Nanotechnology Module ACS Announces 2009 Officers

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Chemistry/Physics/Materials Sciences
Key: Meeting Journal Funder
Public Release: 2-Jul-2009
Journal of Neuroscience
Learning from locusts
A similarity in brain disturbance between insects and people suffering from migraines, stroke and epilepsy points the way toward new drug therapies to address these conditions.
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

Contact: Nancy Dorrance
nancy.dorrance@queensu.ca
613-533-2869
Queen's University

Public Release: 2-Jul-2009
Geophysical Research Letters
AGU journal highlights - July 2, 2009
Featured in this release are research papers on the following topics: "Ancient supervolcano's eruption caused decade of severe winters"; "Understanding fault movement during Wenchuan earthquake"; "First direct measurement of lunar backscatter from solar wind"; "Reducing uncertainty in estimates of global sea level rise"; "Boost in freshwater content of Arctic Ocean "; "Data gaps in records hinder detection of climate trends"; "Glaciers cause seismic activity in Iceland"; and more.
Various

Contact: Maria-Jose Vinas
mjvinas@agu.org
202-777-7530
American Geophysical Union

Public Release: 2-Jul-2009
Lab on a Chip
Integrated optical trap holds particles for on-chip analysis
A new type of optical particle trap can be used to manipulate bacteria, viruses and other particles on a chip as part of an integrated optofluidic platform.
National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health

Contact: Tim Stephens
stephens@ucsc.edu
831-459-2495
University of California - Santa Cruz

Public Release: 2-Jul-2009
Academic Medicine
UT multimedia program increases middle school interest in science
Middle school students who were part of a unique science learning program developed by the University of Texas School of Public Health showed significant increases in interest and achievement scores compared to other students, a recent study found.

Contact: Jade Waddy
jade.waddy@uth.tmc.edu
713-500-3307
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

Public Release: 2-Jul-2009
Diabetes
Natural compound stops retinopathy
Researchers at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center have found a way to use a natural compound to stop one of the leading causes of blindness in the United States.
American Diabetes Association and the National Institutes of Health

Contact: Diane Clay
diane-clay@ouhsc.edu
405-271-2323
University of Oklahoma

Public Release: 2-Jul-2009
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Rampant helper syndrome
The Archaea are very primitive single-celled organisms, sometimes living under extreme conditions. Some species produce methane with the help of deazaflavin cofactor. Researchers of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat in Munich have shown that this small molecule is also widespread among higher organisms, where it helps to repair damaged DNA.
Ludwig-Maximilians-University

Contact: Professor Thomas Carell
Thomas.Carell@cup.uni-muenchen.de
0049-892-180-77755
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

Public Release: 2-Jul-2009
Virus-resistant grapevines
Viruses can cost winegrowers an entire harvest. If they infest the grapevines, even pesticides are often no use. What's more, these chemicals are harmful to the environment. Researchers are growing plants that produce antibodies against the viruses and are thus immune.

Contact: Stefan Schillberg
stefan.schillberg@ime.fraunhofer.de
49-241-608-511-051
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

Public Release: 2-Jul-2009
Printable batteries
For a long time, batteries were bulky and heavy. Now, a new cutting-edge battery is revolutionizing the field. It is thinner than a millimeter, lighter than a gram, and can be produced cost-effectively through a printing process.

Contact: Andreas Willert
andreas.willert@enas.fraunhofer.de
49-371-531-32109
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

Public Release: 2-Jul-2009
Science
NASA's Fermi Telescope reveals a population of radio-quiet gamma-ray pulsars
A new class of pulsars detected by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is solving the mystery of previously unidentified gamma-ray sources and helping scientists understand the mechanisms behind pulsar emissions.
NASA

Contact: Tim Stephens
stephens@ucsc.edu
831-459-2495
University of California - Santa Cruz

Public Release: 2-Jul-2009
Cell Death & Differentiation
Gene's novel role may provide key to treating liver and neurodegenerative diseases
Singapore scientists have made a novel discovery about how gene, "Fas-apoptosis inhibitory molecule", protects both immune and liver cells from programmed cell death. Their research is published in Cell Death and Differentiation.

Contact: Cathy Yarbrough
sciencematter@yahoo.com
858-243-1814
Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore

Public Release: 2-Jul-2009
Science
Pinpointing origin of gamma rays from a supermassive black hole
An international collaboration of 390 scientists reports the discovery of an outburst of very-high-energy gamma radiation from the giant radio galaxy Messier 87, accompanied by a strong rise of the radio flux measured from the direct vicinity of its super-massive black hole. The combined results give first experimental evidence that particles are accelerated to extremely high energies of tera electron Volt in the immediate vicinity of a supermassive black hole and then emit the observed gamma rays.
US Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, Smithsonian Institution, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Enterprise Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland, STFC

Contact: Henric Krawczynski
krawcz@wuphys.wustl.edu
314-803-8732
Washington University in St. Louis

Public Release: 2-Jul-2009
Science
VLBA locates superenergetic bursts near giant black hole
Combining gamma-ray telescopes with the supersharp radio 'vision' of the Very Long Baseline Array showed astronomers the location from which very-high-energy gamma rays are emerging from the core ot the giant galaxy M87.
National Science Foundation

Contact: Dave Finley
dfinley@nrao.edu
575-835-7302
National Radio Astronomy Observatory

Public Release: 2-Jul-2009
Science
MIT researchers find new actions of neurochemicals
Although the tiny roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans has only 302 neurons in its entire nervous system, studies of this simple animal have significantly advanced our understanding of human brain function because it shares many genes and neurochemical signaling molecules with humans. Now MIT researchers have found novel C. elegans neurochemical receptors, the discovery of which could lead to new therapeutic targets for psychiatric disorders if similar receptors are found in humans.
National Institutes of Health, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Life Sciences Research Foundation, Medical Foundation

Contact: Elizabeth Thomson
thomson@mit.edu
617-258-5402
McGovern Institute for Brain Research

Public Release: 2-Jul-2009
New Journal of Physics
Researchers unite to distribute quantum keys
Researchers from across Europe have united to build the largest quantum key distribution network ever built. The efforts of 41 research and industrial organizations were realized as secure, quantum encrypted information was sent over an eight node, mesh network.

Contact: Joseph Winters
joseph.winters@iop.org
44-020-747-04815
Institute of Physics

Public Release: 2-Jul-2009
PLoS Computational Biology
Existing Parkinson's disease drug may fight drug-resistant TB
Existing drugs used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease could be repositioned for use in the treatment of extreme drug-resistant tuberculosis, which kills about 2 million people each year, according to a study led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego. The rise of these strains of TB throughout the world, including industrialized countries, poses a great threat to human health.
National Institutes of Health

Contact: Debra Kain
ddkain@ucsd.edu
619-543-6163
University of California - San Diego

Public Release: 1-Jul-2009
Physical Review B
Unexpectedly long-range effects in advanced magnetic devices
A tiny grid pattern has led materials scientists at NIST and the Institute of Solid State Physics in Russia to an unexpected finding -- the surprisingly strong and long-range effects of certain electromagnetic nanostructures used in data storage.

Contact: Michael Baum
michael.baum@nist.gov
301-975-2763
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Public Release: 1-Jul-2009
Nature Physics
NIST develops novel ion trap for sensing force and light
A novel ion trap demonstrated at NIST could usher in a new generation of applications, because the device holds promise as a stylus for sensing very small forces or for an interface for efficient transfer of individual light particles for quantum communications.
Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity

Contact: Laura Ost
laura.ost@nist.gov
303-497-4880
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Public Release: 1-Jul-2009
DNA Repair
Genetically engineered mice yield clues to 'knocking out' cancer
Researchers from NIST, Oregon Health and Science University and the New York University School of Medicine have demonstrated that deleting two genes in mice responsible for repairing DNA strands damaged by oxidation leads to several types of tumors, providing additional evidence that such stress contributes to the development of cancer. The work may lead to the development of new measurement methods and reference materials for accurate and reproducible assessments of DNA damage and repair.

Contact: Michael E. Newman
michael.newman@nist.gov
301-975-3025
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Public Release: 1-Jul-2009
Nature Cell Biology
Double success for Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia scientists working on chromosome segregation
Lars Jansen's work on the formation of the centromere, a key cellular structure in powering and controlling chromosome segregation and accurate cell division, has just earned him a paper in Nature Cell Biology and a prestigious EMBO installation grant, of 50,000 euro per year, for a maximum of five years, to be carried out at the IGC, in Portugal.

Contact: Ana Godinho
agodinho@igc.gulbenkian.pt
003-512-144-07959
Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia

Public Release: 1-Jul-2009
Climate Dynamics
The least sea ice in 800 years
New research, which reconstructs the extent of ice in the sea between Greenland and Svalbard from the 13th century to the present indicates that there has never been so little sea ice as there is now. The research results from the Niels Bohr Institute, among others, are published in the scientific journal Climate Dynamics.

Contact: Gertie Skaarup
skaarup@nbi.dk
453-532-5320
University of Copenhagen

Public Release: 1-Jul-2009
Journal of the Acoustic Society of America
Wagner's 'difficult' reputation unwarranted says research
The composer Richard Wagner is well-known, even notorious, for writing operas that can challenge both performers and listeners. A new study published in the Journal of the Acoustic Society of America reveals that Wagner set his text to music in a way that uses the acoustics of the soprano voice in a manner that helps both performers and listeners.

Contact: Associate Professor John R. Smith
jrs@newt.phys.unsw.edu.au
61-293-855-326
University of New South Wales

Public Release: 1-Jul-2009
Genes & Development
MS study offers theory for why repair of brain's wiring fails
Scientists have uncovered new evidence suggesting that damage to nerve cells in people with multiple sclerosis accumulates because the body's natural mechanism for repair of the nerve coating called "myelin" stalls out.
National Multiple Sclerosis Society, United Kingdom Multiple Sclerosis Society, National Institutes of Health, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Contact: Jennifer O’Brien
jobrien@pubaff.ucsf.edu
415-476-2557
University of California - San Francisco

Public Release: 1-Jul-2009
Nature
New class of black holes discovered
A new class of black hole, more than 500 times the mass of the Sun, has been discovered by an international team of astronomers.
Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, Science and Technology Facilities Council, European Space Agency, NASA

Contact: Dr Sean Farrell
saf28@star.le.ac.uk
44-011-625-25388
University of Leicester

Public Release: 1-Jul-2009
Cold Spring Harbor Protocols
Microbial analysis, micropatterning methods featured in Cold Spring Harbor Protocols
The July issue of Cold Spring Harbor Protocols presents a method for quantifying populations of microorganisms in a variety of naturally occurring conditions such as plankton samples or biofilms, as well as a simple, fast and efficient method for generating micropatterns for cellular studies. Both methods are freely accessible on the Web site for Cold Spring Harbor Protocols.

Contact: David Crotty
crotty@cshl.edu
516-422-4007
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Public Release: 1-Jul-2009
Society for Experimental Biology Annual Main Meeting
Triggering muscle development -- a therapeutic cure for muscle wastage?
Scientists have shown that if elderly men who were given growth hormone and exercised their legs showed an appreciable muscle mass increase. Dr. Geoff Goldspink says, "This raises the question: Can age-related loss of muscle strength and increased fragility be ameliorated by the therapeutic application of mechano growth factor?" The findings will be presented at the Society for Experimental Biology Meeting on Wednesday, July 1.

Contact: Cristian C. A. Bodo
Cristian.Bodo@kcl.ac.uk
44-794-258-7047
Society for Experimental Biology