Three University of Massachusetts Amherst economists who found serious errors in a key study that lawmakers around the globe used as a cornerstone of austerity policies have been named to Foreign Policy magazine’s list of 100 Leading Global Thinkers of 2013.
Medical zoologist Stephen Rich, head of the Laboratory of Medical Zoology, collects ticks, dead or alive, from people and pets across the country, to help map the distribution of different kinds of the blood-sucking arachnids, and to categorize the many disease-causing pathogens they carry.
Man, a mouse or a microbe, stress is bad. Experiments in bacteria by molecular biologists have uncovered the mechanism that translates stress, such as exposure to extreme temperature, into temporarily blocked cell growth. Bacteria deal with stress by destroying proteins needed for replication.
An international team of astronomers led by BoMee Lee has established that mature-looking galaxies existed much earlier than previously known, about 11.5 billion years ago. “Finding them this far back in time is a significant discovery,” says lead author Lee. Reported in The Astrophysical Journal.
Using a data set spanning 40 years of dengue fever incidence in Thailand, an international team has for the first time estimated from data that after an initial infection, a person is protected from infection with other strains for between one and three years, promising more effective vaccine studies.
NAS awards a three-year, $271,930 grant to chemist Vincent Rotello to develop, test and deploy sensitive new reliable and affordable inkjet-printed, nanoparticle-based test strips for detecting pathogenic bacteria in drinking water, with research collaborators in Pakistan.
Using biochemistry and mass spectrometry, researchers “trapped” scores of new candidate substrates of the protease ClpXP to reveal how protein degradation is critical to cell cycle progression and bacterial development. The new understanding could lead to identifying new antibiotic targets.
The results of a new survey by the University of Massachusetts Amherst show that a majority of Americans across the political spectrum oppose the outsourcing of lethal military and defense targeting decisions to machines. The opposition to autonomous weaponry is bipartisan, with the strongest opposition on the far left and far right, and among active and former members of the military.
The cover story in the June issue of Genetics describes a new technique allowing scientists to study the function of individual proteins in individual cell types in a living organism, providing deeper insights into protein function by isolating its function. Until now there was no tool for this.
Approaching the two-month anniversary of the April 15 Boston Marathon bombing, a new UMass Poll released today by the University of Massachusetts Amherst shows that only one-in-eight Massachusetts residents are very concerned about a terrorist attack where they live. The poll also indicated distinct party-line divisions regarding which government officials and agencies were to blame for failing to prevent the attack.
Former U.S. Senator Scott Brown leads all potential candidates in next year’s Massachusetts gubernatorial race, according to a new UMass Poll released today by the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Brown’s closest theoretical competition would come from former Congressman Joseph Kennedy II, who would be in a virtual tie with Brown, 42-41.
The results of a new statewide UMass Poll released June 6 by the University of Massachusetts Amherst shows Democratic U.S. Representative Edward Markey with a strong 11-point lead over Republican Gabriel Gomez among likely voters in advance of the Massachusetts special U.S. Senate election scheduled for June 25. Markey and Gomez are contesting the open Senate seat created by John Kerry’s ascension to Secretary of State.
Governor Deval Patrick and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) today announced over $100 million in grants for life-sciences-related capital projects in western Massachusetts.
Chemical engineers have discovered a new chemical process to make p-xylene, an important ingredient of plastics for products such as soda bottles and packaging, at 90 percent yield from lignocellulosic biomass, the highest yield achieved to date. Details are in the current issue of Green Chemistry.
David Mednicoff, assistant professor of public policy and director of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has been named the principal investigator on a $1.01 million grant to conduct interdisciplinary research on legal development and practices in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
For the first time fossil jaw measurements confirm that land animals developed legs millions of years before their feeding systems changed enough to let them eat a land-based diet. The pattern had been hypothesized previously, but not really tested.
Researchers propose a new investigative roadmap for the field of evolutionary developmental biology to better understand how innovation at the genetic level can lead to ecological adaptations over time. It should help to close a major gap in understanding what drives evolutionary change.
Although it’s known that home construction in suburban areas can have negative impacts on native plant and animals, a recent study suggests that well-managed development such as provided by homeowners associations can support native wildlife and promote species diversity.
In one of the earliest experiments using a humanoid robot to deliver speech and physical therapy to a stroke patient, researchers saw notable speech and physical therapy gains and significant improvement in quality of life.
The results of a new national UMass Poll released today show strong public support for an assault weapons ban and a broad consensus in favor of a higher federal minimum wage. Additionally, President Barack Obama enjoys high personal favorability, while Speaker John Boehner is viewed as equally unfavorable.
A new study finds assumptions that men take unfair advantage of parental leave at universities – using the leave as an opportunity to further their research while shirking the responsibility of childcare – are false.
Paul J. Dauenhauer, a chemical engineer at UMass Amherst, has received a five-year, $400,000 National Science Foundation’s CAREER grant for basic research on the chemical reactions that create biofuel from cellulose. He will measure the chemical breakdown of cellulose in very small time increments.
New details emerge about a molecular surveillance system that helps detect and correct errors in mitosis that can lead to cell death or human diseases. Biologists can watch and record images of the key players including microtubules, kinetochores, molecular engines and the polar ejection force.
Dogs and wolves are genetically so similar, it’s hard for biologists to understand why wolves remain fiercely wild, while dogs can gladly become man’s best friend. New research suggests the different behaviors are related to earliest sensory experiences and the critical period of socialization.
Malaria kills millions each year and gives medical researchers headaches because the mosquito-borne parasite that causes its deadliest form has developed resistance to every drug thrown at it. Now a molecular parasitologist reports a promising new low-cost therapy to outwit that resistance.
Arctic hurricanes, complete with a central “eye,” extreme low barometric pressure and towering waves, can sink small ships. Now climate scientists report the first conclusive evidence that these storms, known as polar lows, play a key role in driving ocean water circulation and climate.
Winter contracting, snow season expected to be shorter, experts say. A new high-resolution study, the first to apply regional climate models to near-term temperature and precipitation changes in the Northeast U.S., suggests temperatures may be much warmer in the next 30 years, especially in winter.
Building on its success in drawing more women and under-represented minority students to study computer science at Massachusetts public colleges and universities since 2007, UMass Amherst has won a $6.24 million grant from NSF and will take a national leadership role in computer science education.
Until recently, medical researchers had little hope of manipulating naïve T cells to study their crucial roles in immune function because they were largely impenetrable. Now, researchers have made a master key, able to get into naïve T cells to deliver bio-active cargo such as synthetic molecules.
Shelly Peyton, a chemical engineer at UMass Amherst is using a three-year, $590,000 National Science Foundation grant to study how different types of breast cancer interact with different human tissues – tissues she and her team can create in the laboratory that mimic bone, lung and brain cells.
Neuroscientist Rebecca Spencer at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has received a five-year, $2 million grant from NIH’s Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to significantly advance knowledge about how napping and sleep affect memory, behavior and emotions in preschoolers.
In the fight against cancer, knowing the enemy’s identity is crucial for diagnosis and treatment, especially in metastatic cancers that spread between organs and tissues. Now chemists have developed a rapid, sensitive way to detect microscopic levels of many metastatic cell types in living tissue.
Despite recent evidence that populations of river herring are dangerously low, ecologists say removing dams and adding fishways can still revive alewife and blueback herring numbers in New England and help to restore a long-neglected natural link between marine and freshwater ecosystems.
Developmental biologists are investigating craniofacial development in a frog model to better understand genetic control of cell migration. The work is expected to advance knowledge of how cancer cells migrate away from primary tumors to cause metastatic disease in new sites, among other processes.
Using camera traps, wildlife researchers recently captured photographs of one of the rarest animals on earth, the Sumatran striped rabbit. They say it may now be found only in two remote national parks there. Pictures and other observations are reported in the current issue of "Oryx".
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