science newsletter: Science News SciGuru.com

Παρασκευή 21 Δεκεμβρίου 2012

Science News SciGuru.com

Fighting sleeping sickness with X-ray lasers
Scientists Identify Infection Strategy of Widespread Virus
More than half a million California adults think seriously about committing suicide
For Newly Discovered 'Quantum Spin Liquid', the Beauty Is in Its Simplicity
UT Southwestern research pinpoints key gene miR-15 for regenerating cells after heart attack
Silver Sheds Light On Superconductor Secrets
Scientists Develop New Compound SR9238 that Reverses Fatty Liver Disease

Fighting sleeping sickness with X-ray lasers

Posted: 21 Dec 2012 07:50 AM PST

Using the world’s most powerful X-ray free-electron laser, an international team of researchers, including scientists of the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, has obtained new insight into the structure of a medicinally important protein that may serve as a blueprint for the development of drugs to fight sleeping sickness. Science magazine have chosen the experimental study as one of the top ten scientific breakthroughs of the year.

Scientists Identify Infection Strategy of Widespread Virus

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 08:30 PM PST

Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have mapped the molecular mechanism by which a virus known as cytomegalovirus (CMV) so successfully infects its hosts. This discovery paves the way for new research avenues aimed at fighting this and other seemingly benign viruses that can turn deadly.

More than half a million California adults think seriously about committing suicide

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 08:16 PM PST

More than half a million adults in California seriously thought about committing suicide during the previous year, according to a new study from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

The study, which uses data from the 2009 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), is the first by the center to focus on suicide ideation.

In California, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death, the researchers noted. An average of nine deaths by suicide occur each day in the state.

For Newly Discovered 'Quantum Spin Liquid', the Beauty Is in Its Simplicity

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 03:32 PM PST

A research team including scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has confirmed long-standing suspicions among physicists that electrons in a crystalline structure called a kagome (kah-go-may) lattice can form a "spin liquid," a novel quantum state of matter in which the electrons' magnetic orientation remains in a constant state of change.

UT Southwestern research pinpoints key gene miR-15 for regenerating cells after heart attack

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 07:58 AM PST

UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have pinpointed a molecular mechanism needed to unleash the heart’s ability to regenerate, a critical step toward developing eventual therapies for damage suffered following a heart attack.

Silver Sheds Light On Superconductor Secrets

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 07:49 AM PST

By doping a bismuth-based layered material with silver, Chinese scientists demonstrated that superconductivity is intrinsic to the new material rather than stemming from its impurities

Scientists Develop New Compound SR9238 that Reverses Fatty Liver Disease

Posted: 20 Dec 2012 07:38 AM PST

Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have developed the first synthetic compound that can reverse the effects of a serious metabolic condition known as fatty liver disease. True to its name, the disease involves an abnormal buildup of fat in the liver.