University of Alberta scientists have named a new species of ancient marine reptile , fondly called the Ping Pong Ichthyosaur for the spot the prehistoric creature called home for the last 25 years. Embryos found within the body of a pregnant fossil also mark the most recent record of a live birth and the physically smallest known ichthyosaur embryos.
A working prototype of an ultra-wideband digital wireless radio, a feat that the electronics industry has struggled to accomplish, has been built at UMass Amherst. The device could have applications in industrial monitoring and medical sensing by providing a cheap and reliable way of transferring data between electronic devices.
As the annual dolphin drive hunts begin in the Japanese villages of Taiji and Futo, a consortium of scientists and zoo and aquarium professionals has launched a campaign to end the practices through public awareness and by appealing to the government of Japan to put an end to the hunts.
Scientists at the University of Virginia Health System have identified, for the first time ever, several genetic regions that are likely to carry the genes for nicotine dependence (ND) in an African American population. This is the first genome-wide study of such linkage and included the largest group of African Americans to participate in this type of linkage study.
Researchers in the North Carolina Sate University genetics department have identified a suite of genes that affect aggression in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, pointing to new mechanisms that could contribute to abnormal aggression in humans and other animals.
Mark Harrower, an assistant professor of geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is devoted to giving people powerful new tools to improve map-making.
Big business is taking notice of what was long thought of as small money in oceanography, particularly in Massachusetts and New England. The indicator of this shift is in the emergence of large companies like Teledyne Corp. purchasing smaller companies like Benthos on Cape Cod and RD Instruments in San Diego.
The Minister of Forestry Economy of the Republic of Congo announced today plans to create two new protected areas that together could be larger than Yellowstone National Park, spanning nearly one million hectares (3,800 square miles).
Qihao Weng, associate professor of geography and director of the Center for Urban and Environmental Change at Indiana State University, has a theory that an urban landscape of circular streets, parks, lawns - even buildings - can help keep minimize the urban heat island effect, in which impervious surfaces such as concrete, asphalt and certain building materials, keep cities warmer than the surrounding countryside.
UMass Medical School scientists limit bacteria's ability to cause plague and develop new strategy for vaccine development.
Scientists at the Monell Chemical Senses Center report that bitter taste perception of vegetables is influenced by an interaction between variants of taste genes and the presence of naturally-occurring toxins in the vegetable.
In an effort to provide safer and more reliable components for aircraft, researchers have invented an optical on-off switch that can replace electrical wiring on airplanes with fiber optics for controlling elevators, rudders, and other flight-critical elements. The technology also has potential applications on the nation's highways, as a "weigh-in-motion" sensor for measuring the weight of fast-moving commercial trucks without requiring them to stop on a scale.
In animals, genes are passed from parents to offspring via sperm or eggs. In some single-celled organisms, such as yeast, genes can be passed on in spores. In both strategies, the genomic material becomes dramatically compacted during the process, reduced in volume to as little as five percent of its original volume. A new study identifies a single molecule required for genome compaction and speculates that compaction may be vital to sperm fertility and function.
No one has ever seen exactly how water molecules interact with proteins "“ even though water is the essential element for life . . . that is, not until now. The project aims to explain how water helps enable biological functions such as protein folding or enzyme catalysis. But for now, this early result ends decades of controversy on what happens in the microscopic realm where water and proteins meet.
An international team of scientists led by researchers at UC Davis Health System has found that, with respect to genetics, modern Europeans fall into two groups: a Northern group and a Southern, or Mediterranean one.
As the controversy over possible environmental effects of transgenic crops continues, a new study suggests that issues may be less related to genetics and more to nutrition. The study is published in the latest issue of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.
Pesticides haven't stopped them. Trapping hasn't worked, either. But now chemists and biologists at the University of California, Irvine, think they may have found a natural way to finally check the spread of environmentally destructive Argentine ants in California and elsewhere in the United States: Spark a family feud.
Researchers have developed two new technologies for measuring cell growth in the laboratory. The first patent-pending technology provides a way for researchers to easily tell if cancer cells in the laboratory are responding to an anti-cancer drug. The second -- because it tests several sets of cells at once -- allows for the simultaneous testing of different dosages.
A Mississippi State University professor's cutting-edge research may help scientists develop better drugs to attack bacterial infections. The findings are published in the current edition of Science.
Stephen DiFazio, assistant professor of biology in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University, has co-authored a milestone study in genome research that points to trees as the new biofuel.
Teams of paleontologists from Montana and Mongolia unearthed 67 dinosaur skeletons in one week during this summer's field season in the Gobi Desert. The varied skeletons of the plant-eating Psittacosaurus, or "parrot lizard," will give paleontologist Jack Horner an opportunity to compare skeletal changes during the creature's lifespan.
Though it's not a prescription to cure obesity or a magic wand to make traffic congestion disappear, the new Georgia Guidebook for Pedestrian Planning does provide detailed directions for administering a healthy dose of help. The guidebook, developed by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, helps planners assess their pedestrian environment and prioritize projects to improve it.
Researchers are applying the same basic technique seismologists use to measure earthquakes for a new medical technology that promises to prevent stress fractures by detecting the formation of tiny cracks in bones.
Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have demonstrated a fingerprinting technique that allows hackers with ill intent to identify a wireless driver without modification to or cooperation from a wireless device. Revealing this technique publicly, Sandia researchers hope, can aid in improving the security of wireless communications for devices that employ 802.11 networking.
Researchers have unraveled the genetic basis of two rare congenital diseases in which afflicted persons have no fingerprints. Now they are now trying to find the exact connection between the unusual features of the disease and enhanced programmed cell death. Data from such research could have implications for many skin disorders.
An approach proven to cure a rat model of type 1 or juvenile-onset diabetes also works in a rat model of type 2 or adult-onset diabetes, according to a new report from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
On a college campus, it would be difficult to find two subjects more different from each other than art and engineering. Yet on the campus of the University of South Florida, one engineering professor responsible for teaching classes about differential equations and electromagnetism has created a popular course that merges his research world with the world of fine art.
You'd think in a river filled with anti-depressants, freshwater mussels would be, well, happy as clams. Far from it. In fact, a new laboratory study suggests that exposure to Prozac can disrupt the reproductive cycle of these mollusks, potentially increasing their risk of extinction.
In the future, it might be perfectly normal to wear suits and dresses made of chicken feathers or rice straw. Scientists at the University of Nebraska"“Lincoln plan to develop these agricultural wastes into conventional-looking fabrics as a way to reduce the use of petroleum-based fabrics.
Detecting bacteria, viruses and other dangerous substances in hospitals, airplanes and other commonly contaminated places could soon be as easy as wiping a napkin or paper towel across a surface, says a researcher from Cornell University.
Known primarily for his foundational work in math and physics, Sir Isaac Newton actually spent more time on research in alchemy, as well as its interrelationships with science, history and religion, and its implications for economics. Georgia Tech Professor Kenneth Knoespel will present an invited talk on this research on Sept. 11 at the American Chemical Society's 232nd national meeting.
Finding the best materials for PEM fuel cells will require analyzing potentially billions of possible material combinations. In response, Georgia Institute of Technology is developing a new screening system that will enable researchers to evaluate hundreds or thousands of potential materials in a single experiment.
Biomechanics innovations ranging from a computer model of a pregnant driver to a head injury monitoring system for the Hokie football team have earned Virginia Tech researcher Stefan Duma a place among the world's top young technology developers.
Climate modeling of tomorrow will feature precision and scale only imagined just a few years ago, say researchers David Erickson and John Drake of Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Computer Science and Mathematics Division.
Clay makes a good modeling toy, but presents challenges for engineers. Two North Dakota State University professors have received a National Science Foundation grant to study clay-fluid interactions, all part of an effort to develop solutions that prevent roads from buckling or buildings that shift or sink.
Colinearity of DNA and protein sequences is thought to be a fundamental feature of the universal genetic code. However, a paper published today in Science by a team from the Brussels Branch of the global Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) and the Seattle-based Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC), shows that a protein can be rearranged so that it is no longer colinear with its encoding DNA.
The reason may be counter-intuitive, but the more magma crystallizes, the hotter it gets and the more likely a volcano will erupt, according to a team of scientists that includes a University of Oregon geologist. The knowledge likely will aid monitoring of conditions at Mount St. Helens and other volcanic hot spots around the world.
A study of Amazon deforestation in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso shows that direct conversion of forest to cropland in the state totaled over 2000 sq. miles during 2001-2004, peaking in 2003 at 23 percent of all deforestation. According to the researchers, the findings signal a shift in deforestation from the historic uses of cattle ranching and small-plot farming toward large-scale agriculture.
Three separate studies confirm a gene that suppresses tumor cell growth also plays a key role in aging. Teams from the medical schools at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Michigan and Harvard University observed similar results in pancreatic islet cells and brain and blood stem cells.
Researchers at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU), The New Jersey Medical School (NJMS), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have discovered a mechanism that provides natural protection against intestinal roundworm infections, which affect more than 1.4 billion people throughout the world, and which may lead to more effective therapies against nematode parasites.
An Iowa State University project shows that hogs raised small farms don't carry much Salmonella.
A University of Kansas School of Medicine researcher has successfully prevented AIDS in animal trials using a DNA vaccine. Waiting for FDA approval to begin human trials.
Psychologists have long known that memories of disturbing emotional events - such as an act of violence or the unexpected death of a loved one - are more vivid and deeply imprinted in the brain than mundane recollections of everyday matters.
Particle physicists around the world will be designing their next generation of billion-dollar experiments following new findings from a University of Adelaide-led research team.
An international team of scientists has published the first two genome sequences from a destructive group of plant pathogens called Phytophthora--a name that literally means "plant destroyer." The more than 80 species of fungus-like Phytophthora (pronounced "fy-TOFF-thor-uh") attack a broad range of plants and together cost the agriculture, forestry and nursery industries hundreds of billions of dollars each year.
Wildlife corridors appear to support not only wildlife but also plants "”especially the oft-threatened native variety.
Experimental evidence provided by a Cornell University researcher and colleagues at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., support a long-held theory of how and where proteins fold to create their characteristic shapes and biological functions.
A collaboration between researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the University of California at Los Angeles captured the genome-wide DNA methylation pattern of the plant Arabidopsis thaliana - the "laboratory rat" of the plant world - in one big sweep.
While still a senior in high school, a Baltimore teenager worked 10 hours a week in a Johns Hopkins University engineering lab, helping to develop a new drug delivery system that could someday reduce tuberculosis deaths in impoverished nations.
Water is essential for life. Nevertheless, even small amounts of water in the wrong places "“ such as fuels, lubricants, or organic solvents "“ can cause motors to sputter, metal parts to rust, or chemical reactions to go awry. A new method for detection and measurement of small amounts of water, developed at the Weizmann Institute, might allow such tests to be performed accurately and quickly.
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