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Bees ‘Self-Medicate’ When Infected With Some Pathogens

By Guest PostApril 1, 2012Scienceantibacterial, antifungal, antifungal agent, fungal species, fungal spores, honey bees, marla spivak, michael simone finstrom, natural defense, pathogen, plant resin, propolis, rate of infection, self-medicate

Research from North Carolina State University shows that honey bees “self-medicate” when their colony is infected with a harmful fungus, bringing in increased amounts of antifungal plant resins to ward off the pathogen.

“The colony is willing to expend the energy and effort of its worker bees to collect these resins,” says Dr. Michael Simone-Finstrom, a postdoctoral research scholar in NC State’s Department of Entomology and lead author of a paper describing the research. “So, clearly this behavior has evolved because the benefit to the colony exceeds the cost.” (more…)

A Shiny New Tool for Imaging Biomolecules

By Guest PostApril 1, 2012Scienceartificial membranes, cellular communication, cellular signaling networks, gold nanoantennas

Berkeley Lab Researchers Embed Artificial Membranes with Billions of Nanoantennas for Enhanced Optical Studies

At the heart of the immune system that protects our bodies from disease and foreign invaders is a vast and complex communications network involving millions of cells, sending and receiving chemical signals that can mean life or death. At the heart of this vast cellular signaling network are interactions between billions of proteins and other biomolecules. These interactions, in turn, are greatly influenced by the spatial patterning of signaling and receptor molecules. The ability to observe signaling spatial patterns in the immune and other cellular systems as they evolve, and to study the impact on molecular interactions and, ultimately, cellular communication, would be a critical tool in the fight against immunological and other disorders that lead to a broad range of health problems including cancer. Such a tool is now at hand. (more…)

Evolving to Fight Epidemics: Weakness Can Be an Advantage

By Guest PostMarch 31, 2012Scienceecological factors, evolutionary response, infection resistance, parasite epidemic, reproduction, small epidemics

Less resistance can sometimes be better than more–at least in a freshwater lake

When battling a deadly parasite epidemic, less resistance can sometimes be better than more, a new study suggests.

A freshwater zooplankton species known as Daphnia dentifera endures periodic epidemics of a virulent yeast parasite that can infect more than 60 percent of the Daphnia population. (more…)

Microprocessors From Pencil Lead

By Guest PostMarch 31, 2012Sciencemicroprocessor, pencil lead, relativistic quantum effects, semiconductors, sheets of graphite

UA physicists are making discoveries that may advance electronic circuit technology

Graphite, more commonly known as pencil lead, could become the next big thing in the quest for smaller and less power-hungry electronics. (more…)

A New Tool to Reveal Structure of Proteins

By Guest PostMarch 31, 2012Scienceatoms in proteins, healthy cells, paramagnetic tags, protein molecules, structure of proteins

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new method to reveal the structure of proteins could help researchers understand biological molecules – both those involved in causing disease and those performing critical functions in healthy cells. (more…)

Titanium Paternity Test Fingers Earth as Moon’s Sole Parent

By Guest PostMarch 30, 2012Sciencechemical analysis, isotopic signatures, lunar material, lunar samples, titanium from theia, titanium isotopes

A new chemical analysis of lunar material collected by Apollo astronauts in the 1970s conflicts with the widely held theory that a giant collision between Earth and a Mars-sized object gave birth to the moon 4.5 billion years ago. (more…)

Burtele Foot Indicates Lucy Not Alone

By Guest PostMarch 30, 2012Scienceafar region, africa, alan deino, australopithecus afarensis, beverly z saylor, bones, bruce m latimer, burtele foot, early hominins, eastern africa, ethiopia, evolutionary history, famous fossil, fossil, geologic time, kenyan version, kenyanthropus platyops, late pliocene, lucy, middle awash valley, miocene apes, modern humans, mulugeta alene, naomi e levin, tim white, woranso mille, yohannes haile selassie

*Discovery of partial foot skeleton could mean hominin species lived side by side*

A new fossil discovery from Eastern Africa called the Burtele foot indicates Australopithecus afarensis, an early relative of modern humans, may not have been the only hominin to walk the plains and woodlands of what is now the Afar region of Ethiopia some 3.4 million years ago.

Researchers openly have questioned whether Au. afarensis, the species to which the famous fossil “Lucy” belongs, was the only living hominin during the late Pliocene of Africa. Lucy’s bones provided evidence that she and perhaps other early hominins may have walked upright, but whether or not she was the sole hominin species in her particular geologic time scale has been the subject of much debate. (more…)

Researchers Develop Graphene Supercapacitor Holding Promise for Portable Electronics

By Guest PostMarch 30, 2012Sciencecycle stability, ecs, electrochemical capacitors, electrodes, fabrication process, graphite oxide, graphitic carbon, jennifer marcus, laser scribed graphene, lightscribe dvd, liquid electrolyte, lsg, optical drive, richard b kaner, supercapacitors, surface area, ultracapacitors

Electrochemical capacitors (ECs), also known as supercapacitors or ultracapacitors, differ from regular capacitors that you would find in your TV or computer in that they store substantially higher amounts of charges. They have garnered attention as energy storage devices as they charge and discharge faster than batteries, yet they are still limited by low energy densities, only a fraction of the energy density of batteries. An EC that combines the power performance of capacitors with the high energy density of batteries would represent a significant advance in energy storage technology. This requires new electrodes that not only maintain high conductivity but also provide higher and more accessible surface area than conventional ECs that use activated carbon electrodes.

Now researchers at UCLA have used a standard LightScribe DVD optical drive to produce such electrodes. The electrodes are composed of an expanded network of graphene — a one-atom-thick layer of graphitic carbon — that shows excellent mechanical and electrical properties as well as exceptionally high surface area. (more…)

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