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Public Release: 8-May-2008
Science
Made-to-order isotopes hold promise on science's frontier
Designer labels have a lot of cachet -- a principle that's equally true in fashion and physics.
The future of nuclear physics is in designer isotopes -- the relatively new power scientists have to make specific rare isotopes to solve scientific problems and open doors to new technologies, according to Bradley Sherrill, a University Distinguished Professor of physics and associate director for research at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at Michigan State University.
National Science Foundation
Contact: Brad Sherrill
sherrill@nscl.msu.edu
517-333-6322
Michigan State University
Public Release: 8-May-2008
Nano Letters
Scientists demonstrate method for integrating nanowire devices directly onto silicon
Applied scientists at Harvard University in collaboration with researchers from the German universities of Jena, Gottingen, and Bremen, have developed a new technique for fabricating nanowire photonic and electronic integrated circuits that may one day be suitable for high-volume commercial production.
National Science Foundation, German Research Foundation
Contact: Michael Patrick Rutter
mrutter@seas.harvard.edu
617-496-3815
Harvard University
Public Release: 8-May-2008
Nature Methods
Magnet Lab researchers make observing cell functions easier
Now that the genome of humans and many other organisms have been sequenced, biologists are turning their attention to discovering how the many thousands of structural and control genes -- the "worker bees" of living cells that can turn genes on and off -- function.
Contact: Michael Davidson
davidson@magnet.fsu.edu
850-644-0542
Florida State University
Public Release: 8-May-2008
Science
Berkeley researchers identify photosynthetic dimmer switch
The pigment-binding protein CP29, one of the "minor" light-harvesting proteins in green plants, has been identified as a valve that permits or blocks the critical release of excess solar energy during photosynthesis. Furthermore, it has been proposed that the opening and closing of this valve can be controlled by raising or lowering ambient pH levels.
US Department of Energy
Contact: Lynn Yarris
lcyarris@lbl.gov
510-486-5375
DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Public Release: 8-May-2008
Fungal Genetics and Biology
Bread mold may hold secret to eliminating disease-causing genes
A University of Missouri scientist, along with a collaborative research team, has examined a new mechanism in the reproductive cycle of a certain species of mold. This mechanism protects the organism from genetic abnormalities by "silencing" unmatched genes during meiosis (sexual reproduction). The finding could have implications for higher organisms and may lead to precise "targeting" of unwanted genes, such as those from the HIV virus.
National Science Foundation
Contact: Bryan E. Jones
jonesbry@missouri.edu
573-882-9144
University of Missouri-Columbia
Public Release: 8-May-2008
Games for Health
Computer game's high score could earn the Nobel Prize in medicine
Gamers have devoted countless years of collective brainpower to idle pursuits. This week researchers at the University of Washington will try to harness those finely honed skills to make medical discoveries through a competitive protein-folding computer game.
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Microsoft Corp., Adobe Systems Inc., Nvidia Corp., Intel Corp.
Contact: Hannah Hickey
hickeyh@u.washington.edu
206-543-2580
University of Washington
Public Release: 8-May-2008
Newest GREET model updates environmental impacts
The newest version of the Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions and Energy use in Transportation model from the US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory will provide researchers with even more tools to evaluate and compare the environmental impacts of new transportation fuels and advanced vehicle technologies.
US Department of Energy
Contact: Brock Cooper
bcooper@anl.gov
630-252-5565
DOE/Argonne National Laboratory
Public Release: 8-May-2008
Oncogene
New cancer gene found
Researchers at the OU Cancer Institute have identified a new gene that causes cancer. The ground-breaking research appears in Nature's cancer journal Oncogene.
National Institutes of Health, University of Oklahoma College of Medicine
Contact: Diane Clay
diane-clay@ouhsc.edu
405-271-2323
University of Oklahoma
Public Release: 8-May-2008
Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics
Optics Express
New technique measures ultrashort laser pulses at focus
Lasers that emit ultrashort pulses of light are used for numerous applications, but the quality of the results is limited by distortions caused by lenses and other optical components that are part of the experimental instrumentation. Researchers have developed a system that tells researchers what types of aberrations are present, which allows them to create the desired pulse at the focus that's free of distortions.
National Science Foundation
Contact: Abby Vogel
avogel@gatech.edu
404-385-3364
Georgia Institute of Technology Research News
Public Release: 8-May-2008
PLoS Genetics
New study shows how genes control blood proteins important to health
A new study shows how genes control levels of many blood proteins implicated in disease. The findings are the result of an international collaboration between scientists at the University of Exeter, the National Institute on Aging, and the Tuscany and Florence Health Agencies. Details, published May 9 in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics, determine how many of the key proteins within our blood are under genetic control, showing that diet and lifestyle are not the only factors influencing its makeup.
Contact: Mary Kohut
mkohut@plos.org
415-568-3457
Public Library of Science
Public Release: 8-May-2008
PLoS Computational Biology
New cost-effective means to reconstruct virus populations
Researchers from the United States and Switzerland have developed mathematical and statistical tools for reconstructing viral populations using pyrosequencing, a novel and effective technique for sequencing DNA. They describe their findings in an article published May 9 in the open-access journal PLoS Computational Biology.
Contact: Evie Browne
ebrowne@plos.org
01-223-463-336
Public Library of Science
Public Release: 8-May-2008
IFAT 2008
New gas sensors for monitoring carbon dioxide sinks
A novel gas sensor system makes it possible to monitor large areas cost-effectively the first time. The patented gas sensor is based on the principle of diffusion, according to which certain gases pass through a membrane faster than others. Using a tube-like sensor it is possible to measure an average gas concentration value over a certain distance without influencing or distorting conditions in the measuring environment.
Contact: Tilo Arnhold
presse@ufz.de
49-341-235-1635
Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres
Public Release: 8-May-2008
Optics Express
TU Delft demonstrates for the first time how light squeezes through small holes
How does light pass through a tiny hole? For the first time, Dr. Aurele Adam and Professor Paul Planken of Delft University of Technology have succeeded in mapping this process properly. Their research also promises a significant improvement in Terahertz microscopy in the long term, a potentially interesting new imaging technique, and Terahertz microspectroscopy, a technique for identifying tiny quantities of substances using light. Their findings are published in this week's Optics Express.
Contact: Frank Nuijens
f.w.nuijens@tudelft.nl
31-152-784-259
Delft University of Technology
Public Release: 8-May-2008
Molecular Cell
Previously unseen switch regulates breast cancer response to estrogen
A tiny modification called methylation on estrogen receptors prolongs the life of these growth-driving molecules in breast cancer cells. Most breast cancers contain estrogen receptors, which enable them to grow in the presence of the hormone estrogen. Their presence can determine whether tumors will respond to the estrogen-blocking drug tamoxifen. The finding will help researchers sort out how mutations change the estrogen receptor's function and allow some breast cancers to resist tamoxifen.
National Institutes of Health, American Cancer Society
Contact: Vince Dollard
vdollar@emory.edu
404-778-4580
Emory University
Public Release: 7-May-2008
American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting
Depression diversity: Brain studies reveal big differences among individuals
Depressed people may have far fewer of the receptors for some of the brain's "feel good" stress-response chemicals than non-depressed people, new research shows. And even among depressed people, the numbers of these receptors can vary greatly -- and may be linked with the severity of their symptoms and response to treatment.
National Institutes of Health, Pritzker Foundation, NARSAD
Contact: Kara Gavin
kegavin@umich.edu
734-764-2220
University of Michigan Health System
Public Release: 7-May-2008
University research contributes to global warming
Add university research to the long list of human activities contributing to global warming. Hervé Philippe, a Université de Montréal professor of biochemistry, is a committed environmentalist who found that his own research produces 44 tons of CO2 per year. The average American citizen produces 20 tons.
Contact: Hervé Philippe
herve.philippe@umontreal.ca
514-343-6720
University of Montreal
Public Release: 7-May-2008
Nature Medicine
Immune system pathway identified to fight allergens, asthma
For the first time, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have identified genetic components of dendritic cells that are key to asthma and allergy-related immune response malfunction. Targeting these elements could result in more effective drugs to treat respiratory disorders. While dendritic cells are vital to immune response, the Pittsburgh study goes further to describe a pathway that allergens use to act directly on dendritic cells to initiate the allergic cascade.
National Institutes of Health
Contact: Michele Baum
BaumMD@upmc.edu
412-647-3555
University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences
Public Release: 7-May-2008
Geophysical Research Letters
Iron 'snow' helps maintain Mercury's magnetic field, scientists say
New scientific evidence suggests that deep inside the planet Mercury, iron "snow" forms and falls toward the center of the planet, much like snowflakes form in Earth's atmosphere and fall to the ground. The movement of this iron snow could be responsible for Mercury's mysterious magnetic field.
National Science Foundation
Contact: James E. Kloeppel
kloeppel@uiuc.edu
217-244-1073
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Public Release: 7-May-2008
Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics
European Physics Journal D
Record-setting laser may aid searches for Earthlike planets
Scientists at the University of Konstanz in Germany and the National Institute of Standards and Technology have demonstrated an ultrafast laser that offers a record combination of high speed, short pulses and high average power and that could boost the sensitivity of astronomical tools searching for other Earthlike planets as much as 100 fold.
Contact: Laura Ost
laura.ost@nist.gov
303-497-4880
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Public Release: 7-May-2008
Angewandte Chemie International
Power from formic acid
Matthias Beller and his team at the Leibniz Institute of Catalysis in Rostock have succeeded in the controlled extraction of hydrogen from formic acid without the need for a high-temperature reforming process. This room-temperature hydrogen source can be directly introduced into fuel cells.
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Federal Government of Germany, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, FCI
Contact: Matthias Beller
Matthias.Beller@catalysis.de
49-381-128-1113
Wiley-Blackwell
Public Release: 7-May-2008
Astronomy & Astrophysics
XMM-Newton discovers part of the missing matter in the universe
A team of Dutch and German astronomers have discovered part of the missing matter in the Universe using the European X-ray satellite XMM-Newton. They observed a filament of hot gas connecting two clusters of galaxies. This tenuous hot gas could be part of the missing "baryonic" matter. Their findings are being published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
Contact: Dr. Jennifer Martin
aanda.paris@obspm.fr
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Public Release: 7-May-2008
Nature
Molecular espionage shows a single HIV enzyme's many tasks
Using ingenious molecular espionage, scientists have found how a single key enzyme, seemingly the Swiss army knife in HIV's toolbox, differentiates and dynamically binds both DNA and RNA as part of the virus' fierce attack on host cells. The work is described this week in the journal Nature.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, NIH/National Institute of General Medical Sciences, Packard Foundation, NIH/National Cancer Institute, Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund
Contact: Steve Bradt
steve_bradt@harvard.edu
617-496-8070
Harvard University
Public Release: 6-May-2008
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Arable land can have a negative impact on air quality
Fallow agricultural land and steppe-formation processes are evidently capable of having a much greater effect on global air quality than was previously assumed. This is the conclusion drawn by researchers after examining a dust cloud that formed over parched fields in southern Ukraine and led to extremely high concentrations of particulate matter in Central Europe. On March 24, 2007, the dust cloud spread across Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic to Germany.
Umweltbundesamt, Saechsisches Landesamt fuer Umwelt und Geologie, European Integrated project on Aerosol Cloud Climate and Air Quality Interactions
Contact: Tilo Arnhold
presse@ufz.de
49-341-235-1635
Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres
Public Release: 6-May-2008
International Journal of Environment and Waste Management
Sounding out Congo Red
Brightly colored dyes such as the shimmering Congo Red commonly used in silk clothing manufacture are notoriously difficult to dispose of in an environmentally benign way.
Contact: Srinivas Sistla
sistlasrinivas@gmail.com
Inderscience Publishers
Public Release: 6-May-2008
Cell Metabolism
Blocked brain enzyme decreases appetite and promotes weight loss
One blocked brain enzyme helps mice to decrease appetite, lose weight, and better manage their blood sugar levels.
National Institutes of Health, Australian Research Council, National Heart Foundation, National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia
Contact: Mary Jane Gore
mary.gore@duke.edu
919-660-1309
Duke University Medical Center
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