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The molecular details of Aromatase, the key enzyme required for the body to make estrogen, are no longer a mystery thanks to the structural biology work done by the Ghosh lab at the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute (HWI) in Buffalo, New York.
Source: Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute Posted on: Wednesday, Jan 07, 2009, 5:13pm Rating: Not Rated | Views: 23 | Comments: 0
Researchers from Harvard University and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have measured, for the first time, a repulsive quantum mechanical force that could be harnessed and tailored for a wide range of new nanotechnology applications.
Source: Harvard University Posted on: Wednesday, Jan 07, 2009, 5:13pm Rating: Not Rated | Views: 20 | Comments: 0
At first, figuring out how pebble-sized rocks organize themselves in evenly-spaced patterns in sand seemed simple and even intuitive. But once Andrew Leier, an assistant geoscience professor at the U of C, started observing, he discovered that the most commonly held notions did not apply.
Source: University of Calgary Posted on: Wednesday, Jan 07, 2009, 4:20pm Rating: Not Rated | Views: 19 | Comments: 0
During the past 20 years, researchers have identified thousands of cell protein interactions, with the ultimate goal of inventorying all that occur within cells of various organisms – a comprehensive catalogue known as the interactome. Such information will be critical to understanding the basic mechanics of cellular life, and how malfunctions in these processes contribute to cancer.
Source: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Posted on: Tuesday, Jan 06, 2009, 5:15pm Rating: Not Rated | Views: 25 | Comments: 0
A team of biologists at Washington University in St. Louis has discovered that two vital cellular components, nuclear RNA Polymerases IV and V (Pol IV and V), found only in plants, are actually specialized forms of RNA Polymerase II, an essential enzyme of all eukaryotic organisms, including humans.
Source: Washington University in St. Louis Posted on: Tuesday, Jan 06, 2009, 3:19pm Rating: Not Rated | Views: 39 | Comments: 0
A team of University of Toronto physicists have demonstrated a new technique to squeeze light to the fundamental quantum limit, a finding that has potential applications for high-precision measurement, next-generation atomic clocks, novel quantum computing and our most fundamental understanding of the universe.
Source: University of Toronto Posted on: Tuesday, Jan 06, 2009, 3:19pm Rating: Not Rated | Views: 58 | Comments: 0
Physicists at Indiana University have developed a promising new way to identify a possible abnormality in a fundamental building block of Einstein's theory of relativity known as "Lorentz invariance."
Source: Indiana University Posted on: Monday, Jan 05, 2009, 5:08pm Rating: Not Rated | Views: 48 | Comments: 0
Arizona State University researchers Hao Yan and Yan Liu imagine and assemble intricate structures on a scale almost unfathomably small. Their medium is the double-helical DNA molecule, a versatile building material offering near limitless construction potential.
Source: Arizona State University Posted on: Friday, Jan 02, 2009, 1:39pm Rating: Not Rated | Views: 58 | Comments: 0
Abundant tiny particles of diamond dust exist in sediments dating to 12,900 years ago at six North American sites, adding strong evidence for Earth's impact with a rare swarm of carbon-and-water-rich comets or carbonaceous chondrites, reports a nine-member scientific team.
Source: University of Oregon Posted on: Friday, Jan 02, 2009, 1:39pm Rating: Not Rated | Views: 49 | Comments: 0
Using tiny gold particles and infrared light, MIT researchers have developed a drug-delivery system that allows multiple drugs to be released in a controlled fashion.
Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Posted on: Tuesday, Dec 30, 2008, 2:07pm Rating: Not Rated | Views: 80 | Comments: 0
Researchers have developed a method to measure the toughness—the resistance to fracture—of the thin insulating films that play a critical role in high-performance integrated circuits.
Source: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Posted on: Tuesday, Dec 23, 2008, 6:44pm Rating: Not Rated | Views: 88 | Comments: 0
In this ongoing quest, a group of Scripps Research Institute scientists, along with colleagues from the University of California, San Diego, (UCSD) have borrowed from physics to deliver one of those research rarities—an unmitigated success. The group has devised a computational method that, with remarkable accuracy, predicts how bacterial proteins fold and interact.
Source: Scripps Research Institute Posted on: Tuesday, Dec 23, 2008, 6:44pm Rating: Not Rated | Views: 78 | Comments: 0
Shakespeare wrote "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." But would it if the molecules that generate its fragrance were to change their shape?
Source: City College of New York Posted on: Monday, Dec 22, 2008, 7:46pm Rating: Not Rated | Views: 82 | Comments: 0
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have determined the atomic-level structure of a third subtype of botulinum neurotoxin — a deadly toxin produced by certain bacteria that causes the disease botulism, and is also used in cosmetic and therapeutic applications such as reducing wrinkles and calming a hyperactive bladder.
Source: DOE/Brookhaven National Laboratory Posted on: Monday, Dec 22, 2008, 7:46pm Rating: Not Rated | Views: 68 | Comments: 0
A Princeton-led team of researchers has discovered an entirely new mechanism for making common electronic materials emit laser beams. The finding could lead to lasers that operate more efficiently and at higher temperatures than existing devices, and find applications in environmental monitoring and medical diagnostics.
Source: Princeton University, Engineering School Posted on: Monday, Dec 22, 2008, 3:29pm Rating: Not Rated | Views: 77 | Comments: 0
Researchers at MIT and the National University of Singapore have made significant progress in understanding a class of materials that has resisted analysis for decades. Their findings could lead to the rapid discovery of a variety of useful new kinds of glass made of metallic alloys with potentially significant mechanical, chemical and magnetic applications.
Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Posted on: Monday, Dec 22, 2008, 3:29pm Rating: Not Rated | Views: 109 | Comments: 0
Chemists in Canada have developed a new approach for producing more effective medical antifreeze fluids for preserving kidneys, hearts, and other organs donated for transplantation. These next-generation antifreezes can decrease damage to organs caused by ice crystals, and thus prolong the time a donated organ will remain viable prior to transplantation.
Source: American Chemical Society Posted on: Monday, Dec 22, 2008, 11:33am Rating: 4/5 | Views: 55 | Comments: 0
Scientists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have created a range of structural metallic-glass composites, based in titanium, that are lighter and less expensive than any the group had previously created, while still maintaining their toughness and ductility--the ability to be deformed without breaking.
Source: California Institute of Technology Posted on: Friday, Dec 19, 2008, 4:12pm Rating: Not Rated | Views: 74 | Comments: 0
Did Earth's twin cores spark plate tectonics? It's a classic image from every youngster's science textbook: a cutaway image of Earth's interior. The brown crust is paper-thin; the warm mantle orange, the seething liquid of the outer core yellow, and at the center the core, a ball of solid, red-hot iron. Now a new theory aims to rewrite it all by proposing the seemingly impossible: Earth has not one but two inner cores.
Source: MSNBC Posted on: Wednesday, Jan 07, 2009, 4:20pm Rating: Not Rated | Views: 7 | Comments: 0
Desktop atom smashers could replace LHC The next generation of particle smashers might be considerably smaller than the Large Hadron Collider – and made almost literally out of thin air
Source: New Scientist Posted on: Tuesday, Jan 06, 2009, 3:18pm Rating: Not Rated | Views: 16 | Comments: 0
History digs in against retailer A Wal-Mart near a Civil War battlefield? This means war. Like Civil War generals, the generals of modern commercial development are attracted to large open spaces along well-traveled roads, typically on the outskirts of a town or major population center. The former picked those sites for battlefields a century and a half ago; the latter like them today for big-box stores.
Source: LA Times Posted on: Monday, Jan 05, 2009, 9:27am Rating: Not Rated | Views: 20 | Comments: 0
250 Small Quakes Rattle Yellowstone Scientists are closely monitoring more than 250 small earthquakes that rattled Yellowstone National Park over the last several days, just in case it was "something precursory".
Source: CBSnews Posted on: Tuesday, Dec 30, 2008, 2:06pm Rating: Not Rated | Views: 39 | Comments: 0
Listen: Why clothes shrink Your mother spent weeks knitting that new Christmas sweater, only for you to throw it into the wash and ruin it. Margaret Frey of Cornell University's department of fiber science and apparel design explains to Jacki Lyden why clothes shrink.
Source: NPR Posted on: Monday, Dec 29, 2008, 9:17am Rating: Not Rated | Views: 28 | Comments: 0
US investigation into gravity weapons 'nonsense' Physicists are surprised to find that military intelligence has been investigating whether elusive gravitational waves could pose a threat to US security
Source: New Scientist Posted on: Friday, Dec 19, 2008, 4:12pm Rating: Not Rated | Views: 60 | Comments: 0
Scientists ponder how to get nuclear genie back in the bottle A new nuclear weapons report by a panel of scientists and two new books by weapons scientists show just how deeply the nuclear genie still haunts the scientific heirs of the Manhattan Project.
Source: USA Today Posted on: Monday, Dec 15, 2008, 1:06pm Rating: Not Rated | Views: 42 | Comments: 0
U.S. students' math, science scores deliver mixed results If there were a math-and-science Olympics for elementary and middle schoolers, USA students could hold their heads high they're consistently better than average. In math, it turns out, they're improving substantially, even as a few powerhouse nations see their scores drop.
Source: USA Today Posted on: Tuesday, Dec 09, 2008, 12:47pm Rating: Not Rated | Views: 45 | Comments: 0
Hidden Travels of the Atomic Bomb Atomic insiders say the weapon was invented only once, and its secrets were spread around the globe by spies, scientists and the covert acts of nuclear states.
Source: NYT Posted on: Tuesday, Dec 09, 2008, 10:28am Rating: Not Rated | Views: 42 | Comments: 0