Science News

(American Chemical Society) In an effort to fight global warming, scientists in New York are reporting the first use of a new chemical approach that has the potential to remove 90 percent of carbon dioxide from the flue gas from coal-burning power plants. The new "scrubber" is more efficient and less expensive than current technologies, the scientists say. Their study is scheduled for presentation in March at the 239th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Francisco.

(DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) Controlling x-rays with ultrashort slices of light is a step toward controlling how matter behaves, shaping x-rays with other x-rays, and eventually directing the paths chemical reactions can take. Working with the femtosecond beamline at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Advanced Light Source, a team of scientists shows how it can be done.

(Brown University) New research at Brown University explains how a key enzyme, PP1, functions in protein-protein interactions. In a paper published online in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, Wolfgang Peti has described how PP1 "chooses" proteins. The finding is important, because erroneous PP1 regulation can cause numerous diseases, including cancer, diabetes and Parkinson's.

(Worcester Polytechnic Institute) Worcester Polytechnic Institute has received a four-year, $1.4 million award from the National Institutes of Health to continue a groundbreaking study of arterial plaque. This research, which combines sophisticated computer modeling with an array of diagnostic technologies to more accurately chart the development of atherosclerotic plaque in the coronary arteries, could lead to tools that will enable physicians to predict the likelihood of plaque rupture, which is responsible for most heart attacks and strokes.

(American Chemical Society) The popular dietary supplement vitamin E, loaded into special medicated contact lenses, can keep glaucoma medicine near the eye -- where it can treat that common disease -- almost 100 times longer than possible with current commercial lenses, scientists reported here today at the 239th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.

(Case Western Reserve University) Lashonda Korley, a professor of macromolecular science and engineering, aims to unlock the order and structure of a squid's beak, spider silk and nacre from an oyster shell to create scratch-resistant coatings, durable fabrics, scaffolding for surgical implants, wall panels that can absorb a bomb blast, and more.

(Penn State) Producers, distributors and regulators have joined with Penn State to form the Penn State Electricity Economics Initiative, a cooperative project to investigate possibilities and challenges surrounding electricity restructuring in the commonwealth.

(Walter and Eliza Hall Institute) The identification of compounds that could be promising candidates for drug development has become easier following research at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute.Dr. Jonathan Baell and Dr. Georgina Holloway have developed a series of "filters" that can be used to weed out those molecules likely to come up as false positives when screening a chemical library for compounds that could be useful in drug development.

(Commission for Environmental Cooperation) The objectives of the meeting will be to examine barriers to harmonization and comparability of renewable energy standards and definitions among North America's three countries, as well as to discuss opportunities and challenges for carbon sequestration and storage technologies.

(University of California - Los Angeles) New insights into the Big Bang, the mysterious properties of dark matter and perhaps even extra dimensions in the universe could be discovered by the Large Hadron Collider, the world's highest-energy particle accelerator.

(American Chemical Society) Scientists in Minnesota are reporting that commercial cooking is a surprisingly large source of a range of air pollutants that could pose risks to human health and the environment. They presented the study at the 239th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.

(American Chemical Society) Scientists are reporting new findings that may help explain why some individuals maintain sharp memory during aging, while others have normal or diminished mental capacity. The scientists found that "super-aged" brains tend to have fewer or no brain 'tangles' when compared to other individuals. Their study is scheduled for the 239th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Washington, D.C.

(Tufts University) Promising research on superconducting materials, near infra-red spectroscopy and nanotechnology has earned three faculty at Tufts University's School of Engineering early career awards from the National Science Foundation and US Department of Energy. The awards are among the most prestigious honors given by the US government to outstanding scientists and engineers at the early stages of their careers, when many do their most formative work.

(American Chemical Society) Scientists today reported widespread global contamination of sea sand and sea water with the endocrine disruptor bisphenol A (BPA) and said that the BPA probably originated from a surprising source: Hard plastic trash discarded in the oceans and the epoxy plastic paint used to seal the hulls of ships.

(American Chemical Society) Scientists today described the discovery of a new drug, which is currently in Phase II clinical trials, designed to specifically target the root cause of painful menstrual cramps, not just the symptoms. The condition, called dysmenorrhea, is the leading cause of absenteeism from school and work among women in their teens and 20s.

(University of Wisconsin-Madison) A new model of the Earth, 20 years in the making, describes a dynamic three-dimensional puzzle of planetary proportions. Created by University of Wisconsin-Madison geophysicist Chuck DeMets and longtime collaborators Richard Gordon of Rice University and Donald Argus of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the model offers a precise description of the relative movements of 25 interlocking tectonic plates that account for 97 percent of the Earth's surface.

(Society for Neuroscience) New research shows how a mutation causes a common inherited neurodegenerative disease, according to a study in the March 24 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. The study shows that the mutation of a specific protein known to cause Charcot-Marie-Tooth disrupts the movement of mitochondria, the energy-supplying machines inside each cell. The regulated movement of mitochondria along nerve cell fibers is vital to normal communication between the brain and muscles.

(American Chemical Society) Queso fresco, a quintessential ingredient in Mexican cuisine, would retain higher quality in supermarket display cases if stored at a lower temperature. That's the conclusion of a report presented here today at the 239th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.

(American Chemical Society) The plant that gave the world tequila contains a substance that seems ideal for use in a new genre of processed foods -- so-called "functional foods" -- with health benefits over and above serving as a source of nutrients, scientists reported here today at the 239th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.

(American Chemical Society) Scientists today reported development of the first two-in-one test that can simultaneously detect both the E. coli bacteria responsible for terrible food poisoning outbreaks, and the toxins, or poisons, that the bacteria use to cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and other symptoms in its victims.