Biologists have discovered plant enzymes that enable plants to respond more efficiently to elevated carbon dioxide levels. This discovery could lead to the development of drought-resistant crops with improved water efficiency. The research found that specific proteins called carbonic anhydrases play a crucial role in this process.
Researchers used biosensors to study how anti-psychotic drugs, such as atypical neuroleptics, affect the brain. The study found that these drugs block a particular type of receptor, overriding the increase in acetylcholine they stimulate.
Renowned psychopharmacology expert Stephen M. Stahl, MD, PhD, highlights low confidence in army mental health care, excessive opiate prescribing, and understaffing of services at Ft. Hood. He proposes redeploying primary-care providers and nurse case managers to centralize mental health care delivery.
Scientists applied physics techniques to study bacteria's survival strategies, gaining insights into human decision making. The study found that bacteria's game theory decision making process is more advanced than the Prisoner's Dilemma, enabling them to weigh pros and cons in complex environments.
Scientists at UC San Diego discovered a downward curve in the pitch of blue whale songs across the globe. The decline may be due to an increase in population size, allowing males to sing lower frequency songs that don't need to travel as far.
Researchers at UC San Diego are developing new regenerative therapies for heart disease using adult stem cells and supportive materials. The study found that cells placed in these materials differentiate into cardiac muscle more effectively, offering a promising solution to treat cardiovascular diseases.
A new study by an international team has used seafloor seismometers to image the Hawaiian mantle, revealing a high-temperature plume from the lower mantle. The findings suggest that the Hawaiian hot spot is the result of this upwelling plume, which tilts southeastward as it extends downward.
Computer scientists at UC San Diego are creating a network of environmental sensors attached to people's clothing, which will provide up-to-the-minute information on outdoor and indoor air quality. The system, called CitiSense, aims to empower individuals to make healthier choices by giving them real-time data on polluted areas.
Chromosomal translocations, a hallmark of leukemias and lymphomas, may be more systematically driven than previously thought. The study identifies the male sex hormone (androgen) receptor as a key player in driving specific translocations in prostate cancer.
A study by researchers at the University of California, San Diego reveals that normal skin bacteria trigger a pathway preventing excessive inflammation after injury. This mechanism involves staphylococcal lipoteichoic acid and Toll-like receptor 3 activation, providing new therapeutic approaches for inflammatory skin diseases.
Researchers from UC San Diego used a systems biology approach to determine how core biochemical pathways are altered in skeletal muscle cells and fat cells in people with insulin resistance. The study found that common drugs for treating insulin resistance, such as TZDs, alter these pathways, leading to improved drug therapies.
Artificially introducing defects in nanotubes can enhance the development of supercapacitors, which combine the advantages of batteries and electrostatic capacitors. The researchers found that defects create additional charge sites, increasing stored charge capacity and power density.
A study by neuroscientist William C. Mobley demonstrated a possible new approach to slowing cognitive decline in Down's syndrome using a pro-drug for norepinephrine, rescuing cognition in mice.
Researchers developed a fast and accurate method to quantify subtle brain volume loss in Alzheimer's patients, outperforming existing measures. The new technique identifies changes in memory regions, particularly the entorhinal cortex, as sensitive markers for early disease stages.
UC San Diego engineers develop algorithms for swarms of ocean robots to track ocean currents, predict oil spill movement, and improve models. The system will enable local agencies to deploy robots quickly to monitor spills and aid in the development of marine protected areas.
Researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography are developing autonomous underwater explorers, or AUEs, to trace small-scale ocean processes vital to tiny marine inhabitants. The miniature robots will provide new information about marine protected areas, harmful algal blooms, and oil spills.
Researchers at UCSD have made a breakthrough discovery that enables the experimental annotation of genomes. By combining multiple genome-scale measurements, they can identify the location and use of genomic elements with precision. This innovation has significant implications for metabolic engineering, disease research, and drug design.
Researchers developed a tool to visualize bacterial communication, revealing that chemical signals function simultaneously in interspecies interactions. This approach may aid in understanding microbial interactions with human cells, leading to novel immune system modulators and anti-infectives.
Gordon is a powerful supercomputer that will use flash memory to speed solutions to critical science and societal problems overwhelmed by the growing amount of data generated by digital devices. The system will feature 245 teraflops of compute power, 256 TB of flash memory, and four petabytes of disk storage.
Engineering students at UC San Diego helped streamline the application process for federal Clean Renewable Energy Bonds, securing $154 million for 192 solar projects. The students developed an analytical tool to calculate energy output and payback time, allowing applications to be completed in 10 minutes.
Scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that regeneration of central nervous system axons can be achieved in rats even when treatment is delayed by more than a year after the original spinal cord injury. The team used a combination of treatments to coax chronically injured axons to regenerate and...
Researchers created a music recommender system that generates playlists as good as or better than Genius, but with less user data required. The system uses auto-tagging algorithms to label songs based on their acoustic content, leading to high-quality playlists including lesser-known songs.
Researchers at UC San Diego have identified a key protein promoting pulmonary arterial hypertension and developed a drug therapy to block its effects. The treatment, using γ-secretase inhibitor, reversed the disease in mice, offering new hope for patients with this debilitating condition.
Researchers at UC San Diego discover that a protein interaction generates force that shapes the Golgi apparatus, revealing a link between form and function. The discovery sheds light on the mechanism of the Golgi apparatus, a processing center for protein export.
Researchers used a rare brain procedure to document how the human brain computes grammar and produces words. The study found that distinct linguistic processes are computed within small regions of Broca's area, separated in time and partially overlapping in space.
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, have developed a new high-throughput cellular array technology that can identify the biological components leading to or alleviating liver disease. By controlling the environment surrounding star-shaped liver cells, they found critical proteins regulating HSC activation.
The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) is part of a four-year project called 'FutureGrid' that aims to develop and test new approaches to parallel, grid, and cloud computing. Researchers will collaborate to create an experimental high-performance grid test-bed, enabling the detection of bugs in software before production.
Scientists at UCSD have successfully built an integrated circuit that operates at 125 degrees Kelvin, a temperature easily attainable commercially with liquid nitrogen. This breakthrough enables faster and more efficient computation and communication devices.
Researchers created a complete model of the bacterium Thermotoga maritima's central metabolic network, including three-dimensional protein structures. This breakthrough could help identify positive and adverse drug reactions and engineer bacteria to produce clean energy.
The Siebel Foundation has awarded UC San Diego's top bioengineering graduate students with a $2 million endowment to fund fellowships. The fellowships will be administered by the UCSD Institute for Engineering in Medicine, recognizing the Jacobs School's pioneering efforts in medicine and health.
A new study by University of California - San Diego researchers found that parents regularly lie to their children to promote good behavior and make them happy. The practice, known as 'parenting by lying,' is more common among Asian-American parents.
A recent study has identified gene variants for glaucoma in a black population, which could lead to future treatments or a cure for the disease. The finding is significant as it explains nearly one-third of the genetic risk for glaucoma and could provide a more accurate and earlier diagnosis.
Scientists create induced pluripotent stem cells from human neural stem cells using a footprint-free methodology, retaining some gene expression of the original donor cells. The study reveals that these cells maintain a 'transcriptional signature' similar to human embryonic stem cells.
A new study has found that genes regulating insulin also alter the timing of the circadian clock, suggesting novel therapies for metabolic disease. Hundreds of genes were identified as affecting the clock's timing, with seven genes involved in insulin control also influencing its rhythms.
The study divides Arab countries into three categories and compares their population-weighted averages in health, educational attainment, and income with those of non-Arab nations. While Arab countries have made significant progress in areas such as life expectancy and education, they lag behind in democracy and women's labor-force par...
A team of researchers from UC San Diego, MIT, and UC Berkeley are working on fundamental multiscale studies of plasma-material interactions to improve the scientific understanding of magnetic confinement fusion. Their goal is to engineer plasma walls that can survive in the environment necessary for fusion power generation.
Researchers will study turbulent transport and organization in fusion and astrophysical plasmas to design better, smaller and cheaper fusion systems. Understanding the link between flow self-organization and large-scale flow dissipation may also improve ITER's fusion power production.
A team of researchers has identified a molecular signature that can predict which patients with aggressive cancers, such as pancreatic and breast cancer, are likely to respond to therapy with the anti-cancer drug dasatinib. The discovery could lead to personalized treatment approaches for solid tumors currently resistant to therapies.
The University of California, San Diego will receive $32 million to develop the Ocean Observatories Initiative's cyberinfrastructure. The system will enable near-real-time access to ocean data, transforming ocean science research and education.
Researchers found that initial thoughts about others' emotions bias subsequent facial expression perception and memory. Participants who initially interpreted faces as angry remembered them expressing more anger, while those who interpreted them as happy remembered less anger.
UC San Diego researcher Hoanh Vu is working on a three-year grant project to study laser-plasma interactions for safe nuclear ignition. His research could lead to the development of nuclear fusion as an alternative energy source, increasing safety and security in nuclear stockpile stewardship.
Marine biomedicine researchers have deciphered the structure of a naturally produced ocean-based compound hoiamide A, which offers a novel template for drug development. The findings suggest that hoiamide A may interact with neurons in different ways, potentially leading to therapeutic effects for diseases such as epilepsy and neurodeg...
A 2006 heat wave in California killed over 600 people and 25,000 cattle, with temperatures rising to the hottest one percent of historical records. The event was exacerbated by high humidity, which caused heat waves to last longer and fed on themselves until winds changed.
Researchers have developed a way to diagnose networking delays as short as tens of millionths of seconds, which can lead to significant financial losses. The Lossy Difference Aggregator approach offers the possibility of fine-grained delay and loss tracking with minimal cost and performance penalty.
Researchers discovered seven new species of swimming worms in the deep sea, including 'green bombers' that release bioluminescent displays for defense. The discovery sheds light on evolutionary adaptations and challenges faced by these unique organisms.
Researchers found that HPRT gene plays crucial role in regulating transcription factors' expression and development of neurons, supporting a possible link to Lesch Nyhan disease. The study provides first direct experimental support for HPRT's involvement in neurological disorders.
Researchers have identified a key protein, NanA, that allows pneumococcus bacteria to penetrate the brain, leading to meningitis. Removing or modifying this protein can prevent bacterial entry, offering potential new avenues for developing more effective vaccines.
PortLand is a fault-tolerant, layer 2 data center network fabric capable of scaling to 100,000 nodes and beyond. It provides baseline support for virtual machines and migration while reducing administrative overhead, and leverages multipath routing and improved fault tolerance.
Researchers found a common genetic variation associated with differences in brain structure, including reduced surface area in the cortex, in both healthy individuals and patients with neurological and psychiatric disorders. This variation may be a promising candidate gene for further study.
Computer scientists demonstrate that hackers can steal votes using a malicious programming approach called return-oriented programming. The study shows that even voting machines designed to resist takeover can be compromised if not updated with the latest security patches.