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Solar and wind energy may stabilise the power grid
Stress breaks loops that hold short-term memory together
Whitehead scientists bring new efficiency to stem cell reprogramming
Chemists Develop Nose-like Sensor Array to 'Smell' Cancer Diagnoses
Study of giant viruses shakes up tree of life
Real-world levitation to inspire better pharmaceuticals
Mutation Breaks HIV’s Resistance to Drugs
Under-twisted DNA origami delivers cancer drugs to tumors
Laser-powered ‘Needle’ Promises Pain-free Injections
Lack of oxygen in cancer cells leads to growth and metastasis
High Cigarette Taxes Disproportionately Burden Low-Income

Solar and wind energy may stabilise the power grid

Posted: 14 Sep 2012 07:07 AM PDT

Renewable energies such as wind, sun and biogas are set to become increasingly important in generating electricity. If increasing numbers of wind turbines and photovoltaic systems feed electrical energy into the grid, it becomes denser – and more distributed. Therefore, instead of a small number of large power plants, it links a larger number of small, decentralized power plants with the washing machines, computers and industrial machinery of consumers.

Stress breaks loops that hold short-term memory together

Posted: 14 Sep 2012 06:56 AM PDT

Stress has long been pegged as the enemy of attention, disrupting focus and doing substantial damage to working memory - the short-term juggling of information that allows us to do all the little things that make us productive.

By watching individual neurons at work, a group of psychologists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has revealed just how stress can addle the mind, as well as how neurons in the brain's prefrontal cortex help "remember" information in the first place.

Whitehead scientists bring new efficiency to stem cell reprogramming

Posted: 13 Sep 2012 11:02 AM PDT

Several years ago, biologists discovered that regular body cells can be reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells — cells with the ability to become any other type of cell. Such cells hold great promise for treating many human diseases.

These induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are usually created by genetically modifying cells to overexpress four genes that make them revert to an immature, embryonic state. However, the procedure works in only a small percentage of cells.

Chemists Develop Nose-like Sensor Array to 'Smell' Cancer Diagnoses

Posted: 13 Sep 2012 10:53 AM PDT

In the fight against cancer, knowing the enemy’s exact identity is crucial for diagnosis and treatment, especially in metastatic cancers, those that spread between organs and tissues. Now chemists led by Vincent Rotello at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have developed a rapid, sensitive way to detect microscopic levels of many different metastatic cell types in living tissue. Findings appear in the current issue of the journal ACS Nano.

Study of giant viruses shakes up tree of life

Posted: 13 Sep 2012 10:37 AM PDT

A new study of giant viruses supports the idea that viruses are ancient living organisms and not inanimate molecular remnants run amok, as some scientists have argued. The study may reshape the universal family tree, adding a fourth major branch to the three that most scientists agree represent the fundamental domains of life.

The new findings appear in the journal BMC Evolutionary Biology.

Real-world levitation to inspire better pharmaceuticals

Posted: 13 Sep 2012 10:00 AM PDT

It’s not a magic trick and it’s not sleight of hand – scientists really are using levitation to improve the drug development process, eventually yielding more effective pharmaceuticals with fewer side effects.

Mutation Breaks HIV’s Resistance to Drugs

Posted: 13 Sep 2012 09:54 AM PDT

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can contain dozens of different mutations, called polymorphisms. In a recent study an international team of researchers, including MU scientists, found that one of those mutations, called 172K, made certain forms of the virus more susceptible to treatment. Soon, doctors will be able to use this knowledge to improve the drug regiment they prescribe to HIV-infected individuals.

Under-twisted DNA origami delivers cancer drugs to tumors

Posted: 13 Sep 2012 09:48 AM PDT

Scientists at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden describe in a new study how so-called DNA origami can enhance the effect of certain cytostatics used in the treatment of cancer. With the aid of modern nanotechnology, scientists can target drugs direct to the tumour while leaving surrounding healthy tissue untouched.

Laser-powered ‘Needle’ Promises Pain-free Injections

Posted: 13 Sep 2012 08:13 AM PDT

From annual flu shots to childhood immunizations, needle injections are among the least popular staples of medical care. Though various techniques have been developed in hopes of taking the “ouch” out of injections, hypodermic needles are still the first choice for ease-of-use, precision, and control.

A new laser-based system, however, that blasts microscopic jets of drugs into the skin could soon make getting a shot as painless as being hit with a puff of air.

Lack of oxygen in cancer cells leads to growth and metastasis

Posted: 13 Sep 2012 08:04 AM PDT

It seems as if a tumor deprived of oxygen would shrink. However, numerous studies have shown that tumor hypoxia, in which portions of the tumor have significantly low oxygen concentrations, is in fact linked with more aggressive tumor behavior and poorer prognosis.

High Cigarette Taxes Disproportionately Burden Low-Income

Posted: 13 Sep 2012 07:24 AM PDT

Although high cigarette taxes are effective at reducing cigarette smoking, they disproportionally burden low-income smokers, according to a new study by researchers at RTI International.

The study, published in PLoS One, showed that low-income smokers in New York, which has the nation’s highest state cigarette tax at $4.35 per pack, spent nearly a quarter of their household income on cigarettes. Nationally, those with the lowest incomes spend just over 14 percent.