Science blog

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 05:08:36 GMT

Calla palustris

I suppose if one wanted to be pedantic, this would be the only species one could call a calla lily (though it"s not a lily), as Calla palustris is the sole member of its genus. What many English-speaking people generally call calla lilies are members of the related genus, Zantedeschia. To be fair, though, species now named Zantedeschia were (all?) formerly in Calla.Calla palustris is native to cool temperate areas of the northern hemisphere. Its North American range nearly overlaps the expanse of taiga in North America, so one could draw the same conclusion about its presence in Eurasia roughly paralleling the Eurasian extent of taiga. This is almost the case, though notably it can also be found in central Europe as far southwest as France.

The Plants for a Future database provides information on the economic botany of the species (Calla palustris), including its use as a food (with appropriate cautions).

The epithet palustris refers to the preferred habitat: "of marshes" or "of swamps".

Agriculture resource links: A critical component of global food security is to preserve the various strains of heritage fruits and vegetables. Certain hybrids may be more resistant to particular diseases, others may be more adapted to local climates and others may have the highest nutritional value (as examples of reasons why). I"ve received a number of emails today about the potential destruction of the Pavlovsk Experimental Station, which has "5,500 different varieties of apples, pears, cherries, and numerous berry species -- most of which occur nowhere else on Earth and were developed over hundreds of years by farmers in northern Europe, Scandinavia and Russia" (quoted from The Scientist, read more: "Critical plant bank in danger"). Nature.com is also reporting on the story, "Europe"s largest berry bank faces closure". The Global Crop Diversity Trust is working to prevent the destruction of the station and its crop diversity (if you intend to sign their petition and do not reside in the USA, use this one instead of the one in the middle of the Global Crop Diversity Trust page (which seems to assume one resides in the USA)). Posted by: Daniel Mosquin      Read more     Source

August 26, 2010, 11:17 PM CT

Artificial enzyme removes natural poison

For the first time ever, a completely man-made chemical enzyme has been successfully used to neutralise a toxin found naturally in fruits and vegetables.

Proof of concept for artificial enzymes.

Chemzymes are designed molecules emulating the targeting and efficiency of naturally occurring enzymes and the recently graduated Dr. Bjerre is pleased about her results.

"Showing that these molecules are capable of decomposing toxins mandatory vast amounts of work and time. But it's been worth every minute because it proves the general point that it's possible to design artificial enzymes for this class of task", explains Bjerre.

Simple molecules performing complex tasks.

Most people know enzymes as an ingredient in detergents. In our bodies enzymes are in charge of decomposing everything we eat, so that our bodies can absorb the nutrients. But they also decompose ingested toxins, ensuring that our bodies survive the encounter.

In several important aspects artificial enzymes function in the same way as naturally occurring ones. But where natural enzymes are big and complex, the artificial ones have been pared down to the basics.

The flat-nosed plier of the molecular world.

One consequence of this simplicity is that designing chemzymes for targeted tasks ought to be easier. With fewer parts, there's less to go wrong when changing the structure of chemzymes. And for enzymes as well as for their artificial counterparts even small changes in structure will have massive consequences for functionality......... Posted by: Beverly      Read more         Source

August 26, 2010, 7:24 AM CT

Evolution writ small

A unique experiment at Rice University that forces bacteria into a head-to-head competition for evolutionary dominance has yielded new insights about the way Darwinian selection plays out at the molecular level. An exacting new analysis of the experiment has revealed precisely how specific genetic mutations impart a physical edge in the competition for survival.

The new research, which could lead to more effective strategies to combat antibiotic drug resistance, was the most downloaded article this month in the journal Molecular Systems Biology

The research builds upon an ingenious 2005 study involving bacteria called "thermophiles," which thrive at high temperatures. Scientists in the laboratory of Rice biochemist Yousif Shamoo "knocked out" a key gene that allowed the thermophiles to make energy at high temperatures. These crippled versions of the bacteria were then grown inside fermentors for several weeks. Each day, the temperature of the fermentors was increased. As a result, the bacteria were forced to either starve or adapt to survive at high temperature.

Of the hundreds of possible mutations, only five proved successful in allowing the cells to adapt and survive at high temperature. Each of these had mutations in a gene that creates a key enzyme that helps make energy at high temperature. Each of the five made a slightly different version of the enzyme......... Posted by: Beverly      Read more         Source

August 26, 2010, 7:03 AM CT

Fuel treatments reduce wildfire severity

A study conducted by U.S. Forest Service and University of Washington (UW) researchers has observed that fuel therapyseven of only a few acrescan reduce fire severity and protect older trees desirable for their timber, wildlife, and carbon-storage value. The finding is part of a three-year study of the 175,000-acre Tripod Fire and is reported in the recent issue of Canadian Journal of Forest Research

"This study provides the most definitive evidence yet of the effectiveness of fuel therapys in dry forests of the Pacific Northwest," said Susan Prichard, a UW research scientist and senior author of the study. "If dense forests are thinned and the surface fuels are removed, then ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir trees have a better chance of surviving an intense wildfire".

Prichard and her Forest Service colleagues quantified tree mortality on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest in an area affected by the 2006 Tripod Fire, which burned through forested areas managed to reduce potential fire hazard. Because of the management history of the area, the scientists were able to compare untreated stands, stands that were thinned, and stands that were thinned and then underwent prescribed burns to remove surface fuels.

Results of the comparison revealed that the Tripod Complex fires killed over 80% of trees in stands without therapy and in stands with thinning only. Nearly 60% of trees survived in stands with thinning plus fuel therapy, and three-quarters of larger treesthose with diameters larger than 8 inchessurvived......... Posted by: Beverly      Read more         Source

August 24, 2010, 7:19 AM CT

Explaining graphene mystery

Nanoscale simulations and theoretical research performed at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory are bringing researchers closer to realizing graphene's potential in electronic applications.

A research team led by ORNL's Bobby Sumpter, Vincent Meunier and Eduardo Cruz-Silva has discovered how loops develop in graphene, an electrically conductive high-strength low-weight material that resembles an atomic-scale honeycomb.

Structural loops that sometimes form during a graphene cleaning process can render the material unsuitable for electronic applications. Overcoming these types of problems is of great interest to the electronics industry.

"Graphene is a rising star in the materials world, given its potential for use in precise electronic components like transistors or other semiconductors," said Bobby Sumpter, a staff scientist at ORNL.

The team used quantum molecular dynamics to simulate an experimental graphene cleaning process, as discussed in a paper published in Physical Review Letters. Calculations performed on ORNL supercomputers pointed the scientists to an overlooked intermediate step during processing.

Imaging with a transmission electron microscope, or TEM, subjected the graphene to electron irradiation, which ultimately prevented loop formation. The ORNL simulations showed that by injecting electrons to collect an image, the electrons were simultaneously changing the material's structure......... Posted by: Beverly      Read more         Source

August 11, 2010, 7:24 PM CT

Building muscle doesn't require lifting heavy weights

Current gym dogma holds that to build muscle size you need to lift heavy weights. However, a newly released study conducted at McMaster University has shown that a similar degree of muscle building can be achieved by using lighter weights. The secret is to pump iron until you reach muscle fatigue.

The findings are published in PLoS ONE

"Rather than grunting and straining to lift heavy weights, you can grab something much lighter but you have to lift it until you can't lift it anymore," says Stuart Phillips, associate professor of kinesiology at McMaster University. "We're convinced that growing muscle means stimulating your muscle to make new muscle proteins, a process in the body that over time accumulates into bigger muscles."

Phillips praised main author and senior Ph.D. student Nicholas Burd for masterminding the project that showed it's really not the weight that you lift but the fact that you get muscular fatigue that's the critical point in building muscle. The study used light weights that represented a percentage of what the subjects could lift. The heavier weights were set to 90% of a person's best lift and the light weights at a mere 30% of what people could lift. "It's a very light weight," says Phillips noting that the 90-80% range is commonly something people can lift from 5-10 times before fatigue sets in. At 30%, Burd reported that subjects could lift that weight at least 24 times before they felt fatigue......... Posted by: Beverly      Read more         Source

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 03:49:04 GMT

Interview with Victor Ambros

There is an interesting interview with Victor Ambros in the latest edition of PLoS Genetics.

Here"s his thoughts on his Lasker Award:
And so it has very little to do, frankly, with the particular person getting the award. What the award represents is a process that involves interactions amongst many, many people. And the end, one person ends up getting the award. It"s really important to try to acknowledge that and understand the fact that really everything that happens in science, including the discoveries that people try to acknowledge by awards, are really the products of this confluence of people"s histories and people"s interactions. I really believe that science gets done by people with average abilities and talents, for the most part, and when something special happens, enough so that people want to acknowledge it with an award, it was really…in large part…luck!

We try to say to the public, here"s an award for somebody who"s really, really special. But actually, it"s not the somebody who is really special, it"s the science that is special. The way we do science, and the way it works is so amazing. I wish non-scientists would better understand this. That science is a community exercise, that it involves people interacting, that it involves a lot of good fortune in the context of people trying to do something really carefully and following curiosity. That"s why it works so well!

Words to live by! Posted by: Dennehy      Read more     Source

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 03:25:01 GMT

Butomus umbellatus

Thank you once again to Marianne, aka marcella2@Flickr, for contributing a photograph to Botany Photo of the Day (original image | Botany Photo of the Day Flickr Pool). Always glad to have an image from a vascular plant family that hasn"t yet been featured on BPotD!

Butomus umbellatus is the sole member of the monotypic genus Butomus, itself in turn the sole member of the monotypic Butomaceae. The closest living relatives to this freshwater aquatic are species in the Hydrocharitaceae (a family that includes both freshwater and marine aquatics).

Known as flowering rush (though it isn"t a true rush), Butomus umbellatus has a distribution that spans much of Europe and western Asia. Introduction into North America (believed to be for use as a garden plant) has resulted in widespread dispersal through the north temperate parts of the continent, and it is considered an invasive species. The page on Butomus umbellatus from the Noxious Weeds of King County explains the difficulty in controlling this species once it has established, so preventing dispersal is paramount.

For additional photographs, see the Flora of Israel"s page on Butomus umbellatus or the Robert W. Freckmann Herbarium"s page on Butomus umbellatus.

On a technical BPotD note: a few people have noticed that BPotD images are failing to display completely on a consistent basis. I believe this is because of the IUCN Red List "Species of the Day" box that appears at the bottom of the daily posting. The "Species of the Day" is an embedded feed -- meaning that for it to display, the IUCN web server is contacted each time a BPotD daily page is loaded and then the IUCN web server supplies the graphic. I think that from time to time, the IUCN web server gets overloaded -- and this halts the loading of the BPotD page (and images) while your browser tries (and tries) to gather the information it needs from the IUCN server. Two possible solutions: 1) you can reload / refresh the page when this does occur (Ctrl-R on a PC with Firefox, or hit the reload button); or 2) I can remove the IUCN Red List Species of the Day box (which will be done anyway come Jan. 1). My preference is for option 1.

Photography resource link: the landscape photography of Joel Truckenbrod (portfolio), emphasizing the Upper Midwest of the USA. Posted by: Daniel Mosquin      Read more     Source

July 23, 2010, 7:01 AM CT

Nanowick at heart of new system

Scientists have shown that an advanced cooling technology being developed for high-power electronics in military and automotive systems is capable of handling roughly 10 times the heat generated by conventional computer chips.

The miniature, lightweight device uses tiny copper spheres and carbon nanotubes to passively wick a coolant toward hot electronics, said Suresh V. Garimella, the R. Eugene and Susie E. Goodson Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University.

This wicking technology represents the heart of a new ultrathin "thermal ground plane," a flat, hollow plate containing water.

Similar "heat pipes" have been in use for more than two decades and are found in laptop computers. However, they are limited to cooling about 50 watts per square centimeter, which is good enough for standard computer chips but not for "power electronics" in military weapons systems and hybrid and electric vehicles, Garimella said.

The research team from Purdue, Thermacore Inc. and Georgia Tech Research Institute is led by Raytheon Co., creating the compact cooling technology in work funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA.

The team is working to create heat pipes about one-fifth the thickness of commercial heat pipes and covering a larger area than the conventional devices, allowing them to provide far greater heat dissipation......... Posted by: Beverly      Read more         Source

July 8, 2010, 6:49 AM CT

New Clue Into Cellular Aging

The ability to combat some age-related diseases, such as cancer and diabetes, may rest with researchers unlocking clues about the molecular and cellular processes governing aging. The underlying theory is that if the healthy portion of an individual's life span can be extended, it may delay the onset of certain age-related diseases. In the search to understand these molecular processes, scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School have uncovered an important new DAF-16 isoform - DAF-16d/f - that collaborates with other DAF-16 protein isoforms to regulate longevity.

Part of the insulin signaling pathway, DAF-16 plays a critical role in many biological processes in C. elegans, including longevity, lipid metabolism, stress response and development, and is the center of a complex network of genes and proteins. Prior studies have identified the isoform - a different form of the same protein - DAF-16a as a regulator of longevity; genetically knocking down the DAF-16a isoform shortens C. elegans' life span. In a newly released study appearing in the July 7 advanced online edition of Nature, Heidi A. Tissenbaum, PhD, associate professor of molecular medicine, and his colleagues in the Program in Gene Function and Expression at UMass Medical School, show that the newly discovered isoform DAF-16d/f works in concert with DAF-16a to promote organismal life span......... Posted by: Beverly      Read more         Source

July 1, 2010, 7:18 AM CT

Unpeeling Atoms and Molecules from the Inside Out

Menlo Park, Calif.-The first published scientific results from the world's most powerful hard X-ray laser, located at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, show its unique ability to control the behaviors of individual electrons within simple atoms and molecules by stripping them away, one by one-in some cases creating hollow atoms.

These early results-one published recently, the other last week-describe in great detail how the Linac Coherent Light Source's intense pulses of X-ray light change the very atoms and molecules they are designed to image. Controlling those changes will be critical to achieving the atomic-scale images of biological molecules and movies of chemical processes that the LCLS is designed to produce.

In a report reported in the July 1 issue of Nature, a team led by Argonne National Laboratory physicist Linda Young describes how they were able to tune LCLS pulses to selectively strip electrons, one by one, from atoms of neon gas. By varying the photon energies of the pulses, they could do it from the outside in or-a more difficult task-from the inside out, creating so-called "hollow atoms."

"Until very recently, few believed that a free-electron X-ray laser was even possible in principle, let alone capable of being used with this precision," said William Brinkman, director of DOE's Office of Science. "That's what makes these results so exciting."........ Posted by: Beverly      Read more         Source

June 30, 2010, 7:12 AM CT

Robotic fish gives clues about group dynamics

To gain insights into group dynamics for the study of collective animal behavior in moving groups, robots have a valuable role to play. Enter "Robofish", a computer-controlled replica stickleback that can be programmed to move around a tank. The brainchild of biologists from the University of Leeds in the UK, Robofish can both recruit and lead fish and shed light on what motivates fish in a shoal to change direction - in this case, the number of neighboring fish is more influential than the absolute distance from the shoal leader. The findings have just been published in Springer's journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

Lead author of the study Jolyon Faria and his team introduce a novel tool to study the collective behavior of fish, and in particular, how individuals influence the movement of others in the group. They constructed Robofish and looked at two types of interaction between three-spined sticklebacks and Robofish: recruitment of fish from a refuge and initiation of a new swimming direction to test leadership. They placed Robofish in a tank with live fish collected from the Great Eau river estuary in the UK and observed the fishes' behavior in response to Robofish leaving the refuge, and shortly after, making a 90 degree turn.

Robofish quickly encouraged single fish out of the tank refuge, that would normally hesitate to venture out, and was able to make both single fish and fish in groups of up to ten turn inside the tank in the same direction as itself, demonstrating Robofish's ability to be a leader. The influence of Robofish fell after the first 30 minutes the fish had spent in the new tank......... Posted by: Beverly      Read more         Source

June 24, 2010, 11:26 PM CT

Translating Language of Nanopores

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researchers have moved a step closer to developing the means for a rapid diagnostic blood test that can scan for thousands of disease markers and other chemical indicators of health. The team reports* it has learned how to decode the electrical signals generated by a nanopore-a "gate" less than 2 nanometers wide in an artificial cell membrane.

Nanopores are not new themselves; for more than a decade, researchers have sought to use a nanopore-based electrical detector to characterize single-stranded DNA for genetic sequencing applications. More recently, NIST researchers turned their attention to using nanopores to identify, quantify and characterize each of the more than 20,000 proteins the body produces-a capability that would provide a snapshot of a patient's overall health at a given moment. But while nanopores permit molecules to enter into them one at a time, determining what specific individual molecule has just passed through has not been easy.

To address this problem, members of the NIST team that previously developed a method to distinguish both the size and concentration of each type of molecule the nanopore admits** have now answered the question of just how these single molecules interact with the nanopore. Their new theoretical model describes the physics and chemistry of how the nanopore, in effect, parses a molecule, an understanding that will advance the use of nanopores in the medical field......... Posted by: Beverly      Read more         Source

June 24, 2010, 10:39 PM CT

Green, bio-based process for producing fuel additive

A new green, bio-based method for producing a much-used fuel additive and industrial chemical that is currently made from petroleum products has been developed by an Iowa State University researcher.

Thomas Bobik, professor of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology, invented a process for manufacturing isobutene (isobutylene) by identifying a new, natural enzyme that produces the fuel organically.

Bobik, along with David Gogerty, a doctoral student working with him on the project, think that once more research is completed, there could be huge benefits to the biofuels industry.

"I would emphasize that we are very early on in the process," said Bobik. "But isobutene has some special properties that could have a big impact."

Bobik's enzyme makes it possible to convert the glucose found naturally in plants to make isobutene. The enzyme is found naturally in about half of all organisms in the world.

While patent applications proceed, Bobik will not disclose the specific enzyme.

Isobutene is a gas used to produce chemicals and also in the manufacturing of fuel additives, adhesives, plastics and synthetic rubber.

It can be chemically converted to isooctane, which is a fuel that could be used to replace gasoline additive methyl tert-butyl ether (MBTE), which can be environmentally harmful......... Posted by: Beverly      Read more         Source

June 9, 2010, 11:11 PM CT

Beading-saliva mystery

Scientists have discovered precisely why strands of some fluids containing long molecules called polymers form beads when stretched, findings that could be used to improve industrial processes and for administering drugs in "personalized medicine".

"Any kindergartner is familiar with this beading phenomenon, which you can demonstrate by stretching a glob of saliva between your thumb and forefinger," said Osman Basaran, Purdue's Burton and Kathryn Gedge Professor of Chemical Engineering.

Before the strand of spittle breaks, a string of beads is formed.

"The question is, why does this beading take place only in some fluids containing polymers but not others?" Basaran said.

Now engineers and researchers at Purdue, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Rice University have solved the riddle in work led by Purdue postdoctoral researcher Pradeep Bhat. The scientists have determined the mechanism behind the beading and created a computational model to simulate the phenomenon.

Knowing the answer to this question might enable scientists to design systems that precisely control bead formation, leading to improvements in various technologies such as inkjet printing. The information also might be used in a system that precisely dispenses the correct dose of medications for individual patients based on simple blood tests......... Posted by: Beverly      Read more         Source

March 22, 2010, 8:05 PM CT

New 'smart' roof reads the thermometer

Top a building with a light-colored "cool roof," and it reflects sunlight, cutting air conditioning bills in summer, but increasing winter heating costs. Choose black shingles, and the roof soaks up sunlight to cut winter heating costs but makes the roof bake in the summer sun. One or the other. You can't have it both ways.

Until now.

Researchers today reported the development of a "smart" roof coating, made from waste cooking oil from fast food restaurants, that can "read" a thermometer. The coating automatically switches roles, reflecting or transmitting solar heat, when the outdoor temperature crosses a preset point that can be tuned to the local climate.

They described the coating at the 239th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), being held here this week.

Roofs coated with the material would reflect scorching summer sunlight and reduce sticker-shock air-conditioning bills. When chilly weather sets in, the coating would change roles and transmit heat to help warm the interior.

"This is one of the most innovative and practical roofing coating materials developed to date," said Ben Wen, Ph.D., leader of the research project. He is the vice-president of United Environment & Energy LLC in Horseheads, N.Y. "This bio-based intelligent roof coating, compared with a traditional cool roof, could reduce both heating and cooling costs as it responds to the external environment. It will help save fuel and electricity and reduce emissions of volatile organic compounds from petroleum-based roofing products. In addition, it will provide a new use for millions of gallons of waste oil after it is used to cook french fries and chicken nuggets." ......... Posted by: Beverly      Read more         Source

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:45:46 GMT

Kennedia nigricans

It"s early March, so it"s time for my mind to drift to thoughts of visiting California for wildflowers and gardens. This photograph is from my 2008 foray, when I visited the Arboretum at the University of California Santa Cruz.

The UCSC Arboretum is famed for its extensive southern hemisphere collections. Accordingly, this vine / climber is a species from Western Australia, Kennedia nigricans, variously known as black kennedia, black coral-pea, black-bean or snakevine. As Wikipedia notes, Kennedia nigricans is a "vigorous" plant used for covering embankments or structures (and this was the case at UCSC Arboretum, where it enveloped a trellis if I recall correctly). As noted by Rodger Elliot, though, in Australian Plants Online: Australian Climbing Plants: "....it is worth considering....using climbers by letting them wander through other plants. There are many Australian climbers which are not overly vigorous which are ideal for this purpose but you need to be selective. If you try this with Kennedia nigricans, K.retrorsa or K.rubicunda you"ll find that not only will other plants in the garden be swamped but your fence may also be overcome and end up lying horizontal! I"ve seen K.nigricans kill a forest oak (Allocasuarina torulosa) just by smothering it." Given that individuals can reach at least 4m high and have a spread of 6m, it seems a species to be judiciously used in cultivated situations.

Nearly 80% of the world"s antibiotics (including antibacterials and antifungals) are derived from soil-borne bacteria, primarily from the genus Streptomyces. However, it is also known that some streptomycetes can live within plants as endophytic bacteria. Not all plant species have endophytic streptomycetes, and the minority that do typically only have one or two species. In one survey of Kennedia nigricans, though, thirty-nine species were discovered: Scanning electron microscopy of some endophytic streptomycetes in snakevine - Kennedia nigricans (Castillo et. al., 2006, doi:10.1002/sca.4950270606). Of the thirty-nine, seven were found to have antibacterial or antifungal properties. Posted by: Daniel Mosquin      Read more     Source

February 18, 2010, 9:47 PM CT

Transforming skin cells into stem cells

In an effort to sidestep the ethical dilemma involved in using human embryonic stem cells to treat diseases, researchers are in the process of developing non-controversial alternatives: In particular, they are looking for drug-like chemical compounds that can transform adult skin cells into the stem cells now obtained from human embryos. That's the topic of a fascinating article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), ACS' weekly newsmagazine.

C&EN Associate Editor Sarah Everts notes that in 2006, scientists in Japan figured out a way to use genetic engineering to coax a skin cell to become a so-called "pluripotent" stem cell a type of cell that can potentially morph or change into any cell of the human body. The researchers achieved the result by infecting the skin cell with a virus containing certain genes instructing the cell to change.

Now chemists are trying to reproduce this cellular alchemy with drug-like substances because gene therapies have faced trouble getting into the clinic. Researchers are looking for chemical ways to go backward in cell development to reprogram mature cells into stem cells. Others are trying to identify substances that can morph one cell directly into other cell types for example, from a skin cell directly into a nerve cell that might treat Parkinson's disease without the use of stem cells at all. The ultimate goal is to be able to reprogram any cell of the body into another by means of a simple molecular kit, the article notes. But as chemists start putting together toolkits with these drug-like molecules, they face a number of technical hurdles as well as challenges getting acceptance from the stem cell community......... Posted by: Beverly      Read more         Source

February 18, 2010, 9:17 PM CT

Gene Associated With Endurance Running

A few minor variations in one gene may make a difference in athletic endurance, as per a newly released study from Physiological Genomics.

The study observed that elite endurance athletes were more likely to have variations of the NRF2 gene than elite sprinters. Non-elite endurance athletes were also more likely to have the genetic variations in comparison to sprinters, eventhough the difference was not as pronounced.

The study shows an association between the gene variation and endurance, but does not establish a cause-effect relationship. Future studies are needed to unravel exactly what role the gene plays in athletic performance. The study is part of a larger body of research that is exploring the human genome and which aims to understand the genetic underpinnings of athletic performance.

Eventhough the human genome is relatively uniform, there are variations among individuals. The scientists investigated the NRF2 gene because prior studies have shown that it may play a role in endurance performance because it:

• helps produce new mitochondria, a key cellular structure that produces energy
• reduces the harmful effects of oxidation and inflammation, which increase during exercise

"These findings suggest that harboring this specific genotype might increase the probability of being an endurance athlete," said one of the authors, Nir Eynon of Wingate Institute in Israel. The study, "Interaction between SNPs in the NRF2 gene and elite endurance performance," was carried out by Dr. Eynon, Alberto Jorge Alves, Moran Sagiv, Chen Yamin, Prof. Michael Sagiv and Dr. Yoav Meckel. All are at the Wingate Institute except for Alberto Alves, who is with the University of Porto in Portugal. The American Physiological Society (www.the-APS.org) published the study......... Posted by: Beverly      Read more         Source

February 3, 2010, 8:19 AM CT

magnetism's role in superconductors

Neutron scattering experiments performed at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory give good evidence that, if superconductivity is correlation to a material's magnetic properties, the same mechanisms are behind both copper-based high-temperature superconductors and the newly discovered iron-based superconductors.

The work, published in a recent Nature Physics, waccording toformed at ORNL's Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) and High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) along with the ISIS Facility at the United Kingdom's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.

High-temperature superconducting materials, in which a material conducts electricity without resistance at a relatively high temperature, have potential for application to energy efficient technologies where little electricity is lost in transmission.

The research community was stirred in 2008 when a Japanese team reported high-temperature superconductivity in an iron-based material. Previously, only copper-based, or cuprate, materials were known to have those properties. The discovery elicited widespread and intense analysis of the material's structure and properties.

"The pairing up of electrons is essential for the formation of the macroscopic quantum state giving rise to superconductivity," said lead researcher Mark Lumsden of ORNL. "One of the leading proposals for the pairing mechanism in the iron-based superconductors is that magnetic interactions, provide the glue that binds the electrons together."........ Posted by: Beverly      Read more         Source

January 25, 2010, 8:09 AM CT

Driving hinders talking

It is well known that having a conversation (for example on a cell phone) impairs one's driving. A newly released study indicates the reverse is also true: Driving reduces one's ability to comprehend and use language.

The findings, from scientists at the University of Illinois, appear in the journal Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

This is the first study to find that driving impairs language skills, said Gary Dell, a psycholinguist in the department of psychology at Illinois and corresponding author on the study. Two prior studies had reported that driving did not impair the accuracy and comprehension of speech.

"The prior findings made no sense to those of us who have studied language," Dell said. "You might believe that talking is an easy thing to do and that comprehending language is easy. But it's not. Speech production and speech comprehension are attention-demanding activities, and so they ought to compete with other tasks that require your attention like driving".

The newly released study was conducted in a driving simulator at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at Illinois. The participants worked in pairs one as a driver and the other as a conversation partner who was either in the simulator with the driver or talking with the driver via a hands-free cell phone from a remote location. Half of the 96 participants were adults over the age of 65 and half were in their late teens and early 20s......... Posted by: Beverly      Read more         Source

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 05:22:30 GMT

Your Desk Will Never Be Boring Again

Just when you think you've seen it all, a company called Pandigital has developed a digital picture frame that is always email connected. Photos are sent via ATT wireless network without the need of WiFi directly to the 8-inch LED frame. Since the unit has a dedicated e-mail address, anyone with the address can e-mail photos to the frame.

The device will come equipped with a capacity of 300 e-mailed photos and after that, additional photos can be purchased for $9.99 per 100 e-mailed photos, $29.99 for 400 and $49.99 for 700.

Spec wise the 8-inch backlit LED display boasts 800-by-600 resolution, 1GB of internal memory and a 6-in-1 built-in media card reader for uploading photos without using the email feature.
The Photo Mail LED Digital Photo Frame is set to be released soon for a retail price of $149. For more details, click here. Posted by: Jeff      Read more     Source

January 22, 2010, 8:08 AM CT

Where to run for a fly ball?

While baseball fans still rank "The Catch" by Willie Mays in the 1954 World Series as one of the greatest baseball moments of all times, researchers see the feat as more of a puzzle: How does an outfielder get to the right place at the right time to catch a fly ball? .

Thousands of fans (and hundreds of thousands of YouTube viewers) saw Mays turn his back on a fly ball, race to the center field fence and catch the ball over his shoulder, seemingly a precise prediction of a fly ball's path that led his team to victory. As per a recent article in the Journal of Vision ("Catching Flyballs in Virtual Reality: A Critical Test of the Outfielder Problem"), the "outfielder problem" represents the definitive question of visual-motor control. How does the brain use visual information to guide action?

To test three theories that might explain an outfielder's ability to catch a fly ball, researcher Philip Fink, PhD, from Massey University in New Zealand and Patrick Foo, PhD, from the University of North Carolina at Ashville programmed Brown University's virtual reality lab, the VENLab, to produce realistic balls and simulate catches. The team then lobbed virtual fly balls to a dozen experienced ball players.

"The three existing theories all predict the same thing: successful catches with very similar behavior," said Brown researcher William Warren, PhD. "We realized that we could pull them apart by using virtual reality to create physically impossible fly ball trajectories"......... Posted by: Beverly      Read more         Source

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 01:47:38 GMT

You and Your Research

Richard Hamming is not a household name. As a long-time Bell Labs scientist, Hamming made lasting impacts on mathematics, computer science, and engineering. He also gave one of the best talks I have come across for anyone pursuing/interested in pursuing a career in science. This talk, titled "You and Your Research" was presented to the Bell Communications Research Colloquium Seminar on 7 March 1986. It could be titled "How to do Great Research".

Hamming first discusses his motivation:
At Los Alamos I was brought in to run the computing machines which other people had got going, so those scientists and physicists could get back to business. I saw I was a stooge. I saw that although physically I was the same, they were different. And to put the thing bluntly, I was envious. I wanted to know why they were so different from me. I saw Feynman up close. I saw Fermi and Teller. I saw Oppenheimer. I saw Hans Bethe: he was my boss. I saw quite a few very capable people. I became very interested in the difference between those who do and those who might have done. Hamming found that the major difference between good and great is largely one of attiHe summarizes his findings:
In summary, I claim that some of the reasons why so many people who have greatness within their grasp don"t succeed are: they don"t work on important problems, they don"t become emotionally involved, they don"t try and change what is difficult to some other situation which is easily done but is still important, and they keep giving themselves alibis why they don"t. In other words, ask yourself three questions:

1. What are the most important problems in your field?

2. Are you working on one of them?

3. Why not? Posted by: Dennehy      Read more     Source

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 15:48:00 GMT

Special Medical Exhibit

I came across quite a special medical exhibit on BoingBoing featuring fascinating images and ancient medical gadgets:

There’s a fascinating exhibit at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo right now called Medicine and Art: Imagining a Future for Life and Love. It showcases 150 works of art that represent our fascination with the human body, both as a living machine that we’re constantly trying to understand and as an artistic medium. The iconic example of this is Leonardo Da Vinci’s cranium drawings from the 15th century (pictured right), part of the Royal Collection belonging to Queen Elizabeth II.

Gilles Barbier; L’Hospice / The Nursing Home; 2002; six wax figures, television, various elements dimension variable; Courtesy: Galerie G.-P. & N. Vallois, Paris

Image source: BoingBoing Posted by: Bertalan      Read more     Source

January 11, 2010, 7:45 AM CT

Quantum-mechanically Entangled

For the first time, physicists have convincingly demonstrated that physically separated particles in solid-state devices can be quantum-mechanically entangled. The achievement is analogous to the quantum entanglement of light, except that it involves particles in circuitry instead of photons in optical systems. Both optical and solid-state entanglement offer potential routes to quantum computing and secure communications, but solid-state versions may ultimately be easier to incorporate into electronic devices. The experiment is reported in an upcoming issue of Physical Review Letters and highlighted with a Viewpoint in the January 11 issue of Physics (http://physics.aps.org.).

In optical entanglement experiments, a pair of entangled photons appears to be separated via a beam splitter. Despite their physical separation, the entangled photons continue to act as a single quantum object. A team of physicists from France, Gera number of and Spain has now performed a solid-state entanglement experiment that uses electrons in a superconductor in place of photons in an optical system.

As conventional superconducting materials are cooled, the electrons they conduct entangle to form what are known as Cooper pairs. In the new experiment, Cooper pairs flow through a superconducting bridge until they reach a carbon nanotube that acts as the electronic equivalent of a beam splitter. Occasionally, the electrons part ways and are directed to separate quantum dots -- but remain entangled. Eventhough the quantum dots are only a micron or so apart, the distance is large enough to demonstrate entanglement comparable to that seen in optical systems......... Posted by: Beverly      Read more         Source

January 4, 2010, 8:09 AM CT

Modern techniques to study ancient modern humans

DNA that is left in the remains of long-dead plants, animals, or humans allows a direct look into the history of evolution. So far, studies of this kind on ancestral members of our own species have been hampered by scientists' inability to distinguish the ancient DNA from modern-day human DNA contamination. Now, research by Svante Pbo from The Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, published online on December 31st in Current Biology a Cell Press publication overcomes this hurdle and shows how it is possible to directly analyze DNA from a member of our own species who lived around 30,000 years ago.

DNA the hereditary material contained in the nuclei and mitochondria of all body cells is a hardy molecule and can persist, conditions permitting, for several tens of thousands of years. Such ancient DNA provides researchers with unique possibilities to directly glimpse into the genetic make-up of organisms that have long since vanished from the Earth. Using ancient DNA extracted from bones, the biology of extinct animals, such as mammoths, as well as of ancient humans, such as the Neanderthals, has been successfully studied in recent years.

The ancient DNA approach could not be easily applied to ancient members of our own species. This is because the ancient DNA fragments are multiplied with special molecular probes that target certain DNA sequences. These probes, however, cannot distinguish whether the DNA they recognize comes from the ancient human sample or was introduced much later, for instance by the archaeologists who handled the bones. Thus, conclusions about the genetic make-up of ancient humans of our own species were fraught with uncertainty......... Posted by: Beverly      Read more         Source

December 21, 2009, 8:11 AM CT

Global warming likely to be amplified

Scientists studying a period of high carbon dioxide levels and warm climate several million years ago have concluded that slow changes such as melting ice sheets amplified the initial warming caused by greenhouse gases.

The study, reported in the journal Nature Geoscience, observed that a relatively small rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels was linked to substantial global warming about 4.5 million years ago during the early Pliocene.

Coauthor Christina Ravelo, professor of ocean sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz, said the study indicates that the sensitivity of Earth's temperature to increases in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is greater than has been expected on the basis of climate models that only include rapid responses.

Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere, leading to increased atmospheric and sea-surface temperatures. Relatively rapid feedbacks include changes in atmospheric water vapor, clouds, and sea ice. These short-term changes probably set in motion long-term changes in other factors--such as the extent of continental ice sheets, vegetation cover on land, and deep ocean circulation--that lead to additional global warming, Ravelo said.

"The implication is that these slow components of the Earth system, once they have time to change and equilibrate, may amplify the effects of small changes in the greenhouse gas composition of the atmosphere," she said......... Posted by: Beverly      Read more         Source

December 18, 2009, 6:56 PM CT

Bioactive glass nanofibers produced

A team of scientists from the University of Vigo, Rutgers University in the United States and Imperial College London, in the United Kingdom, has developed "laser spinning", a novel method of producing glass nanofibres with materials. They have been able to manufacture bioglass nanofibres, the bioactive glass used in regenerating bone, for the first time.

"Laser spinning makes it possible to produce glass nanofibres of compositions that would be impossible to obtain using other methods", Flix Quintero, co-author of the study and a researcher at the University of Vigo, tells SINC.

The new technique, which was highlighted on the front cover of the journal Advanced Functional Material, involves using a high-energy laser that melts a small amount of precursor material. This creates a super-fine filament that is lengthened and cooled by a powerful gas current.

The scientist highlights the simplicity of the system, that "can be used in environmental conditions", as well as its high rate of production and its ability to easily control the composition of the material.

This international team has managed to produce bioglass composition nanofibres, a bioactive glass that is used to regenerate bony tissue. The laser spinning makes the material flexible, continuous and gives it a nanometric structure, which helps in the proliferation and spread of bone cells......... Posted by: Beverly      Read more         Source

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:05:03 GMT

The Spanish Wines of Toro

© Rivard


Mercury News had a feature recently on the growing popularity of wines from Spain"s historic Toro region. Vines have been planted in Toro, about 100 miles northwest of Madrid, for hundreds of years and winemaking has been documented since the 1st century B.C. But the region was recognized as a Denominacion de Origen only in 1987. The primary grape is a local version of tempranillo known as tinta de Toro, and many small, impossibly gnarled bush vines are quite old - some 100 years or more.While some of Toro"s wines are now becoming pricey, you can still get excellent Toro wines for as little as $20 a bottle. It"s an interesting feature. Posted by: Doreen      Read more     Source