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Physicists explore fundamental laws of biological materials

By Guest PostDecember 21, 2013Sciencebiological materials, cellular materials, equilibrium material, fundamental laws

Physicists at the University of Chicago and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, are uncovering the fundamental physical laws that govern the behavior of cellular materials. (more…)

Zebrafish help decode link between calcium deficiency and colon cancer

By Guest PostDecember 21, 2013Health, Sciencebetween, calcium deficiency, calcium depleted, calcium regulation mechanism, calcium transporter, colon cancer, colon cancer cells, cunming duan, decode, epithelial cell, growth factor, human, link, lisa hebda, low calcium environments, new mechanism, pathway, trpv5, university of michigan, water calcium level, xueping zhong, yan bai, zebrafish, zebrafish embryo skin

ANN ARBOR — A tiny, transparent fish embryo and a string of surprises led scientists to a deeper understanding of the perplexing link between low calcium and colon cancer.

By studying zebrafish embryo skin, University of Michigan researchers decoded cell messages underlying abnormal colonic cell growth of the kind that can lead to tumors and colon cancer in calcium deficient individuals. They have also tested this new mechanism in human colon cancer cells. (more…)

Bats: Virtually a model of flight

By Guest PostDecember 20, 2013Nature, Science3d glasses, 3d visualization, bat, bats in flight, body oriented navigation, cave, cave painting, connor gramazio, david laidlaw, design for science, Environment, kind of visualization, long nosed bats, mexican, motion tracking technology, risd, sharon swartz, timothy parsons, virtual reality, virtual reality environment

“Virtual Reality Design for Science” is a co-listed class at Brown and RISD that unites artists, designers, computer scientists, and experts in scientific visualization. The goal: to create tools for immersive interaction with scientific data. Test case for the course: the flight mechanics of bats.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — If you want to get a good look at a bat, a cave is a pretty good place to go. But on a Thursday in mid-December at Brown’s Granoff Center, there were virtual bats flapping about in a cave of a different sort. (more…)

Fatty Acids Crucial to Embryonic Development

By Guest PostDecember 20, 2013Scienceacs, acsl4, acyl coa synthetases, bmp signaling pathway, different tissue types, early embryo, embryo implantation, embryonic development, enzyme, fatty acids, fruit fly, Germany, metabolism, polyunsaturated fatty acid, rosa miyares, steven farber, university of cologne, uterus development

Baltimore, MD— One classical question in developmental biology is how different tissue types arise in the correct position of the developing embryo. While one signaling pathway that controls this process has been well described, unexpected findings from a team led by Carnegie’s Steven Farber reveal the importance of polyunsaturated fatty acid metabolism in this process. It is published online December 12 in Developmental Cell.

Fatty acids serve as sources of energy, the building materials of cellular membranes, and as signals for sending messages between cells. Enzymes are needed to activate free fatty acids so that they are useful for cellular processes. The enzymes that perform this function are called acyl-CoA synthetases, often shortened to ACS. (more…)

Neuroscience Methods: Optogenetics as good as electrical stimulation

By Guest PostDecember 18, 2013Sciencebrain cells, brown university, daniel brooks, david sheinberg, electrical stimulation, grant called repair, ji dai, lateral intraparietal area, lip, neural activity, neuroscience methods, nonhuman primates, optical case, optical stimulation, optogenetic stimulation, optogenetics, rodent models, technique, therapeutic benefits, visual decision making

Brown researchers have shown that optogenetics — a technique that uses pulses of visible light to alter the behavior of brain cells — can be as good as or possibly better than the older technique of using small bursts of electrical current. Optogenetics had been used in small rodent models. Research reported in Current Biology has shown that optogenetics works effectively in larger, more complex brains.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Neuroscientists are eagerly, but not always successfully, looking for proof that optogenetics – a celebrated technique that uses pulses of visible light to genetically alter brain cells to be excited or silenced – can be as successful in complex and large brains as it has been in rodent models. (more…)

How to Find the Rarest of the Rare in Southern Skies

By Guest PostDecember 18, 2013Scienceastronomical objects, astronomy projects, objects for astronomers, southern sky

An interdisciplinary UA team is developing a computer program that will sort through up to 10 million alerts of astronomical objects each night from the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, which will begin operations in Chile in 2022

University of Arizona computer scientists are teaming up with astronomers at the National Optical Astronomical Observatory to develop a computer program that will sort through the millions of objects detected by the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope and create a list of priorities for astronomers to investigate. The project has recently received a three-year INSPIRE grant, worth more than $700,000, from the National Science Foundation. (more…)

IBM Reveals Five Innovations That Will Change Our Lives within Five Years

By Guest PostDecember 17, 2013Education, Science, Technologyattack the cancer, big data analytics, breakthroughs, cancer treatment plans, change our lives, cloud computing, cognitive experience lab, cognitive systems, computing, dario gil, digital guardian, DNA, five innovations, ibm, ibm scientists, incidence of cancer, learning technologies, new era, stolen identity, uganda, unicef, vital information, within five years

IBM Predicts – in Five Years Everything will Learn

ARMONK, N.Y. – 17 Dec 2013: Today IBM unveiled the eighth annual “IBM 5 in 5“ (#ibm5in5) – a list of innovations that have the potential to change the way people work, live and interact during the next five years.

This year’s IBM 5 in 5 explores the idea that everything will learn – driven by a new era of cognitive systems where machines will learn, reason and engage with us in a more natural and personalized way. These innovations are beginning to emerge enabled by cloud computing, big data analytics and learning technologies all coming together, with the appropriate privacy and security considerations, for consumers, citizens, students and patients. (more…)

Holistic Cell Design by Berkeley Lab Scientists Leads to High-Performance, Long Cycle-Life Lithium-Sulfur Battery

By Guest PostDecember 15, 2013Scienceberkeley lab, cairns, eetd, energy, holistic cell design, lithium sulfur battery, long cycle life, min kyu song, specific energy, storage capacity loss, yuegang zhang

Battery could find use in mobile applications, and eventually, electric vehicles with 300-mile range

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have demonstrated in the laboratory a lithium-sulfur (Li/S) battery that has more than twice the specific energy of lithium-ion batteries, and that lasts for more than 1,500 cycles of charge-discharge with minimal decay of the battery’s capacity. This is the longest cycle life reported so far for any lithium-sulfur battery.

Demand for high-performance batteries for electric and hybrid electric vehicles capable of matching the range and power of the combustion engine encourages scientists to develop new battery chemistries that could deliver more power and energy than lithium-ion batteries, currently the best performing battery chemistry in the marketplace. (more…)

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