EurekAlert! - Technology, Engineering and Computer Science

Second Life data offers window into how trends spread

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Michigan) Do friends wear the same style of shoe or see the same movies because they have similar tastes, which is why they became friends in the first place? Or once a friendship is established, do individuals influence each other to adopt like behaviors?

Integrated optical trap holds particles for on-chip analysis

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(University of California - Santa Cruz) 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.

Natural compound stops retinopathy

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Oklahoma) 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.

Graduate students win prestigious prizes for their work

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics) Each year, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics awards SIAM Student Paper Prizes to the most outstanding papers submitted to the SIAM Student Paper Prize Competition. SIAM is pleased to announce the winners of the 2009 SIAM Student Paper Prizes who will present their papers during the SIAM Annual Meeting in Denver, Colo., July 6-10.

UT scientist receives hemophilia research award

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston) Keri Smith, Ph.D., an assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, has received a Career Development Award from the National Hemophilia Foundation.

Printable batteries

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft) 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.

Gene's novel role may provide key to treating liver and neurodegenerative diseases

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore) 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.

Pinpointing origin of gamma rays from a supermassive black hole

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Washington University in St. Louis) 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.

VLBA locates superenergetic bursts near giant black hole

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(National Radio Astronomy Observatory) 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.

Researchers unite to distribute quantum keys

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Institute of Physics) 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.

Nanotechnology may increase longevity of dental fillings

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Medical College of Georgia) Tooth-colored fillings may be more attractive than silver ones, but the bonds between the white filling and the tooth quickly age and degrade. A Medical College of Georgia researcher hopes a new nanotechnology technique will extend the fillings' longevity.

Axel Ullrich named winner of 2009 Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Porter Novelli) Johnson & Johnson announced that Axel Ullrich, Ph.D., director of the Department of Molecular Biology at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Germany, whose discoveries have led to novel cancer therapies including Herceptin (trastuzumab), is the winner of the 2009 Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research. An independent committee of world-renowned scientists selected Dr. Ullrich, who on Sept. 8 will receive a $100,000 prize during a ceremony in Beerse, Belgium.

NIST issues human milk and blood serum SRMs for contaminant measurements

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)) NIST has issued four new Standard Reference Materials to help researchers accurately measure organic contaminants in human body fluids, including milk and blood serum.

Unexpectedly long-range effects in advanced magnetic devices

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)) 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.

NIST develops novel ion trap for sensing force and light

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)) 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.

Genetically engineered mice yield clues to 'knocking out' cancer

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)) 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.

New e-science service could accelerate cancer research

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Manchester) The University of Manchester and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory's European Bioinformatics Institute have launched a major new e-science resource for biologists -- which could accelerate research into treatments for H1N1 flu and cancer.

Researchers find clear difference in quality, type of lung cancer info available in US and Japan

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer) A study published in the July 2009 issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology revealed that internet-based lung cancer information was of a higher quality in the United States than in Japan. Dr. Yasushi Goto of the National Cancer Center Hospital in Tokyo and his team of researchers evaluated 150 Web sites, and determined noticeable differences in the quality and type of information on lung cancer available over the Internet in the two countries.

Microbial analysis, micropatterning methods featured in Cold Spring Harbor Protocols

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) 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.

New statistical technique improves precision of nanotechnology data

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Georgia Institute of Technology Research News) A new statistical analysis technique that identifies and removes systematic bias, noise and equipment-based artifacts from experimental data could lead to more precise and reliable measurement of nanomaterials and nanostructures likely to have future industrial applications.

Using the Internet to help young smokers quit

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Illinois at Chicago) The University of Illinois at Chicago is leading a $2.9 million National Cancer Institute project to increase demand for evidence-based, Internet-based smoking cessation treatment among young adults.

UT Austin professor honored with prestigious mathematics award

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics) Mary F. Wheeler, of the University of Texas at Austin, will be awarded the Theodore von Kármán Prize at the SIAM Annual Meeting for her seminal research in numerical methods for partial differential equations, her leadership in the field of scientific computation and service to the scientific community, and for her pioneering work in the application of computational methods to the engineering sciences, most notably in geosciences.

Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden professor to receive prestigious prize in mathematics

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics) The W.T. and Idalia Reid Prize in Mathematics will be awarded to Anders Lindquist at the annual meeting of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics in Denver, July 6-10. Lindquist is being recognized for his fundamental contributions to the theory of stochastic systems, signals, and control. He is head of the Division of Optimization and Systems Theory and director of the Strategic Center for Industrial and Applied Mathematics both at the Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden.

New lab-on-a-chip measures mechanics of bacteria colonies

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Michigan) Researchers at the University of Michigan have devised a microscale tool to help them understand the mechanical behavior of biofilms, slimy colonies of bacteria involved in most human infectious diseases.

Stirred, not shaken: Bio-inspired cilia mix medical reagents at small scales

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Washington) Engineers used a novel underwater manufacturing technique to successfully build biomimetic cilia. The hairlike appendages mix tiny volumes of liquid to speed up biomedical reactions.