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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, 2012Scienceancient mars, aqua tint, dark dunes, endeavour crater, giant basin, grand canyon, mars exploration rover, martian crater, martian dust, martian winter, meridiani region, nasa rover, opportunity, pancam, panoramic camera, shadows on mars, spirit, wet environments

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.

The resulting view catches a shadow of the rover in the foreground and the giant basin in the distance. Opportunity is perched on the western rim of Endeavour Crater looking eastward. The crater spans about 14 miles (22 kilometers) in diameter. Opportunity has been studying the edge of Endeavour Crater since arriving there in August 2011. (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…)

It’s in the Genes: Research Pinpoints How Plants Know When to Flower

By Guest PostMay 27, 2012Nature, Scienceandrew millar, arabidopsis, barley, benjamin to, biofuels, biology, circadian clock, factors, fkf1 protein, flowering locus t, flowering plants, know, mathematical model, molecular changes, molecular events, photoreceptor, plant, plants, prediction, protein, robert smith, sandra hines, scientists, sequence, shoot apex, sunlight, takato imaizumi, time keeping mechanism, university of edinburgh, university of washington, uw lab, wheat, when to flower, young hun song

Scientists believe they’ve pinpointed the last crucial piece of the 80-year-old puzzle of how plants “know” when to flower.

Determining the proper time to flower, important if a plant is to reproduce successfully, involves a sequence of molecular events, a plant’s circadian clock and sunlight.

Understanding how flowering works in the simple plant used in this study – Arabidopsis – should lead to a better understanding of how the same genes work in more complex plants grown as crops such as rice, wheat and barley, according to Takato Imaizumi, a University of Washington assistant professor of biology and corresponding author of a paper in the May 25 issue of the journal Science. (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…)

Carbon from Martian Meteorites Not Evidence of Life

By Guest PostMay 25, 2012Sciencecarbon on meteorites, evidence of life, future mars missions, life on mars, martian meteorites, modern martian life

The findings provide insight into the chemical processes taking place on Mars and will help aid future quests for evidence of ancient or modern Martian life.

Carbon in some Martian meteorites came from Mars but not from life on Mars, according to new research from an international team that includes a University of Arizona geoscientist. (more…)

New Silicon Memory Chip Developed

By Guest PostMay 21, 2012Science, Technologyadnan mehonic, brain function, computer processor, energy, flash memory chips, memristors, metal, mobile devices, neurons, oxides, reram, resistive ram, semiconductor, silicon chips, silicon memory chip, silicon oxide, Technology, tony kenyon, usb sticks

The first purely silicon oxide-based ‘Resistive RAM’ memory chip that can operate in ambient conditions– opening up the possibility of new super-fast memory – has been developed by researchers at UCL.

Resistive RAM (or ‘ReRAM’) memory chips are based on materials, most often oxides of metals, whose electrical resistance changes when a voltage is applied – and they “remember” this change even when the power is turned off.

ReRAM chips promise significantly greater memory storage than current technology, such as the Flash memory used on USB sticks, and require much less energy and space. (more…)

Lighting the Way to a Fast, Low-power Optical Transistor

By Guest PostMay 20, 2012Scienceoptical switch, optical transistor, opto electronic approach, quantum dot, quantum dot switch

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — There has been enormous progress in recent years toward the ability to use light beams instead of, or together with, electrons in computers. Now, researchers at the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) — a University of Maryland-based collaboration between UMD and the National Institutes of Standards and Technology — have developed a light-based switch that is a major advance toward the creation of an optical equivalent of the transistor, the centerpiece of most electronic gear. (more…)

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