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UCLA Study Shows Cell-Penetrating Peptides for Drug Delivery Act Like A Swiss Army Knife

Cell-penetrating peptides, such as the HIV TAT peptide, are able to enter cells using a number of mechanisms, from direct entry to endocytosis, a process by which cells internalize molecules by engulfing them.

Further, these cell-penetrating peptides, or CPPs, can facilitate the cellular transfer of various molecular cargoes, from small chemical molecules to nano-sized particles and large fragments of DNA. Because of this ability, CPPs hold great potential as in vitro and in vivo delivery vehicles for use in research and for the targeted delivery of therapeutics to individual cells. (more…)

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Online Housing Discrimination Primarily Done by Roommate-Seekers, Based on Familial Status, MU Study Finds

COLUMBIA, Mo. – As more and more people use websites like Craigslist to find roommates and advertise apartment vacancies, the opportunities increase for housing discrimination law violations. Rigel Oliveri, an associate dean for faculty research and development and associate professor of law at the University of Missouri School of Law, found that discriminatory online housing ads are almost always posted by people seeking roommates, and are primarily based on familial status.

In a study published in the Indiana Law Review, Oliveri reviewed 10,000 housing advertisements from 10 major U.S. cities. Despite a huge number of housing ads placed daily on Craigslist in cities across the country, Oliveri found relatively few instances of illegal housing discrimination. Of the 10,000 ads she reviewed, she found that only five percent were potentially problematic or illegal. (more…)

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comScore Reports August 2011 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share

*comScore Releases Report “iPhone 5: Implications for the Operator Industry”*

RESTON, VA, October 5, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released data from the comScore MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending August 2011. The study surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers and found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 25.3 percent market share. Google Android continued to gain ground in the smartphone market reaching 43.7 percent market share.

In light of Apple’s new iPhone announcement, comScore has also released a report highlighting the implications of this new device to the mobile operator marketplace. A complimentary copy of the report can be downloaded at the following link: https://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Presentations_Whitepapers/2011/iPhone_5_Implications_for_the_Operator_Industry (more…)

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Blue of Every Hue

The compelling story of indigo, the world’s oldest, most magical and best-loved dye has been brought to life by an Honorary Research Fellow from the University of Exeter’s Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies. (more…)

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Scientists, Philosophers and Theologians Poised To Ask: “Why Is There Anything?”

Some of the world’s most renowned scholars, in fields as diverse as astrophysics, philosophy, and religious studies, will convene on the Yale campus October 6-9 to ponder the most fundamental existential question of all: “Why Is There Anything in the Universe?”

The idea for a conference to discuss a philosophical question that has perplexed great minds throughout the ages grew out of an informal conversation and debate over a cup of coffee between Yale professors Priyamvada Natarajan, a cosmologist in the Astronomy department, and Denys Turner, who teaches in the department of Religious Studies and the Yale Divinity School and is the author of “Eros and Allegory” and “The Darkness of God,” among other titles. Michael Della Rocca, a metaphysician who teaches at the philosophy department, soon joined the effort. James van Pelt, who co-founded Yale’s Initiative in Religion, Science & Technology, was enlisted to coordinate the ambitious, quintessentially trans-disciplinary program, which now includes a stellar roster of physical scientists, theologians and philosophers. (more…)

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Learning From our Mistakes is Hardwired

EAST LANSING, Mich. — People who think they can learn from their mistakes have a different brain reaction to errors than those who don’t think they can learn from their mistakes, according to a groundbreaking study by Michigan State University researchers. (more…)

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Berkeley Lab’s Saul Perlmutter wins Nobel Prize in Physics

BERKELEY, CA — Saul Perlmutter, an astrophysicist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a professor of physics at the University of California at Berkeley, has won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics “for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe through observations of distant supernovae.” Perlmutter heads the international Supernova Cosmology Project, which pioneered the methods used to discover the accelerating expansion of the universe, and he has been a leader in studies to determine the nature of dark energy. (more…)

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Extreme Space Weather at Mercury Blasts the Planet’s Poles

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— The solar wind sandblasts the surface of planet Mercury at its poles, according to new data from a University of Michigan instrument on board NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft.

The sodium and oxygen particles the blistering solar wind kicks up are the primary components of Mercury’s wispy atmosphere, or “exosphere,” the new findings assert. Through interacting with the solar wind, they become charged in a mechanism that’s similar to the one that generates the Aurora Borealis on Earth. (more…)

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