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New immune defence enzyme discovered
Quantum information motion control is now improved
Is bioenergy expansion harmful to wildlife?
Plants mimic scent of pollinating beetles
Moss detects Air Pollution
New Method Offers Control of Strain on Graphene Membranes
Scripps Florida Scientists Shed Light on Age-Related Memory Loss and Possible Treatments
Fermi Observations of Dwarf Galaxies Provide New Insights on Dark Matter
A retrospective cohort study of persons reported to the NYC HIV Surveillance Registry
Gene variations linked to intestinal blockage in newborns with cystic fibrosis
Molecular Imaging Links Systemic Inflammation with Depression
Fertilizer use responsible for increase in nitrous oxide in atmosphere
Scientists Find Slow Subsidence of Earth's Crust Beneath the Mississippi Delta
The sounds of Mars and Venus are revealed for the first time
Newly found protein Gbb38 helps cells build tissues
Second mutation in BRAF-mutated metastatic melanoma does not add to drug resistance
Research Brings New Understanding to Past Global Warming Events
Hypnosis provides effective treatment for IBS
Climate model to predict malaria outbreaks in India
Too dog tired to avoid danger

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 07:31 AM PDT

Neutrophil granulocytes comprise important defences for the immune system. When pathogenic bacteria penetrate the body, they are the first on the scene to mobilise other immune cells via signal molecules, thereby containing the risk. To this end, they release serine proteases – enzymes that cut up other proteins to activate signal molecules. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried have now discovered a new serine protease: neutrophil serine protease 4, or NSP4.

Quantum information motion control is now improved

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 07:22 AM PDT

Physicists have recently devised a new method for handling the effect of the interplay between vibrations and electrons on electronic transport. Their paper is about to be published in EPJ B¹. This study, led by scientists from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, and the Centre for Computational Science and Engineering at the National University of Singapore, could have implications for quantum computers due to improvements in the transport of discrete amounts of information, known as qubits, that are encoded in electrons.

Is bioenergy expansion harmful to wildlife?

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 05:25 AM PDT

Despite the predicted environmental benefits of biofuels, converting land to grow bioenergy crops may harm native wildlife. Researchers at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Leipzig have developed a way to study the effects of increased energy crop cultivation on farmland bird populations.

Plants mimic scent of pollinating beetles

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 05:18 AM PDT

The color and scent of flowers and their perception by pollinator insects are believed to have evolved in the course of mutual adaptation. However, an evolutionary biologist from the University of Zurich has now proved that this is not the case with the arum family at least, which evolved its scent analogously to the pre-existing scents of scarab beetles and thus adapted to the beetles unilaterally. The mutual adaptation between plants and pollinators therefore does not always take place.

Moss detects Air Pollution

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 05:07 AM PDT

Since 1996 the European Union requests from their member states a continuous monitoring of air pollution. This requirement was tightened in 2008 with an EU directive to monitor not only nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides but also airborne heavy metals like cadmium, lead and nickel. This is hard to achieve with existing technologies as they are either imprecise or very expensive.

New Method Offers Control of Strain on Graphene Membranes

Posted: 02 Apr 2012 07:51 PM PDT

Graphene could be the superhero of materials – it’s light, strong and conducts heat and electricity effectively, which makes it a great material for potential use in all kinds of electronics. And because it’s made from carbon atoms, graphene is cheap and plentiful. Its electric and mechanical properties also affect one another in unique ways. But before freestanding graphene can live up to its potential, scientists need to be able to control these properties.

Scripps Florida Scientists Shed Light on Age-Related Memory Loss and Possible Treatments

Posted: 02 Apr 2012 05:26 PM PDT

Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have shown in animal models that the loss of memory that comes with aging is not necessarily a permanent thing.

In a new study published this week in an advance, online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Ron Davis, chair of the Department of Neuroscience at Scripps Florida, and Ayako Tonoki-Yamaguchi, a research associate in Davis’s lab, took a close look at memory and memory traces in the brains of both young and old fruit flies.

Fermi Observations of Dwarf Galaxies Provide New Insights on Dark Matter

Posted: 02 Apr 2012 05:19 PM PDT

There's more to the cosmos than meets the eye. About 80 percent of the matter in the universe is invisible to telescopes, yet its gravitational influence is manifest in the orbital speeds of stars around galaxies and in the motions of clusters of galaxies. Yet, despite decades of effort, no one knows what this "dark matter" really is. Many scientists think it's likely that the mystery will be solved with the discovery of new kinds of subatomic particles, types necessarily different from those composing atoms of the ordinary matter all around us.

A retrospective cohort study of persons reported to the NYC HIV Surveillance Registry

Posted: 02 Apr 2012 04:03 PM PDT

Results from studies like the HIV Prevention Trials Network 052 published earlier this year, demonstrating that early initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in an HIV-infected person can prevent HIV transmission to their HIV-negative partner, served as proof of concept for ‘Treatment as Prevention’ (TAP).

Gene variations linked to intestinal blockage in newborns with cystic fibrosis

Posted: 02 Apr 2012 11:35 AM PDT

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers working as part of the International Cystic Fibrosis Consortium have discovered several regions of the genome that may predispose cystic fibrosis (CF) patients to develop an intestinal blockage while still in the uterus.

Molecular Imaging Links Systemic Inflammation with Depression

Posted: 02 Apr 2012 11:20 AM PDT

New research published in the April issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine reveals that systemic inflammation causes an increase in depressive symptoms and metabolic changes in the parts of the brain responsible for mood and motivation. With this finding, researchers can begin to test potential treatments for depression for patients that experience symptoms that are related to inflammation in the body or within the brain.

Fertilizer use responsible for increase in nitrous oxide in atmosphere

Posted: 02 Apr 2012 11:12 AM PDT

University of California, Berkeley, chemists have found a smoking gun proving that increased fertilizer use over the past 50 years is responsible for a dramatic rise in atmospheric nitrous oxide, which is a major greenhouse gas contributing to global climate change.

Climate scientists have assumed that the cause of the increased nitrous oxide was nitrogen-based fertilizer, which stimulates microbes in the soil to convert nitrogen to nitrous oxide at a faster rate than normal.

Scientists Find Slow Subsidence of Earth's Crust Beneath the Mississippi Delta

Posted: 02 Apr 2012 10:00 AM PDT

The Earth's crust beneath the Mississippi Delta sinks at a much slower rate than what had been assumed.

That's one of the results geoscientists report today in a paper published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

The researchers arrived at their conclusions by comparing detailed sea-level reconstructions from different portions of coastal Louisiana.

The sounds of Mars and Venus are revealed for the first time

Posted: 02 Apr 2012 09:21 AM PDT

In a world first, the sounds of Mars and Venus are revealed as part of a planetarium show in Hampshire this Easter.

Despite many years of space exploration, we have no evidence of the sound of other planets. While most planetary probes have focused on imaging with cameras and radar and a couple have carried microphones, none of them successfully listened to the sound of another world.

Newly found protein Gbb38 helps cells build tissues

Posted: 02 Apr 2012 09:06 AM PDT

Brown University biologists have found a new molecule in fruit flies that is key to the information exchange needed to build wings properly. They have also uncovered evidence that an analogous protein may exist in people and may be associated with problems such as cleft lip, or premature ovarian failure.

Second mutation in BRAF-mutated metastatic melanoma does not add to drug resistance

Posted: 02 Apr 2012 08:52 AM PDT

UCLA scientists studying the ways in which skin cancer becomes resistant to drug treatment have discovered that a second mutation found in the tumors of patients with BRAF-mutated metastatic melanoma does not contribute to resistance to BRAF inhibitor drugs, a finding that runs counter to what they expected.

The study by researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center found that patients with mutations in both the MEK1 and BRAF genes respond as well to the inhibitors as patients with the BRAF mutation alone.

Research Brings New Understanding to Past Global Warming Events

Posted: 02 Apr 2012 08:43 AM PDT

A series of global warming events called hyperthermals that occurred more than 50 million years ago had a similar origin to a much larger hyperthermal of the period, the Pelaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), new research has found. The findings, published in Nature Geoscience online on April 1, 2012, represent a breakthrough in understanding the major “burp” of carbon, equivalent to burning the entire reservoir of fossil fuels on Earth, that occurred during the PETM.

Hypnosis provides effective treatment for IBS

Posted: 02 Apr 2012 08:32 AM PDT

Hypnosis can be a highly effective treatment for the bowel disorder IBS. Studies involving a total of 346 patients conducted by researchers at The Sahlgrenska Academy of the University of Gothenburg showed that hypnotherapy alleviated symptoms in 40 per cent of those affected – and that the improvement is long-term.

Around 15 per cent of the Swedish population is thought to suffer from IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), symptoms of which include abdominal pain and alteration of bowel habits, as well as abdominal distension and bloating.

Climate model to predict malaria outbreaks in India

Posted: 02 Apr 2012 08:26 AM PDT

Scientists from the University of Liverpool are working with computer modelling specialists in India to predict areas of the country that are at most risk of malaria outbreaks, following changes in monsoon rainfall.

The number of heavy rainfall events in India has increased over the past 50 years, but research has tended to focus on the impact this has on agriculture rather than the vector-borne diseases, such as malaria and Japanese Encephalitis.

Too dog tired to avoid danger

Posted: 02 Apr 2012 08:23 AM PDT

How do dogs behave when their ability to exert self-control is compromised? Are they more likely to approach dangerous situations or stay well away? According to a new study by Holly Miller, from the University of Lille Nord de France, and colleagues, dogs that have 'run out' of self-control make more impulsive decisions that put them in harm's way. The work was just published online in Springer's Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.