Early reports suggest that in the future, examining epithelial cells expressed in breast milk may be a useful tool for physicians to evaluate a woman’s breast cancer risk. The method could provide an earlier, personalized assessment of breast cancer risk than any of the currently available methods.
As spring flood season comes to New England, a new study suggests that soil moisture and the water table have been rising over the past 10 years across the region, and we may be facing a higher risk of flooding in the years ahead, due to changes in subsurface water storage over the longer term.
Two-thirds of people with diabetes have high blood pressure. Jenna L. Marquard of the University of Massachusetts Amherst is part of a research team developing a home blood pressure test for diabetics that sends the readings automatically to nurses so their medication can be adjusted as needed.
New social psychology studies suggest that academic contact with women who have succeeded in science, math and engineering can enhance positive attitudes and boost self-confidence among girls and young women who, in other situations, feel less confident and interested in science majors or careers.
Using nano materials, food scientist Julie Goddard is improving food-handling safety by adding a thin anti-microbial layer to surfaces such as conveyor belts and work tables. Only tens of nanometers thick, it chemically “re-charges” its germ-killing powers every time it’s rinsed with common bleach.
In a clever use of GPS technology, UMass Amherst biologists mapped the topography of bat teeth as if they were mountain ranges, in order to better understand how toothy ridges and valleys have evolved in relation to diet in species that eat everything from hard-shelled insects to blood and nectar.
New, high-resolution ocean circulation models suggest that massive glacial meltwaters assumed to have flooded the North Atlantic 8,200 years ago, drastically cooling Europe, instead flowed thousands of miles further south. Results dramatically affect our understanding of what causes climate change.
A major new study on the most efficient design of supply chains for products needed in disasters, major emergencies and pending epidemics has been published by researchers at the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Professor Anna Nagurney leads the team.
An international team of astronomers has detected one of the earliest “protoclusters” of galaxies ever, about 12.5 billion light years from Earth. In the current issue of Nature, they report catching the cluster in the act of formation when the Universe was only 1 billion years old.
Scientists expect the Arctic Ocean to be ice-free in summer by century’s end. Now a trio of researchers say losing this continent-sized natural barrier between species such as bears, whales and seals, could mean extinction of some rare marine mammals and the loss of many adaptive gene combinations.
Microbiologists Derek Lovley, Zarath Summers and colleagues report in the Dec. 2 issue of Science that they’ve discovered a surprising new cooperative behavior in bacteria known as interspecies electron transfer. It could have important implications for the global carbon cycle and bioenergy.
With a new process, chemical engineers can make valuable chemicals such as benzene, toluene and xylenes from pyrolytic oils, the cheapest liquid fuels available today from biomass. This could reduce or eliminate reliance on fossil fuels to make industrial chemicals worth an estimated $400 billion.
The Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst today announced that the vast archival collection of Mark H. McCormack, creator of the sport management and marketing industry, will be housed at the university, providing an unprecedented opportunity for research and education in the field.
A study of pay inequality among white women by sociologists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst finds having children reduces women’s earnings, even for those with comparable qualifications, experience, hours and jobs. While all women suffer this penalty, the lowest-paid women lose the most.
Chemists can now deliver a dormant toxin into a select site such as a tumor, then chemically trigger the toxin to de-cloak and attack from within. It could yield a sophisticated new anti-cancer therapeutic drug delivery system for living cells. Details appear in the current issue of Nature Chemistry.
NIH has awarded UMass Amherst a four-year, $1.2 million EUREKA (Exceptional, Unconventional Research Enabling Knowledge Acceleration) grant to study secretory protein folding in the cell’s protein factory, where misfolding can lead to diseases such as cystic fibrosis and liver cirrhosis.
A team of researchers has found that chestnut-sided warblers have two distinct cultural traditions in song variants that evolve independently – one, used for territorial disputes that changes frequently, and another, used for romance that relies on a small unchanging sampling of classics.
Powerful new software is allowing law officers in 58 Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces nationwide to collect evidence against people who own and share illegal images and produce child pornography. A paper on it was given at the Digital Forensics Research Conference in Portland this week.
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst say consumers and marketers have different expectations for privacy boundaries when new technology is used, and consumers most often prefer an opt-in system for revealing personal information. The study is the first to directly compare consumer and marketer expectations for privacy limits.
A shortage of primary care doctors and an aging adult population means longer wait times and lowers chances of seeing one’s own physician. Now a new study suggests that a mix of scheduling and other strategies could improve both situations, expected to become more common with national health care.
The amount of fresh water flowing through the Arctic as snow or rainfall, in rivers and by evapotranspiration is rising in agreement with models of a warming climate, according to a major new study by climate scientists in the U.S., Norway and Finland who analyzed all available Arctic observations.
Now iPhone users who find oiled birds and marine life in the Gulf region can transmit the location and a photo to rescue networks using a new app, MoGO, or Mobile Gulf Observatory. It was developed to make it easier for the public to help save wildlife exposed to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
A new way to make valuable chemicals and green biofuels from solar power, bacteria and CO2 may be “truly transformative” if it works on a larger scale, says Derek Lovley, head of a group developing carbon neutral microbial electrosynthesis. It also solves a major problem of solar energy: Storage.
A study suggests for the first time that the allergen-producing fungus, Alternaria alternata, produces three times more irritating spores when it feeds on plants grown in a carbon-dioxide-rich environment such as is predicted to exist on Earth in 15 to 25 years, as climate is disrupted and temperatures rise.
In a discovery that could solve one of the biggest hurdles blocking affordable fuel cell development, a team of UMass Amherst scientists has found a way to improve proton conductivity under very low humidity conditions where few materials perform well at present, they report in Nature Chemistry.
A new “gasification” method of converting biomass feedstock into sustainable fuel developed by researchers in Massachusetts and Minnesota greatly reduces greenhouse gas emissions and doubles the amount of fuel made from an acre of biomass feedstock, says UMass Amherst scientist Paul J. Dauenhauer.
Brain tumor specialists hoped to craft a drug delivery system using transferrin, a protein taking iron into cells. Brain tumors use huge amounts of iron, and unlike most proteins transferrin crosses the blood-brain barrier. But a new study using precise methods shows transferrin may not be useful.
Iceland is the only place on Earth where land sits atop a mid-ocean spreading center, says Sheila Seaman, professor of geosciences. Eyjafjallajokull’s eruption is of particular interest because it contains a lightweight, light-colored material which “has no reason whatsoever for being there.”
Sheila C. Bair, head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, will be the speaker at the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Undergraduate Commencement ceremony on May 15 at McGuirk Alumni Stadium. One of the highest profile women in Washington, D.C., Bair last year received the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation’s Profile in Courage Award for her early warnings about the subprime lending crisis.
A new finding reported in Nature Nanotechnology suggests that anti-cancer chemotherapies using nanoparticles to deliver drugs deep inside tumor tissue will be more effective if the particles are positively electrically charged, because they are taken up to a greater extent by proliferating cells.
A new polymer-based method for creating photovoltaic devices, which convert sunlight into electricity, has been identified by UMass Amherst chemists. Inspired by plant anatomy and photosynthesis, it should one day lead to more efficient power production than achievable with today’s semiconductors.
Using a delicate underground instrument, physicists are measuring some of the faintest and rarest particles ever detected with the greatest precision yet achieved. Geo-neutrino data reveal for the first time a well defined signal from the extremely rare geo-neutrino particle from deep inside Earth.
A new study by James K. Boyce and Matthew E. Riddle of the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, assesses the impacts of the CLEAR Act on families.
Biologists have known since Galileo’s time that bird bones are hollow, but many people are surprised to learn that bird skeletons do not weigh less than those of similar-sized mammals. New work now explains how bird skeletons can be both delicate and heavy.
The 10th anniversary of NASA’s Chandra X-ray observing telescope hails new knowledge about multi-million-degree gas clouds, or galactic wind, streaming out from galaxies like ours. Chandra data at last explain how galaxies lose mass and energy, says UMass astronomer Daniel Wang in PNAS this week.
As schools gear up for statewide math testing this spring, some students will help to fine-tune a computer-based, emotionally perceptive math tutoring software that can help girls improve their standardized test scores. It has improved scores by 10 percent and helps girls stay interested in science.
For nearly a decade, the University of Massachusetts Amherst has been developing an expanding presence in Afghanistan, providing technical and educational programs that train teachers, improve the higher education system, and now develop training for doctors and other medical personnel.
Biologist Samuel Hazen is one of 100 researchers who published in Nature the genome of a grass seen as a promising feedstock for clean biofuels. Hazen’s lab is one of 10 developing Brachypodium to reduce use of imported oil and cut GHG. It’s the first of its family to have its DNA fully sequenced.
U.S. Rep. Barney Frank will appear at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on Tuesday, Feb. 16 to discuss his 30-year career in the U.S. House of Representatives, and to sign copies of his biography “Barney Frank: The Story of America’s Only Left-Handed, Gay, Jewish Congressman,” published by the University of Massachusetts Press.
Biochemists led by Scott Garman have for the first time determined the mechanism of one of the cell’s “recycling” enzymes, human alpha-GAL, as it breaks down substances in the lysosome, the cell’s recycling center. It promises to aid treatment of a rare childhood metabolic disorder, Fabry disease.
Studying pollen tubes, plant physiologist Peter Hepler has captured some of the fastest growing tissues known, on camera for the first time, advancing understanding of fertilization that’s critical to development of all fruits, nuts, grains, rice, corn, wheat and other crops we depend on for food.
Based on a study of seasonal rainfall variations in the desert Southwest up to 56,000 years ago as recorded in cave stalagmites, geoscientists suggest the rapidly growing Southwest could become even more arid as global temperatures rise. Findings appear in Nature Geosciences this week.
Is there a recipe a scientist might follow to spur creativity and cook up new discoveries? Cyber security expert Kevin Fu says experimenting with flour, salt and yeast to bake artisanal bread helps him keep creative juices flowing and creates space in which to mull over thorny research problems.
Yesterday’s earthquake is not unexpected, which increases the tragedy, says geoscientists Michele Cooke. A challenge in assessing Caribbean earthquake hazards is that most of the tectonic plate is below sea level and “we can only access the active faults where they are exposed on the islands.”
Researchers are trying to decode why aging prevents sleep from enhancing memory. Psychologist Rebecca Spencer is trying to isolate the stage of sleep that provides the learning benefit and to discover more about the role of sleep in learning. Funding is from the National Institute on Aging.
Particle beams are again zooming around the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider, where UMass Amherst physicists run experiments to collect data on fundamental atomic particles. The work searches for new states of matter and may unveil the secrets of dark matter.
Experiments reported in the British Journal of Cancer confirm that chemical engineer Neil Forbes’ bacterial delivery and trigger system can put TRAIL, a cancer-fighting protein, directly into solid tumors and activate it to kill on cue. It improved 30-day mouse survival time from 0 to 100 percent.
Suggesting that atoms can transport through a solid seems impossible, like trying to inject stuff into a billiard ball with a syringe. It shouldn’t work, but such “superflow” may be possible in super-solid helium, as theoretical physicist Boris Svistunov and colleagues propose in a new paper.
Hydrogen fuel, with steam as its only byproduct, would be the ultimate clean, green fuel. But it has failed to deliver on this promise due to one enormous stumbling block: storage capacity. Now UMass Amherst chemical engineers propose a computational model showing carbon nanotubes offer a solution.
Yeonhwa Park, the only food scientist on the national committee reviewing school lunch and breakfast nutrition standards, brought special expertise in reducing sodium and increasing whole grains in school meals at an affordable price. Reducing sodium over 10 years is worth a try, she says.
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