Heat shock protein drives yeast evolutionhitehead Institute scientists have determined that heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) can create diverse heritable traits in brewer's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) by affecting a large portion of the yeast genome. The finding has led the scientists to conclude that Hsp90 has played a key role in shaping the evolutionary history of the yeast genome, and likely others as well.
RELEVANCE: Over the past several years, Whitehead Member Susan........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 12/24/2010 1:27:26 PM)
Federal oversight needed in synthetic biologyhe Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues today released its first reporta wide-ranging review of the emerging field of synthetic biologyissuing 18 recommendations including a call for coordinated federal oversight of researchers working in both large institutions and smaller settings.
The panel, comprised of 13 scientists, ethicists, and public policy experts, said that the very newness of the science, which involves the........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 12/16/2010 7:20:35 AM)
Elusive neuronal targets of deep brain stimulationhooting steady pulses of electricity through slender electrodes into a brain area that controls complex behaviors has proven to be effective against several therapeutically stubborn neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. Now, a newly released study has observed that this technique, called deep brain stimulation (DBS), targets the same class of neuronal cells that are known to respond to physical exercise and drugs such as Prozac.
The........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 12/15/2010 7:15:38 AM)
Deals on Electronics, Watches, Family ProductsNew York (12/10/2010)-For perpetual bargain hunters and other shoppers looking to get a great deal on the latest electronics, brand name watches, wireless accessories, jewelry and more, 1SaleaDay.com is the lowest-priced deal-of-the-day website offering unheard-of exclusive deals on just a single item and only for 24 hours. To keep customers coming back for more, 1SaleaDay.com even offers surprise free products once or twice a week.
As the........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 12/10/2010 11:41:26 PM)
Air Force flight control improvementsFlying insects' altitude control mechanisms are the focus of research being conducted in a Caltech laboratory under an Air Force Office of Scientific Research grant that may lead to technology that controls altitude in a variety of aircraft for the Air Force.
"This work investigates sensory-motor feedback mechanisms in the insect brain that could inspire new approaches to flight stabilization and navigation in future insect-sized vehicles........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 12/8/2010 7:17:43 AM)
Try Harderby Vadim Rizo
One of the most fascinating essays reprinted in Jonathan Rosenbaum"s new collection Goodbye Cinema, Hello Cinephilia bears the deceptively simple title "Rediscovering Charlie Chaplin." The more accurate title would be "Try Harder." The piece (originally from the September 2004 issue of Cineaste) was tied to a new issue of Chaplin DVDs armed with copious supplemental documentation and appreciations from major global directors........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 12/7/2010 8:08:05 AM)
Antimatter atoms produced and trappedThe ALPHA experiment at CERN has taken an important step forward in developing techniques to understand one of the Universe's open questions: is there a difference between matter and antimatter? In a paper published in Nature today, the collaboration shows that it has successfully produced and trapped atoms of antihydrogen. This development opens the path to new ways of making detailed measurements of antihydrogen, which will in turn allow........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 11/18/2010 7:32:50 AM)
Finding the Right Security Camera System for Your HomeSecurity cameras are becoming increasingly more affordable. And with a simple tweaks to an existing network, they can serve as a great budget security system that offers visibility through mobile devices like laptops and smart phones. But security cameras are not all created equal. Their effectiveness depends where they're placed, how they're monitored, and what features they include.
Hidden or exposed?
Security cameras come in all shapes........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 11/10/2010 8:41:42 PM)
Red horse chestnutI’m way overdue for a tree of the month selection! This month I picked red horse chestnut, Aseculus x carnea ‘Briotti’. I actually haven’t seen this tree in bloom before and I think it’s quite exotic looking for New England. This is probably as close as we in the Northeast will be able to get to crape myrtles, the ubiquitous blossoming tree seen so often in street plantings and mall parking lots in the South
The........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 11/10/2010 6:56:28 AM)
'Prima donna' protein doesn't work well in pairsA newly released study by Rice University bioengineers finds that the workhorse proteins that move cargo inside living cells behave like prima donnas. The protein, called kinesin, is a two-legged molecular machine. Rice's researchers invented tools that could measure the pulling power of kinesin both singly and in pairs, and they report this week in Biophysical Journal that kinesins don't work well together -- in part because they are so........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 11/8/2010 8:08:05 AM)
Hotspots for Calcium-related DiseaseCalcium regulates a number of critical processes within the body, including muscle contraction, the heartbeat, and the release of hormones. But too much calcium can be a bad thing. In excess, it can lead to a host of diseases, such as severe muscle weakness, a fatal reaction to anesthesia or sudden cardiac death.
Now, using intense X-rays from the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL) at the Department of Energy's SLAC National........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 11/5/2010 7:45:25 AM)
Religious diversity increases in America yetWhile America continues to become more religiously diverse, the belief that America is a Christian nation is growing more intense, as per research from Purdue University.
"America is still predominantly Christian, but it is more diverse than ever," said Jeremy Brooke Straughn, an assistant professor of sociology who studies national identity. "At the same time, a number of people feel even more strongly that America is a Christian country........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/20/2010 7:25:27 AM)
Variations of protein affect immune responseHow a T cell decides to make protein X, Y, or Z can have profound effects for fighting foreign invaders or staving off dire autoimmune reactions. Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have identified the steps that control how different forms of an immune cell protein called CD45, which is critical for activating the immune system when faced with pathogens, are controlled in the arc of a body's immune response.
The........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/18/2010 7:37:38 AM)
Taming wild grapes for better wineWhen you think about "wine country," Illinois may not be the first state that comes to mind. But it's actually big business on the prairie. There are 90 wineries licensed in Illinois and 1,500 acres of wine grapes. One acre of wine grapes can bring as much as $8,000 in sales, though more usually it's $3,000 to $5,000. The largest wineries in Illinois produce 90,000 gallons per year, while a number of produce 3,000 to 10,000 per year.
"In a........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/14/2010 7:56:24 AM)
The Enablersby Vadim Rizo
Casey Affleck"s I"m Still Here is (to put it mildly) ethically dubious; even if the film is a hoax, someone definitely got hurt making this chronicle of Joaquin Phoenix"s six-month freakout, at least collaterally. Make no mistake: if none of the acts therein were staged (which seems unlikely) and there is, in fact, a Hell, Affleck is going there no matter how many times he recites his Hail Marys. But in all probability the........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 9/26/2010 9:51:20 AM)
Shipping emissions six times higher than expectedCarbon dioxide emissions produced by UK shipping could be up to six times higher than currently calculated, as per new research from The University of Manchester.
As the shipping industry's emissions are predicted to continue to grow in the future, the UK will fail to meet its commitment to avoid dangerous climate change if additional cuts are not made to other sectors.
As per a University of Manchester study, the global shipping........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 9/25/2010 8:22:11 AM)
Portable Laser Backpack For 3D MappingA portable, laser backpack for 3D mapping has been developed at the University of California, Berkeley, where it is being hailed as a breakthrough technology capable of producing fast, automatic and realistic 3D mapping of difficult interior environments.
Research leading to the development of the reconnoitering backpack, was funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Army Research Office under the guidance of program........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 9/9/2010 6:44:49 AM)
Your Reference I Am Gettingby Vadim Rizo
Richard Poplak"s The Sheikh"s Batmobile, a very cool new book tracing how American pop culture has infiltrated the Muslim world, argues mass cultural product-rather than destroying the indigenous and increasingly rare-helps bring otherwise at-odds people together on a new plane of understanding, normalizing pluralistic values where that idea"s unheard of. Poplak writes of Afghanistani bodybuilders training under watchful Arnold........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 9/8/2010 6:51:19 AM)
Artificial enzyme removes natural poisonFor 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........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 8/26/2010 11:17:51 PM)
Evolution writ smallA 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........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 8/26/2010 7:24:47 AM)
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The Milk of Sorrowby Vadim Rizo
There"s a devastating moment in I Heart Huckabees when Lily Tomlin brings Jason Schwartzman into a room where a woman of indeterminate Latin American origin is chanting about famine ("we mashed locusts to make bread"). Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman like to bring her in as a "special treat" for their clients, a joke that serves as a quick mockery of the kind of poverty filmmaking made to pander to liberal audiences, in which........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 1/6/2011 6:37:23 AM)
Global rivers emit greenhouse gas nitrous oxideWhat goes in must come out, a truism that now appears to be applied to global river networks.
Human-caused nitrogen loading to river networks is a potentially important source of nitrous oxide emission to the atmosphere. Nitrous oxide is a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change and stratospheric ozone destruction.
It happens via a microbial process called denitrification, which converts nitrogen to nitrous oxide and an........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 12/21/2010 6:27:44 AM)
Main cause of poor work environmentManagers in the private and public sectors must consider work environment when rationalising production to obtain sustainable systems. A research study reported in the journal Applied Ergonomics reveals that rationalisation measures often have a major negative impact on both the physical and psychosocial work environment. "However, the review also presents scientific evidence on how to reduce this problem," says one of the researchers, at the........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 12/15/2010 7:26:48 AM)
Water-based and silicon-based lubricantA newly released study by sexual health scientists at Indiana University observed that women who used lubricant during sex reported significantly higher levels of satisfaction and pleasure.
The study, involving 2,453 women, is the largest systematic study of this kind, despite the widespread commercial availability of lubricant and the gaps in knowledge concerning its role in alleviating pain or contributing to other health issues.
"In........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 12/9/2010 7:13:24 AM)
Dominic Jones Crocodile 22-Karat White Gold-Plated RingMy love of crocodile accessories know no bounds! Even the scariest part of the croc, the teeth, is surprisingly cool as a ring! I am a huge fan of big bold rings, so this fits right in with my M.O.. I believe in limited statement pieces rather than over doing it with layers upon layers, it keeps thing simple and it accentuates the unique pieces you are wearing. For the single ladies, this is a perfect conversation starter and if you are not........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 12/8/2010 7:46:56 AM)
Feeling chills in response to musicMost people feel chills and shivers in response to music that thrills them, but some people feel these chills often and others feel them hardly at all. People who are especially open to new experiences are most likely to have chills in response to music, as per a research studyin the current Social Psychological and Personality Science (published by SAGE).
Scientists Emily Nusbaum and Paul Silvia of University of North Carolina at Greensboro........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 12/8/2010 7:03:29 AM)
Unraveling mysteries of repetitive DNA segmentsWith new tools that can grab individual strands of DNA and stretch them like rubber bands, Rice University researchers are working to unravel a mystery of modern genomics. Their latest findings, which appear in Physical Review Letters, offer new clues about the physical makeup of odd segments of DNA that have just one DNA base, adenine, repeated dozens of times in a row.
These mysterious "poly(dA) repeats" are sprinkled throughout the human........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 12/7/2010 7:18:37 AM)
Lifting out of povertyWhat factors contribute to poor people in developing countries lifting themselves out of poverty?
A paper by economists Anan Pawasutipaisit of Thammasat University and Robert M. Townsend of MIT provides important insights into what kinds of households might be most effective at moving themselves out of poverty and how they are able do it.
The paper, "Wealth Accumulation and Factors Accounting for Success" appears in the current issue of........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 11/11/2010 7:10:04 AM)
Signs that might be omensDark and silent late last nigh
I think I might have heard the highway callin
Geese in flight and dogs that bit
Signs that might be omens say I’m going, goin
Gone to Carolina in my min
With a holy host of others standing ’round m
Still I’m on the dark side of the moo........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 11/10/2010 6:48:51 AM)
The many faces of the shear Alfvn waveWhen physicists probe the mysteries of plasma, the fourth state of matter, they often discover phenomena of striking beauty. Much as when the Hubble Space Telescope sent back vivid images from space of ionized gas clouds (an interstellar plasma!), new 3D images of shear Alfvn waves are delighting both researchers and a new generation of science enthusiasts.
Plasmas support a large variety of waves. Some of these are familiar, such as light........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 11/8/2010 7:32:38 AM)
40 Pattern Bike Spoke LightThis mundane looking 40 Pattern Bicycle Spoke Light contains enough processing power to deliver messages, groovy patterns and even a log of your riding time in glorious LED persistent vision-o-rama. It’s amazing what they can cram into a 0.1kg bit of plastic nowadays. $8.99........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/24/2010 11:13:57 PM)
Eye test for neurological diseases in livestockThe eyes of sheep infected with scrapie a neurological disorder similar to mad cow disease return an intense, almost-white glow when they're hit with blue excitation light, as per a research project led by Iowa State University's Jacob Petrich.
The findings suggest technologies and techniques can be developed to quickly and noninvasively test for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, progressive and fatal neurological diseases such as........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/20/2010 7:35:16 AM)
Video games highly effective training toolsLong derided as mere entertainment, new research now shows that organizations using video games to train employees end up with smarter, more motivated workers who learn more and forget less.
A University of Colorado Denver Business School study found those trained on video games do their jobs better, have higher skills and retain information longer than workers learning in less interactive, more passive environments.
"Companies have been........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/20/2010 7:01:25 AM)
MRI Zooms in on Microscopic Flow"Better and faster results!" is the clarion call for researchers and engineers to continually strive to improve their research tools. Of the tools used to study material structures at the atomic and molecular scales, there is none finer than Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and its daughter technology Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Now, the latest development from the research group of one of the word's foremost authorities on........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/8/2010 6:17:26 AM)
Impacts of Too Much CommunicationIndividuals within a networked system coordinate their activities by communicating to each other information such as their position, speed, or intention. At first glance, it seems that more of this communication will increase the harmony and efficiency of the network. However, researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have observed that this is only true if the communication and its subsequent action are immediate.
Using statistical........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 9/25/2010 9:09:56 AM)
High-performance micro air vehicles for the Air ForceAir Force Office of Scientific Research-sponsored researcher, Dr. Robert Wood of Harvard University is leading the way in what could become the next phase of high-performance micro air vehicles for the Air Force.
His basic research is on track to evolve into robotic, insect-scale devices for monitoring and exploration of hazardous environments, such as collapsed structures, caves and chemical spills.
"We are in the process of developing a........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 9/16/2010 8:54:32 AM)
Playing snooker with atomsResearchers speak of sputtering when energy-rich ions hit a solid object and cause atoms to be released from its surface. The phenomenon can be exploited to apply microscopically thin coatings to glass surfaces. A research team has developed a special sputtering technique that greatly increases the efficiency of the coating process.
Designed to be the most spectacular concert hall in Gera number of, the construction of the Elbe Philharmonic........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 9/11/2010 9:09:40 AM)
A case for Darwinism, the garden mind
Michael Pollan talks about his garden zen and the moment he became aware of corn"s plan for world domination. Greener MagazineGo to the My-media-blog (Added on 9/8/2010 6:58:26 AM)
Calla palustrisI 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......... Go to the Science-blog (Added on 8/27/2010 11:09:12 PM)
Fuel treatments reduce wildfire severityA 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........ Go to the Science-blog (Added on 8/26/2010 7:03:17 AM)
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