First soybeans grown in space similar to Earth-grown crops
...e moon in 1969, his spacesuit included 25 separate layers 23 of those layers were DuPont materials. In 1984, Pioneer corn seeds were on board a Challenger shuttle launch. The ...Insulin study sheds light on physics of crystal growth
...ble themselves to form a crystal, they build up in layers much like a brick mason lays down bricks. But crys...s. Unlike a sensible bricklayer, nature starts new layers before the underlying one is finished, Vekilov says. As crystals grow, new molecules add on to the ......g nacre-like material that consists of alternating layers of clay and a type of polymer called a polyelectro...lity to an internal brick-like structure. Protein layers only nanometers (billionths of a meter) thick provide the pliable "mortar," while calcium carbonate,...Automated imaging of brain tissue, high-quality glimpses inside arteries
...he laser-ablation process does not harm the tissue layers for imaging purposes, the researchers have been able to image tissues without freezing them (which causes damage) and have also shown that the process works with very soft tissue -- a real challenge for standard histological processes. This techniqu...Instruction and permission in eye/brain development
...yes into the brain and form separate"eye-specific" layers in a brain structure called the lateralgeniculate nuclei, or LGN. Neuroscientists currently think that the pattern of spontaneousactivity is essential to "instruct" the formation of separate leftand right eye connections to the LGN, because if the a...Scientists at UCSB link brain plaques in Alzheimers disease to eye disease
...hat are located adjacent to the photoreceptor cell layers in the retina. Regarding age-related macular degeneration, Johnson said, "Many of the pieces have been identified, we just have to figure out how they go together. Inflammation seems to be one factor that contributes to vision loss." Visual perceptio...Gene newly identified by Columbia researchers may improve hair removal
...come disorganized, and rather than the six ordered layers of a normal hair fiber, you get a cluster of confused cells in the hair follicle. As a result, people and mice lacking the gene have thin, sparse hair that is fragile and breaks easily. The gene, DSG4, is the third found in Dr. Christianos laborat...A switch that makes a blood clot sticky found within the platelet membrane
... GPIIb-IIIa molecule that is embedded in the fatty layers that constitute the platelet's outer membrane can determine whether or not the integrin is activated, thereby making the platelet 'sticky,'" said Joel S. Bennett, MD, Professor in Penn's Division of Hematology/Oncology within the Department of Medici...Butterflies use polarized light to attract mates
Up to 20 layers of transparent scales on butterfly wings scatter white light to produce brilliant blue structural color. Alison Sweeney, Duke University, and collaborators at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute report in Nature that polarized light from iri...MIT lab works to mimic spider silk
...k of the crystallites and the other will form thin layers on the outside of the crystallites. The latter essentially forms the interface between the hard crystallites and the surrounding soft material. Pollock is hoping that by varying the types of materials he uses, he can study the effect of the interface...Green tea linked to skin cell rejuvenation
... exposed to EGCG, the old cells found in the upper layers of the epidermis appear to start dividing again," ...g these effects of EGCG on skin cells in different layers of the epidermis, Dr. Hsu noted potential benefits for skin conditions as diverse as aphthous ulcers...Warped idea: Ways to stop swayed wood may be around the bend
... math formula, woodpanels are modeled as having 10 layers with different orientations and properties. "Once the model has been given input parameters, it will calculate and plot the overalllinear expansion and out-of-plane warping of the wood-based panel," Cai said. That wouldenable a factory manager to ma...Sunlight converts common anti-bacterial agent to dioxin
...he fact that this conversion can happen in surface layers of rivers may not cause harm by itself, but it suggests that more serious reactions--leading to more toxic forms of dioxin--may also happen when triclosan enters the environment," said Arnold. "We want to determine if this is the case." As a first st...Virginia Tech inventions, creations can improve lives
...pes. The film thickness can be increased by adding layers to match the requirements of various devices. The technology is licensed to NanoSonic, a Blacksburg based business spun out from Virginia Tech. Former FEORC research scientist Yanjing Liu and former chemistry professor Guy A. Schick received a patent...B-vitamins prove effective in relieving chronic pain
...ight twitches. After surgery, the muscle and skin layers were sutured. An oral antibiotic, Augmentin, was administered after surgery in the drinking water for each rat (7.52 g in 500 ml) for seven days. The presence of thermal hyperalgesia was determined by measuring foot withdrawal latency to heat stimul...50 Arctic lakes show dramatic effects of climate warming
...undra had indicated major changes in the different layers of fossils associated with climate warming. The new findings bring the effects of climate change closer to populated areas. "The logical extension was to see if tree-line lakes also show these dramatic changes, and this study confirms that the impact...Underwater sensor system could protect reservoirs, drinking water
...ved by the command computer. Beneath the surface, layers of nodes/sensors monitor the water and pass the information along to the uplink. Sending a message from the farthest node direct to the uplink underwater is not possible because of the way water decreases the strength of the acoustic signal, so the ...Boulder chemist wins national award for studies of atmosphere
...ir change from Earth's surface to high atmospheric layers -- with a company he co-founded four years ago with former student Mark Bollinger. 2B Technologies develops ever-smaller and less costly instruments that attach to balloons and measure chemicals such as ozone and nitric oxide. Interestingly, a nitric...Researchers will no longer be 'snowed' in predicting future avalanches
...red slopes of 30 degrees and steeper when multiple layers of snow affect its stability. That is the case thi...test,' allowing us to measure the strength between layers of snow," Birkeland explains. "This is critical for avalanche prediction, because the large amounts ......m the mesoderm, one of the body's three basic germ layers laid down early in development. The epithelium, the lining of the gut that allows nutrients to be absorbed from food, comes from the endoderm, the innermost germ layer. "What we have found is the VENT cells give rise to all these cell types," Dr. Soh...