science newsletter: Science News SciGuru.com

Παρασκευή 13 Ιουλίου 2012

Science News SciGuru.com

Noninvasive imaging technique may help kids with heart transplants
Researchers Create Highly Conductive and Elastic Conductors Using Silver Nanowires
Finished heart switches stem cells off
Plasmonic chains act like polymers
European Data Relay System makes room for Hylas-3
Hubble Discovers a Fifth Moon Orbiting Pluto
Researchers discover potential new weapon against crop pests

Noninvasive imaging technique may help kids with heart transplants

Posted: 12 Jul 2012 12:06 PM PDT

Cardiologists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed a noninvasive imaging technique that may help determine whether children who have had heart transplants are showing early signs of rejection. The technique could reduce the need for these patients to undergo invasive imaging tests every one to two years.

The new method is described online in the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation.

Researchers Create Highly Conductive and Elastic Conductors Using Silver Nanowires

Posted: 12 Jul 2012 11:50 AM PDT

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed highly conductive and elastic conductors made from silver nanoscale wires (nanowires). These elastic conductors can be used to develop stretchable electronic devices.

Finished heart switches stem cells off

Posted: 12 Jul 2012 10:53 AM PDT

It is not unusual for babies to be born with congenital heart defects. This is because the development of the heart in the embryo is a process which is not only extremely complex, but also error-prone. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad Nauheim have now identified a key molecule that plays a central role in regulating the function of stem cells in the heart. As a result, not only could congenital heart defects be avoided in future, but new ways of stimulating the regeneration of damaged hearts in adults may be opened up.

Plasmonic chains act like polymers

Posted: 12 Jul 2012 10:24 AM PDT

New research at Rice University that seeks to establish points of reference between plasmonic particles and polymers might lead to smaller computer chips, better antennae and improvements in optical computing.

Materials scientists take advantage of strong interactions between chemicals to form polymers that self-assemble into patterns and are the basis of things people use every day. Anything made of plastic is a good example.

European Data Relay System makes room for Hylas-3

Posted: 12 Jul 2012 09:47 AM PDT

When the European Data Relay System launches its second satellite in 2015, it will be taking the Hylas-3 communications package along for the ride thanks to ESA’s ‘hosted payload’ approach.

EDRS is being built through a public–private partnership between ESA and Astrium Services, using payloads carried by two satellites in geostationary orbit, 36 000 km above the Equator.

Data transmitted from satellites in lower orbits to either of these EDRS nodes can then be relayed to the ground.

Hubble Discovers a Fifth Moon Orbiting Pluto

Posted: 12 Jul 2012 09:41 AM PDT

A team of astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope is reporting the discovery of another moon orbiting the icy dwarf planet Pluto.

The moon is estimated to be irregular in shape and 6 to 15 miles across. It is in a 58,000-mile-diameter circular orbit around Pluto that is assumed to be co-planar with the other satellites in the system.

“The moons form a series of neatly nested orbits, a bit like Russian dolls,” said team lead Mark Showalter of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif.

Researchers discover potential new weapon against crop pests

Posted: 12 Jul 2012 09:34 AM PDT

A team of scientists from the University of Greenwich’s Natural Resources Institute (NRI), working with colleagues in the UK and Tanzania, has made a discovery that could provide a new means to control insect crop pests around the globe.

The research team discovered that some African armyworms carry a small bacterium called Wolbachia which makes them more vulnerable to a natural virus which can be used as a biopesticide.