Duke Researchers Discover Central Role Of Nitric Oxide In Hemoglobin Action
...ue of the Britishjournal Nature, could quickly pay off in developing the first effectiveblood substitute, and may ultimately change the way many diseases are treated. "We now know that nitric oxide is involved in the blood's major functions,"said cardiologist and pulmonologist Dr. Jonathan Stam...New Cancer Switch Discovered By Duke Medical Center Pharmacologists
...dividing cell, bits of two chromosomes are snipped off and rejoined to one another. In the process, a piece of the gene called BCR is restitched to a large gene called cABL, or "cellular" ABL. The protein produced by the cABL gene is a "tyrosine kinase," a type of enzyme found throughout the cell. The cA...... is unstable. At a slow but steady rate, it sends off subatomic particles. The process transmutes U-238 first into another uranium isotope, U-234, and then into an isotope of the element thorium, Th-230. Thorium, unlike uranium, does not dissolve in water. Therefore, scientists reason, all Th-230 found ...Children Become Gorillas In VR Zoo
...emale retreats to a nearby woodenshelter and pulls off her helmet. This gorilla, as it turns out, isactually a human student seeing firsthand how apes interact in the wild,through virtual reality. The experience is part of a unique educational program being testedby Zoo Atlanta and <AHREF="http://ww...From Corn Rootworms To Art, Cornell's Reactor Is At The Core
...ing at film that shows a thin white line branching off in different directions. Around it are three or four tiny white marks, maybe 1/4-inch long -- the objects of her attention. These are living corn rootworms in soil, caught in the act of searching for the plant root. "Here you can see where they wer...Freshwater Sponges May Pose Threat To Zebra Mussels
...l reef in Lorain and on the surface of a shipwreck off Kelly's Island, in Lake Erie's western basin. Their observations indicated the sponges were only an effective competitor with zebra mussels on the vertical sides of the reef and shipwreck. The sponges were very competitive on these surfaces, jo......more intimately involved in chemistry, and it pays off for him. Insects' use of exogenous chemicals is almost certainly more widespread than we realize." One mystery remains. The chemical ecologists admit that they're uncertain how Neopyrochroa beetles obtain cantharidin, although they suspect that t......rs by the end of the decade. VDO also expect spin off technology from the project enabling them to produce pollution sensors for automated housing for disabled and elderly people....Bee Sting Treatment Should Emphasize Speed, Not Method Of Removal
... conventional wisdomthat a sting should be scraped off the skin rather than pinched out. Theway it is removed has no bearing on the amount of bee venom that the stinginjects, according to the scientists. "We have always been told that pinching a bee sting out of the skinwould cause more venom to be inj...Protein Glitch May Be Early Problem In Inherited Alzheimer's
...Like dominoes falling, a change in presenilin sets off a chain reaction. "Think of it as a cascade," says Sisodia. "We don't know how many steps there are in this cascade, but we have a theory about where the cascade is headed." According to Sisodia, mutated forms of presenilin may influence the formati...Hawaiian Whales Show 'No Overt Response' To Sounds Of ATOC Simulation
...beginning in February and continuing through March off the Kona-Kohala coast of Hawaii, we saw no overt ...rom 829 meters below the surface and 14 kilometers off shore. As will be the practice for ATOC, the Hawaii simulation speaker's decibel level was "rampe...Nitric Oxide May Hold Key To First Treatment For Deadly Form Of Malaria, Duke Scientists Report
...ing how muchNO is present and turning genes on and off to keep NO in equilibrium. Ifthis equilibrium is upset, Stamler theorizes, it may lead to a number ofdiseases that have recently been associated with NO, including cancer, stroke,hardening of heart arteries, infectious disease, and arthritis. ...Nitric Oxide Found To Control Cells By Turning On Genes; Suggests New Role In Health And Disease
...ing how muchNO is present and turning genes on and off to keep NO in equilibrium. Ifthis equilibrium is upset, Stamler theorizes, it may lead to a number ofdiseases that have recently been associated with NO, including cancer, stroke,hardening of heart arteries, infectious disease, and arthritis. ...Harvard, Duke Researchers Discover 'Off-switch' Inside Human Cells
...r routes to desensitization, all other ways toturn off this process in the past, have been drug molecules... scientistshad shown that this RGS family switches off activated G proteins in theseorganisms. Further experiments by the Harvard-Duke team also detected ...Duke Ecologist Says Logging Is Creating 'Mahogany Deserts'
...ipening, the pods' outer shells crack openand fall off to reveal seed clusters that look like parasols. As treetop winds blow, individual wing-shaped seeds can then detach andflutter to the ground "like little helicopters," Snook said. Sheestimated that airborne dispersal can sow mahogany seeds at least...PET Project Helps Reduce Pollution Threat From Heavy Metals
...is a veryeffective trap for solids that are washed off the highway," saidSansalone. "Solids are stopped r...t of routinemaintenance, they can be vacuumed back off the surface." Theconcrete also neutralizes acidic rainwater and actually raisesthe pH to the level ...End Of World Population Growth Projected For 21st Century
...rld: What Can We Assume Today?" (ed. W. Lutz),just off press. "The biggest factor affecting population growth is the continuingdecline of fertility in most world regions," says Project Leader WolfgangLutz. Lutz says that as a whole, the world's population will probably increasefrom today's 5.8 billion...Cholesterol Anchor Helps Signaling Proteins Direct Development
...imal experiments, hedgehog signals can turn on and off genes in many individual cells, coding for special traits needed to help create limbs, eyes, spinal column, or other structures. In recent years, Hopkins scientists have discovered that hedgehog proteins split in two to activate. During the split, t...Changing Continental Runoff Patterns Could Change Ocean Circulation
...pacity to alter the amounts of freshwater that run off into the oceans and that could alter ocean circulation patterns." Bice, Dr. Eric J. Barron, professor of geosciences and director of Penn State's Earth System Science Center, and William H. Peterson, Earth System Science Center, are using a s...Antarctic Science Season Gears Up With Searches for Meteorites, Neutrinos, and New Life Forms
...comprise more than 30 percent of biomass in waters off Palmer Station, Antarctica -- the highest rates me...any life it may harbor have apparently been sealed off from the atmosphere for hundreds of thousands of years. NSF provides flight support for the project...