Category Archives: Science

Energy-momentum Spectroscopy: New Technique Could Improve Optical Devices

By Guest PostMarch 10, 2013Scienceangle, electronic excitations, energy momentum spectroscopy, grapheme, interference, jon schuller, keliang he, kymissis group, layered nanomaterials, leds, light absorbing devices, light emitting, molybdenum disulfide, mos2, new technique, optical devices, organic semiconductor, orientation of light, polarization, ptcda, rainbow colors, rashid zia, sinan karaveli, solar cells, source, theanne schiros, thin films, two dimensional material

Understanding the source and orientation of light in light-emitting thin films — now possible with energy-momentum spectroscopy — could lead to better LEDs, solar cells, and other devices that use layered nanomaterials.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A multi-university research team has used a new spectroscopic method to gain a key insight into how light is emitted from layered nanomaterials and other thin films.

The technique, called energy-momentum spectroscopy, enables researchers to look at the light emerging from a thin film and determine whether it is coming from emitters oriented along the plane of the film or from emitters oriented perpendicular to the film. Knowing the orientations of emitters could help engineers make better use of thin-film materials in optical devices like LEDs or solar cells. (more…)

Reading the Human Genome

By Guest PostMarch 10, 2013Scienceautomated data collection, berkeley lab, biomolecular machinery, biophysicist eva nogales, cellular process, central dogma, cryo electron microscopy, cryo em, DNA, dna promoter complex, dylan taatjes, gene sequence, genetic information, human genome, jie fang, malfunctions, molecular biology, paula flicker, pre initiation complex, rna, rna polymerase, rna transcription, structural data, tata binding protein, tbp, transcription, transcription factors, yuan he

Berkeley Lab Researchers Produce First Step-by-Step Look at Transcription Initiation

Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have achieved a major advance in understanding how genetic information is transcribed from DNA to RNA by providing the first step-by-step look at the biomolecular machinery that reads the human genome.

“We’ve provided a series of snapshots that shows how the genome is read one gene at a time,” says biophysicist Eva Nogales who led this research. “For the genetic code to be transcribed into messenger RNA, the DNA double helix has to be opened and the strand of gene sequences has to be properly positioned so that RNA polymerase, the enzyme that catalyzes transcription, knows where the gene starts. The electron microscopy images we produced show how this is done.” (more…)

Researchers ‘Nanoweld’ by Applying Light to Aligned Nanorods in Solid Materials

By Guest PostMarch 9, 2013Sciencealigned nanoparticles, aligned nanorods, gold nanorods, nanoweld, resilient nanofibers

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a way to melt or “weld” specific portions of polymers by embedding aligned nanoparticles within the materials. Their technique, which melts fibers along a chosen direction within a material, may lead to stronger, more resilient nanofibers and materials. (more…)

Brown Unveils Novel Wireless Brain Sensor

By Guest PostMarch 9, 2013Scienceanimal model, arto nurmikko, brain machine interfaces, brain radio, broadband signals, brown university, computer cursors, copper coil, cortex, data, david borton, decision-making, electrodes, engineer, ghz, Houston, human neuroscience, infrared transmitters, international workshop, john donoghue, lithium-ion battery, mbps, ming yin, motor cortex, neural data transmission, neuroengineers, novel, paralysis control devices, parkinsons disease, real-time, recharging, robotic arms, sealed titanium can, signal processing system, translational motivation, wireless brain sensor, wireless radio, wriston professor

In a significant advance for brain-machine interfaces, engineers at Brown University have developed a novel wireless, broadband, rechargeable, fully implantable brain sensor that has performed well in animal models for more than a year. They describe the result in the Journal of Neural Engineering and at a conference this week.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A team of neuroengineers based at Brown University has developed a fully implantable and rechargeable wireless brain sensor capable of relaying real-time broadband signals from up to 100 neurons in freely moving subjects. Several copies of the novel low-power device, described in the Journal of Neural Engineering, have been performing well in animal models for more than year, a first in the brain-computer interface field. Brain-computer interfaces could help people with severe paralysis control devices with their thoughts. (more…)

How to Thrive in Battery Acid and Among Toxic Metals

By Guest PostMarch 9, 2013Environment, Scienceandreas weber, archaebacteria, bacteria, battery acid, biofuel production, biotechnology, decoded genetic information, dusseldorf, effects of toxins, eukaryote, eukaryotic microorganisms, evolution, extraterrestrial creature, extreme environment, galdieria, galdieria sulphuraria, genes from bacteria, genome of extremophile, gerald schoenknecht, Germany, heinrich heine universitat, horizontal gene transfer, hot springs, martin lercher, matt kane, movie alien, national science foundation, oil producing algae, oklahoma state university, photosynthesis, red alga, thrive, toxic metals, yellowstone national park

Genome of “extremophile” red alga offers insights

In the movie Alien, the title character is an extraterrestrial creature that can survive brutal heat and resist the effects of toxins.

In real life, organisms with similar traits exist, such as the “extremophile” red alga Galdieria sulphuraria.

In hot springs in Yellowstone National Park, Galdieria uses energy from the sun to produce sugars through photosynthesis. (more…)

‘Fat Worms’ Inch Scientists toward Better Biofuel Production

By Guest PostMarch 8, 2013Environment, Scienceanimal feed, arabidopsis thaliana, caterpillar larvae, christoph benning, engineered plant, enhance biofuel production, enhance oil production, fat worms, gavin reid, gene, green algae, gregg howe, john olhrogge, kenneth keegstra, leaf tissue, lipids, michigan state university, nontraditional crops, oily leaves, one celled, plant, plant cell, plants for biofuels, regular leaves, vegetable

Fat worms confirm that researchers from Michigan State University have successfully engineered a plant with oily leaves – a feat that could enhance biofuel production as well as lead to improved animal feeds.

The results, published in the current issue of The Plant Cell, the journal of the American Society of Plant Biologists, show that researchers could use an algae gene involved in oil production to engineer a plant that stores lipids or vegetable oil in its leaves – an uncommon occurrence for most plants. (more…)

A Window into Europa’s Ocean Right at the Surface

By Guest PostMarch 8, 2013Scienceastronomer, california institute, chemical environment, chemical exchange, epsomite, europa, frozen exterior, galileo mission, icy moon, jet propulsion laboratory, johns hopkins university, kevin hand, liquid ocean, magnesium sulfate salt, mike brown, mineral, NASA, osiris spectrometer, oxidation, pasadena, potassium chlorides, salty ocean, sodium chloride, spectroscopic feature, surface of jupiter, Technology, voyager

If you could lick the surface of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, you would actually be sampling a bit of the ocean beneath. A new paper by Mike Brown, an astronomer at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., and Kevin Hand from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, also in Pasadena, details the strongest evidence yet that salty water from the vast liquid ocean beneath Europa’s frozen exterior actually makes its way to the surface.

The finding, based on some of the best data of its kind since NASA’s Galileo mission (1989 to 2003) to study Jupiter and its moons, suggests there is a chemical exchange between the ocean and surface, making the ocean a richer chemical environment. The work is described in a paper that has been accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal. (more…)

Isotope Fingerprints

By Guest PostMarch 8, 2013Sciencealgae blooms, chemical elements, chesapeake bay, conflow, deb jaisi, DNA, ebl, ecological problems, eutrophication, irms, isotope fingerprints, isotope ratio, isotopic composition, mass spectrometer, mid atlantic, non terrestrial, oxygen deficiency, phosphate, phosphate oxygen isotopes, phosphorus, phosphorus backbone, phosphorus fraction, phosphorus rich fertilizer, phosphorus sources, rna, sediments, stable isotope facility, synchronizing unit, university of delaware, usda, water quality

Jaisi laboratory tracks chemicals in water, farmland throughout Mid-Atlantic

University of Delaware researcher Deb Jaisi is using his newly established stable isotope facility in the Environmental Biogeochemistry Laboratory (EBL) to find the fingerprints of isotopes in chemical elements — specifically phosphorus — in order to track sources of nutrients in the environmentally-sensitive Chesapeake Bay, other bodies of water and farmland throughout the Mid-Atlantic.

Jaisi, assistant professor in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, explained that he and his research team are currently working on many projects in the EBL, including two that are funded through seed grants, one focusing on terrestrial phosphorus sources and the other on marine phosphorus sources in the Chesapeake. One of those grants is from the UD Research Foundation (UDRF) and is titled “Role of Non-terrestrial Phosphorus Sources in Eutrophication in the Chesapeake Bay.” (more…)