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Berkeley Lab Scientists Develop New Tool for the Study of Spatial Patterns in Living Cells

By Guest PostNovember 2, 2011Scienceartificial membranes, berkeley lab, biology is a game of nanometers, breast cancer cells, cancer and the immune system, cancer metastasis, cellular molecules, chemical signals, chemist, fluid bilayer of lipid molecules, football, game of inches, geoff o donoghue, gold nanoparticles, golden membranes, hhmi, howard hughes medical institute, impact of spatial patterns on living cells, jay groves, lawrence berkeley national laboratory, mda mb 231, michael coyle, nanoparticles, natural lipid bilayer membranes, qian xu, sara triffo, spacing of proteins, substrate of solid silica, t cell immunology, theobald lohmuller

*Golden Membranes Pave the Way for a Better Understanding of Cancer and the Immune System*

Football has often been called “a game of inches,” but biology is a game of nanometers, where spatial differences of only a few nanometers can determine the fate of a cell – whether it lives or dies, remains normal or turns cancerous. Scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed a new and better way to study the impact of spatial patterns on living cells.

Berkeley Lab chemist Jay Groves led a study in which artificial membranes made up of a fluid bilayer of lipid molecules were embedded with fixed arrays of gold nanoparticles to control the spacing of proteins and other cellular molecules placed on the membranes. This provided the researchers with an unprecedented opportunity to study how the spatial patterns of chemical and physical properties on membrane surfaces influence the behavior of cells. (more…)

NSF Announces Major Awards for Biodiversity Research, WHOI Scientists Selected

By Guest PostNovember 1, 2011Sciencealvin, bigelow laboratory for ocean sciences, biogeochemical cycling of carbon, biogeochemistry, biologist, bosun patrick hennessy, catie craver, chemist, chemosynthesis, China, crab spa, craig taylor, deep sea hydrothermal vent, deep sea vent microbial communities, dimensions in biodiversity research, east pacific rise, ecosystems, france, Germany, hydrothermal vents, jeff seewald, mclane research laboratories, microbial interaction, microbiology, nadine le bris, national science foundation, nitrogen, photosynthesis, ramunas stepanauskas, rv atlantis, scientist, seaman kevin threadgold, stefan sievert, sulfur, woods hole oceanographic institution

The 1977 discovery of deep-sea hydrothermal vent ecosystems that obtain energy through chemosynthesis rather than photosynthesis greatly expanded the perception of life on Earth. However, an understanding of their underlying microbiology and biogeochemistry still remains elusive.

A newly funded project, one of several major awards announced by the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Dimensions in Biodiversity research program, stands to change that through a multi-disciplinary, international collaborative research effort led by Associate Scientist Stefan Sievert of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. (more…)

Babies Understand Thought Process of Others at Ten Months Old, MU Research Finds

By Guest PostNovember 1, 2011Sciencebabies, common psychological test, false belief, how communication develops, how humans acquire knowledge, infants, key factor in successful communication, thought process, truth, university of missouri, yuyan luo

COLUMBIA, Mo. – New research from the University of Missouri indicates that at 10 months, babies start to understand another person’s thought process, providing new insights on how humans acquire knowledge and how communication develops.

“Understanding other people is a key factor in successful communication, and humans start to understand this at a very young age,” said Yuyan Luo, associate professor of developmental psychology in the MU College of Arts and Science. “Our study indicates that infants, even before they can verbally communicate, can understand the thought processes of other people – even if the thoughts diverge from what the infants know as truth, a term psychologists call false belief.” (more…)

Scientists, Public Team Up to Discover Biodiversity

By Guest PostOctober 30, 2011Sciencebiodiversity, biodiversity collections, desert plants, natural world, sonoran desert

During the 2011 BioBlitz at Saguaro National Park Oct. 21-22, school children and volunteers teamed up with experts to embark on a 24-hour race to discover and tally as many of the park’s living creatures as possible in an effort to better understand the ecology and biodiversity of the Sonoran Desert.

Under an afternoon sun that is beating down much too relentlessly for this time of year, our group of eleven is scrambling up a hillside in Saguaro National Park just west of Tucson. (more…)

Long-term Survey Reveals Gen Xers Are Active, Balanced and Happy

By Guest PostOctober 30, 2011Scienceadults, american youth, gen xers, generation x, generation x report, longitudinal study

Surprisingly, people born between 1961 and 1981 are not isolated socially

Despite being stereotyped as a bunch of insecure underachievers, most members of Generation X lead active, balanced and happy lives, according to a long-term University of Michigan survey. (more…)

Researchers Use New Approach to Overcome Key Hurdle for Next-Generation Superconductors

By Guest PostOctober 30, 2011Sciencecomputational approach, electricity, energy storage, high efficiency wind turbines, justin schwartz, key obstacles, materials genome initiative, medical mri technology, next generation superconductor material, next generation ybco superconductors, north carolina state university, quench, specific design applications, superconductive materials, superconductor, wan kan chan, White House, ybco, ybco conductors, yttrium barium copper oxide

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new computational approach to improve the utility of superconductive materials for specific design applications – and have used the approach to solve a key research obstacle for the next-generation superconductor material yttrium barium copper oxide (YBCO).

A superconductor is a material that can carry electricity without any loss – none of the energy is dissipated as heat, for example. Superconductive materials are currently used in medical MRI technology, and are expected to play a prominent role in emerging power technologies, such as energy storage or high-efficiency wind turbines. (more…)

CU-Boulder Python Study May Have Implications for Human Heart Health

By Guest PostOctober 29, 2011Health, Sciencebeneficial growth of heart cells, blood of burmese pythons, blood plasma, bloodstreams, brooke harrison, cardiac health, cardio protective enzyme, cecilia riquelme, cyclist, fatty acids, fed python blood plasma, genetic heart diseases, healthy heart growth, heart disease conditions in humans, hiberna corp, human heart disease, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, jason magida, key enzyme, lance armstrong, leslie leinwand, main constituent of natural fats and oils, metabolism, michael phelps, mini pumps, olympic swimmer, plasma, pythons, sudden death in young athletes, tom cech, triglycerides, university of colorado boulder

A surprising new University of Colorado Boulder study shows that huge amounts of fatty acids circulating in the bloodstreams of feeding pythons promote healthy heart growth, results that may have implications for treating human heart disease.

CU-Boulder Professor Leslie Leinwand and her research team found the amount of triglycerides — the main constituent of natural fats and oils — in the blood of Burmese pythons one day after eating increased by more than fiftyfold. Despite the massive amount of fatty acids in the python bloodstream there was no evidence of fat deposition in the heart, and the researchers also saw an increase in the activity of a key enzyme known to protect the heart from damage. (more…)

Fighting Violent Gang Crime with Math

By Guest PostOctober 28, 2011Culture, Scienceactivity on social networks, alexey stomakhin, algorithm, andrea bertozzi, anthropology, applied mathematics, crime patterns, crime patterns of the hollenbeck gang network, criminal activity between gangs, east los angeles police district, gang crimes, hollenbeck, jeffrey brantingham, lapd, los angeles police department, martin short, mathematical algorithm, missing information, police, set of simulated data, sophisticated methods, street gangs, the best job in the world, ucla mathematicians, victim or perpetrator, violent crimes

UCLA mathematicians working with the Los Angeles Police Department to analyze crime patterns have designed a mathematical algorithm to identify street gangs involved in unsolved violent crimes. Their research is based on patterns of known criminal activity between gangs, and represents the first scholarly study of gang violence of its kind.

The research appears today on the website of the peer-reviewed mathematical journal Inverse Problems and will be published in a future print edition. (more…)

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