Category Archives: Science

Aztec Conquest Altered Genetics among Early Mexico Inhabitants, New DNA Study Shows

By Guest PostFebruary 3, 2013Science1395 ad, adna, alter, ancient dna, anthropological research, archeological dig, austin, aztec conquest, aztec empire, aztec imperialism, capital, case of xaltocan, colonization, dna study, early mexico inhabitants, exodus, genetic evidence, genetic impact, genetic shift, genetic transition, genetics, historical events, imperial conquest, jaime mata míguez, lisa overholtzer, mesoamerican populations, mexican city state, migration, mitochondrial adna, otomi inhabitants, otomi people, otomi population, otomi skull, post conquest era, pre aztec, university of texas, washington state university, wichita state university, xaltocan, xaltocan dig site, xaltocan households

AUSTIN, Texas — For centuries, the fate of the original Otomí inhabitants of Xaltocan, the capital of a pre-Aztec Mexican city-state, has remained unknown. Researchers have long wondered whether they assimilated with the Aztecs or abandoned the town altogether.

According to new anthropological research from The University of Texas at Austin, Wichita State University and Washington State University, the answers may lie in DNA. Following this line of evidence, the researchers theorize that some original Otomies, possibly elite rulers, may have fled the town. Their exodus may have led to the reorganization of the original residents within Xaltocan, or to the influx of new residents, who may have intermarried with the Otomí population. (more…)

Right Target, but Missing the Bulls-Eye for Alzheimer’s

By Guest PostFebruary 3, 2013Health, Scienceabeta, abeta40, abeta42, abeta42 protein, aleksey lomakin, alzheimer's disease, america, amino acids, amyloid beta, atul deshpande, brain, bulls eye, causes of death, chemical synthesis, computer simulations, david teplow, destroy neurons, disorder, george b benedek, gregory cole, hairpin like structure, late life dementia, mingfeng yang, molecular biology, mutant abeta peptides, pearl necklace, plaques, protein, robin roychaudhuri, sally frautschy, sequence, toxic actions, toxic form, ucla

UCLA researchers discover new point of attack for drug therapy

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of late-life dementia. The disorder is thought to be caused by a protein known as amyloid-beta, or Abeta, which clumps together in the brain, forming plaques that are thought to destroy neurons. This destruction starts early, too, and can presage clinical signs of the disease by up to 20 years.

For decades now, researchers have been trying, with limited success, to develop drugs that prevent this clumping. Such drugs require a “target” — a structure they can bind to, thereby preventing the toxic actions of Abeta. (more…)

Secret of Scent Lies in Molecular Vibrations

By Guest PostFebruary 2, 2013General, Sciencealexander fleming, athens, atom, bonds, british chemist, bsrc, chemists, cyclopentadecanone, deuterium odorants, electron cloud, Greece, hydrogen atom, hydrogen musk molecules, inelastic electron tunnelling, lcn, luca turin, malcolm dyson, mass, molecular shape, molecular vibrations, nano scale changes, quantum mechanism, secret of scent, simon gane, spectroscope, ucl scientists, vibration of molecule

Molecular vibrations, rather than molecular shape, give substances their distinct smell according to a new study by UCL scientists.

In a study designed to find out how smell is written into a molecule’s structure, scientists tested whether changing how a molecule vibrates on a nano-scale changes its smell.

Molecules are made of atoms connected by bonds. The arrangement of bonds and atoms defines the vibration of the molecule. Chemists can therefore identify molecules by their vibrations, using a spectroscope. (more…)

Flies of the World Embrace Vegetarianism

By Guest PostFebruary 2, 2013Nature, Scienceagricultural pests, animal kingdom, australia, bracken ferns, brassicas, canolas, change of lifestyle, convergent phenotypes, cyanogenic compounds, detoxify the plants, earth, evolutionary biologists, Facebook, family drosophilidae, fly detectives, genetic changes, genetic pathways, genome biology evolution, good model organisms, hawaii, hawaiian lineage, herbivores, herbivorous fly species, insects, levels of alcohol, microbe eating flies, mt lemmon, mustard plants, new zealand, noah whiteman, North America, north american flies, organisms, papua new guinea, richard lapoint, scaptomyza nigrita, South Pacific, toxic plants, united kingdom, university of arizona, vegetarianism

Microbe-eating flies from at least three different locations around the world recently have evolved into herbivores, feeding on some of the most toxic plants on Earth. Fly detectives and UA evolutionary biologists Noah Whiteman and Richard Lapoint are trying to find out what genetic pathways led the flies to such a major change of lifestyle.

For millennia, they buzzed through the woods, contentedly munching yeasts off the surfaces of leaves, bracken and rotting duff on the forest floor. But now, flies in the family Drosophilidae, whose disparate members dwell in areas all across the planet, have evolved into all-out vegetarians with a wicked diet of plants that are deadly to most other organisms.

What, University of Arizona scientists would like to know, has caused these flies, yeast-feeders for nearly 80 million years, to independently go cold turkey with respect to their formerly meaty diets? (more…)

Ridges on Mars Suggest Ancient Flowing Water

By Guest PostFebruary 2, 2013Scienceactive hydrology, ancient martian subsurface, applied physics lab, biosphere, brown university, craters on mars, curiosity rover, flowing water, fluid flow, fossils of cracks, fracture conduits, gale crater, habitable environment, hydrothermal fluid, hypothesis, jack mustard, johns hopkins university, landing site, lee saper, mars reconnaissance orbiter, martian surface, mineral hardened material, minerals, NASA, nili fossae, nilosyrtis, orientation data, planetary exploration, regional scale volcanism, ridges, subsurface hydrology, surrounding rocks

Ridges in impact craters on Mars appear to be fossils of cracks in the Martian surface, formed by minerals deposited by flowing water. Water flowing beneath the surface suggests life may once have been possible on Mars.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Networks of narrow ridges found in impact craters on Mars appear to be the fossilized remnants of underground cracks through which water once flowed, according to a new analysis by researchers from Brown University.

The study, in press in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, bolsters the idea that the subsurface environment on Mars once had an active hydrology and could be a good place to search for evidence of past life. The research was conducted by Lee Saper, a recent Brown graduate, with Jack Mustard, professor of geological sciences. (more…)

Motion Control Keeps Electric Car’s Four Wheels—and Four Motors—on the Road

By Guest PostFebruary 2, 2013Science, Technologybrake, built in, central computer, city car, columbus metro school, east liberty, electric car, electric motor, electrical cable, experimental car, fishtailing, fiwa, freedom of movement, future vehicle architectures, gas pedal, junmin wang, lithium-ion battery, motion control system, ohio state university, rongrong wang, sports car, steering wheel, stem, traction

COLUMBUS, Ohio — It weighs half as much as a sports car, and turns on a dime—so its no surprise that the electric car being developed at Ohio State University needs an exceptional traction and motion control system to keep it on the road.

With four wheels that turn independently, each with its own built-in electric motor and set of batteries, the experimental car is the only one of its kind outside of commercial carmakers’ laboratories. (more…)

Organic Ferroelectric Molecule Shows Promise for Memory Chips, Sensors

By Guest PostFebruary 1, 2013Sciencebarium titanate, brittle materials, carbon based material, China, da wei fu, digital information, diisopropylammonium bromide, electrical field, energy storage, ferroelectric, future of hardware, gianluca giovannetti, hard, heart of computing, inorganic crystals, jiangyu li, low cost, massimo capone, memory, natural polarization, natural vibrations, negatively charged, nontoxic organic molecules, organic alternative, piezoelectric, positively charged, ren gen xiong, room temperature, seattle, sensing, silicon based semiconductors, southeast university, store energy, synthetic ferroelectrics, tiny crystals, titanium, toxicity, university of washington, yuanming liu

At the heart of computing are tiny crystals that transmit and store digital information’s ones and zeroes. Today these are hard and brittle materials. But cheap, flexible, nontoxic organic molecules may play a role in the future of hardware.

A team led by the University of Washington in Seattle and the Southeast University in China discovered a molecule that shows promise as an organic alternative to today’s silicon-based semiconductors. The findings, published this week in the journal Science, display properties that make it well suited to a wide range of applications in memory, sensing and low-cost energy storage. (more…)

Reconcilable Differences: Study Uncovers the Common Ground of Scientific Opposites

By Guest PostFebruary 1, 2013Science20th century, activity, austrian physicist, chaotic motion, classical, common ground, denys bondar, english scientist, experimental data, herschel rabitz, imperial college London, isaac newton, laws of motion, mathematical framework, mathematical model, microscopic particles, misha ivanov, novel theories, observed data, odds physics equations, operational dynamic modeling, paul ehrenfest, princeton model, princeton university, quantum elements, quantum mechanics, reconcilable differences, renan cabrera, robert gilmore, scientific laws, scientific opposites, shakespearean sounding crossroads, study, theoretical roof, theories, ukraine, uzhgorod national university

Searching for common elements in seemingly incompatible scientific theories may lead to the discovery of new ones that revolutionize our understanding of the world.

Such is the idea behind a mathematical framework Princeton University researchers developed that strips away the differences between scientific laws and theories to reveal how the ideas are compatible. In a recent report in the journal Physical Review Letters, the authors explain how the mathematical model finds common ground between the famously at-odds physics equations that govern classical and quantum mechanics. (more…)