By using a laser microbeam technology called optical tweezers, researchers have uncovered fundamental properties of the Notch network, a key molecular signaling system involved with development, cancer and cardiovascular disease.
The hearing impaired may soon have an easier time communicating with those who do not understand sign language due to a new device. During the past semester, students in engineering technology and industrial design programs teamed up to develop the concept and prototype for MyVoice, a device that reads sign language and translates its motions into audible words.
The term “holiday heart syndrome” was coined in a 1978 study to describe patients with atrial fibrillation who experienced a common and potentially dangerous form of heart palpitation after excessive drinking, which can be common during the winter holiday season. The symptoms usually went away when the revelers stopped drinking. Now new research builds on that finding, establishing a stronger causal link between alcohol consumption and serious palpitations in patients with atrial fibrillation, the most common form of arrhythmia.
Ah, June. It marks the end of school, the start of summer ... and the official start of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, which got off to an early start in May with the formation of Tropical Storms Alberto and Beryl. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasters are calling for a near-normal hurricane season this year. But whether the season turns out to be wild or wimpy, understanding what makes these ferocious storms form and rapidly intensify is a continuing area of scientific research, and is the focus of the NASA-led Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) airborne mission that kicks off this summer.
A Venus transit across the face of the sun is a relatively rare event -- occurring in pairs with more than a century separating each pair. There have been all of 53 transits of Venus across the sun between 2000 B.C. and the last one in 2004. On Wednesday, June 6 (Tuesday, June 5 from the Western Hemisphere), Earth gets another shot at it -- and the last for a good long while. But beyond this uniquely celestial oddity, why has Venus been an object worthy of ogling for hundreds of centuries?
Recent findings from NASA's Cassini mission reveal that Saturn's geyser moon Enceladus provides a special laboratory for watching unusual behavior of plasma, or hot ionized gas. In these recent findings, some Cassini scientists think they have observed "dusty plasma," a condition theorized but not previously observed on site, near Enceladus. Data from Cassini's fields and particles instruments also show that the usual "heavy" and "light" species of charged particles in normal plasma are actually reversed near the plume spraying from the moon's south polar region.
The culmination of a comprehensive high-tech assessment of Fallen Leaf Lake -- a small moraine-bound lake at the south end of the Lake Tahoe Basin -- shows that stands of pre-Medieval trees in the lake suggest the region experienced severe drought at least every 650 to 1,150 years during the mid- and late-Holocene period.
A new type of durable, environmentally-benign blue pigment has also been found to have unusual characteristics in reflecting heat -- it's a "cool blue" compound that could become important in new approaches to saving energy in buildings.
A recent study of the impact of climate change on butterflies suggests that some species might adapt much better than others, with implications for the pollination and herbivory associated with these and other insect species.
Scientists have developed a unique materials approach to multilayered, ceramic-based, 3-D microelectronics circuits, such as those used in cell phones. The approach compensates for how changes due to temperature fluctuations affect something called the temperature coefficient of resonant frequency, a critical property of materials used in radio and microwave frequency applications.
Quantum computers are still years away, but a trio of theoretical physicists can already make the claim "there's an app for that." The theorists have developed a mathematical algorithm that will be used by a future quantum computer to study the inner workings of the universe in ways that are far beyond the reach of even the most powerful conventional supercomputers.
The current theory of continental drift provides a good model for understanding terrestrial processes through history. However, while plate tectonics is able to successfully shed light on processes up to three billion years ago, the theory isn't sufficient in explaining the dynamics of Earth and crust formation before that point and through to the earliest formation of planet, some 4.6 billion years ago.
Astronomers have found an exceptionally distant galaxy, ranked among the top 10 most distant objects currently known in space. Light from the recently detected galaxy left the object about 800 million years after the beginning of the universe, when the universe was in its infancy. The team of astronomers identified the remote galaxy after scanning a moon-sized patch of sky with an instrument on the Magellan Telescopes at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile.
Exercise helps to alleviate pain related to nerve damage (neuropathic pain) by reducing levels of certain inflammation-promoting factors, suggests an experimental study.
An simple technique using local anesthetic mixed with magnetized "ferrofluids" may provide a new approach to preventing a rare but serious complication of spinal anesthesia.
Children exposed to open-fire cooking in developing countries experience difficulty with memory, problem-solving and social skills. Research in the past decade has identified numerous health risks to children who are exposed regularly to smoke from open fires used in cooking. But until now, no one has associated smoke from cooking fires with deficits in cognitive development.
Medical researchers have identified the chromosomal make-up of a human egg. This discovery may soon allow them to avoid using abnormal -- or aneuploid -- eggs during infertility treatments, and instead to pick eggs that are healthy enough for a successful in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle.
As illustrated by the 2011 E. coli outbreak in Germany, any delay in identifying the source of food poisoning outbreaks can cost lives and cause considerable political and economical damage. Scientists have now shown that difficulties in finding the sources of contamination behind food poisoning cases are inevitable due to the increasing complexity of a global food traffic network where food products are constantly crossing country borders, generating a worldwide network.
Daily consumption of dark chocolate can reduce cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks and strokes, in people with metabolic syndrome (a cluster of factors that increases the risk of developing heart disease and diabetes), finds a new study
On May 17, 2012, an M-class flare exploded from the sun. They caused a shower of particles to cascade down toward Earth's surface. The shower created what's called a ground level enhancement (GLE).
Researchers have used experiments and numerical calculations to show that iron, in the absence of oxygen, can substitute for magnesium in RNA binding, folding and catalysis. The findings suggest that three billion years ago, on the early Earth, iron did the chemical work now done by magnesium.
A new solid oxide fuel cell system can achieve a record of up to 57 percent efficiency and is designed to be scaled up to generate electricity for individual homes or neighborhoods.
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