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‘Study Reveals Why Brain Has Limited Capacity for Repair After Stroke’

By Guest PostNovember 4, 2010Health, Scienceadult disability, brain, brain cells, brain repair, chemical system, neurological recovery, phasic inhibition, recovery, stroke, stroke damage, tom carmichael, tonic inhibition

Stroke is the leading cause of adult disability, due to the brain’s limited capacity for recovery. Physical rehabilitation is the only current treatment following a stroke, and there are no medications available to help promote neurological recovery.

Now, a new UCLA study published Nov. 3 in the journal Nature offers insights into a major limitation in the brain’s ability to recover function after a stroke and identifies a promising medical therapy to help overcome this limitation.

Researchers interested in how the brain repairs itself already know that when the brain suffers a stroke, it becomes excitable, firing off an excessive amount of brain cells, which die off. The UCLA researchers found that a rise in a chemical system known as “tonic inhibition” immediately after a stroke causes a reduction in this level of excitability. (more…)

The Emergence of Holographic Video

By Guest PostNovember 3, 20101 commentScienceholographic system, holographic telepresence, holographic video, holographic videoconferencing, photorefractive polymer

Experimental networked display refreshes holograms every two seconds

Researchers at the University of Arizona (UA), Tucson, have developed a holographic system that can transmit a series of 3D images in near-real-time, a precursor to holographic videoconferencing. (more…)

Nuclear Materials Detector Shows Exact Location of Radiation Sources

By Guest PostNovember 3, 2010Science18 cubes, cadmium zinc telluride, conventional detectors, gamma ray detector, gamma rays, high energy photons, nuclear engineering, nuclear materials, nuclear weapons, particles of light, polaris, radiation, radiation source, semiconductor, university of michigan, zhong he

The new Polaris gamma ray detector can pinpoint the location of special nuclear materials, such as those used for dirty bombs or nuclear weapons. Image credit: Zhong He

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— A table-top gamma-ray detector created at the University of Michigan can not only identify the presence of dangerous nuclear materials, but can pinpoint and show their exact location and type, unlike conventional detectors.

“Other gamma ray detectors can tell you perhaps that nuclear materials are near a building, but with our detector, you can know the materials are in room A, or room B, for example,” said Zhong He, an associate professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences.

“This is the first instrument for this purpose that can give you a real-time image of the radiation source. Not only can we tell you what material is there, but we can tell you where it is, and you can find it and walk towards it.” (more…)

Spacecraft will Enable Scientists to Study Space Environment around Moon, Earth

By Guest PostNovember 2, 20102 commentsSciencelunar environment, moon environment, space environment

Two spacecraft are now beginning to study the moon’s environment as part of NASA’s ARTEMIS mission, whose principal investigator is Vassilis Angelopoulos, a UCLA professor of Earth and space sciences. (more…)

New Evidence Supports Snowball Earth as Trigger for Early Animal Evolution

By Guest PostNovember 2, 20101 commentSciencebiogeochemists, enriqueta barrera, glacial events, glaciations, mid-neoproterozoic, noah planavsky, oceans, phosphorus, snowball earth, snowball earth hypothesis, tim lyons

Geologist Noah Plavansky examines rocks deposited after a "Snowball Earth" glacial event. Image credit: Lyons Lab, UC-Riverside

*Spike in ancient marine phosphorus concentrations linked to emergence of complex life*

Biogeochemists have found new evidence linking “Snowball Earth” glacial events to the rise of early animals. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Study results appear in this week’s issue of the journal Nature.

The controversial Snowball Earth hypothesis posits that, on several occasions, the Earth was covered from pole to pole by a thick sheet of ice lasting for millions of years.

These glaciations, the most severe in Earth history, occurred from 750 to 580 million years ago. (more…)

Breakthrough: Scientists Harness the Power of Electricity in the Brain

By Guest PostNovember 1, 2010Health, Sciencebiomedical engineering, brain, brain impulses, brain waves, daniel ferris, electrical brain activity, electrode, harnesses, joe gwin, mri-based model, neuroscience, orchestra, paralyzed patient, power of electricity, robotic exoskeleton, symphony

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— A paralyzed patient may someday be able to “think” a foot into flexing or a leg into moving, using technology that harnesses the power of electricity in the brain, and scientists at University of Michigan School of Kinesiology are now one big step closer.

Researchers at the school and colleagues from the Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience at the University of California, San Diego have developed technology that for the first time allows doctors and scientists to noninvasively isolate and measure electrical brain activity in moving people. (more…)

Haiti Quake Risk May Still be High

By Guest PostNovember 1, 2010Environment, Sciencecalifornia, carol prentice, earthquake, enriquillo plantain garden fault, epg fault, fault, geology, haiti, haiti earthquake, january, loma prieta quake, paleoseismology, ruptures, san andreas fault, seismic hazard, strain, U.S. Geological Survey

The fault initially thought to have triggered January’s devastating earthquake in Haiti is likely still under considerable strain and continues to pose a significant seismic hazard, according to a study published online in Nature Geoscience Sunday.

U.S. Geological Survey geologist Carol Prentice led a team of scientists to Haiti immediately after the earthquake to search for traces of ground rupture and to investigate the geology and paleoseismology of the area. (more…)

Mysteries of Unpredictable Tsunami Waves

By PravdaOctober 30, 20101 commentScienceanton evseev, atmospheric pressure, balearic islands, betu monga, earthquake, epicenter, indonesia, krakatoa, kuril islands, mentawai archipelago, mentawai islands, new guinea tsunami, ocean, offshore quakes, pacific ocean, predictions, rissaga, seismic gaps, seismologist, sergey fedotov, south island pagai, tsunami, tsunami warning center, tsunami waves

One of the most terrible consequences of offshore quakes is giant tsunami waves, sweeping everything on their way. Until now, scientists cannot answer a simple question: why in some cases they happen, and in others they do not? If it was established, then a tragedy like the one that has recently occurred in Indonesia could have been avoided.

An earthquake measuring 7.5 points, which occurred late on Monday, October 25 in Indonesia, caused a tsunami, which affected Mentawai islands in the western part of the country. Interestingly, the epicenter of the aftershocks of this earthquake was located 78 km west of the South Island Pagai of the Mentawai archipelago, at a depth of 20 km below the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Apparently, this is why the first few minutes after the earthquake the Indonesian government reported the tsunami threat, but later canceled the alert. (more…)

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