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Manufacturing Goes Viral

By Guest PostOctober 22, 2011Sciencealzheimer, amyloid aggregation in our brain tissues, bacteria hunting virus, berkeley laboratory, bioengineering laboratories, biological helical nanofiber structures, biological tissues in nature, biomimetic, chiral materials, chiral strands, coax viruses, collagens for animals and celluloses for plants, corneas, e coli, Environment, environmental variables, escherichia coli, filamentous viruses, helical ribbons, hierarchical level of complexity, induce polarization, joseph akkara, m13, m13 phages, macroscale structures, national science foundation, Nature, periodic changes in cell activity, physical environment, ramen noodle like, range of the spectrum, seung wuk lee, skin, skin tissue, structural building blocks for materials, substrate, supramolecular structures, synthetics with microstructures, teeth, tissue regeneration and repair, university of california at berkeley, wavelengths, wavy, woo jae chung, zina deretsky

*Researchers coax viruses to assemble into synthetics with microstructures and properties akin to those of corneas, teeth and skin*

Using a simple, single-step process, engineers and scientists at the University of California at Berkeley recently developed a technique to direct benign, filamentous viruses called M13 phages to serve as structural building blocks for materials with a wide range of properties.

By controlling the physical environment alone, the researchers caused the viruses to self-assemble into hierarchically organized thin-film structures, with complexity that ranged from simple ridges, to wavy, chiral strands, to truly sophisticated patterns of overlapping strings of material–results that may also shed light on the self-assembly of biological tissues in nature. (more…)

I vs. We: Individuals Perform Better When Focused on Team

By Guest PostOctober 22, 2011Science, Sportsanxiety, business to academia, deborah feltz, department of kinesiology, i to we, individuals, michigan state university, motivational tactics, positive team outcomes, self talk, veronica son

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Individuals perform better and are more confident when they practice motivational tactics focused not on them but on the team they belong to, according to a recently published study by Michigan State University researchers.

The findings, published in the Journal of Sports Sciences and led by Veronica Son and Deborah Feltz of the Department of Kinesiology, reveal that simply changing “I” to “we” in self-talk motivational statements has a significant impact on an individual’s – and thus a group’s – performance. (more…)

Geologist Finds Fiery Volcano Offers Glimpse into Land That Time Forgot

By Guest PostOctober 22, 2011Science2009 expedition, birth of a subduction zone, boninite, carbon dioxide, chemical and mineralogical variations in a pristine specimen, david and lucile packard foundation, deep sea volcano, exploding rock and molten lava, fiji, gaseous water, geological and geochemical cycles, geologist, global geochemical cycles, glowing magma, joseph resing, kenneth rubin, lau basin, lava, noaa, nsf, oceanographer, relic volcanos, robert embley, samoa, southwest pacific ocean, submarine volcanic activity, sulfur dioxide, tectonic plate, tonga, university of hawaii at manoa, university of washington, west mata volcano

University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa geologist Kenneth Rubin is among the first scientists to witness exploding rock and molten lava from a deep sea volcano, seen during a 2009 expedition. He is co-author of a paper reporting that the eruption was near a tear in the Earth’s crust that is mimicking the birth of a subduction zone.

Scientists on the expedition collected boninite, a rare, chemically distinct lava that accompanies the formation of Earth’s subduction zones. (more…)

West Nile Virus Transmission Linked with Land-Use Patterns and “Super-spreaders”

By Guest PostOctober 22, 2011Scienceagricultural fields, american robin, atlantic in an airplane, bird hosts, disease causing organisms, ecology of infectious diseases, Environment, house sparrows, human activities, human infections, key species, knowledge, land use, marm kilpatrick, mosquito borne, mosquito vectors, national science foundation, new york, north and south america, nsf, robins, sam scheiner, santa cruz, tick borne viruses, transmission rates, united states, university of california, west nile virus

*Spread highest in urbanized and agricultural habitats*

After its initial appearance in New York in 1999, West Nile virus spread across the United States in just a few years and is now well established throughout North and South America.

Both the mosquitoes that transmit it and the birds that are important hosts for the virus are abundant in areas that have been modified by human activities.

As a result, transmission of West Nile virus is highest in urbanized and agricultural habitats. (more…)

Herschel Finds Oceans of Water in Disk of Nearby Star

By Guest PostOctober 22, 2011Scienceastronomers, cold water vapor, constellation hydra, european space agency, herschel space observatory, heterodyne instrument for the far-infrared, hifi, icy comets, jet propulsion laboratory, leiden observatory, michiel hogerheijde, NASA, paul goldsmith, planets like earth, the netherlands, tw hydrae, universe, waterlogged disk, young star

PASADENA, Calif. — Using data from the Herschel Space Observatory, astronomers have detected for the first time cold water vapor enveloping a dusty disk around a young star. The findings suggest that this disk, which is poised to develop into a solar system, contains great quantities of water, suggesting that water-covered planets like Earth may be common in the universe. Herschel is a European Space Agency mission with important NASA contributions.

Scientists previously found warm water vapor in planet-forming disks close to a central star. Evidence for vast quantities of water extending out into the cooler, far reaches of disks where comets take shape had not been seen until now. The more water available in disks for icy comets to form, the greater the chances that large amounts eventually will reach new planets through impacts. (more…)

Relationships More Important than Genetic Ties When Deciding Who Cares for Aging Family Members, MU Researchers Say

By Guest PostOctober 22, 2011Scienceamerica, americans, divorce and remarriage, elderly population, genetic ties, hypothetical caregiving scenarios, Japan, kyoto, lawrence ganong, marilyn coleman, pew research report, university of missouri

*Divorce and remarriage affect beliefs about who should care for elder relatives*

COLUMBIA, Mo. – America’s elderly population will nearly double by 2050, according to a Pew Research report. As baby boomers enter retirement, concern exists as to who will care for them as they age. Traditionally, children have accepted the caregiving responsibilities, but those caregiving roles are becoming blurred as more families are affected by divorce and remarriage than in previous decades. Now, University of Missouri researchers have found that relationship quality trumps genetic ties when determining caregiving obligations.

Lawrence Ganong, a professor and co-chair in the MU Department of Human Development and Family Studies in the College of Human Environmental Sciences (HES), studied how divorce and remarriage affect beliefs about who should care for aging relatives. He found that relationship quality, a history of mutual help, and resource availability influence decisions about who cares for parents and stepparents. (more…)

Researchers Do Precise Gene Therapy Without A Needle

By Guest PostOctober 21, 2011Health, Scienceandrew morss, anti cancer gene, billionth of a meter, brian henslee, cell, early cancer detection and treatment, electrical pulses, fluorescent molecules, gene therapy, genetic pathways, gold coated dna strands, human cells, l james lee, leukemia cells, lung cancer, nanochannel electroporation, nanometer, nanometer sized channels, needle, nep, ohio state university, polymer stamps, polymeric device, pouyan boukany, reservoir of therapeutic agent, scale channel, therapeutic biomolecules, tumors, wei ching liao

COLUMBUS, Ohio – For the first time, researchers have found a way to inject a precise dose of a gene therapy agent directly into a single living cell without a needle.

The technique uses electricity to “shoot” bits of therapeutic biomolecules through a tiny channel and into a cell in a fraction of a second.

L. James Lee and his colleagues at Ohio State University describe the technique in the online edition of the journal Nature Nanotechnology, where they report successfully inserting specific doses of an anti-cancer gene into individual leukemia cells to kill them. (more…)

Diamonds, Silver and the Quest for Single Photons

By Guest PostOctober 21, 2011Scienceatomic impurities, atomic scale, crystal lattice, diamond microchips, nitrogen vacancy, quantum computing

Tiny crystal towers enlighten understanding of photon emission, could inspire diamond microchips for quantum computing

Building on earlier work, scientists and engineers recently developed a manufacturing process that allows them to craft an assortment of miniature, silver-plated-diamond posts that enable greater control of light producing photons at the atomic scale. The research could prove important for future generations of quantum computers. (more…)

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