|
| BONN SCIENTISTS DISCOVER NEW HEMOGLOBIN TYPE. INSTRUMENTS FALSELY REPORT ANOXIA IN AFFECTED PEOPLE. |
| Scientists at the University of Bonn have discovered a new rare type of haemo-globin. Haemoglobin transports oxygen in the red blood corpuscles. When bound to oxygen it changes colour. The new haemoglobin type appears optically to be transporting little oxygen. Measurements of the blood oxygen level therefore present a similar picture to patients suffering from an inherited cardiac defect. |
|
| BUGS MAKE FURNITURE GLOW IN THE DARK |
| Prototypes of futuristic domestic furniture that glow with the light of communicating bacteria have been produced as result of an unusual collaboration. |
|
| EVOLVED DNA STITCHES ITSELF UP |
| Researchers have managed to create bits of DNA that can stitch themselves together without a helping hand from other molecules. By contrast, natural DNA needs enzymes to stitch itself up, correct mutations, or make copies of itself. |
|
| GENETIC DOPING IS NEXT OLYMPIC THREAT |
| Athletes once used ginseng, opium and steroids from sheep testicles to enhance their performance. |
|
| BIOLOGICAL CLOCK MAY CARRY ON TICKING |
| Female mice are can produce new eggs into adulthood and are not born with a limited number as previously thought, say U.S. scientists. |
|
| STANFORD STUDY QUESTIONS IDENTITY OF ALLEGED ROMANOV BONES |
| One of the most riveting detective stories of the last century supposedly ended in 1998, when the Russian government declared that bones excavated from a Siberian mass grave seven years earlier indeed belonged to the Romanovs, Russia's last royal family, who were executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918. |
|
| KANGAROOS TURN UP NOSES AT GUM LEAVES |
| Kangaroos are fussy eaters. They won't eat gum leaves or anything that grows near them because they don't like the smell, Australian research has found. |
|
| BACTERIA-EATING VIRUS MADE IN RECORD TIME |
| An artificial bacteria-eating virus has been made from synthetic genes in the record time of just two weeks. |
|
| US DEVELOPS LETHAL NEW VIRUSES |
| A scientist funded by the US government has deliberately created an extremely deadly form of mousepox, a relative of the smallpox virus, through genetic engineering. The new virus kills all mice even if they have been given antiviral drugs as well as a vaccine that would normally protect them. |
|
| ‘BACTERIA POWER’ USED TO REDUCE WASTE |
| Australian scientists are creating a range of bacteria-based products, which can clean up toxic dumps and convert waste into usable material, to tap into a $5 billion a year global environmental biotechnologies industry. |
|
| WIDESPREAD HYBRIDS RENEW GM CROP CONCERN |
| A national U.K. study, which has for the first time quantified how much hybridisation can occur between oilseed rape (canola) and related wild weeds, has reignited debate over the risks posed by GM crops. |
|
| PURDUE BIOLOGISTS' SPOTLIGHT SOLVES MYSTERIES OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS, METABOLISM. |
| A complete molecular-scale picture of how plants convert sunlight to chemical energy has been obtained at Purdue University, offering potential new insights into animal metabolism as well. |
|
| WHAT CAN THE GENOMICS REVOLUTION TEACH US ABOUT GLOBAL CHANGE? |
| While the scientific community has made tremendous investments in sequencing and interpreting animal and plant genes for biomedical applications, many researchers are looking at genomics to help solve problems in agriculture, such as impacts of global change. |
|
| AGGREGATION OF CLONED MOUSE EMBRYOS IMPROVES SURVIVAL RATE |
| Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have found a novel way to boost the paltry survival rate of cloned mammals: When two genetically identical cloned mouse embryos are combined, the aggregate embryo is considerably more likely to survive to birth. |
|
| YOUNG SEA ANIMALS CLONE THEMSELVES-CENTURY-OLD DEBATE HALTED |
| After more than a century of intensive study, scientists have assumed that larvae of non-parasitic invertebrates reproduce only very rarely, but new research by University of Alberta scientists overthrows this conventional wisdom. Graduate student Alexandra Eaves and Dr. Richard Palmer, from the U of A's Faculty of Science, have found that asexual cloning by some marine invertebrate larvae is not as rare and enigmatic a phenomenon as previously assumed. |
|
| ERASING BAD MEMORIES? |
| The day when long-term traumatic memories can be selectively wiped out is one step closer, claim Israeli scientists. |
|
| EATING PLANT MAY PROTECT AGAINST ASTHMA |
| Eating genetically modified plants could one day be used to 'immunise' sufferers against asthma, according Australian scientists who have engineered a new type of lupin. |
|
| GOOD SUMMER NEWS - LESS FATTENING WATERMELON |
| A less fattening but no-less sweet variety of watermelon has been developed by a Hebrew University of Jerusalem agricultural scientist. |
|
| WEEDKILLER MAY ENCOURAGE BLIGHT |
| A WIDELY used herbicide encourages the growth of toxic fungi that devastate wheat fields, laboratory studies by scientists working for the Canadian government suggest. |
|
| CONTROLLING BODY SIZE BY REGULATING THE NUMBER OF CELLS |
| Why are elephants bigger than mice? The main reason is that mice have fewer cells. Research published in Journal of Biology this week uncovers a key pathway that controls the number of cells in an animal, thereby controlling its size. |
|
| WORLD'S SMALLEST MOTOR IS A TECHNO MARVEL |
| A tiny motor, so small it could ride on the back of a virus, has been created by U.S. scientists in an achievement that will help advance the frontiers of nanotechnology. |
|
| SCIENTISTS BRING NEW TWIST TO ‘DEATH BY CHOCOLATE’ WITH CHOCOLATE FLAVOURED MOUSETRAP |
| A mousetrap made out of chocolate developed by scientists at the University of Warwick is set to bring a new meaning to ‘Death by Chocolate’. The novel invention leads mice into temptation with the irresistible, alluring scent of chocolate essence without the use of bait. |
|
| RESEARCHERS CREATE POTENTIAL TOXIC SENSOR CHIP BY COMBINING ELECTRONICS WITH LIVING CELL |
| In experiments conducted at the University of California, Berkeley, researchers have found a way to tap into the telltale electrical signals that mark cell death, opening the door to the creation of a "canary on a chip" that can be used to sound the alarm of a biochemical attack or test drug toxicity on human tissue. |
|
| GENE MAY PRODUCE DROUGHT-RESISTANT PLANTS |
| The identification and duplication of a gene that controls production of plants' outermost protective coating may allow Purdue University researchers to create crops with increased drought resistance. |
|
| HUMAN CLONING STILL LONG WAY OFF: EXPERTS |
| Science experts meeting in Germany have lashed out at 'charlatans' who claim to have reproduced human embryos and said that human cloning, while theoretically possible, is still a long way off. |
|
| NEW HAIR IN 15 DAYS |
| Scientists at the University of Michigan Medical School have discovered that the transient activation of a protein called ?-catenin can induce new hair growth. |
|
| TINY PROTEIN PREVENTS DISEASE-RELATED CELL DEATH |
| Researchers at The Burnham Institute have found that humanin, a small, 24-amino acid protein recently discovered in studies of Alzheimer’s Disease, suppresses activation of the protein Bax. Bax triggers pathologic cell death in a number of diseases, including Parkinson’s, stroke, heart attack and degeneration of ovaries during menopause. These results, to be published later this month in the journal Nature (currently available at the journal’s website), suggest a novel target for therapeutic design based on inhibiting the cell destructive activity of Bax. |
|
| CLONING HUMANS, PRIMATES MAY BE IMPOSSIBLE |
| The cloning of humans and other primates may not be possible with current techniques, U.S. scientists have found, after lab tests with cloned monkey cells showed inherent chaos during basic cell division. |
|
| TINY SELF-POWERED DNA COMPUTER UNVEILED |
| A new design for an extraordinarily tiny biochemical computer made of - and fuelled by - DNA has been announced by Israeli scientists. |
|
| ELECTRIC GEL GIVES SHARKS ABILITY TO SENSE HEAT |
| Sharks have a remarkable gel in their snouts that produces electricity in response to tiny temperature changes, giving them an added ability to spot prey, scientists have discovered. |
|
| EXPANDING THE GENETIC CODE: THE WORLD’S FIRST TRULY UNNATURAL ORGANISM |
| From time immemorial, every living thing has shared the same basic set of building blocks -- 20 amino acids from which all proteins are made. That is, until now: A group of scientists say they have, for the first time, created an organism that can produce a 21st amino acid and incorporate it into proteins completely on its own. The research should help probe some of the central questions of evolutionary theory. |
|
| DESIGNING A ROBOT THAT CAN SENSE HUMAN EMOTION |
| Forget the robot child in the movie "AI." Vanderbilt researchers Nilanjan Sarkar and Craig Smith have a less romantic but more practical idea in mind. |
|
| FROM THE BONE OF A HORSE, A NEW IDEA FOR AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES |
| The horse, a classic model of grace and speed on land, is now an unlikely source of inspiration for more efficient flight. |
|
| RESEARCHERS BEGIN TO UNLOCK GENETIC MYSTERIES OF DOWN SYNDROME |
| One of the most common genetic abnormalities is Down syndrome, which occurs when a person inherits three copies of chromosome 21 instead of the normal complement of two. Although the association has long been known, no one understands how the extra genetic material produces the syndrome, which is the most common genetic cause of mental retardation. |
|
| SCIENTISTS DISCOVER ANCIENT PROTEIN AND DNA SEQUENCES IN THE SAME FOSSIL |
| For the first time in the world, researchers at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, along with collaborators at the University of Oxford, Harvard University, and Michigan State University have uncovered two genetically informative molecules from a single fossil bone. In addition to the recovery of mitochondrial DNA, the complete sequencing of a bone protein, osteocalcin, makes this a major scientific breakthrough. Extending this work to additional fossils could change perceptions of evolutionary theory. Results of the study are published in the December issue of GEOLOGY, published by the Geological Society of America. |
|
| ONIONS WITHOUT TEARS? |
| Tear-free GM onions that still taste like onions may be possible following the discovery by Japanese researchers that the chemical in onions that makes you cry is not related to flavour. |
|
| BIG-BOTTOMED SHEEP HAVE A RARE GENETIC MUTATION THAT BUILDS MUSCLE, NOT FAT. |
| Scientists have discovered an elusive, mutated gene named for the Greek goddess, Aphrodite Kallipygos, that causes certain sheep to have unusually big and muscular bottoms. They hope the genetic mutation will illuminate how muscle and fat are deposited in these animals and possibly in humans. |
|
| MOZZIES EAT THEMSELVES TO DEATH |
| Researchers in Florida have developed a meal for mosquitos - designed to make them starve.
Produced in the form of yeast granules, the pesticide contains a hormone that occurs naturally in the ovaries of female adult mosquitos, but prevents digestion in the larvae. |
|
| WISCONSIN TEAM ENGINEERS HYDROGEN FROM BIOMASS |
| In the search for a nonpolluting energy source, hydrogen is often cited as a potential source of unlimited clean power. But hydrogen is only as clean as the process used to make it. Currently, most hydrogen is made from fossil fuels like natural gas using multi-step and high-temperature processes. |
|
| TOMORROW'S SUPER ROBOTS MAY OWE THEIR MOBILITY TO A COCKROACH’S LEGS TODAY |
| The marriage of machine and biology requires adopting the pliability and strength from the legs of this despised insect
The cockroach is an insect despised for its ubiquitousness, among other reasons. Yet, it may hold a key to the next evolutionary step in the "life" of robots. |
|
| TECHNIQUE TO INDUCE CANCER CELLS TO 'COMMIT SUICIDE' DEVELOPED BY HEBREW UNIVERSITY SCIENTISTS |
| A new technique for tricking cancer cells into "committing suicide" and thus preventing their spread has been developed by researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Their work is described in the September issue of Nature Biotechnology, which was published this week in its Internet version. |
|
| SCIENTISTS USE ALFALFA PLANTS TO HARVEST NANOPARTICLES OF GOLD |
| Ordinary alfalfa plants are being used as miniature gold factories that one day could provide the nanotechnology industry with a continuous harvest of gold nanoparticles. |
|
| FIRST LOOK AT 'BIONIC EYE' |
| An Australian-invented 'bionic eye' device is about to begin human trials.
The device consists of a silicon chip inserted into the eye, which is designed to act like a retina — receiving images captured by a pair of glasses worn by the user. |
|
| THE CONTRACEPTIVE PLAGUE |
| After more than a decade of trying, Australian researchers have created a highly infectious virus that could wipe out the country's rabbit pests by making them sterile. |
|
| LIGHT COULD REPAIR EYE INJURIES |
| HOW do you treat people blinded by light? With more light. Shining near-infrared radiation on damaged retinal cells can keep them alive and prevent permanent blindness.
The US Defense Advance Research Projects Agency is funding research into the method and hopes to use it to treat people whose eyes are damaged by lasers. A number of US military personnel, including a helicopter pilot over Bosnia in 1998, have suffered laser eye injuries. |
|
| SNAIL VENOM HERALDS NEW ERA OF PAIN TREATMENT |
| Australian scientists have taken out a full patent on a novel compound from a toxic marine snail that could be a godsend to sufferers of chronic pain. |
|
| BREAKTHROUGH IN CREATING BIO-ARTIFICIAL ORGANS AT HEBREW UNIVERSITY-HADASSAH DENTAL SCHOOL |
| Today people often must wait for months when they need an organ transplant. In the future, they may be able to simply give a tissue sample and then wait a week or two as the sample is used to custom-build the necessary organ, thanks to research conducted by Hebrew University Ph.D. candidate Gadi Pelled, DMD. He received the prestigious Kaye Award this year for his work. |
|
| UCLA RESEARCHERS CREATE FAST, INEXPENSIVE ORGANIC MEMORY DEVICE |
| Researchers at the UCLA School of Engineering have created an organic, nonvolatile memory device that is cheaper and faster than those currently in use. |
|
| AUSSIE BIO-CEMENT TO SAVE DUTCH DYKES |
| An Australian researcher is using bacteria to develop a biological cement that may help patch up failing Dutch dykes, essential in protecting the land from rising sea levels.
Vicky Whiffin of Murdoch University has been experimenting with bacteria which convert sand into sandstone, as part of her PhD research. |
|
| 'TROJAN HORSE' TECHNOLOGY DESTROYS BLOOD SUPPLY TO CANCER TUMORS IN MICE |
| Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have demonstrated in mice that a new drug formed by linking a vascular endothelial growth factor to a toxin will target and destroy the blood vessels supplying a malignant tumor. |
|
| STUDY OF AQUATIC MUSSELS INDICATES THEY MAY YIELD NEW ANTIFOULING MATERIALS, SURGICAL ADHESIVES |
| New insights into how aquatic mussels bind tightly to rocks and other surfaces could lead to surgical applications and improved adhesives, it was reported today at the Great Lakes Regional meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society. |
|
| BACTERIA POINT THE WAY TO GOLD DEPOSITS |
| Can bacteria help find gold? A pilot survey of 11 soil profiles across gold mining regions in the Peoples Republic of China indicates that elevated spore counts of Bacillus cereus, a common soil bacterium, were detected in areas adjacent to underlying gold deposits. |
|
| U OF MINNESOTA STUDY: ADULT BONE MARROW STEM CELLS CAN BECOME LIVER CELLS |
| Researchers at the University of Minnesota Stem Cell Institute (SCI) have demonstrated, for the first time, the ability of adult bone marrow stem cells to differentiate in vitro as hepatocytes (liver cells) with hepatocyte phenotype and function. The findings will be published in the May 15, 2002 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation. |
|
| MICROBIOLOGY TEAM PROBES BACTERIUM'S SURPRISING SURVIVAL TACTICS |
| A team of microbiologists affiliated with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (UMass) has uncovered the unusual survival strategies used by a common bacterium. The finding could have implications in cleaning up contaminants ranging from petroleum to uranium. |
|
| SOWING WHATEVER THE WEATHER |
| Good news for farmers. A special coating means seeds can be sown early in the season without fear that a cold spell will damage them. That should extend sowing seasons and increase yields. |
|
| THE NEW BIOLOGY OF ROCKS: 'ARE THERE MEDICAL IMPLICATIONS OF GEOMICROBIOLOGY?' |
| If microbial life is found on Mars, will it be native to the planet or something carried there from Earth? Either way, will it be safe to return samples of such organisms to Earth? Astrobiology, the search for life elsewhere, says a University of Illinois microbiologist, is making us look a lot closer at microbial life on Earth – how it adapts and its relationship to emerging infectious diseases. |
|
| POORER FARMERS BENEFIT MOST FROM ORGANIC PRACTICES |
| Farmers in developing countries are reaping the benefits of adopting ‘green’ agricultural practices far more than their western counterparts, suggests a report published today, Thursday 14 February. |
|
| QUICK BONE HEALING POSSIBLE |
| Australian researchers have developed a material that paves the way for more successful hip replacements.
Researchers at the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Queensland University of Technology report they have developed a material made of natural compounds that stimulates bone to grow and helps it attach to implants. |
|
| COMPOSTING PLASTIC |
| An Australian development means there will be one less thing to feel guilty about when you indulge in biscuits or chocolate - you will be able to put the packaging in the compost. |
|
| IS THIS THE CELL THAT COULD REVOLUTIONISE MEDICINE? |
| IT MIGHT turn out to be the most important cell ever discovered. It's a stem cell found in adults that can turn into every single tissue in the body.
Until now, only stem cells from early embryos were thought to be able to do this. If the finding is confirmed, it will mean cells from your own body could one day be turned into all sorts of perfectly matched replacement tissues and even organs. |
|
| EXPOSING INSECTS' SENSE OF SMELL |
| A key step in insects' sense of smell has been uncovered by researchers in Switzerland, the United States and Japan. The discovery could lead to insecticides that stop insects from communicating through chemical signals. |
|
| GENETIC MARKER TELLS SQUASH DOMESTICATION STORY |
| In the January 8 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), The Cucurbit Network and the University of Puerto Rico establish mitochondrial DNA analysis as a powerful tool for understanding relationships among flowering plants. |
|
| REQUIRED ACTIVATION 'CASCADE' IDENTIFIED FOR P53 TUMOR-SUPPRESSOR PROTEIN |
| The innocuously named protein p53 is among the most vital of molecules for regulating cell growth in the human body, and it represents one of the body's leading defenses against the uncontrolled growth of cancers as a result. Damaged variants of the tumor-suppressor p53 protein have been found in more than half of human cancers. |
|
| SENSOR, MOLECULAR DEVICE DEVELOPMENT FOCUS OF NSF FUNDED RESEARCH |
| Two Virginia Tech research projects -- to develop new sensors for detecting pathogens and DNA, and to improve molecular devices in electronic applications -- received Nanoscale Exploratory Research (NER) grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF). |
|
| ANIMAL STUDY FIND EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS CAN REPAIR HEART MUSCLE |
| Transplantation of embryonic stem cells can help repair injured heart muscle and improve cardiac function following heart attacks and the development of congestive heart failure (CHF), according to the results of an animal study conducted at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. |
|
| A MECHANICAL MEDICINAL LEECH? |
| US researchers have developed a mechanical leech which they say can replace the flesh-and-blood variety used to prevent blood from clotting in plastic surgery. |
|
| NEW U. OF COLORADO ELECTRON MICROSCOPES PROVIDE CELL IMAGES NEVER SEEN BEFORE |
| The University of Colorado at Boulder has acquired two new state-of-the-art electron microscopes and a suite of complementing computers that are providing three-dimensional images of cellular structures that have never been seen before. |
|
| BLOOD VESSELS GROWN IN LIVE ANIMALS |
| Biomedical engineers at the University of Michigan have grown a healthy network of blood vessels in live animals using implants that deliver critical growth enzymes sequentially as in nature. |
|
| WEAK SPERM COUNT DOES NOT ALWAYS MEAN INFERTILITY, STUDY SAYS |
| The nation's most in-depth study of the quality of sperm in nearly 1,500 men shows that sperm counts previously thought to be abnormal do not always mean infertility. The University of Rochester Medical Center research is published in the November 8, 2001 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. |
|
| GROWING WIRES IN WATER |
| US researchers have discovered a new way to grow microscopic electrical wires in water, and soon hope to be plugging into living cells. |
|
| YALE RESEARCHERS DEVELOP NEW MOLECULE THAT ERADICATES CANCER BY DESTROYING TUMOR BLOOD VESSELS |
| Researchers at Yale have developed a new molecule they call "icon" that targets blood vessels in tumors for destruction by the immune system without harming vessels in normal tissues. |
|
| FRESH EVIDENCE POINTS TO MARINE BACTERIA AS SOURCE OF ANTI-CANCER DRUG |
| Researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), have produced evidence that bacteria living inside a small marine animal may be the source of a new drug compound being developed to fight cancer. |
|
| NU PROFESSOR WORKS TOWARD A PERMANENTLY GERM-FREE SURFACE: POLYMER GLASS COATING CAPABLE OF KILLING AIRBORNE BACTERIA ON CONTACT |
| Whose hands were on that doorknob before yours? That handrail, pay phone, or subway pole? Kim Lewis, newly appointed professor of biology at Northeastern University in Boston, has worked with scientists at M.I.T. and Tufts University to ease our germ-fearing minds about this very thing. In their research, they demonstrate that covalent attachment of N-alkylated poly(4-vinylpyridine) (PVP) to glass surfaces can make surfaces permanently lethal to several types of bacteria on contact. |
|
| LAMBS' SEX CHOSEN BEFORE CONCEPTION |
| Researchers from the University of Sydney and US biotech firm XY Inc have successfully selected the sex of 24 out of 25 lambs before conception. An Australian first, the breakthrough is expected to benefit sheep breeders, who can potentially use the technology to select either females for breeding, or stud rams. |
|
| UCSD BIOENGINEERS FABRICATE JOINT CARTILAGE WHICH MIMICS STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF NATURAL TISSUE |
| University of California, San Diego (UCSD) bioengineers have fabricated cartilage tissue which for the first time mimics the multi-layered structure and cellular functions of natural articular cartilage. |
|
| IIT DEVELOPS TECHNOLOGY THAT MAY HELP DOCTORS IDENTIFY BLOOD PATHOGENS FASTER |
| Students at Illinois Institute of Technology have developed a unique sensing technology that will allow doctors to detect and identify pathogens in the blood much faster than conventional lab tests can. The sensing device, known as an electronic nose, is an array of small sensors that can detect gases given off by microscopic organisms including bacteria that can infect the blood such as e. coli and staphylococcus bacteria. The sensors are linked to a computer that can analyze the gas signature and compare it to signatures from known pathogens. |
|
| A STEP FORWARD IN NANOTECHNOLOGY |
| Nanotechnology is in the news. Forecasters paint a vision of microscopic machines that can fight viruses or alter the functioning of bodily systems, of power generators smaller than a penny, of entire medical laboratories in an area smaller than a credit card. The problem is, there is a huge gap between the devices we can design and those we can implement, given current technology. |
|
| PROTEIN-LIKE MOLECULES COULD FORM MEDICAL DEVICES, ELECTRONICS |
| A new kind of artificial protein-like molecule created at Ohio State University could one day lead to new drugs, new medical treatments - and even faster computer chips. |
|
| OPPORTUNITIES AND RISKS OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD |
| In its new publication, the Senate commission deals with issues concerning the objectives, application and legal framework of green genetic engineering. It comments on conceivable risks resulting from the cultivation and consumption of genetically modified plants or food and refers to safety precautions to protect the consumer. The statement focuses on food from transgenic plants. Animal food is to be dealt with at a later point in a separate publication. |
|
| HOW BACTERIA HARDEN THEIR ‘ARMOR’ |
| Duke biochemists have identified a key chemical reaction by which some important virulent bacteria alter their outer coat to make it antibiotic-resistant. The scientists say that their finding could lead to drugs to block such protective alteration, preventing bacteria from developing resistance. |
|
| UNIVERSITY OF ULSTER SPEARHEADS GIANT LEAP FORWARD IN MEDICINE |
| Researchers at the University of Ulster have uncovered a vital weapon in the fight against killer conditions like cancer and heart disease – frog venom. |
|
| GENE THERAPY MAY BE A TOOL TO PREVENT BLINDNESS |
| Reduces blinding blood vessel growth by up to 90 percent in laboratory mice. Gene therapy may one day be used to halt or even prevent the overgrowth of blood vessels in the eye that blinds patients with macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy, according to two recent studies led by researchers at Johns Hopkins' Wilmer Eye Institute. |
|
| MOTHERS TRANSMIT DNA THROUGH DAUGHTERS ONLY |
| Scientists have argued whether or not the often-studied mitochondrial DNA molecule is clonally inherited. It is with assuming clonal inheritance this type of DNA has been used to track the origin of modern human as well as to draw pictures of genetic relationships among other animals and plants. |
|
| LASER TECHNIQUE EXAMINES MOVEMENT IN NUCLEUS OF LIVING CELL |
| By colliding two laser beams head-on, scientists at the University of Illinois can measure the movement of chromatin (tiny packets of DNA) in the nucleus of a living cell. |
|
| WHEN ANTIBODIES TURN AGAINST YOU |
| Australian immunologists have found that the Ross River virus uses antibodies, which normally neutralise viral invaders, to its own advantage. |
|
| PLASTIC TUBE MAY HELP TREAT PARALYSIS |
| Canadian researchers have created a plastic tube that fits around the spinal cord and restores some movement in paralyzed rats, according to research presented at the 222nd national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society. The researchers say the work could lead to a new treatment for paralysis in humans. |
|
| SYNTHETIC ANTIFREEZE COULD PREVENT ICE GROWTH |
| A fish swimming in icy polar waters is helping scientists find ways to protect food from freezer burn, save fruit crops from frost, and use low temperature storage in complicated medical procedures like human organ transplants, researchers report. |
|
| DIGITAL ORGANISMS USED TO CONFIRM EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS |
| Using a revolutionary computer program that gives scientists the opportunity to watch evolution take place before their eyes
using "digital organisms," a team of researchers from Michigan State University and Caltech has confirmed an evolutionary process long suspected but, until now, unproven. |
|
| NSF AWARDS INTERDISCIPLINARY PENN TEAM $1.45 MILLION TO STUDY, DEVELOP BUILDING BLOCKS OF NANOSTRUCTURES |
| The National Science Foundation has awarded $1.45 million to scientists at the University of Pennsylvania, establishing a new Nanotechnology Science and Engineering Center that will seek out the building blocks of next-generation nanostructures. |
|
