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Scientists Defuse the Vietnam Time Bomb

By Guest PostNovember 11, 2011Health, Sciencebacterial pathogen, bacterium, burkholderia, burkholderia pseudomallei, cancer, david rice, deadly tropical disease, diseases, drugs, endemic areas, esrf, european synchrotron radiation facility, france, grenoble, hiv and tuberculosis, kevin van cauter, key mechanism, melioidosis, northern australia, pmi2 funding, protein synthesis, rick titball, south east asia, structure of a protein, stuart wilson, therapies to prevent the proliferation of cancer cells, university of exeter, university of sheffield, us military personnel, vietnam time bomb, xrays at diamond light source

A key mechanism by which a bacterial pathogen causes the deadly tropical disease melioidosis has been discovered by an international team, including a University of Exeter scientist.

The findings are published in the journal Science and show how a toxin produced by the bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei kills cells by preventing protein synthesis.

The study, led by the University of Sheffield, paves the way for the development of novel therapies to combat the bacterium which infects millions of people across South East Asia and Northern Australia.

Using intense X-rays at Diamond Light Source, the UK’s national synchrotron facility, and at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France, the research team solved the structure of a protein from Burkholderia, the function of which was initially unknown. (more…)

Breakthrough Scientific Discoveries No Longer Dominated By the Very Young, Study Finds

By Guest PostNovember 11, 2011Scienceage of creativity, aging pattern, breakthrough work, prize winning work, scientific discoveries, youthful achievement

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Scientists under the age of 40 used to make the majority of significant breakthroughs in chemistry, physics and medicine – but that is no longer the case, new research suggests. (more…)

Berkeley Lab Researchers Ink Nanostructures with Tiny ‘Soldering Iron’

By Guest PostNovember 8, 2011Sciencedip pen nanolithography, fabrication technique, nanofabrication techniques, role of temperature

Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have shed light on the role of temperature in controlling a fabrication technique for drawing chemical patterns as small as 20 nanometers. This technique could provide an inexpensive, fast route to growing and patterning a wide variety of materials on surfaces to build electrical circuits and chemical sensors, or study how pharmaceuticals bind to proteins and viruses. (more…)

NASA Captures New Images of Large Asteroid Passing Earth

By Guest PostNovember 8, 2011Science2005 yu55, aircraft carrier sized asteroid, asteroid, asteroid 2005 yu55, deep space network antenna, earth, flyby, goldstone, hazardous to planet, jet propulsion laboratory, moon orbit, NASA, radar images, spaceguard, trajectory of asteroid, venus and mars

PASADENA, Calif. –– NASA’s Deep Space Network antenna in Goldstone, Calif. has captured new radar images of Asteroid 2005 YU55 passing close to Earth.

The asteroid safely will safely fly past our planet slightly closer than the moon’s orbit on Nov. 8. The last time a space rock this large came as close to Earth was in 1976, although astronomers did not know about the flyby at the time. The next known approach of an asteroid this size will be in 2028. (more…)

MSU Professor’s Invention Analyzes Plant Diseases without Leaving the Field

By Guest PostNovember 7, 2011Sciencefield scientists, genetic analysis, plant diseases, plant pathogens

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Farmers and field scientists can now instantly identify diseases attacking crops and plants, thanks to a Michigan State University professor’s new invention. (more…)

UCLA Scientists Design Experimental Treatment for Iron-Overload Diseases

By Guest PostNovember 6, 2011Health, Scienceamino acids, bo qiao, change in iron flow in the body, cooley anemia, damage, effects of hepcidin in mice, elizabeta nemeth, emilio ramos, excess iron in the body, ferroportin, genetic disorders, gloria c preza, heart, hepcidin, hereditary hemochromatosis, hormone, iron overload, iron overload diseases, iron regulating activity, iron regulation, liver, minihepcidins, molecules, organs, piotr ruchala, therapy, tomas ganz, toxic

Iron overload is a common condition affecting millions of people worldwide. Excess iron in the body is toxic, and deposits can cause damage to the liver, heart and other organs. Current treatments, researchers say, are not ideal and have significant side effects.

Iron in the body is regulated by a hormone called hepcidin, and a deficiency in this hormone can cause the iron overload seen in genetic disorders like hereditary hemochromatosis and Cooley’s anemia. (more…)

HIMB Scientists Develop Website to Aid with Climate Change Research

By Guest PostNovember 5, 2011Environment, Nature, Scienceanemones, climate change, coral reef ecosystems, corals, erik franklin, flagellate protozoa, genbank, geographic details of the symbiodinium records, geospatial visualization, geosymbio, geosymbio application, google apps, google sites, hawaii institute of marine biology, himb, hollie putnam, hybrid web application, interactive global map of corals, jellyfish, marine organisms, michael stat, national center for ecological analysis and synthesis, nceas, photosynthetic dinoflagellates, ruth gates, symbiodinium, symbiodinium ecology, symbiotic zooxanthellae, taxonomic description, tim mcclanahan, tropical coral reefs, uh manoa, uni cellular, xavier pochon, zooxanthellae

A team of researchers from UH Mānoa’s Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) has developed an interactive global map of corals and zooxanthellae, commonly known as flagellate protozoa, as part of a hybrid web application titled GeoSymbio. This application provides global-scale biological and ecosystem information on symbiotic zooxanthellae called Symbiodinium, which are uni-cellular, photosynthetic dinoflagellates that live inside the cells of other marine organisms like anemones, jellyfish and corals.

The GeoSymbio application provides the genetic identification and taxonomic description of over 400 distinct Symbiodinium subclades or genetic lineages in invertebrate hosts that have been sampled from a variety of marine habitats, thereby providing a wealth of information for symbiosis researchers in a single online location. By utilizing Google Apps, the team was able to develop this web-based tool to discover, explore, visualize and share data in a rapid, cost-effective and engaging manner. (more…)

Bird Song Yields a New Understanding of Cooperation

By Guest PostNovember 5, 2011Nature, Scienceecuador, eric fortune, humans, johns hopkins university, neuroscientist, site of a volcano, slopes of antisana volcano, tango

*A bird duet springs forth from each bird’s knowledge of the entire song*

The site of a volcano isn’t the first place one might think of to study cooperation. But neuroscientist Eric Fortune of Johns Hopkins University and colleagues went to the slopes of Antisana volcano in Ecuador to study cooperation as it plays out with a very special songbird, the plain-tailed wren. Funded in part by the National Science Foundation, the researchers report their observations in the Nov. 4, 2011, issue of Science.

Rapidly alternating their singing back and forth, female and male wrens cooperate to sing a duet that sounds as if a single bird sang it. The researchers assumed that the brain of each bird would have a memory of its own part of the duet, and also have a memory of the cues from its partner. They were surprised to find that both brains had a record of the complete duet–a performance that neither bird can do by itself. (more…)

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