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Simulation explains why HIV cure is elusive
Researchers develop new method for the production of microlenses
Highly flexible despite hard-wiring – even slight stimuli change the information flow in the brain
ER stress in beta cells could initiate type 1 diabetes
Research identifies the beginnings of COPD
New technique lets scientists peer within nanoparticles, see atomic structure in 3-D
Self-Reflective Mind -- In Animals! Psychologists Report on Continuing Advances
Copper-Selenium Liquid-like Materials May Pave Way for New Thermoelectric Devices

Simulation explains why HIV cure is elusive

Posted: 23 Mar 2012 07:26 AM PDT

New research from the University of Adelaide shows why the development of a cure and new treatments for HIV have been so difficult for scientists to crack.

Dr Jack da Silva from the University's School of Molecular & Biomedical Science has used computer simulations to discover that even in early infection when the virus population is low, HIV rapidly evolves to evade immune defenses and treatments.

Researchers develop new method for the production of microlenses

Posted: 23 Mar 2012 07:16 AM PDT

Inspired from Mother Nature: The body of the brittlestar Ophiocoma wendtii is studded with tiny crystalline lenses made of calcium carbonate. Microlenses like these are of great interest technologically, yet they have always been extremely expensive to produce. However, scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces and colleagues from other institutes took their cue from biology and came up with a relatively simple and inexpensive method of producing calcium carbonate lenses packed together in a regular arrangement.

Highly flexible despite hard-wiring – even slight stimuli change the information flow in the brain

Posted: 23 Mar 2012 07:00 AM PDT

One cup or two faces? What we believe we see in one of the most famous optical illusions changes in a split second; and so does the path that the information takes in the brain. In a new theoretical study, scientists of the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, the Bernstein Center Göttingen and the German Primate Center now show how this is possible without changing the cellular links of the network. The direction of information flow changes, depending on the time pattern of communication between brain areas.

ER stress in beta cells could initiate type 1 diabetes

Posted: 22 Mar 2012 08:07 PM PDT

Scientists have found that a specific type of cellular stress called ER stress takes place in pancreatic beta cells before the onset of type I diabetes (T1D), and that this stress response in the beta cells may facilitate the autoimmune attack. According to the authors, the results could help scientists identify and validate potential drug targets to alleviate ER stress and preserve beta cell mass in T1D

Research identifies the beginnings of COPD

Posted: 22 Mar 2012 12:05 PM PDT

The third most deadly disease in the U.S., chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), appears to be partly driven by the action of immune cells circulating in the blood entering into the tissues of the lungs. UC Davis scientists have discovered that this key process begins in the blood vessels around the large airways in the center of the lung. The discovery helps clarify how smoking can bring about this severe respiratory condition.

New technique lets scientists peer within nanoparticles, see atomic structure in 3-D

Posted: 22 Mar 2012 11:38 AM PDT

UCLA researchers are now able to peer deep within the world's tiniest structures to create three-dimensional images of individual atoms and their positions. Their research, published March 22 in the journal Nature, presents a new method for directly measuring the atomic structure of nanomaterials.

Self-Reflective Mind -- In Animals! Psychologists Report on Continuing Advances

Posted: 22 Mar 2012 11:29 AM PDT

According to one of the leading scholars in the field, there is an emerging consensus among scientists that animals share functional parallels with humans' conscious metacognition -- that is, our ability to reflect on our own mental processes and guide and optimize them.

In two new contributions to this influential field of comparative psychology, David Smith, PhD, of the University at Buffalo and his fellow researchers report on continuing advances in this domain.

Copper-Selenium Liquid-like Materials May Pave Way for New Thermoelectric Devices

Posted: 22 Mar 2012 10:29 AM PDT

In the continual quest for better thermoelectric materials—which convert heat into electricity and vice versa—researchers have identified a liquid-like compound whose properties give it the potential to be even more efficient than traditional thermoelectrics.