The human eye can self-correct some optical faults
...front of the eye. Light rays exiting an optically perfect eye should be perfectly parallel, but irregulariti...a regular array of luminous points in an optically perfect eye, but a distorted pattern can tell the wavefront analyzer a great deal about irregularities in th...Study concludes environmental management systems can boost performance, compliance
...om them, he said. That does not mean they were in perfect compliance with environmental standards or were superior across the board. "When people get an international ISO 14001 certification, they get to advertise that they are certified, which implies better performance in some way than their competitors,"...Molecule offers insights into fertilization
...on I have ever worked on," Zimmer said. "This is a perfect example of the importance of basic research. We were working with a marine animal; a group in Germany isolated a human gene and identified a receptor protein on human sperm that responds to bourgeonal, but did not know its function. They got a hold o...The structure behind the switch
...ent immunoglobulin classes are created is a nearly perfect system," notes Michael Lieber, M.D., Ph.D., professor of pathology and biochemistry and the study's principal investigator. "And yet, the DNA mechanism for how a cell switches from producing one class to producing another has remained a mystery for a...New technique gives scientists clearest picture yet of all the genes of an animal
... Vidal says. "We're still a long way from having a perfect picture of the parts list encoded by the worm genome, let alone the human one." The technique developed at Dana-Farber has a further benefit for scientists in the emerging field of proteomics, which deals with the complete set of proteins produced b...UNC scientists find important new clue to puzzle of addictive behavior
...ons." The research on cocaine administration was a perfect collaboration, he said. "On the one hand, Regina Carelli's laboratory understood the behavioral aspects involved in cocaine self-administration in rats," the scientist said. "On the other hand, we had the analytical chemistry techniques to measure do...Patent issued to U-Iowa for mutant chicken pox virus
...time. "One reason chicken pox was believed to be a perfect disease against which to make a vaccine was that it was thought to be the same virus all around the world," Grose said. "However, no one can be sure if the current chicken pox vaccine will be entirely protective against the mutant virus should it bec...White noise delays auditory organization in brain
...ue of the journal Science. "While the rat is not a perfect model of human auditory development, it does allow us to investigate the fundamental role of early sensory experience in mammalian auditory development," said Chang. "For example, we do know that exposing infant rats to specific sound stimuli can ind...Math discovery may aid resource management
... May, who produced a mathematical theory that made perfect sense but seemed at odds with the way the world really worked. One of the basic concepts of ecology for generations had been that the complexity of the natural world is a big part of what makes it persistent, that the many interrelationships, int...Nature designs hard and tough materials at the nanoscale
...e to flaws: They maintain strength equivalent to a perfect crystal despite inherent defects. This phenomenon also suggests that the engineering concept of stress concentration at flaws is no longer valid for nanoscale design. (Gao et al., PNAS, 2003, Vol. 100, No. 10, pp. 5597-5600.) The science and technolo...Essential gene for male fertility found
...rm cells. So it's possible that Fkbp6 might be the perfect target for the development of a male birth control pill." As an additional finding, the researchers say the Fkbp6 gene also seems to play a fundamental role in the normal life of chromosomes in sperm cells. Penninger's group found that Fkbp6 is part ......the experiment yielded 14 out of 15 hot spots with perfect DNA sequences, demonstrating that the mutation process had gone off without a glitch. "Remarkably, the results showed that AID acting alone on single-stranded DNA simulated the highly complex somatic hypermutation process that occurs in humans," Good...... materials. "The hard sandy bottom at Umm Qasr was perfect for REMUS, and it was sent out first to do the tedious work of 'mowing the waters.' REMUS works for up to 20 hours without tiring, so it performs well at surveying large areas and locating potential targets. Dolphins, on the other hand, have the i...Kids' gardens grow interest in science, nutrition
COLLEGE STATION - Ah, it's summer. A perfect time to belly up to some Fragaria ananassa shortcake, hold a Citrullus lanatus seed spitting contest, or have some homemade Prunus persica ice cream. Clueless? No need for a scientific thesaurus. Ask a child who gardens. One minute they're knee dee...New imaging vehicle maps coral reefs to determine health of reef and fisheries
...gged on the rugged terrain. Singh said SeaBED is a perfect tool for this type of project because it is inexpensive to operate, can be deployed from a small boat and operated by one or two people, and can follow the rugged terrain of a coral reef and work to depths of 500 meters (about 1,500 feet). The recent...Worm farmers wriggle into US market
...om a nearby power station to keep sand beds at the perfect breeding temperature. Several commercially important steps have been protected by patent. This year, Seabait won two of Britain's top business awards, the Queen's Awards for Enterprise, in the international trade and sustainable development categor...Researchers develop faster, more accurate test for mad cow disease
...iscrepancies between the tests, he says. "We had a perfect score. There were no false positives and no false negatives," says Safar. "We can't afford incorrect conclusions, and we didn't see that in our tests." He says that the research group plans to use the test on an even larger scale among European cattl...Molecule found to be critical for kidney development
.... But drugs that severely inhibit this protein are perfect for studying its activity in laboratory animals. "We took advantage of developments in different fields to allow us to do this analysis," says Kopan. "Without collaborating and combining our knowledge, we would not have been able to conduct this stud...UGA researchers use transgenic trees to help clean up toxic waste site
...o-called Barnum Court site in that town would be a perfect site for a field trial of the genetically engineered trees that Meagher and his collaborator Scott Merkle developed. The city was awarded a grant of some $55,162 from the Environmental Protection Agency to explore use of the technology, and the trial...Fly bites plant, but plants can bite back, Purdue scientists find
...elop in the wheat plant so that the insect has the perfect environment to grow, Williams said. "If the plant is resistant, there is no visible sign that the flies have been on the plant," she said. "Resistant plants will kill the larvae in about four days." Williams and her research team hope to determine th...