Tag Archives: university of exeter

Gene Research Sheds Light on Timing of Menopause

By Guest PostJanuary 23, 2012Healthanna murray, breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, damage, early menopause, genes, genetic studies, genome, heart disease, hormonal change, hormonal regulation, immune system, joanne murabito, john perry, kathryn lunetta, menopause, menopause onset, oestrogen exposure, post menopausal women, pre menopausal, repair, reproductive disorders, reproductive lifespan, timing of menopause, university of exeter, university of oxford

An international team of researchers has discovered 13 new regions of the genome associated with the timing of menopause.

These genes shed light on the biological pathways involved in reproductive lifespan and will provide insights into conditions connected to menopause, such as breast cancer and heart disease.

Menopause is a major hormonal change that affects most women when they are in their early 50s. The timing of menopause can have a huge impact on fertility, as well as influencing the risk of a range of common diseases such as breast cancer. It has been known for some time that genetic factors influenced the onset of menopause, however until recently very few genes had been identified.

In the new study, published in the journal Nature Genetics on 22 January 2012, Dr Anna Murray, University of Exeter, Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry (PCMD) Dr John Perry, PCMD and WTCHG, University of Oxford, and dozens of international collaborators, examined the genomes of over 50,000 women. They identified 13 novel gene regions associated with menopause onset, and confirmed four previously identified. Most of the 17 regions include genes related to DNA damage/repair or the immune system, whilst others are linked to hormonal regulation. (more…)

What Do Sunsets Look Like From Other Planets?

By Guest PostJanuary 17, 2012ScienceAlien, aspen, astrophysicist, atmosphere, colorado, conference, exoclimes, exoclimes 2012, extrasolar planets, frederic pont, fundamental problems, Galaxy, gloomy orange, hd 189, hd 189733 b, hd 209, hd 209458 b, Hubble Space Telescope, modern astronomy, neutral sodium lines, osiris, planet forming discs, planetary atmospheres, planets, sodium street lighting, solar system, spectral, sun, sunset, sunset images, transmission spectrum, university of exeter, website

A University of Exeter astrophysicist has shown what sunsets look like on planets outside our solar system.

He has worked out the colour of sunsets on two planets: HD 209458 b and HD 189733 b, known as ‘extrasolar planets’ because they are outside our solar system.

Extrasolar planets orbit stars, in a similar way to the Earth orbiting the Sun. Professor Frédéric Pont of the University of Exeter has used the extrasolar planets’ ‘transmission spectrum’, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, to work out the colour of the ‘sunsets’ created by these stars.

Writing on the website ExoClimes.com, where he has posted the two sunset images he has produced, Professor Pont said: “Unlike its sister planet HD ’189, the planet HD ’209 (‘Osiris’) has a sunset that looks truly alien. The star is white outside the atmosphere, since its temperature is close to that of the Sun. It then acquires a bluish tinge as it sinks deeper, because the absorption by the broad wings of the neutral sodium lines (the spectral lines responsible for the gloomy orange of sodium street lighting) remove the red and orange from the star light. (more…)

Predators Hunt for A Balanced Diet

By Guest PostJanuary 16, 2012Natureaarhus university, anchomenus dorsalis, ants, aphids, balance of nutrients, balanced diet, beetle larvae, butterfly larvae, calorie content, crickets, denmark, female beetles, food webs, fruit flies, garden insect, grasshoppers, ground beetle, kim jensen, massey university, moths, new zealand, nutritional value, offspring, omnivores, predators, predatory animals, slugs, university of exeter

Predators select their prey in order to eat a nutritionally balanced diet and give themselves the best chance of producing healthy offspring.

A University of Exeter and Oxford-led study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B shows for the first time that predatory animals choose their food on the basis of its nutritional value, rather than just overall calorie content.

An international team of scientists from the Universities of Exeter and Oxford in the UK, University of Sydney (Australia), Aarhus University (Denmark) and Massey University (New Zealand) based their research on the ground beetle, Anchomenus dorsalis, a well-known garden insect that feasts on slugs, aphids, moths, beetle larvae and ants. (more…)

What is The Real Meaning of Christmas?

By Guest PostDecember 22, 2011Culturebest seller, Bible, biblical material, biblical stories, biblical text, brian j turner, christian background, christmas, curriculum materials, david spriggs, during phase 1, eleanor holmes, esther reed, exeter, key stage 3, king james version, project, rob freathy, stories in bible, university of exeter, visual artist, world

There are thousands of stories in the Bible and a visual artist in Exeter is currently on a 30-year mission to paint the whole lot.

The University of Exeter is incorporating some of what will eventually be a series of up to 3,000 artworks by Brian J Turner into new school curriculum resources that explore how biblical stories are read and interpreted.

The Art of Narrative Theology in Religious Education project is being led by Drs Esther Reed and Rob Freathy from the Department of Theology and Religion and the Graduate School of Education at the University of Exeter. The aim of the project is to get school pupils to investigate biblical stories and how people, whether from a Christian background or not, interpret and use them to make sense of their world and their role within it, particularly how they can live a good life. (more…)

Scientists Defuse the Vietnam Time Bomb

By Guest PostNovember 11, 2011Health, Sciencebacterial pathogen, bacterium, burkholderia, burkholderia pseudomallei, cancer, david rice, deadly tropical disease, diseases, drugs, endemic areas, esrf, european synchrotron radiation facility, france, grenoble, hiv and tuberculosis, kevin van cauter, key mechanism, melioidosis, northern australia, pmi2 funding, protein synthesis, rick titball, south east asia, structure of a protein, stuart wilson, therapies to prevent the proliferation of cancer cells, university of exeter, university of sheffield, us military personnel, vietnam time bomb, xrays at diamond light source

A key mechanism by which a bacterial pathogen causes the deadly tropical disease melioidosis has been discovered by an international team, including a University of Exeter scientist.

The findings are published in the journal Science and show how a toxin produced by the bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei kills cells by preventing protein synthesis.

The study, led by the University of Sheffield, paves the way for the development of novel therapies to combat the bacterium which infects millions of people across South East Asia and Northern Australia.

Using intense X-rays at Diamond Light Source, the UK’s national synchrotron facility, and at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France, the research team solved the structure of a protein from Burkholderia, the function of which was initially unknown. (more…)

Is Chivalry the Norm for Insects?

By Guest PostOctober 10, 2011Nature, Scienceaggressive behaviour, chivalrous, current biology, digital video technology, dna fingerprinting, fertilise, gryllus campestris crickets, infra red video footage, leverhulme trust, northern spain, rolando rodríguez muñozof, tom tregenza, university of exeter, why insects stick together after mating, wild field crickets

The long-standing consensus of why insects stick together after mating has been turned on its head by scientists from the University of Exeter.

Published in Current Biology, their study shows that, contrary to previous thinking, females benefit from this arrangement just as much as males.

Instead of dominating their female partners through bullying and aggressive behaviour, males were revealed to be protective, even laying their lives on the line when their mates faced danger.

Previously, scientists assumed that male insects stay close to females after mating to stop them from taking other partners. Female insects have multiple mates and the last mate is most likely to fertilise her eggs. Therefore, by preventing females from taking other mates a male is most likely to father her offspring. (more…)

‘Heat-proof’ Eggs Help Turtles Cope With Hot Beaches

By Guest PostSeptember 29, 2011Nature, Scienceascension island, cayman islands department of environment, coast of south america, eggs, favourable genes, green turtles, jonathan blount, mark orr, rapid climate change, sam weber, sea turtles, south atlantic ocean, turtle evolution, turtles are naturally heat tolerant, uk, university of exeter, warming climate threatens

*Sea turtles face an uncertain future as a warming climate threatens to reduce their reproductive viability.*

*However, new research led by the University of Exeter and published this week in Proceedings of the Royal Society B shows that some turtles are naturally heat-tolerant.*

The study focused on green turtles nesting on Ascension Island, a UK overseas territory in the South Atlantic Ocean. Scientists from the Universities of Exeter and Groningen found that eggs laid by turtles nesting on a naturally hot beach withstand high temperatures better than eggs from turtles nesting on a cooler beach just a few kilometres away. (more…)

Scientists Simulate Seashells’ Structures

By Guest PostSeptember 9, 2011Scienceartificial biominerals, artificial proteins, biological minerals, biominerals, bones, calcite crystals, calcium carbonate, crystal structure, fiona meldrum, hardness, microscopic level, nanoindenter, sea urchin spines, seashells, stephen eichhorn, synthetic crystals, synthetic polymer nanoparticles, teeth, university of exeter

*Scientists have successfully created synthetic crystals whose structures and properties mimic those of naturally-occurring biominerals such as seashells.*

*The findings, published in the journal Nature Materials, could be an important step in the development of high-performance materials, which could be manufactured under environmentally-friendly conditions.*

Professor Stephen Eichhorn, who has just moved to the University of Exeter from the University of Manchester, played a key role in the research. Professor Eichhorn has been appointed to a Chair in Functional Materials, through the University of Exeter’s £230 million investment in science, medicine and engineering. Exeter’s vision is for a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach to the understanding and application of functional materials – from fundamentals to manufacture – exploiting world-leading materials knowledge to deliver new concepts, processes and products. (more…)