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Unmanned NASA Storm Sentinels set for Hurricane Study

By Guest PostJune 1, 2012Environment, Scienceairborne mission, alan buis, alberto, atlantic hurricane season, atlantic ocean basin, beryl, end of school, global hawk aircraft, glopac, grip, hamsr, hs3, hurricane study, NASA, near normal hurricane, rob gutro, saharan air layer, scott braun, severe storm sentinels, start of summer, storm sentinels, tony landis, tropical cyclone, tropical storm, tropical storms, unmanned, unmanned aircraft

Ah, June. It marks the end of school, the start of summer…and the official start of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, which got off to an early start in May with the formation of Tropical Storms Alberto and Beryl. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasters are calling for a near-normal hurricane season this year. But whether the season turns out to be wild or wimpy, understanding what makes these ferocious storms form and rapidly intensify is a continuing area of scientific research, and is the focus of the NASA-led Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) airborne mission that kicks off this summer.

Beginning in late August through early October and continuing for the next several years during the Atlantic hurricane season, NASA will dispatch two unmanned aircraft equipped with specialized instruments high above tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean basin. These “severe storm sentinels” will investigate the processes that underlie hurricane formation and intensity change. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., will join several other NASA centers and numerous federal and university partners in the HS3 mission. (more…)

Nanoparticles Seen as Artificial Atoms

By Guest PostJune 1, 2012Scienceartificial atom, berkeley lab, capillary pressure, energy devices, epoxy, growth of crystals, haimei zheng, hong gang liao, iron, likun cui, liquid cell, molecular precursors, nanoparticle, organic solvent, platinum, pt3fe nanorod growth, real time imaging, roy kaltschmidt, solution, stephen whitelam, team, trajectories, transmission electron microscopy

Berkeley Lab Researchers Observations of Nanorod Crystal Growth Points Way to Next Generation Energy Devices

In the growth of crystals, do nanoparticles act as “artificial atoms” forming molecular-type building blocks that can assemble into complex structures? This is the contention of a major but controversial theory to explain nanocrystal growth. A study by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) may resolve the controversy and point the way to energy devices of the future.

Led by Haimei Zheng, a staff scientist in Berkeley Lab’s Materials Sciences Division, the researchers used a combination of transmission electron microscopy and advanced liquid cell handling techniques to carry out real-time observations of the growth of nanorods from nanoparticles of platinum and iron. Their observations support the theory of nanoparticles acting like artificial atoms during crystal growth. (more…)

Engineered Microvessels Provide a 3-D Test Bed for Human Diseases

By Guest PostMay 31, 2012Science3 d test bed, abraham stroock, abundant protein, bioengineering, blood clots, bloodstream, cancer, chemical factor, collagen, cornell university, disease, endothelial cells, honeycomb, human, human blood vessels, human cancer, human cell, jose lopez, mechanical, mice and monkeys, michael craven, model, petri dish, samuel totorica, shear stress, tumor progression, university of washington, ying zheng

Mice and monkeys don’t develop diseases in the same way that humans do. Nevertheless, after medical researchers have studied human cells in a Petri dish, they have little choice but to move on to study mice and primates.

University of Washington bioengineers have developed the first structure to grow small human blood vessels, creating a 3-D test bed that offers a better way to study disease, test drugs and perhaps someday grow human tissues for transplant.

The findings are published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (more…)

The Search for the Earliest Signs of Alzheimer’s

By Guest PostMay 30, 2012Health, Sciencealzheimer's disease, alzheimers, azheimers patient, berkeley lab, beta amyloid, beta amyloid plaque, brain checkup, brain function, c 11 pib, city of berkeley, cognitive decline, computed tomography, ct scanner, dan krotz, destructive protein, earliest signs, functional mri scans, hippocampus atrophy, magnetic resonance imaging, mri scans, PET, pet image, positron emission tomography, radiotracer, william jagust

Berkeley Lab scientists help paint a more complicated picture of the devastating disease

For the past five years, volunteers from the City of Berkeley and surrounding areas have come to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to participate in an ongoing study that’s changing what scientists know about Alzheimer’s disease.

The volunteers, most over the age of 70, undergo what can best be described as a brain checkup. They’re asked to solve puzzles and memorize lists of words. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans image the structure of their brains in exquisite detail. Functional MRI scans allow scientists to watch portions of their brains light up as they form memories. And Positron emission tomography (PET) scans measure any accumulation of beta-amyloid, a destructive protein that’s a hallmark of Alzheimer’s. (more…)

Powerful New Approach to Attack Flu Virus

By Guest PostMay 29, 2012Sciencedna deep sequencing, flu epidemics, flu virus, pandemic viruses, therapeutic proteins

EAST LANSING, Mich. — An international research team has manufactured a new protein that can combat deadly flu epidemics. (more…)

Dark Shadows on Mars: Scene from Durable NASA Rover

By Guest PostMay 28, 2012Sciencemars rover, martian crater, martian dust, martian winter, shadows on mars

Like a tourist waiting for just the right lighting to snap a favorite shot during a stay at the Grand Canyon, NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has used a low sun angle for a memorable view of a large Martian crater. (more…)

The Search for Dark Matter Goes Deeper Underground

By Guest PostMay 28, 2012Scienceblack hills, cherenkov radiation, dark matter, gravitational effects, liquid xenon, neutrino collisions, titanium tank, underground xenon detector

With LUX ZEPLIN Berkeley Lab researchers seek to increase the sensitivity of LUX, the most sensitive search for dark matter yet, by orders of magnitude

Although it’s invisible, dark matter accounts for at least 80 percent of the matter in the universe. No one knows what it is, but most scientists would bet on weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs. (more…)

Physical Properties Predict Stem Cell Outcome

By Guest PostMay 26, 2012Scienceatomic force microscope, bone, bone tissue, brown university, cartilage, eric darling, mesenchymal stem cells, rafael gonzaelz cruz, stiffness, tissue engineer, vera fonseca, viscosity

Tissue engineers can use mesenchymal stem cells derived from fat to make cartilage, bone, or more fat. The best cells to use are ones that are already likely to become the desired tissue. Brown University researchers have discovered that the mechanical properties of the stem cells can foretell what they will become, leading to a potential method of concentrating them for use in healing.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — To become better healers, tissue engineers need a timely and reliable way to obtain enough raw materials: cells that either already are or can become the tissue they need to build. In a new study, Brown University biomedical engineers show that the stiffness, viscosity, and other mechanical properties of adult stem cells derived from fat, such as liposuction waste, can predict whether they will turn into bone, cartilage, or fat.

That insight could lead to a filter capable of extracting the needed cells from a larger and more diverse tissue sample, said Eric Darling, senior author of the paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Imagine a surgeon using such a filter to first extract fat from a patient with a bone injury and then to inject a high concentration of bone-making stem cells into the wound site during the same operation. (more…)

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