In the maelstrom of information, opinion and conjecture that is Twitter, the voice of truth and reason does occasionally prevail, according to a new study from University of Washington researchers. Tweets from "official accounts" can slow the spread of rumors on Twitter and correct misinformation that's taken on a life of its own.
New research presented at the Experimental Biology 2016 meeting suggests a runner’s pre-race anaerobic fitness capacity may be a key factor in determining who will have the fastest finishing times during grueling 50 km (31 mile) mountain ultramarathons.
A new study shows that blocking the blood supply of small cell lung cancer tumors may help slow their growth and delay a rebound after chemotherapy. Small cell lung cancer is one of the most devastating forms of cancer and a significant cause of cancer deaths each year.
The American Association of Anatomists (AAA) is honored to announce its 2016 award winners. All awards will be presented during the Closing Awards Ceremony at AAA's 2016 annual meeting at Experimental Biology (EB) in San Diego, CA.
Rare religious artifact found at ancient temple site in Italy is from lost culture fundamental to western traditions.
Economically more backward countries are more likely to experience both violent and non-violent civil unrest, according to research by the University of East Anglia (UEA).
How long do you shower? Would you be willing to set a timer for yourself while you bathe? That may be something to consider as you try to reduce your water consumption, say University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researchers. In a study that used an online survey of 932 Floridians, UF/IFAS researchers sought to identify characteristics of so-called “high-water users,” based on residents’ perceived importance of plentiful water and their water conservation behaviors.
A team of University of Rochester and Adobe researchers is outperforming other approaches to creating computer-generated image captions in an international competition. The key to their winning approach? Thinking about words – what they mean and how they fit in a sentence structure – just as much as thinking about the image itself.
More than three quarters of Florida’s strawberries are shipped to American markets east of the Mississippi River. Most of those out-of-state consumers enjoy the fruit, but some mistakenly think Sunshine State strawberries aren’t available at their grocery stores, a new University of Florida study shows.
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Johns Hopkins engineers have devised a computer model to unravel the wicked wind conditions that plague the world’s greatest golfers at the course that hosts one of the sport’s most storied tournaments, The Masters, in Augusta, Georgia.
Programming highlights from Experimental Biology 2016, April 2-6, in San Diego. Topics include anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pathology, nutrition, and pharmacology.
Engineers at PPPL have developed an updated version of a key electronic component that helps regulate the current that powers the coils in PPPL's recently completed National Spherical Torus Experiment-Upgrade.
Scientists at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Rome are studying graphene oxide in the hopes of one day creating bacteria-killing catheters and medical devices. Coating surgical tools with this carbon-based compound could kill bacteria, reducing the need for antibiotics, decreasing the rates of post-operative infections and speeding recovery times.
Researchers have recently developed a new way to controllably manipulate materials, in this case biomolecules that are too small to see with the naked eye. By stretching molecules like DNA and proteins, scientists can find out important information about the structure, chemical bonding and mechanical properties of the individual molecules that make up our bodies. This understanding could shed light on diseases like cancer and ALS. The new technique is called acoustic force spectroscopy (AFS).
A tiny protein known as an “amyloid beta” acts like Jekyll and Hyde in mysterious ways within the human body. Outsized human suffering is linked to this otherwise tiny, innocuous-looking molecule, as it is suspected to be a key player in the neurodegenerative mechanisms underlying Alzheimer’s disease. Amyloid beta molecules appear to become toxic within our bodies when they make contact with each other and form small bundles. Oddly, they may become less toxic again as the bundles grow larger in size and form ordered fibrillary plaque deposits. This begs the question: What’s different about these bundles than the single protein molecule and the fibrils?
Farm-grown fish are an important source of food with significant and worldwide societal and economic benefits, but the fish that come from these recirculating systems can have unpleasant tastes and odors. To clean contaminated water for farmed fish, drinking and other uses, scientists are now turning to an unlikely source — the mucilage or inner “guts” of cacti. Researchers will be presenting their latest findings at the 251st National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.
Someday, cicadas and dragonflies might save your sight. The key to this power lies in their wings, which are coated with a forest of tiny pointed pillars that impale and kill bacterial cells unlucky enough to land on them. Now, scientists report they have replicated these antibacterial nanopillars on synthetic polymers that are being developed to restore vision. The researchers present their work at the 251st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.
Athletes, the elderly and others who suffer from injuries and arthritis can lose cartilage and experience a lot of pain. Researchers are now reporting, however, that they have found a way to produce cartilage tissue by 3-D bioprinting an ink containing human cells, and they have successfully tested it in an in vivo mouse model. The researchers present their work at the 251st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.
Hops, those little cone-shaped buds that give beer its bitter flavor, pack a surprisingly healthful punch. They are widely studied for their ability to halt bacterial growth and disease. Now, researchers report that they are close to synthesizing the healthful hops compounds in the lab, which could help scientists more easily create medicines from these compounds. The researchers present their work at the 251st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.
The blueberry, already labeled a “super fruit” for its power to potentially lower the risk of heart disease and cancer, also could be another weapon in the war against Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers present their work today at the 251st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.
As electronics grow ever more intricate, so must the tools required to fix them. Anticipating this challenge, scientists turned to the body’s immune system for inspiration and have now built self-propelled nanomotors that can seek out and repair tiny scratches to electronic systems. They could one day lead to flexible batteries, electrodes, solar cells and other gadgets that heal themselves. The researchers present their work at the 251st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.
Instead of applying a deicing agent to strip ice from an aircraft’s wings before winter takeoffs, airport personnel could in the future just watch chunks slide right off. Scientists report they have developed a slippery substance that is secreted from a film on the wing’s surface as temperatures drop below freezing and retreats back into the film as temperatures rise. Researchers will present their findings at the 251st National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.
The ongoing debate about breast cancer diagnostics has left many women confused — particularly over what age they should get mammograms and who needs treatment. An issue with current methods is that they often identify lumps but cannot conclusively pinpoint which ones are cancerous. So, researchers have developed a pill that could improve imaging, lighting up only cancerous tumors. They report their work at the 251st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.
As more states decriminalize recreational use of marijuana and expand its medical applications, concern is growing about inaccurate dosage information listed on edible products. So, scientists have developed a technique that can more precisely measure cannabis compounds in gummy bears, chocolates and other foods made with marijuana. They say this new method could help ensure product safety. The researchers present their research today at the 251st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.
Atherosclerosis, a disease in which plaque builds up inside arteries, is a prolific and invisible killer, but it may soon lose its ability to hide in the body. Scientists have developed a nanoparticle that mimics high-density lipoprotein. It can simultaneously light up and treat atherosclerotic plaques that clog arteries, which could someday help prevent heart attacks and strokes. The researchers present their findings at the 251st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.
Remember those colorful “grow capsules” that blossom into animal-shaped sponges in water? Using a similar idea, scientists have developed biodegradable polymer grafts that, when surgically placed in damaged vertebrae, should grow to be just the right size and shape to fix the spinal column. The researchers present their work at the 251st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.
Placed on end, eggshells are as strong as the arches supporting ancient Roman aquaducts. Yet they readily crack in the middle, and once that happens, we discard them. But now scientists report that adding tiny shards of eggshell to bioplastic could create a first-of-its-kind biodegradable packaging material that bends but does not easily break. The researchers present their work today at the 251st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.
Electronics manufacturers constantly hunt for ways to make faster, cheaper computer chips, often by cutting production costs or by shrinking component sizes. Now, researchers report that DNA, the genetic material of life, might help accomplish this goal when it is formed into specific shapes through a process reminiscent of the ancient art of paper folding.The researchers present their work at the 251st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.
Drug therapies for many conditions end up treating the whole body even when only one part needs it. But this generalized approach can hurt healthy cells, causing nasty side effects. To send drugs to specific disease locations, researchers developed cellular “backpacks” that are designed to carry a therapeutic cargo only to inflamed disease sites. The researchers present their work at the 251st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.
When original drawings and sketches from Walt Disney Animation Studio’s more than 90-year history traveled internationally last summer, conservators had the opportunity to monitor the artwork with a new state-of-the-art sensor. A team of researchers developed a super-sensitive artificial “nose,” customized specifically to detect pollutants before they could irreversibly damage the artwork. The researchers report on their efforts at the 251st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.
It’s a common TV show trope: Detectives find a lipstick mark at a crime scene, they send a sample to the lab, and suddenly they have a lead. Real-life analyses aren’t nearly as fast or straightforward, but scientists are developing a better method for lifting lipstick samples and analyzing them. The researchers present their work at the 251st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.
Women can choose from many birth control methods, including numerous oral contraceptives, but there’s never been an analogous pill for men. That’s not for lack of trying: For many years, scientists have attempted to formulate a male pill. Finally, a group of researchers has taken a step toward that goal by tweaking some experimental compounds that show promise. The researchers present their work at the 251st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.
A team of scientists is exploring an unusual source of electricity — damaged tomatoes that are unsuitable for sale at the grocery store. Their pilot project involves a biological-based fuel cell that uses tomato waste left over from harvests in Florida. The researchers present their work at the 251st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.
Imagine you wanted to know how much energy it took to bike up a mountain, but couldn’t finish the ride to the peak yourself. So, to get the total energy required, you and a team of friends strap energy meters to your bikes and ride the route in a relay, then add up your individual energy inputs. Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, are currently using a similar approach, powered by LLNL’s world-class supercomputers, to simulate the energy requirements for candidate drug molecules to permeate cell membranes – shaving weeks of compound testing by determining in advance how readily they’ll enter cells to perform their activity.
If you suffer from atrial fibrillation (AF) -- a condition where disorganized electrical signals cause the heart’s upper chambers to contract quickly and irregularly -- your doctor may prescribe an antiarrhythmic drug. Now, researchers have new insight into how these drugs work. They found that multi-target drugs, which are the most commonly prescribed drugs to treat AF and are considered the most efficacious, may work by changing properties of the cell membrane.
In emergencies, people may trust robots too much for their own safety, a new study suggests. In a mock building fire, test subjects followed instructions from an “Emergency Guide Robot” even after the machine had proven itself unreliable – and after some participants were told that robot had broken down.
When venom from animals such as spiders, snakes or cone snails is injected via a bite or harpoon, the cocktail of toxins delivered to its victim tends to cause serious reactions that, if untreated, can be lethal. But even venom has a therapeutic upside: Individual peptide toxins are being tapped to target receptors in the brain to potentially serve as painkillers.
Researchers are using the unique electronic “voices” produced by devices on the electrical grid to determine which signals are legitimate and which signals might be from attackers.
The development of every animal in the history of the world began with a simple step: the fusion of a spermatozoon with an oocyte. Despite the ubiquity of this process, the actual mechanisms through which fertilization occurs remain poorly understood. A new tool developed by a team of French biophysicists may soon shed light on this still-mysterious process, and has already captured highly detailed images of what happens when sperm and egg first touch.
A bit of mystery has enshrouded the type of specialized mechanotransducers—force sensors—underlying the process of converting a mechanical force into a biological function—mechanotransduction—and how they’re able to sense a force and, subsequently, transduce to downstream biological functions. During the BPS 2016 annual meeting, Bailong Xiao will share a discovery made while exploring how newly identified mechanotransducers function at the molecular level.
Study shows that, although ZEBRA, a system intended to enable prompt and user-friendly deauthentication, works very well with honest people, opportunistic attackers can fool the system.
The relationship between our future carbon dioxide emissions and future climate change depends strongly on the capacity of the ocean-carbon sink. That is a question climate scientists have so far been unable to answer. In a new paper, a research team headed by Galen McKinley, professor in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, describes the best modeling approach to date for arriving at an answer to this and other crucial climate questions
From the Yellow River in China to the Mississippi River in Louisiana, researchers are racing to better understand and mitigate the degradation of some of the world's most important river deltas, according to a University of Colorado Boulder faculty member.
University of Washington computer scientists and electrical engineers have generated Wi-Fi transmissions using 10,000 times less power than conventional methods. Their "Passive Wi-Fi" system also consumes 1,000 times less power than existing energy-efficient wireless communication platforms, such as Bluetooth Low Energy and Zigbee.
Doctoral student first to investigate the ecology of the orcas that live around Newfoundland and Labrador.
Programming highlights from Experimental Biology 2016, April 2-6, in San Diego. Topics include anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pathology, nutrition, and pharmacology.
A squid has more in common with a spider than you may think. The razor-sharp 'teeth' that ring the suckers found on some squid tentacles are made up entirely of proteins remarkably similar -- and in some ways superior -- to the ones found in silks. Those proteins, called suckerins, give the teeth their strength and stretchiness, and could one day be used as the basis for biomaterials with many potential biomedical applications.
Bilinguals use and learn language in ways that change their minds and brains, which has consequences -- many positive, according to Judith F. Kroll, a Penn State cognitive scientist.
Journalists are invited this month to a major international meeting devoted to biophysics, a field that seeks to uncover fundamental new understanding of the molecular world and find new treatments and tools for fields across medicine and materials science. The 60th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society convenes from Feb. 27- March 2, 2016 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
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