science newsletter: Science News SciGuru.com

Δευτέρα 5 Μαρτίου 2012

Science News SciGuru.com

Increased soil carbon storage under elevated carbon dioxide
Study highlights brain’s flexibility, gives hope for natural-feeling neuroprosthetics
Two crystals linked by quantum physics
Parkinson's disease stopped in animal model
Researchers Explore How Bacteria in Gut Regulate Broader Immune System

Increased soil carbon storage under elevated carbon dioxide

Posted: 05 Mar 2012 07:14 AM PST

Elevated carbon dioxide concentrations can increase carbon storage in the soil, according to results from a 12-year carbon dioxide-enrichment experiment at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The increased storage of carbon in soil could help to slow down rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations.

Study highlights brain’s flexibility, gives hope for natural-feeling neuroprosthetics

Posted: 05 Mar 2012 07:04 AM PST

Opening the door to the development of thought-controlled prosthetic devices to help people with spinal cord injuries, amputations and other impairments, neuroscientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Champalimaud Center for the Unknown in Portugal have demonstrated that the brain is more flexible and trainable than previously thought.

Two crystals linked by quantum physics

Posted: 05 Mar 2012 06:47 AM PST

Researchers at the UNIGE have succeeded in entangling two macroscopic crystals, a step towards the development of quantum memory. For almost fifteen years Professor Nicolas Gisin and his physicist col- laborators have been entangling photons. If this exercise seems to them perhaps henceforth trivial, it continues to elude us ordinary humans. The laws that govern the quantum world are so strange that they completely escape us human beings confronted with the laws of the macroscopic world.

Parkinson's disease stopped in animal model

Posted: 04 Mar 2012 08:57 PM PST

Millions of people suffer from Parkinson's disease, a disorder of the nervous system that affects movement and worsens over time. As the world's population ages, it's estimated that the number of people with the disease will rise sharply. Yet despite several effective therapies that treat Parkinson's symptoms, nothing slows its progression.

Researchers Explore How Bacteria in Gut Regulate Broader Immune System

Posted: 04 Mar 2012 04:31 PM PST

CHOP researchers have been studying how bacteria in the intestine play important roles in regulating the immune system, with possible implications for antibiotic use. Corresponding author Junjie Mei, Ph.D., and senior author G. Scott Worthen, M.D., both of whom are researchers in the Division of Neonatology, recently published a study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation focusing on neutrophils, white blood cells that are important components of the innate immune system.