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Acid raid, ozone depletion contributed to ancient extinction

By Guest PostDecember 2, 2013Science3d modeling technique, acid raid, ancient extinction, arctic siberia, atmospheric effects, base, benjamin black, carbon dioxide, christine shields, CO2, earth history, ecological diversity, fluctuations in ph, global ozone collapse, jean francois lamarque, jeffrey kiehl, kotuy river, linda elkins tanton, mass extinction, massachusetts institute, ozone depletion, permian mass extinction, permian period, rise of dinosaurs, russia, Siberia, siberian traps, so2, sulfur dioxide, Technology, terrestrial species, ultraviolet radiation, volcanic eruptions, volcanic rock, volcanic sequence

Washington, D.C.— Around 250 million years ago, at the end of the Permian period, there was a mass extinction so severe that it remains the most traumatic known species die-off in Earth’s history. Some researchers have suggested that this extinction was triggered by contemporaneous volcanic eruptions in Siberia. New results from a team including Director of Carnegie’s Department of Terrestrial Magnetism Linda Elkins-Tanton show that the atmospheric effects of these eruptions could have been devastating. Their work is published in Geology.

The mass extinction included the sudden loss of more than 90 percent of marine species and more than 70 percent of terrestrial species and set the stage for the rise of the dinosaurs. The fossil record suggests that ecological diversity did not fully recover until several million years after the main pulse of the extinction. (more…)

Injectable Nano-Network Controls Blood Sugar in Diabetics for Days at a Time

By Guest PostMay 20, 2013Sciencealginate, blood sugar, blood sugar levels, bloodstream, chitosan, closed loop system, daniel anderson, dextran, diabetes patients, diabetes treatment, gluconic acid, glucose, glucose oxidase enzymes, hormone, injectable nano network, injection, insulin, massachusetts institute, material, nanoparticle cores, nanoscale particles, network, north Carolina, robert langer, seaweed, shrimp shells, state university, Technology, type 1 diabetes, unc chapel, zhen gu

In a promising development for diabetes treatment, researchers have developed a network of nanoscale particles that can be injected into the body and release insulin when blood-sugar levels rise, maintaining normal blood sugar levels for more than a week in animal-based laboratory tests. The work was done by researchers at North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Children’s Hospital Boston.

“We’ve created a ‘smart’ system that is injected into the body and responds to changes in blood sugar by releasing insulin, effectively controlling blood-sugar levels,” says Dr. Zhen Gu, lead author of a paper describing the work and an assistant professor in the joint biomedical engineering program at NC State and UNC Chapel Hill. “We’ve tested the technology in mice, and one injection was able to maintain blood sugar levels in the normal range for up to 10 days.” (more…)

Getting to the heart of disease

By Guest PostMarch 29, 2013Healthanti semitism, barry l zaret, by accident, cardiology, coronary disease, coronary physiology, design, evans downing, growth factors, heart of disease, jewish parents, jews, leningrad, lymphatic diseases, lymphatic vessels, massachusetts institute, michael simons, MIT, russia, soviet union, st. petersburg, target cells, Technology, treating cancer, treatment, veins, william grossman, yale

Scientist works toward molecular therapies for cardiovascular diseases

Born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Russia, to Jewish parents before the fall of the Soviet Union, Michael Simons, M.D., says a medical career was “sort of a default.” Anti-Semitism barred Jews from many scientific pursuits, so his parents, both doctors, encouraged his interest in medicine as the basis for a strong natural science education.

Simons’ family immigrated to Boston in 1978. Simons had begun a 6-year medical program immediately after high school in Russia, so he was admitted to Boston University School of Medicine as a third-year student, but he chose instead to start anew, as an undergraduate. “I thought, if I continue in a medical program, I’ll forever have an inadequate undergraduate education,” he says, speaking with a mild accent and an understated intensity. (more…)

NASA’s GRAIL Creates Most Accurate Moon Gravity Map

By Guest PostDecember 10, 2012Scienceapollo lunar missions, basin rings, bouguer gravity anomalies, cambridge, celestial body, crater central peaks, earth, ebb, flow, grail, gravity anomalies, gravity field, gravity field map, gravity gradients, gravity recovery, interior laboratory, jeff andrews hanna, linear gravity anomalies, maria zuber, mark wieczorek, massachusetts institute, mission, moon, moon basin, moon dike map, moon dikes, NASA, olivine materials map, probe, rocky planets, solar system, solar system history, Technology, tectonic structures, thin moon crust, volcanic landforms

PASADENA, Calif. — Twin NASA probes orbiting Earth’s moon have generated the highest resolution gravity field map of any celestial body.

The new map, created by the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission, is allowing scientists to learn about the moon’s internal structure and composition in unprecedented detail. Data from the two washing machine-sized spacecraft also will provide a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed and evolved.

The gravity field map reveals an abundance of features never before seen in detail, such as tectonic structures, volcanic landforms, basin rings, crater central peaks and numerous simple, bowl-shaped craters. Data also show the moon’s gravity field is unlike that of any terrestrial planet in our solar system. (more…)

Tag Archives: massachusetts institute

Acid raid, ozone depletion contributed to ancient extinction

Injectable Nano-Network Controls Blood Sugar in Diabetics for Days at a Time

Getting to the heart of disease

NASA’s GRAIL Creates Most Accurate Moon Gravity Map