Scientists Explain Puzzling Lake Asymmetry on Saturn's Moon Titan

Scientists Explain Puzzling Lake Asymmetry on Saturn's Moon Titan

  11:42:00 PM    Science Lover

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Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) suggest that the eccentricity of Saturn's orbit around the sun may be responsible for the unusually uneven distribution of methane and ethane lakes over the northern and southern polar regions of the planet's largest moon, Titan. On Earth, similar "astronomical forcing" of climate drives ice-age cycles.

This image shows the northern and southern hemispheres of Titan, showing the disparity between the abundance of lakes in the north and their paucity in the South. The hypothesis presented favors long-term flux of volatile hydrocarbons, predominantly methane, from hemisphere to hemisphere. Recently the direction of transport has been from south to north, but the effect would have reversed tens of thousands of years ago. (Credit: The mosaic includes Cassini SAR, ISS, and VIS images (NASA/JPL/Caltech/University of Arizona/Cassini Imaging Team).)

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Solar Power from Your Windows, Awnings, Even Clothing?

Solar Power from Your Windows, Awnings, Even Clothing?

  1:27:00 AM    Science Lover

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On a 104-degree Friday in July when sunlight bathed The University of Arizona campus, doctoral student Dio Placencia sat before a noisy vacuum chamber in the Chemical Sciences Building trying to advance the renewable energy revolution.

 An organic photovoltaic cell on glass. The goal for UA scientists is to understand and control the interfaces in these devices at nanometer-length scales (less than 1/100,000 the

thickness of a human hair) to enable the development of long-lived solar energy 

conversion devices on tough, flexible and extremely low-cost plastic substrates. 

(Credit: Image courtesy of University of Arizona)

As a member of UA professor Neal R. Armstrong's research group, Placencia conducts research aimed at creating a thin, flexible organic solar cell that could power a tent or keep a car charged between trips to work and back home again.

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RNA Network Seen in Live Bacterial Cells for First Time

RNA Network Seen in Live Bacterial Cells for First Time

  12:49:00 AM    Science Lover

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Scientists who study RNA have faced a formidable roadblock: trying to examine RNA's movements in a living cell when they can't see the RNA. Now, a new technology has given scientists the first look ever at RNA in a live bacteria cell -- a sight that could offer new information about how the molecule moves and works.

These are fluorescent images of E. coli bacterial cells with visualized RNA. The bar denotes 2 microns. (Credit: Image courtesy of Natalia E. Broude, Ph.D. / Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University)

Interest in RNA, which plays a key role in manufacturing proteins, has increased in recent years, due in large part to its potential in new drug therapies. RNA localization and movement in bacterial cell are poorly understood. The problem has been finding a way to mark RNA in a living cell so that scientists can track it, says Natasha Broude, a research associate professor at Boston University's Department of Biomedical Engineering.

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First Genetic Map of Han Chinese May Aid Search for Disease Susceptibility Genes

First Genetic Map of Han Chinese May Aid Search for Disease Susceptibility Genes

  1:30:00 AM    Science Lover

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The first genetic historical map of the Han Chinese, the largest ethnic population in the world, as they migrated from south to north over evolutionary time, was published online November 25 in the American Journal of Human Genetics by scientists at the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS).

DNA on abstract background. Researchers have published the first genetic historical map of the Han Chinese, the largest ethnic population in the world, as they migrated from south to north over evolutionary time. (Credit: iStockphoto/Andrey Prokhorov)

Based on genome-wide DNA variation information in over 6,000 Han Chinese samples from 10 provinces in China, this new map provides information about the population structure and evolutionary history of this group of people that can help scientists to identify subtle differences in the genetic diversity of Asian populations.

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Bioengineers Succeed in Producing Plastics Without the Use of Fossil Fuels

Bioengineers Succeed in Producing Plastics Without the Use of Fossil Fuels

  12:34:00 AM    Science Lover

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A team of pioneering South Korean scientists have succeeded in producing the polymers used for everyday plastics through bioengineering, rather than through the use of fossil fuel based chemicals. This groundbreaking research, which may now allow for the production of environmentally conscious plastics, is published in two papers in the journal Biotechnology and Bioengineering.

Computer rendering of E. coli bacteria. A newly developed E. coli strain is capable of efficiently producing unnatural polymers, through a one-step fermentation process. (Credit: iStockphoto/Sebastian Kaulitzki)

 
Polymers are molecules found in everyday life in the form of plastics and rubbers. The team, from the KAIST University and the Korean chemical company LG Chem, led by Professor Sang Yup Lee focused their research on polylactic acid (PLA), a bio-based polymer which holds the key to producing plastics through natural and renewable resources.

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New Hydrogen-Storage Method Discovered

New Hydrogen-Storage Method Discovered

  1:11:00 AM    Science Lover

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Scientists at the Carnegie Institution have found for the first time that high pressure can be used to make a unique hydrogen-storage material. The discovery paves the way for an entirely new way to approach the hydrogen-storage problem.

This schematic shows the structure of the new material, Xe(H2)7. 

Freely rotating hydrogen molecules (red dumbbells) surround xenon atoms (yellow). 

(Credit: Image courtesy of Nature Chemistry)

The researchers found that the normally unreactive, noble gas xenon combines with molecular hydrogen (H2) under pressure to form a previously unknown solid with unusual bonding chemistry. The experiments are the first time these elements have been combined to form a stable compound. The discovery debuts a new family of materials, which could boost new hydrogen technologies.

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Alzheimer's Disease : Analyzing Structural Brain Changes

Alzheimer's Disease : Analyzing Structural Brain Changes

  5:20:00 PM    Science Lover

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In a study that promises to improve diagnosis and monitoring of Alzheimer's disease, scientists at the University of California, San Diego have developed a fast and accurate method for quantifying subtle, sub-regional brain volume loss using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Serial MRI brain scans, taken six months apart, show progression from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer's disease, with significant atrophy (blue) and ventricle enlargement (orange/red). (Credit: University of California, San Diego, UCSD)

The study will be published the week of November 16 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

By applying the techniques to the newly completed dataset of the multi-institution Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), the scientists demonstrated that such sub-regional brain volume measurements outperform available measures for tracking severity of Alzheimer's disease, including widely used cognitive testing and measures of global brain-volume loss.

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Brain Disease 'Resistance Gene' Evolves in Papua New Guinea Community; Could Offer Insights Into CJD

Brain Disease 'Resistance Gene' Evolves in Papua New Guinea Community; Could Offer Insights Into CJD

  2:40:00 AM    Science Lover

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A community in Papua New Guinea that suffered a major epidemic of a CJD-like fatal brain disease called kuru has developed strong genetic resistance to the disease, according to new research by Medical Research Council (MRC) scientists.

Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) is a prion disease that was first described in 1996 in the United Kingdom. There is now strong scientific evidence that the agent responsible for the outbreak of prion disease in cows, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or 'mad cow' disease), is the same agent responsible for the outbreak of vCJD in humans. 

(Credit: Sherif Zaki, Wun-Ju Shieh / Courtesy of CDC)

 

Kuru is a fatal prion disease, similar to CJD in humans and BSE in animals, and is geographically unique to an area in Papua New Guinea. In the mid 20th Century, an epidemic of kuru devastated a population in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea. The infection was passed on at mortuary feasts, where mainly women and children consumed their deceased relatives as a mark of respect and mourning. This practice was banned and ceased in the late 1950s.

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Cigarettes Harbor Many Pathogenic Bacteria

Cigarettes Harbor Many Pathogenic Bacteria

  12:11:00 AM    Science Lover

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Cigarettes are "widely contaminated" with bacteria, including some known to cause disease in people, concludes a new international study conducted by a University of Maryland environmental health researcher and microbial ecologists at the Ecole Centrale de Lyon in France.

Cigarettes are "widely contaminated" with bacteria, including some known to cause disease in people, concludes a new international study. (Credit: iStockphoto)

 

The research team describes the study as the first to show that "cigarettes themselves could be the direct source of exposure to a wide array of potentially pathogenic microbes among smokers and other people exposed to secondhand smoke." Still, the researchers caution that the public health implications are unclear and urge further research.

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Potential Treatment for Huntington's Disease

Potential Treatment for Huntington's Disease

  1:58:00 AM    Science Lover

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Investigators at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham), the University of British Columbia's Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics and the University of California, San Diego have found that normal synaptic activity in nerve cells (the electrical activity in the brain that allows nerve cells to communicate with one another) protects the brain from the misfolded proteins associated with Huntington's disease. In contrast, excessive extrasynaptic activity (aberrant electrical activity in the brain, usually not associated with communication between nerve cells) enhances the misfolded proteins' deadly effects.

Normal synaptic activity in nerve cells protects the brain from the misfolded proteins associated with Huntington's disease, researchers have discovered. (Credit: iStockphoto/Sebastian Kaulitzki)

Researchers also found that the drug Memantine, which is approved to treat Alzheimer's disease, successfully treated Huntington's disease in a mouse model by preserving normal synaptic electrical activity and suppressing excessive extrasynaptic electrical activity. The research was published in the journal Nature Medicine on November 15.

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Gene Therapy Can Improve Muscle Mass And Strength In Monkeys, Research Suggests

Gene Therapy Can Improve Muscle Mass And Strength In Monkeys, Research Suggests

  12:51:00 AM    Science Lover

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A study appearing in Science Translational Medicine puts scientists one step closer to clinical trials to test a gene delivery strategy to improve muscle mass and function in patients with certain degenerative muscle disorders.

Cynomolgus macaque. New research in these primates suggests that a gene delivery strategy that produces follistatin can improve muscle mass and function. 

(Credit: iStockphoto/Anna Yu)

Severe weakness of the quadriceps is a defining feature of several neuromuscular disorders. Researchers at Nationwide Children's Hospital have shown that a gene delivery strategy that produces follistatin -- a naturally occurring protein that inhibits myostatin, a growth factor expressed specifically in skeletal muscle -- directly to the quadriceps of non-human primates results in long-term gene expression with muscle enhancing effects, including larger muscles with greater strength.

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LCROSS Impact Analysis Indicates Water On Moon

LCROSS Impact Analysis Indicates Water On Moon

  1:30:00 AM    Science Lover

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The argument that the moon is a dry, desolate place no longer holds water.

The visible camera image showing the ejecta plume at about 20 seconds after impact. (Credit: Image courtesy of NASA)

Secrets the moon has been holding, for perhaps billions of years, are now being revealed to the delight of scientists and space enthusiasts alike.

NASA has opened a new chapter in our understanding of the moon. Preliminary data from the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, indicates that the mission successfully uncovered water during the Oct. 9, 2009 impacts into the permanently shadowed region of Cabeus cater near the moon's south pole.

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Two Earth-sized Bodies With Oxygen Rich Atmospheres Found, But They're Stars Not Planets

Two Earth-sized Bodies With Oxygen Rich Atmospheres Found, But They're Stars Not Planets

  1:05:00 AM    Science Lover

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Astrophysicists at the University of Warwick and Kiel University have discovered two earth sized bodies with oxygen rich atmospheres -- however there is a bit of a disappointing snag for anyone looking for a potential home for alien life, or even a future home for ourselves, as they are not planets but are actually two unusual white dwarf stars.

Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectroscopy of this inconspicuous blue object -- SDSS1102+2054 -- reveals it to be an extremely rare stellar remnant: a white dwarf with an oxygen-rich atmosphere (Credit: The Sloan Digital Sky Survey)

The two white dwarf stars SDSS 0922+2928 and SDSS 1102+2054 are 400 and 220 light years from Earth. They are both the remnants of massive stars that are at the end of their stellar evolution having consumed all the material they had available for nuclear fusion.

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Large People Prone To Enlarged Hearts: Obesity Leading Risk Factor Of Left Atrial Enlargement During Aging

Large People Prone To Enlarged Hearts: Obesity Leading Risk Factor Of Left Atrial Enlargement During Aging

  9:52:00 AM    Science Lover

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Image via Wikipedia

Aside from aging itself, obesity appears to be the most powerful predictor of left atrial enlargement (LAE), upping one's risk of atrial fibrillation (the most common type of arrhythmia), stroke and death, according to findings published in the November 17, 2009, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

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Controversial New Climate Change Data: Is Earth's Capacity To Absorb CO2 Much Greater Than Expected?

Controversial New Climate Change Data: Is Earth's Capacity To Absorb CO2 Much Greater Than Expected?

  3:27:00 PM    Science Lover

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New data show that the balance between the airborne and the absorbed fraction of carbon dioxide has stayed approximately constant since 1850, despite emissions of carbon dioxide having risen from about 2 billion tons a year in 1850 to 35 billion tons a year now.

New data show that the balance between the airborne and the absorbed fraction of carbon dioxide has stayed approximately constant since 1850, despite emissions of carbon dioxide having risen from about 2 billion tons a year in 1850 to 35 billion tons a year now. (Credit: iStockphoto/Karl Dolenc)

This suggests that terrestrial ecosystems and the oceans have a much greater capacity to absorb CO2 than had been previously expected.

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Computational Method Points To New Uses, Unexpected Side Effects Of Already Existing Drugs

Computational Method Points To New Uses, Unexpected Side Effects Of Already Existing Drugs

  12:59:00 AM    Science Lover

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Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and the University of California, San Francisco have developed and experimentally tested a technique to predict new target diseases for existing drugs.

Bryan Roth, M.D., Ph.D. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of North Carolina School of Medicine)

The researchers developed a computational method that compares how similar the structures of all known drugs are to the naturally occurring binding partners -- known as ligands -- of disease targets within the cell. In a study published this week in Nature, the scientists showed that the method predicts potential new uses as well as unexpected side effects of approved drugs.

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Spinal Cord Regeneration Enabled By Stabilizing, Improving Delivery Of Scar-degrading Enzyme

Spinal Cord Regeneration Enabled By Stabilizing, Improving Delivery Of Scar-degrading Enzyme

  9:18:00 PM    Science Lover

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Researchers have developed an improved version of an enzyme that degrades the dense scar tissue that forms when the central nervous system is damaged. By digesting the tissue that blocks re-growth of damaged nerves, the improved enzyme -- and new system for delivering it -- could facilitate recovery from serious central nervous system injuries.

Image showing the extent of new nerves (green) that regenerated after treatment with the enzyme. (Credit: Image courtesy of Ravi Bellamkonda)

 
The enzyme, chrondroitinase ABC (chABC), must be supplied to the damaged area for at least two weeks following injury to fully degrade scar tissue. But the enzyme functions poorly at body temperature and must therefore be repeatedly injected or infused into the body.

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Inefficient Selection: New Evolutionary Mechanism Accounts For Some Of Human Biological Complexity

Inefficient Selection: New Evolutionary Mechanism Accounts For Some Of Human Biological Complexity

  10:29:00 PM    Science Lover

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A painstaking analysis of thousands of genes and the proteins they encode shows that human beings are biologically complex, at least in part, because of the way humans evolved to cope with redundancies arising from duplicate genes.

Genomic and proteomic analysis has found a new evolutionary mechanism that accounts for some of the biological complexity of human beings. (Credit: iStockphoto/Liang Zhang)

"We have found a specific evolutionary mechanism to account for a portion of the intricate biological complexity of our species," said Ariel Fernandez, professor of bioengineering at Rice University. "It is a coping mechanism, a process that enables us to deal with the fitness consequences of inefficient selection. It enables some of our proteins to become more specialized over time, and in turn makes us more complex."

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Chronic Spinal Cord Injury

Chronic Spinal Cord Injury

  11:45:00 AM    Science Lover

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Scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that regeneration of central nervous system axons can be achieved in rats even when treatment delayed is more than a year after the original spinal cord injury.

Mark Tuszynski, MD, PhD. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of California - San Diego)

"The good news is that when axons have been cut due to spinal cord injury, they can be coaxed to regenerate if a combination of treatments is applied," said lead author Mark Tuszynski, MD, PhD, professor of neurosciences and director of the Center for Neural Repair at UC San Diego, and neurologist at the Veterans Affairs San Diego Health System. "The chronically injured axon is not dead."

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