Science News

(University of Southern California) Study of oyster genes associated with growth suggests that fast-growing animals have better tuned ribosomal factories for making proteins, USC marine biologists say.

(The Hastings Center) Troubled children diagnosed with bipolar disorder may fare better with a different diagnosis, according to researchers at The Hastings Center.The researchers support an emerging approach, which gives many of those children a new diagnosis called severe mood dysregulation or temper dysregulation disorder with dysphoria.

(University of California - San Diego) Scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego will explore the earthquake rupture site of the Feb. 27 massive 8.8-magnitude Chilean earthquake, one of the largest earthquakes in recorded history.

(Massachusetts Institute of Technology) A team of researchers at MIT and the University of California at San Diego has shown how cell division in a type of bacteria known as cyanobacteria is controlled by the same kind of circadian rhythms that govern human sleep patterns. Previous studies have shown that even though cyanobacteria do not "sleep" in the same way that humans do, they cycle through active and resting periods on a 24-hour schedule. Cyanobacteria depend on sunlight for photosynthesis, so they are most active during the day.

(University of British Columbia) Members of large-scale, complex human societies have learned to play nice with strangers through the norms that are associated with market participation and world religions, and not solely due to an evolved psychology for cooperation in small groups as previously believed, according to UBC-led research.

(SUNY Downstate Medical Center) Recent work published in the journal Science by Sheryl Smith, Ph.D., professor of physiology and pharmacology, and colleagues at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn shows that a novel brain receptor, alpha4-beta-delta, emerges at puberty in the hippocampus, part of the brain that controls learning and memory.

(University of Florida) University of Florida engineering researchers have found they can ignite certain nanoparticles using a low-power laser, a development they say opens the door to a wave of new technologies in health care, computing and automotive design.

(EUREKA) New antibodies and recombinant proteins with a key signaling role in immune response to disease have been produced through collaboration between molecular immunology institutes in the Czech Republic and Germany and a private company. The proteins have their own direct uses in immunization and are also the starting point for production of novel, highly specific antibodies with a wide range of biomedical applications. All of the new products are already being marketed commercially.

(University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences) In an effort to mirror the ability of biological tissues to respond rapidly and appropriately to changing environments, scientists from the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, a joint effort of the University of Pittsburgh and its clinical partner UPMC, have synthesized a single, multifunctional polymer material that can decontaminate both biological and chemical toxins. They described the findings recently in Biomaterials.

(University of Kansas) Young-Jin Lee, assistant professor of educational technology at KU, and colleagues from MIT spent four years seeing how many copied answers MIT students submitted to an online homework tutoring system.

(Rice University) Rice researchers, in collaboration with a team led by Gyou-jin Cho at Sunchon National University in Korea, have come up with an inexpensive, printable transmitter that can be invisibly embedded in packaging. It would allow a customer to walk a cart full of groceries or other goods past a scanner on the way to the car.

(European Space Agency) The Corot satellite strikes again with another fascinating planet discovery. This time, the newly discovered gas giant planet may have an interior that closely resembles those of Jupiter and Saturn in our own solar system.

(University of Arizona) A 3,000-year record from 52 of the world's oldest trees shows that California's western Sierra Nevada was droughty and often fiery from 800 to 1300, according to new research. Scientists reconstructed the region's history of fire by dating fire scars on ancient giant sequoia trees, Sequoiadendron giganteum, in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park. Individual giant sequoias can live more than 3,000 years and are considered the world's largest trees by volume.

(American Thoracic Society) Researchers in Australia have demonstrated that blocking a certain protein can reduce or prevent cigarette smoke-induced lung inflammation in mice. Inflammation underlies the disease process of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and many other smoking-related ailments.

(American Institute of Physics) The following press conferences will take place during the March Meeting of the American Physical Society (APS), to be held March 15-19, 2010 in the Portland Convention Center.

(DOE/Joint Genome Institute) Researchers from all over the world will be at the Marriott in Walnut Creek for the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute 5th Annual Genomics of Energy and Environment Meeting, which will feature genomics research in the fields of clean energy generation and the environment.

(Carnegie Mellon University) In testimony to the US House Science Committee, Carnegie Mellon's M. Granger Morgan will discuss urgent need to begin research on solar radiation management.

(Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute) Researchers from nine countries will discuss one system that plants use to cope with stress at the 2010 International CAM Workshop, hosted by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute at the Earl S. Tupper Research and Conference Center in Panama City, Panama, from March 22-24, 2010.

(University of Chicago) University of Chicago scientists have successfully used geometrically patterned surfaces to influence the development of stem cells. The new approach is a departure from that of many stem-cell biologists, who focus instead on uncovering the role of proteins in controlling the fate of stem cells.

(McGill University) A team of McGill Chemistry Department researchers led by Dr. Hanadi Sleiman has achieved a major breakthrough in the development of nanotubes.