June 30, 2004 |
| Chromosomal
chaos in early embryonic development linked to cell division abnormalities:
Abnormalities in the spindles (the bi-polar thread like structures that
link and pull the chromosomes during cell division) of human embryos before
implantation may be the primary reason for many of the chromosome defects
observed in early human development. |
| Satellites
map volcanic home of AfricaÍs endangered gorillas: Conservation
workers have had their first look at satellite-derived map products that
show a remote habitat of endangered African mountain gorillas in unprecedented
detail. Production versions of these prototype products will help protect
the less than 700 of the species remaining alive. |
| Basic
RNA enzyme research promises single-molecule biosensors: Research
aimed at teasing apart the workings of RNA enzymes eventually may lead to
ways of monitoring fat metabolism and might even assist in the search for
signs of life on Mars, according to University of Michigan researcher Nils
Walter. |
| NASA
helps track global air quality: NASA and other agencies will
measure the movements of pollution around the globe this summer. NASA is
participating with U.S. and international agencies as part of a combined
air quality and climate study. |
| Single
embryo transfer - a new understanding of factors for success:
Transferring a single embryo to a woman can result in a similar number of
pregnancies as double embryo transfer, while at the same time reducing the
risk of multiple births and the complications due to twin pregnancies. |
| Ames
lab physicists 'perturb' superconductor to new heights: At
the U. S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory, a basic research
effort to enhance the properties of magnesium diboride, MgB2, superconductors
by doping them with carbon atoms has doubled the magnetic field the material
can withstand. |
June 22, 2004
|
| Scientists
discover two new interstellar molecules: A team of scientists
using the National Science Foundation's Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope
(GBT) has discovered two new molecules in an interstellar cloud near the
center of the Milky Way Galaxy. |
| Neurosurgeons
testing cooling method to treat brain aneurysms: Patients who
undergo brain surgery to treat aneurysms are at risk for permanent brain
damage, but a protective cooling system is now being tested at Rush University
Medical Center to reduce or eliminate this risk. |
| Stanford
researchers eye new chip's potential as an artificial retina:
Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have developed
a prototype for a new kind of implantable chip they believe could be adapted
to serve as both a prosthetic retina for people who suffer from a common
form of age-related blindness and as a drug-delivery system that could treat
conditions such as Parkinson's disease. |
| Link
discovered between Earth's ocean currents and Jupiter's bands:
Scientists have discovered a striking similarity between certain ocean currents
on Earth and the bands that characterize the surface of large, gaseous planets
like Jupiter. |
| Inadequate
vaccines can help breed more vicious malaria strains: Vaccination
programmes could create conditions which promote the evolution of virulent
strains of malaria, according to a laboratory-based study of the malarial
parasite Plasmodium in mice. |
| First
IODP expedition will establish seafloor observatories for studying water
flow in ocean crust: First expedition of the new Integrated
Ocean Drilling Program will yield insights into the vast flow of water through
the seafloor and its effects on a wide range of processes. |
June 21, 2004
|
| New
combined PET/CT scanner shows significant improvement over CT and PET in
staging tumors: Early and accurate detection of oncological
disease is critical to the treatment and, ultimately, survival of patients
suffering from cancer. |
| Antioxidants
during pregnancy may help prevent birth defects tied to alcohol:
Pregnant women who abuse alcohol may reduce the risk of birth defects in
their babies by taking antioxidants during pregnancy, a University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill study indicates. |
| New
thermodynamic theory will help engineers 'go with the flow':
A scientific paper that provides tools based on a new principle of thermodynamics,
called 'Constructal Law,' may enable the designers of automobiles, jet planes,
air conditioners and other devices to take a more scientific approach to
a development process now based on trial and error. |
| 'Blazar'
illuminates era when stars and galaxies formed: In an article
posted June 10 to the Astrophysical Journal Letters website, astrophysicists
at Stanford report spotting a black hole so massive that it's more than
10 billion times the mass of our sun. |
| Stonehenge
study tells pagans and historians it's good to talk: More understanding
among all sides in the great Stonehenge debate might be made if the world
was shown images of how the site is experienced by visitors today rather
than only its imagined past, suggests new research sponsored by the ESRC. |
| International
Space Station Status Report: Father's Day came early for Astronaut
Mike Fincke, 225 miles in space aboard the International Space Station,
as he received the best present on Earth -- baby daughter Tarali Paulina
Fincke, born Friday. |
June 16, 2004
|
| First
direct measurement of the mass of ultra-cool brown dwarf binary:
An international team of astronomers using the world's biggest telescopes
have directly measured the mass of an ultra-cool brown dwarf star and its
companion dwarf star for the first time. |
| Researchers
show Io vaporizing rock gases into atmosphere: The hottest
spot in the solar system is neither Mercury, Venus, nor St. Louis in the
summer. Io, one of the four satellites that the Italian astronomer Galileo
discovered orbiting Jupiter almost 400 years ago, takes that prize. |
| Study
probes ecosystem of tree holes: If you think your place is
a dump, try living in a tree hole: a dark flooded crevice with years of
accumulated decomposing leaves and bugs, infested with bacteria, other microbes,
and crawling with insect larvae. |
| Ancient
maps and corn help track the migrations of indigenous people:
Maps are tools to show you where you are going, but they can also show you
where you came from. That principle drives the work of Roberto Rodríguez
and Patrisia Gonzales, who study ancient maps, oral traditions and the movement
of domesticated crops to learn more about the origins of native people in
the Americas. |
| New
technique developed at UCSD for deciphering brain recordings can capture
thinking as it happens: A team led by University of California
San Diego neurobiologists has developed a new approach to interpreting brain
electroencephalograms, or EEGs, that provides an unprecedented view of thought
in action and has the potential to advance our understanding of disorders
like epilepsy and autism. |
| Eastern
North Carolina ecosystem bounces back from hurricanes: After
receiving the brunt of powerful hurricanes in 1996 and 1999, the Neuse River
and Estuary and western Pamlico Sound in eastern North Carolina appear to
have suffered few long-term ill effects from the storms, and have actually
benefited ecologically in some ways from the storms' scouring effects. |
June 14, 2004
|
| Newly
devised test may confirm strings as fundamental constituent of matter, energy:
According to string theory, all the different particles that constitute
physical reality are made of the same thing--tiny looped strings whose different
vibrations give rise to the different fundamental particles that make up
everything we know. |
| MIT
technology jump-starts human embryonic stem cell work: An MIT
team has developed new technology that could jump-start scientists' ability
to create specific cell types from human embryonic stem cells, a feat with
implications for developing replacement organs and a variety of other tissue
engineering applications. |
| Pumping
energy to nanocrystals from a quantum well: University of California
scientists working at Los Alamos National Laboratory with a colleague from
Sandia National Laboratories have developed a new method for exciting light
emission from nanocrystal quantum dots. |
| Cassini's
flyby of Phoebe shows a moon with a battered past: First images
from the Cassini flyby of Phoebe reveal it to be a scarred, cratered outpost
with a very old surface and a mysterious past, and a great deal of variation
in surface brightness across its surface. |
| Researchers
seeing double on African monsoons: NASA and University of Maryland
scientists have found the African monsoon consists of two distinct seasons. |
| 52
thousand years of marine fertility sheds light on climate change:
For years, researchers have examined climate records indicating that millennial-scale
climate cycles have linked the high latitudes of the Northern hemisphere
and the subtropics of the North Pacific Ocean. |
June 9, 2004
|
| NASA
rovers continue unique exploration of Mars: NASA's Mars Opportunity
rover began its latest adventure today inside the martian crater informally
called Endurance. Opportunity will roll in with all six wheels, then back
out to the rim to check traction by looking at its own track marks. |
| Nanotechnology
pioneer slays 'grey goo' myths: Eric Drexler, known as the
father of nanotechnology, today publishes a paper that admits that self-replicating
machines are not vital for large-scale molecular manufacture, and that nanotechnology-based
fabrication can be thoroughly non-biological and inherently safe. |
| Key
theory of galaxy formation no longer conflicts with observations:
Astrophysicists led by the University of Chicago's Andrey Kravtsov have
resolved an embarrassing contradiction between a favored theory of how galaxies
form and what astronomers see in their telescopes. |
| UCI
center finds perchlorate may be acceptable in drinking water at levels higher
that the current public health goal: Even at significantly
higher levels than recommended by the state's leading health assessment
agency, the contaminant perchlorate in drinking water seems to pose no additional
risks to healthy people, according to a recent report issued by the UC Irvine
Urban Water Research Center. |
| Earstones
tell fishes' tale of early life in the Colorado River estuary:
During their tender youth, both the endangered fish species totoaba and
the commercially important gulf corvina require the brackish water habitat
provided by the shrinking Colorado River estuary, report researchers. |
| Ultra-cold
neutron source at Los Alamos confirmed as world's most intense:
Some slow, cold visitors stopped by Los Alamos National Laboratory last
week, and their arrival could prove a godsend to physicists seeking a better
theory of everything. |
June 8, 2004
|
| Why
calcium improves a high-temperature superconductor: Scientists
at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have found
evidence to prove why adding a small amount of calcium to a common high-temperature
superconductor significantly increases the amount of electric current the
material can carry. |
| Advances
in diagnosis and treatment of autism, Alzheimer's, epilepsy, fetal brain
imaging: The world's leading neuroscience and radiology experts
shared new research and technological developments in medical imaging that
facilitate diagnosis and breakthrough treatments of fetal brain abnormalities,
epilepsy and cognitive disorders such as autism and Alzheimer's. |
| Jefferson
scientists encouraged by trial results of next-generation vaccine for melanoma:
A vaccine for advanced melanoma created from a patient's own tumor cells
has shown some early signs of causing immune responses in recipients. |
| Common
worm provides insights into salmonella virulence: Using a common
worm as a model, researchers from Duke University Medical Center have identified
specific genes within Salmonella that give the bacteria its ability to infect
host cells. |
| Loss
of circadian genes results in epilepsy: Circadian rhythms -
the normal ups and downs of body rhythms – help organize physiological
processes into a 24 hour cycle, affecting everything from body temperature,
hormone levels and heart rate, to pain thresholds. |
| New
technique to relieve pain after heart surgery: Just 60 days
into the launch of the Northwestern Cardiovascular Institute, patients are
already benefiting from its unique offering of innovative diagnostic and
treatment options, including a pain relief pump and a revolutionary new
magnetic resonance (MR) technology. |
June 7, 2004
|
| Mars
Rover Opportunity gets green light to enter crater: NASA has
decided the potential science value gained by sending Opportunity into a
martian impact crater likely outweighs the risk of the intrepid explorer
not being able to get back out. |
| A
quantum mechanical 'tune up' for better measurement: By exploiting
the weird quantum behavior of atoms, physicists at the Commerce Department's
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated
a new technique that someday could be used to save weeks of measurements
needed to operate ultraprecise atomic clocks. |
| Gene
therapy tested to protect bone marrow during chemotherapy:
Researchers at the Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine and the
Case Comprehensive Cancer Center at Case Western Reserve University and
the Ireland Cancer Center at University Hospitals of Cleveland report progress
toward the goal of employing gene therapy to help protect the bone marrow
cells of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. |
| Tiny
tango: Device sorts microscopic particles with speed and precision:
In a remarkable collaboration between engineers, physicists and biologists,
Princeton scientists have invented a device that rapidly sorts microscopic
particles into extremely fine gradations of sizes, opening a range of potential
uses. |
| Cancer
patients' genes may influence how they experience fatigue and quality of
life: Research findings provide first evidence of possible
link between genetic makeup and quality of life in cancer patients, may
aid in further individualizing treatment. |
| International
Space Station Status Report: The Expedition 9 crew aboard the
International Space Station spent the week unpacking a Russian resupply
ship and getting ready for a June spacewalk to replace a faulty circuit
breaker. |
June 3, 2004
|
| Smoking
gun found for gamma-ray burst in Milky Way: Combined data from
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and infrared observations with the Palomar
200-inch telescope have uncovered evidence that a gamma-ray burst, one of
nature's most catastrophic explosions, occurred in our Galaxy a few thousand
years ago. |
| Rovers
examining hills and crater in bonus-time mission: More than
a month into bonus time after a successful primary mission on Mars, NASA's
Spirit rover has sighted possibly layered rock in hills just ahead, while
twin Opportunity has extended its arm to pockmarked stones on a crater rim
to gather clues of a watery past. |
| Yale
scientists visualize molecular detail of RNA splicing complex:
Scientists in the department of molecular biophysics and biochemistry at
Yale revealed the crystal structure of the first described enzymatic RNA
- what it looks like and how it reacts - in the journal Nature. |
| The
skinny on fat: MIT researchers establish first link between eating and aging:
Forget the drastic reduction in carbs and calories called for by diet dictators.
The day when people can eat their favorite foods, stay thin and live to
be 120 without getting age-induced diabetes or cancer may be nearer than
we think. |
| Research
gives hope to preemies and Crohn's patients: Babies who arrive
from eight to twelve weeks early and adults who suffer from Crohn's disease
are both at risk for developing short bowel syndrome, a condition that may
tie them to an IV for feeding and greatly reduce the quality of their lives
--medically, economically, and socially. |
| Origin
of enigmatic Galactic-center filaments revealed: Twenty years
ago, astronomers discovered a number of enigmatic radio-emitting filaments
concentrated near the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. |
June 2, 2004
|
| GOODS
uncovers hidden black holes in the distant universe: Images
from NASA's new Spitzer Space Telescope have allowed researchers to detect
the long sought population of 'missing' supermassive black holes that powered
the bright cores of the earliest active galaxies in the young universe. |
| New
theory finds middle ground between conflicting evidence for first stars:
The very first stars that formed early in the history of the universe were
smaller than the massive giants implied by the results of a NASA research
satellite, but still larger than the typical stars found in our galaxy today,
according to a research team led by the University of Chicago's Jason Tumlinson. |
| Umbilical
cord blood transplants, bone marrow transplants save lives:
Umbilical cord blood and bone marrow transplants at Loyola University are
curing or slowing the progression of many cancers originating in the bone
marrow (i.e., leukemia, myeloma) or lymphatic system (lymphoma). |
| Folds
at surface show ancient seismic stresses still at work in Washington:
Scientists know that tectonic stresses have left dips and folds deep within
the Earth's crust across a large swath of the Puget Sound region called
the Seattle uplift. |
| 17th
century solar oddity believed linked to global cooling is rare among nearby
stars: A mysterious 17th century solar funk that some have
linked to Europe's Little Ice Age and to global climate change, becomes
even more of an enigma as a result of new observations by University of
California, Berkeley, astronomers. |
| Bringing
the Martian landscape to the silver screen: A bowl of blueberries
by the thousands, a rock called 'Lion Stone,' dunes of red sand, the shoreline
of a salty sea, wind-sculpted volcanic rock -- all of these features of
the Martian landscape come to three-dimensional life for faculty and students
when they don their 3-D glasses and step into the Visualization Laboratory
at Northwestern University. |
June 1, 2004
|
| Spitzer
Space Telescopes sets infrared eyes on dark matter: Ten years
ago, a group of astronomers set out to find invisible, or dark, matter in
the outer fringes of our galaxy. |
| RNAi
delivery system crosses blood-brain barrier to target brain cancer:
Researchers have combined novel molecular targeting technologies to deliver
gene-silencing therapy specifically to tumor cells shielded by a normally
impermeable obstacle, the blood brain barrier. |
| New
mouse species found in the Philippines: A team of American
and Filipino biologists has discovered a new species - or perhaps a new
genus - of mouse in the Philippines that took them quite by surprise. |
| NCAR
instrument gets breakthrough view of Sun's magnetic halo: A
new instrument developed at the National Center for Atmospheric Research
(NCAR) has captured landmark imagery of fast-evolving magnetic structures
in the solar atmosphere. |
| New
cardiac arrhythmia syndrome identified: An international team
led by researchers from Duke University Medical Center and the Howard Hughes
Medical Institute (HHMI) have defined a previously undescribed inherited
cardiac arrhythmia syndrome that can lead to sudden death and can strike
young, seemingly healthy people. |
| Flavonoid-rich
dark chocolate boosts blood vessel function, study suggests:
Scientists are publishing sweet results of a study examining chocolate's
effects on blood vessel function in healthy people. |
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