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Researchers Find New Way to Create ‘Gradients’ for Understanding Molecular Interactions

Scientists use tools called gradients to understand how molecules interact in biological systems. Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new technique for creating biomolecular gradients that is both simpler than existing techniques and that creates additional surface characteristics that allow scientists to monitor other aspects of molecular behavior.

A gradient is a material that has a specific molecule on its surface, with the concentration of the molecule sloping from a high concentration on one end to a low concentration at the other end. The gradient is used not only to determine whether other molecules interact with the molecules on the gradient, but to determine the threshold level at which any interactions take place. (more…)

Creating cleaner dirt

MSU students and faculty are cleaning up farming with worms.

The group is involved in a program called RISE, The Residential Initiative on the Study of the Environment. It is researching and implementing vermicomposting in a greenhouse by Bailey Hall. (more…)

Earth orbit changes were key to Antarctic warming that ended last ice age

For more than a century scientists have known that Earth’s ice ages are caused by the wobbling of the planet’s orbit, which changes its orientation to the sun and affects the amount of sunlight reaching higher latitudes, particularly the polar regions. (more…)

Gentechnik im Bio-Gemüse?

Es hört sich nach einem Skandal an: Im Bioladen gebe es massenhaft gentechnisch verändertes Gemüse – und das ohne Kennzeichnung, hat das ZDF-Magazin WISO in seiner Sendung am 5. August berichtet. Was ist dran an der Geschichte?

17 von 37 getesteten Gemüseproben aus Bioläden seien im Labor als „gentechnisch verändert“ identifiziert worden. In Chicoree wurde genetisches Material der Sonnenblume, in Blumenkohl und Brokkoli Erbsubstanz des japanischen Rettichs nachgewiesen. Die Behauptung des ZDF ist dennoch schlicht falsch: Es handelt sich nicht um gentechnisch veränderte Organismen (GVOs) im Sinne der gebräuchlichen Definitionen – ansonsten wäre das Gemüse nicht nur im Bioladen mehr als unerwünscht, sondern schlicht illegal gewesen. Die EU erlaubt weder den Anbau noch den Import von gentechnisch verändertem Gemüse. (more…)

The Shakespeare Code: English Professor Confirms the Bard’s Hand in ‘The Spanish Tragedy’

AUSTIN, Texas — For centuries, scholars have been searching for answers to a literary mystery: Who wrote the five additional passages in Thomas Kyd’s “The Spanish Tragedy”? (more…)

Scientists review the ecological effects of sea ice loss

The Arctic Ocean has more open water each summer, a trend most scientists predict will continue in coming years. September 2012 set the record for the most open water since satellite observations began.

A University of Washington researcher is co-author on a review paper published (Aug. 2) in the journal Science looking at the ecological consequences of sea ice decline.

Led by corresponding author Eric Post, a biologist at Pennsylvania State University, the international team looked at effects on animals ranging from microorganisms to polar bears. As well as obvious changes for organisms that live in or on the ice, there also are trickle-down effects for food webs, animal behavior, species ranges, interbreeding and disease dynamics. (more…)

How Neurons Get Wired

Two different versions of the same signaling protein tell a nerve cell which end is which, UA researchers have discovered. The findings could help improve therapies for spinal injuries and neurodegenerative diseases

University of Arizona scientists have discovered an unknown mechanism that establishes polarity in developing nerve cells. Understanding how nerve cells make connections is an important step in developing cures for nerve damage resulting from spinal cord injuries or neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
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IBM Narrows Big Data Skills Gap By Partnering With More Than 1,000 Global Universities

From Washington D.C. to the Philippines, IBM Creates Big Data and Analytics Curriculum for Universities Across the Globe; Announces Winners of 2013 Big Data and Analytics Faculty Awards

ARMONK, N.Y. – 14 Aug 2013: IBM today announced that it has added nine new academic collaborations to its more than 1,000 partnerships with universities across the globe, focusing on Big Data and analytics — all of which are designed to prepare students for the 4.4 million jobs that will be created worldwide to support Big Data by 2015. The company also announced more than $100,000 in awards for Big Data curricula.

As part of IBM’s Academic Initiative, the company is launching new curricula focusing on Big Data and analytics with Georgetown University, George Washington University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Missouri, as well as a new addition to IBM’s partnership with Northwestern University. Internationally, IBM is partnering with Dublin City University, Mother Teresa Women’s University in India, the National University of Singapore, and the Philippines’ Commission on Higher Education to offer data-driven degree programs, coursework and specialization tracks. (more…)