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The Search for the Earliest Signs of Alzheimer’s

By Guest PostMay 30, 2012Health, Sciencealzheimer's disease, alzheimers, azheimers patient, berkeley lab, beta amyloid, beta amyloid plaque, brain checkup, brain function, c 11 pib, city of berkeley, cognitive decline, computed tomography, ct scanner, dan krotz, destructive protein, earliest signs, functional mri scans, hippocampus atrophy, magnetic resonance imaging, mri scans, PET, pet image, positron emission tomography, radiotracer, william jagust

Berkeley Lab scientists help paint a more complicated picture of the devastating disease

For the past five years, volunteers from the City of Berkeley and surrounding areas have come to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to participate in an ongoing study that’s changing what scientists know about Alzheimer’s disease.

The volunteers, most over the age of 70, undergo what can best be described as a brain checkup. They’re asked to solve puzzles and memorize lists of words. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans image the structure of their brains in exquisite detail. Functional MRI scans allow scientists to watch portions of their brains light up as they form memories. And Positron emission tomography (PET) scans measure any accumulation of beta-amyloid, a destructive protein that’s a hallmark of Alzheimer’s. (more…)

Berkeley Lab Scientists Generate Electricity From Viruses

New approach is a promising first step toward the development of tiny devices that harvest electrical energy from everyday tasks

Imagine charging your phone as you walk, thanks to a paper-thin generator embedded in the sole of your shoe. This futuristic scenario is now a little closer to reality. Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed a way to generate power using harmless viruses that convert mechanical energy into electricity.

The scientists tested their approach by creating a generator that produces enough current to operate a small liquid-crystal display. It works by tapping a finger on a postage stamp-sized electrode coated with specially engineered viruses. The viruses convert the force of the tap into an electric charge. (more…)

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The Search for the Earliest Signs of Alzheimer’s

Berkeley Lab Scientists Generate Electricity From Viruses