substantially reduce the number of cigarettes they smoke per
day are exposed to lower amounts of a potent tobacco carcinogen; however,
the reduction in the amount or concentration of the carcinogen exposure
is often transient and is not proportional to the reduction in cigarettes
smoked. |
| Flexible
screen technology ready to roll: Organic light emitting devices
could lay groundwork for future generations of bendable TV, computer, cellphone
screens. |
| Simple
sugars make cell walls like steel: Simple sugars apparently
are the biological signals needed to maintain the steel-like strength of
plant cell walls, according to Purdue University scientists. |
| Alzheimer's
researchers begin unique study of tangles: The University Memory
and Aging Center (UMAC) of University Hospitals of Cleveland and Case Western
Reserve University is one of 30 institutions participating in a $10 million
National Institutes of Health study to determine if the medication valproate
can reduce the occurrences of problem behaviors and affect the cognitive
decline associated with Alzheimer's disease. |
January 20, 2004 |
| Evidence
that memories are consolidated during sleep: By exposing rats
to novel objects and measuring their brain signals, Duke University researchers
have detected telltale signal reverberations in wide areas of the brain
during sleep that reveal the process of consolidating memories. |
| Europe's
eye on Mars: first spectacular results from Mars Express: ESA's
Mars Express, successfully inserted into orbit around Mars on 25 December
2003, is about to reach its final operating orbit above the poles of the
Red Planet. |
| Scientists
at Brookhaven contribute to the development of a better electron accelerator:
Scientists working at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National
Laboratory have developed a compact linear accelerator that uses laser light
to accelerate electrons with better efficiency and energy characteristics
than ever before. |
| Artificial
snow creates winter all year round: When you think of ski slopes
and snowmen, you probably don't have potato flakes or Snowflex® in mind,
but people in the movie and ski industries sure do. |
| Vitamin
supplement use may reduce effects of Alzheimer's disease: Antioxidant
vitamin supplements, particularly vitamins E and C, may protect the aging
brain against damage associated with the pathological changes of Alzheimer's
disease. |
| Census
finds mountain gorillas increasing: A recent census of the
Virunga Volcanoes mountain gorilla population has found that the great apes
have increased their numbers by 17 percent. |
January 19, 2004 |
| Advice
for designing reliable nanomaterials: Stronger or tougher?
For designers of advanced materials, this tradeoff may complicate efforts
to devise efficient methods for assembling nanometer-scale building blocks
into exotic ceramics, glasses and other types of customized materials. |
| Study
pinpointing origins of Siberian peat bogs raises concerns:
Massive Siberian peat bogs, widely known as the permanently frozen home
of untold kilometers of moss and uncountable hordes of mosquitoes, also
are huge repositories for gases that are thought to play an important role
in the Earth's climate balance. |
| Beta
blockers cost effective to society for heart failure treatment:
Beta blocker therapy for the treatment of heart failure can provide significant
cost savings for the health-care system, according to a new analysis by
researchers at the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI). |
| Progress
in probing the mosquito's sense of smell: Scientists have taken
an important step toward understanding the mosquito's sense of smell, an
avenue of research that may lead to better ways to repel the deadly insect. |
| Study
finds huge variability in vitamin E absorption: A new study
has found that cereal fortified with vitamin E has a very high rate of absorption
into the bloodstream, whereas pills taken separately with the same food
have inconsistent effects, and taking the supplements alone is largely useless. |
| International
Space Station Status Report: In an effort to gather more data
regarding normal air pressure fluctuations onboard the International Space
Station, Expedition 8 Commander Mike Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander
Kaleri ended their week by closing several interior hatches. |
January 16, 2004 |
| Probable
discovery of a new, supersolid, phase of matter: In the 15
January 2004 issue of the journal Nature, two physicists from Penn State
University will announce their discovery of a new phase of matter, a 'supersolid'
form of helium-4 with the extraordinary frictionless-flow properties of
a superfluid. |
| Chemists
learn to build curved structures with nanoscale building blocks:
The natural world is full of curves and three dimensions, but the ability
to deliberately and rationally construct such complex structures using nanoscale
building blocks has eluded nanotechnologists who are eager to add curved
structures to their toolbox. |
| Why
is this year's flu so severe?: Why is this year's flu packing
such a wallop? And why is it taking such a harsh toll on young children?
Leading expert offers insight in New England Journal of Medicine. |
| Squirty
star imitates black hole: Scientists using CSIRO's Australia
Telescope near Narrabri in northern NSW have made a discovery that they
hope will increase our understanding of a fundamental cosmic process. |
| Ebola
virus a threat to great ape populations: The Ebola virus causes
epidemics that wreak havoc in some tropical forest areas in Central Africa.
Its control is therefore a major public health priority. |
| New
study finds evolutionary diversification in Hawaiian spiders:
About 5 million years ago, the first spiny-legged Tetragnatha spider landed
on what is now known as the Hawaiian Islands, with subsequent generations
evolving into different species to fill in specific niches in various habitats. |
January 14, 2004 |
| Mars
on Earth? Researchers find Mars-like conditions in a South American desert:
A team of scientists from LSU, NASA, the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de
Mexico and other research organizations has discovered an area of Earth
that is shockingly similar to the surface of Mars. |
| Sediment
samples suggest how plants would fare in hotter, drier future:
Sediment samples dating back thousands of years and taken from under the
deep water of West Olaf Lake in Minnesota have revealed an unexpected climate
indicator that can be factored into future projections. |
| Go
to that crater and turn right - Spirit gets a travel itinerary:
NASA's Spirit has begun pivoting atop its lander platform on Mars, and the
robot's human partners have announced plans to send it toward a crater,
then toward some hills, during the mission. |
| Research
examines role of copper, iron in diseases: For years, scientists
have worked to pinpoint what causes the short-circuit of copper metabolism
in human cells that leads to two deadly neurodegenerative disorders known
as Wilson's disease and Menkes disease. |
| Gene
may be key to evolution of larger human brain: Howard Hughes
Medical Institute researchers have identified a gene that appears to have
played a role in the expansion of the human brain's cerebral cortex -- a
hallmark of the evolution of humans from other primates. |
| Researchers
develop model to help control West Nile outbreak: A University
of Alberta researcher has developed the first model to predict risk of West
Nile virus in North America--a tool that could help prevent the infectious
disease from becoming an outbreak. |
January 13, 2004 |
| Purdue
chemist 'mussels' in on secrets of natural adhesives: Purdue
University scientists have found the glue that saltwater mussels use to
affix themselves to rocks is a subject worth sticking to, both for its pure
scientific interest and for its potential applications in medicine and industry. |
| Discovery
changes ideas about damage from strokes: In experiments in
the laboratory and with mice, the Johns Hopkins researchers found that the
chemical prostaglandin-E2 protects brain cells from damage. |
| International
Space Station Status Report: With the help of Expedition 8
Commander Mike Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri, flight controllers
traced the apparent cause of a tiny pressure decay on the International
Space Station Sunday to a braided flex hose that is part of the window system
in the U.S. Destiny Laboratory. |
| Rapidly
evolving genes providing new insights in plant evolution: Flowering
plants are the largest group of plants and contain just about all of our
food crops. |
| Predicting
progression of common cancers: The idea that cancer cells go
through a fateful transition that turns them into fast-growing, invasive,
metastasizing tumors first surfaced in the early 1970s. |
| A
'hot tower' above the eye can make hurricanes stronger: They
are called hurricanes in the Atlantic, typhoons in the West Pacific, and
tropical cyclones worldwide; but wherever these storms roam, the forces
that determine their severity now are a little less mysterious. |
January 12, 2004 |
| Mystery
particle may hold clues to universe: University of Melbourne
physicists have helped discover a new state of matter that may shed light
on the fabric of the universe. |
| Astronomers
use MMT to detect the widest lensed quasar: Astronomers have
detected a lensed quasar more than twice as wide as any previously reported. |
| European
ice core drilling project at Kohnen station retrieves old ice for climate
research: At the Kohnen station operated by Alfred-Wegener-Institute
for Polar- and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, the international drilling
team reached a depth of 2000 meters on January 7 at 0210 hours. The ice
from that depth is about 100.000 years old and yields information on climate
conditions of the distant past. |
| Medium
to large quakes peak every three years on central San Andreas Fault:
Medium to large earthquakes occurring along the central San Andreas Fault
appear to cluster at regular three-year intervals - a previously unnoticed
cycle that provides some hope for forecasting larger quakes along this and
other California faults. |
| International
Space Station Status Report: Expedition 8 Commander Mike Foale
celebrated his 47th birthday on Wednesday this week while Flight Engineer
Alexander Kaleri observed the Russian Orthodox Christmas on Thursday as
they both continued research work, performed several maintenance activities
and conducted troubleshooting efforts to assist ground engineers analyzing
a small decay in the Station cabin's atmospheric pressure. |
| Bacteriophage
genomics approach to antimicrobial drug discovery published in Nature Biotechnology:
Identifying the targets that bacterial viruses, or phages, use to halt bacterial
growth and then screening against those targets for small molecule inhibitors
that attack the same targets provides a unique platform for the discovery
of novel antibiotics. |
January 9, 2004 |
| Study
suggests life on Earth sprang from borax minerals: Researchers
at the University of Florida say they have shown that minerals were key
to some of the initial processes that formed life on Earth. |
| Astronomers
see era of rapid galaxy formation: A collection of new and
recently announced discoveries that, taken together, suggest a considerably
more active and fastmoving epoch of galaxy formation in the early universe
than prevailing theories had called for. |
| Farmed
salmon more toxic than wild salmon, study finds: A study of
more than two metric tons of North American, South American and European
salmon has shown that PCBs and other environmental toxins are present at
higher levels in farm-raised salmon than in their wild counterparts. |
| First-known
double pulsar opens up new astrophysics: An international team
of scientists from the UK, Australia, Italy and the USA have announced in
today's issue of the journal Science Express [ 8th January 2004 ] the first
discovery of a double pulsar system. |
| Researchers
seek to clone 'mad cow disease' resistant cattle strain: Scientists
in the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine (VMRCVM)
at Virginia Tech are trying to clone cattle that are genetically incapable
of developing 'Mad Cow Disease.' |
| Supernova
companion star found: A joint European/University of Hawaii
team of astronomers has for the first time observed a stellar 'survivor'
to emerge from a double star system involving an exploded supernova. |
January 8, 2004 |
| Beagle
2 fails to call Mars Express: Today's first real opportunity
for the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter to hear a signal from
the Beagle 2 lander passed in silence. |
| Research
suggests 'nanotubes' could make better brain probes: Purdue
University researchers have shown that extremely thin carbon fibers called
'nanotubes' might be used to create brain probes and implants to study and
treat neurological damage and disorders. |
| Old
equation may shed new light on planet formation: New work with
an old equation may help scientists calculate the thickness of ice covering
the oceans on Jupiter's moon Europa and ultimately provide insight into
planet formation. |
| Purdue
engineers develop quick, inexpensive method to prototype microchips:
Purdue University researchers have developed a new method to quickly and
inexpensively create microfluidic chips, analytic devices with potential
applications in food safety, biosecurity, clinical diagnostics, pharmaceuticals
and other industries. |
| Chandra
locates mother lode of planetary ore in colliding galaxies:
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has discovered rich deposits of neon, magnesium,
and silicon in a pair of colliding galaxies known as The Antennae. |
| Researchers
identify transplantation antigens among Sioux Indians: Efforts
to increase organ donation among Native Americans may get a boost from research
by Johns Hopkins scientists that is identifying the specific genetic makeup
of the HLA system of human transplantation antigens among different Indian
tribes. |
January 7, 2004 |
| Scientists
find new way to store hydrogen fuel: University of Chicago
scientists have proposed a new method for storing hydrogen fuel in this
week's online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. |
| Endurance
of plants under quartz rocks possible model for life on early Earth, Mars:
Microscopic Mojave Desert plants growing on the underside of translucent
quartz pebbles can endure both chilly and near-boiling temperatures, scavenge
nitrogen from the air, and utilize the equivalent of nighttime moonlight
levels for photosynthesis, a new study reports. |
| Researchers
create first ever integrated silicon circuit with nanotube transistors:
The discovery of carbon nanotubes heralded a new era of scientific discovery
that included the promise of ultra-sensitive bomb detectors and super-fast
computer memory chips. |
| Magnetars
- the most magnetic stars known, more common than previously thought:
Observations of explosions from an ultra-powerful magnetic neutron star
playing hide-and-seek with astronomers suggest that these exotic objects
called magnetars -- capable of stripping a credit card clean 100,000 miles
away -- are far more common than previously thought. |
| 50-year-old
magnetic mystery solved - quantum structure obeys classical physics:
Ohio State University physicists and their colleagues have demonstrated
for the first time a type of magnetic behavior that was predicted to exist
more than 50 years ago. |
| Too
fast, too furious - A galaxy's fatal plunge: Trailing 200,000-light-year-long
streamers of seething gas, a galaxy that was once like our Milky Way is
being shredded as it plunges at 4.5 million miles per hour through the heart
of a distant cluster of galaxies. |
January 6, 2004 |
| New
light-emitting transistor could revolutionize electronics industry:
Put the inventor of the light-emitting diode and the maker of the world's
fastest transistor together in a research laboratory and what kinds of bright
ideas might surface? One answer is a light-emitting transistor that could
revolutionize the electronics industry. |
| Astronomers:
Star may be biggest, brightest yet observed: A University of
Florida-led team of astronomers may have discovered the brightest star yet
observed in the universe, a fiery behemoth that could be as much as much
as seven times brighter than the current record holder. |
| Scientists
discover that enzyme degrades mad cow disease prion: Research
has shown that, under proper conditions, an enzyme can fully degrade the
prion - or protein particle - believed to be responsible for mad cow disease
and other related animal and human diseases. |
| El
Nino-related fires increase greenhouse gas emissions: Year-to-year
changes in concentration of carbon dioxide and methane, two important greenhouse
gases in the atmosphere, can be linked to fire activity associated with
the El Nino-La Nina cycle. |
| Vegetables
that prevent may ultimately cure some cancers: Broccoli, cabbage,
turnips and mustard greens. A dose a day keeps most cancers away. But for
those who develop cancer, the same vegetables may ultimately produce the
cure. |
| Close
encounter of a cometary kind: At 19.44 hours GMT on 2nd January
NASA's space probe, STARDUST, successfully flew through Comet Wild 2, collecting
interstellar particles and dust on its way. |
January 5, 2004 |
| Scientist
challenges interpretation of new find, the oldest primate fossil ever discovered:
A skull and jawbones recently found in China is the oldest well-preserved
primate fossil ever discovered - as well as the best evidence of the presence
of early primates in Asia. |
| Ocean
life depends on single circulation pattern in Southern Hemisphere:
A study has shown that marine life around the world is surprisingly dependent
on a single ocean circulation pattern in the Southern Hemisphere where nutrient-rich
water rises from the deep and spreads across the seas. |
| Researchers
find key gene in production of egg and sperm: For all its importance
in sexual reproduction, the process of creating eggs and sperm, called meiosis,
is still poorly understood. |
| NASA's
year of sorrow, recovery, progress and success: NASA's plans
for 2003 were abruptly changed February 1 with the sudden and tragic loss
of the Space Shuttle Columbia and the brave crew of STS-107. |
| A
new direction for psoriasis research?: The National Psoriasis
Foundation today hailed research that may eventually lead to additional
therapies for treating psoriasis, an incurable immune-mediated disease that
affects 5 million Americans. |
| International
Space Station Status Report: The International Space Station's
Expedition 8 crew got back to work today after a day off to welcome the
new year. |
|
