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Cystic Fibrosis - Hunt Militant Pseudomonas Aeruginosa In Their Bases On Germ Surface

Cystic Fibrosis - Hunt Militant Pseudomonas Aeruginosa In Their Bases On Germ Surface

Apr 21 2009 | comment(s)

Want to hunt down enemy bacteria?   Look at the sugars on the germs' surface where they start building a 'structure' that helps the microbes resist efforts to kill them.

Scientists have determined that the bacterial cell-surface sugar, a polysaccharide called Psl, is anchored on the surface of the bacterium as a helix, providing a structure that encourages cell-to-cell interaction. When multiple bacterial cells join together with the help of such a structure, they form what is called a biofilm, a persistent community of bugs that is able to resist the effects of a human immune response, as well as antibiotic drugs.
Osmium Levels Rising

Osmium Levels Rising

Apr 21 2009 | comment(s)

Dartmouth researchers have determined that the presence of the rare element osmium is on the rise globally. They trace this increase to the consumption of refined platinum, the primary ingredient in catalytic converters, the equipment commonly installed in cars to reduce smog. A volatile form of osmium is generated during platinum refinement and also during the normal operation of cars, and it gets dispersed globally through the atmosphere.
The Stigma Of Memory Loss Becomes A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

The Stigma Of Memory Loss Becomes A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Apr 21 2009 | comment(s)

Thinking your memory will get worse as you get older may actually be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Researchers at North Carolina State University have found that senior citizens who think older people should perform poorly on tests of memory actually score much worse than seniors who do not buy in to negative stereotypes about aging and memory loss.
Hans Bethe Lectures to His Retirement Community Colleagues

Hans Bethe Lectures to His Retirement Community Colleagues

Apr 21 2009 | comment(s)

I stumbled on this amazing set of videos: physics legend Hans Bethe giving lectures on theoretical physics to his retirement community neighbors.

It's not as crazy as it sounds - a running joke around Ithaca (where I grew up and where Bethe's university, Cornell, is located) is that one of the top physics departments in the US is at the Kendal retirement community in Ithaca. In spite of the miserable weather, a large number of Cornell professors choose to retire there.

Few people can lecture coherently on quantum theory at age 93 (Bethe's age when he gave these lectures in 1999). Hans Bethe was incredible.
The Subtle Art Of Bump Hunting - Part I

The Subtle Art Of Bump Hunting - Part I

Apr 20 2009 | comment(s)

If you have recently given a close enough look at the search results that the CDF and DZERO experiments have been producing at a regular pace on the Higgs boson - every six months, that is: for summer and winter conferences - and your exposure to particle physics results is not broad enough, you might have gotten a biased perception of how searches for new particles are performed nowadays.
Medicine Opportunities From Rich Fields Of Plants

Medicine Opportunities From Rich Fields Of Plants

Apr 20 2009 | comment(s)

Fields are alive with the promise of medicine. Consider my list of dozen alkaloids found in nature. They exist in whole plant or its organ(s). Some of these chemical compounds are in minute amounts. For example, vincristine, the cancer chemotherapeutic compound in Catharanthus roseus, occurs at concentrations under 0.0003% on a dry basis. The root of Strychnos nux-vomica contains about 6% strychnine, a pesticide and a former stimulant.[1]

Snipe hunting in the genome

Snipe hunting in the genome

Apr 20 2009 | comment(s)

Sigh - I was going to recommend this piece about recent human genome research in Scientific American, by a leading researcher in comparative genomics, Katherine Pollard, until I came to the last paragraph:
Experimental and computational studies now under way in thousands of labs around the world promise to elucidate what is going on in the 98.5 percent of our genome that does not code for proteins. It is looking less and less like junk every day.
Anyone, especially a genome scientist, who implies that most of our genome is packed full of functional sequences should back that up with some specifics, starting with answers to these two questions:
A Scientific Approach To Science Education - Technology And Institutional Change

A Scientific Approach To Science Education - Technology And Institutional Change

Apr 20 2009 | comment(s)

Continued from A Scientific Approach to Science Education - Beliefs, Guided Thinking And Technology.
Faulty Sphincter? GERD Yourself For A Magnetic Solution

Faulty Sphincter? GERD Yourself For A Magnetic Solution

Apr 20 2009 | comment(s)

If you suffer from occasional or frequent heartburn, you know who you are. You may avoid eating certain foods, keep an arsenal of antacids beside your bed, and still suffer from pain caused by renegade stomach acid wrecking havoc on your esophagus.

For the 1 in 10 Americans who suffer from “heartburn” or occasional acid reflux, options and medications are plentiful, but for the 19 million Americans who suffer from severe acid reflux symptoms or GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease), medicine simply isn’t enough.
Live cells in real time

Live cells in real time

Apr 20 2009 | comment(s)

Drs. Fred Cross and Eric Siggia have produced a steady stream of outstanding systems-level studies of one of the most important biological oscillators: the cell division cycle. I'll have more later today on their fascinating new paper on phase-locking the cell cycle, but in the mean time, check out their recent methods paper, which has some great movies of live-imaged yeast cells doing various cell cycle tricks, visualized with fluorescent proteins:


What Blood Falls Bacteria And The Amish Can Teach Us About Model Ecosystems

What Blood Falls Bacteria And The Amish Can Teach Us About Model Ecosystems

Apr 20 2009 | comment(s)

When want to understand something complex, we make something similar but simpler - a model.  Models in engineering re-imagine complex structures as sticks, strings, and hinges.  Biology uses simpler living systems, like yeast and mice.  But plenty of scientific questions defy our tried-and-true modeling strategies.  If a system is too complex or too slow for us to accurately simplify, we must wait for a model to present itself.  
Unique Aspects Of Down Syndrome

Unique Aspects Of Down Syndrome

Apr 20 2009 | comment(s)

Down syndrome is one of about twelve identified chromosomal disorders- some of which are caused by additional chromosome, in whole or in part.  With Down syndrome, that extra chromosome is added to the 21st chromosome during fetal development. Down syndrome is also known as Trisomy 21.

Chromosomes are strands that contain DNA and protein which are necessary for cell division and genetic diversity.

Quasimodo: Master Of Permutative Group Theory

Quasimodo: Master Of Permutative Group Theory

Apr 20 2009 | comment(s)

To ring traditional church bells, a team of human operators pulls ropes that spin the giant bells (some in the multiple tons) and the mechanics of the system impose strict rules on what can be played. Gone entirely is melody, replaced by the idiomatically frenetic and somewhat cacophonous sound of cascading tones played for maximum note density.

Within the two seconds it takes a bell to rotate, the tones are slightly offset so that each rings before any bell sounds twice.

Place-Cell Firing: How The Brain Translates Memory Into Action

Place-Cell Firing: How The Brain Translates Memory Into Action

Apr 20 2009 | comment(s)

When we emerge from a supermarket laden down with bags and faced with a sea of vehicles, how do we remember where we've parked our car and translate the memory into the correct action to get back there? A paper in PLoS Biology identifies the specific parts of the brain responsible for solving this everyday problem, which could have implications for understanding the functional significance of a prominent brain abnormality observed in neuropsychiatric diseases such as schizophrenia. 
Discovery - Waltzing Algae (Or Minueting Volvox, If You Prefer)

Discovery - Waltzing Algae (Or Minueting Volvox, If You Prefer)

Apr 20 2009 | comment(s)

Scientists at Cambridge University have discovered that freshwater algae can form stable groupings in which they dance around each other, miraculously held together only by the fluid flows they create. Their research was published today in Physical Review Letters.

The researchers studied the multicellular organism Volvox carteri, which consists of approximately 1,000 cells arranged on the surface of a spherical matrix about half a millimetre in diameter. Each of the surface cells has two hair-like appendages known as flagella, whose beating propels the colony through the fluid and simultaneously makes them spin about an axis.
No Open Heart Surgery - Transcatheter Valve Implantation On A Beating Heart

No Open Heart Surgery - Transcatheter Valve Implantation On A Beating Heart

Apr 20 2009 | comment(s)

Transcatheter valve implantation is a newly developed technique for the curative treatment of high-grade aortic stenosis. It is likely to be of benefit especially to elderly, multimorbid patients for whom the risk of open heart surgery would be too great. The initial results obtained with this technique at the German Heart Center in Munich are presented in the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International by Sabine Bleiziffer and her colleagues . 
Barely Legal - How Alcohol Affects Perceived Age

Barely Legal - How Alcohol Affects Perceived Age

Apr 20 2009 | comment(s)

We've all heard it before.   Some of you may even have used it:   "I thought she was X" age.    Alcohol impairs judgment, it is said, or releases inhibitions, depending on whether you like the effects.

There may be nothing to that argument, according to a new study.   Consuming alcohol did not affect how men judged the age of women, which has important legal implications if alcohol is cited as a cause of impairing judgement in cases of unlawful sex with a minor, because  men always think women look older.

Ichthyostega And Acanthostega - Different Life Histories Of The Earliest Land Animals

Ichthyostega And Acanthostega - Different Life Histories Of The Earliest Land Animals

Apr 20 2009 | comment(s)

The fossil record usually shows what adult animals looked like. But the appearance and lifestyle of juvenile animals often differ dramatically from those of the adults. A classic example is provided by frogs and salamanders. New discoveries from Uppsala, Cambridge and Duke Universities, published in Science, show that some of the earliest backboned land animals also underwent such changes of lifestyle as they grew up.
New Method To Identify Genes Related To Aging

New Method To Identify Genes Related To Aging

Apr 20 2009 | comment(s)

Scientists at the University of Liverpool have developed a new method to help researchers identify genes that can help protect the body during the aging process.

The team developed a method of analysing genes in multiple ageing tissue types in both animals and humans. The analysis, which included more than five million gene measurements, highlighted the mechanisms used by the body to protect against cellular changes with age that can result in conditions such as muscle degeneration and cognitive aging. 
Ironic Indulgence - Healthy Food Choices May Lead To Bad Ones

Ironic Indulgence - Healthy Food Choices May Lead To Bad Ones

Apr 20 2009 | comment(s)

More restaurants and vending machines offer healthy choices these days, so why do Americans' waistlines continue to expand? A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research shows that some efforts to control eating may backfire.

Consumers may feel they have fulfilled a healthy eating goal even if they choose an unhealthy food, and the presence of a healthy option among food choices may draw their attention to the least-healthy choice available, according to authors Keith Wilcox (City University of New York), Beth Vallen (Loyola College), Lauren Block (City University of New York), and Gavan J. Fitzsimons (Duke University).