Optical Microscopy Shines Light On Biology
...ecisely," he said. "For us, we plan to use this to watch a single protein ion channel open and close." The near-field scanning optical microscopy technique is relatively young. Although the fundamentals were mentioned in a series of letters between Edward A. Synge and Albert Einstein, near-field optical mi...'BirdSource' Website For Citizen-Science Data
...atrick said. "An estimated 30 to 60 million people watch and feed birds," Fitzpatrick said. "At this moment thousands of people are jotting down notes about their observations. If they 'jot' them on the Web, we will be able to tune to the movements of bird populations, just like the weather reports trac...Blood Test Can Identify Some Children With Strep-Related Behavioral Disorders
...creen children at risk when they're young, wecould watch the children who have this trait marker for rheumatic fever moreclosely and catch them right away if they begin to show OCD or tic symptoms," said Leonard. "We can also see if there is a way to prevent illness onset inthe children, possibly through t...Female Fireflies Lure Males For Defense Chemical
...istic, species-specific patterns of flashes. They watch for females to respond to their pattern with single flashes." The password from the female of the appropriate species is encoded in the time-delay between the male's flash pattern and her single flash response, the Cornell biologist said. When the m...UF Researcher Designs Pill To Control Mosquitoes
...ter body where mosquitoes are known to breed. Then watch the larvaefeast on the chlorella. Famine follows. Borovsky said when he first pulled out mosquito ovaries, homogenized them and inserted them back into mosquitoes, he found that the mosquitoes produced no more eggs. "So at first we thought we had a b...Shrews May Predict Environmental Degradation
...ike a canary in a coal mine. When the canary dies, watch out." The many different species of shrew live in different habitats but they share a common denominator -- all shrews exist in very small areas that must sustain them for their entire lives. Certain species, Ray says, are particularly susce...Top Scientists Challenge Others: Join Biodiversity Year
...Another project will launch a world-wide system to watch out for the health of coral reefs: scientists experienced in evaluating coral ecosystems will train scientists in tropical nations to monitor their own local reefs. The project is to be coordinated by DIVERSITAS, a scientific program under the ausp...Liquid Crystals Light Up Simple Chemical Test
...urn produces the imageswe perceive as numbers on a watch face or pictures on a computer screen. Abbott's group oriented liquid crystals to produce an image that wouldbe viewed by the user but did it in a different way. In this case, a changein surface topography, not an applied electrical field, directs t...Research Finds That Watching TV Helps Kids Put On Pounds
...II)indicates that one quarter of all U.S. children watch four or more hours oftelevision each day. These children weighed more and were fatter then childrenwho watched fewer than two hours per day. "The problem stems from the fact that watching television is a sedentaryactivity but it's much mor...One Year Follow-Up Of Non-Invasive Angina Treatment Suggests A Lasting Benefit
...atment," Chou says. "Many read, listen to music or watch television, and some even fall asleep."Some patients experience discomfort in the lower legs, but rarely to adegree requiring cessation of treatment, according to Chou. No seriouscomplications were observed in study participants, he adds. Many resea...Jellyfish Help To Make Sugar Smarter
...ultraviolet light on plant cells containing it and watch through a microscope equipped with a special filter to see if they glow. This takes about 10 seconds, compared with other methods that can take a couple of days and involve very expensive equipment. "The gfp gene is strictly a scientific tool. ...Pollution, Food Stress Take Toll On Bald Eagles
...e love bald eagles," says Gill, who still stops to watch wheneverhe sees one. "It's like killer whales; we don't want to see anything happen tothem because of something we've done to the environment that we have the powerto fix." Gill's study was funded by the Canadian Wildlife Service and the Bald......t wouldhelp the world health community continually watch for new outbreaks," he says. Zelicoff first proposed the hepatitis C project to DOE in 1996. Sen. PeteDomenici, R-N.M., initially supported the project in Congress and announced itscreation during a May 6, 1997, news conference at Sandia's Cooperativ...Researchers Show Mechanism And Similarities Of Biological Clocks
...g partsthat drive the clock in mice forward like a watch spring, and in another paperanother team for the first time identifies the gene in fruit flies thatcorresponds to the mammalian Clock gene and shows how it can turn itself offagain, enabling it to oscillate like a pendulum. "We always thought...UD Education News: HHMI Award Supports Undergraduate Discovery
...earning about DNA fingerprinting. First, they will watch a videoillustrating techniques. "Students will then investigate a fictitious murder,using mouse blood," Usher says. "They will have to match up DNA in a bloodsample to identify the murderer. The samples will be analyzed at UD, and theresults will be ...Perfect Powders For Improved Implants
...o grow,pacemaker filters and intricate firearm and watch parts. The process, called Plasma Atomisation Technology (PAT), produces sphericaltitanium powders in three broad size ranges by melting titanium wire using aplasma torch, forming a spray and cooling the tiny droplets once they haveformed into sphere...Genetic Uniqueness Threatens Florida Manatee's Future
...pulation trend must be watchedclosely. "We have to watch them, and if we see a downward trend, then additionalprotective measures will be justified," he said. Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey, which is funded through theU.S. Department of the Interior and headquartered in Gainesville, believethat...International Genome Team Deciphers Genetic Instructions For A Complete Animal
...h sidesof the Atlantic," Waterston said, "just to watch the combination of minds andtalents go to work on this problem." The two teams shared information not only with each other, but with anyscientist who wanted it. "The commitment of these groups to make their sequencedata available to the research com...Technique Measures Muscle Contraction At Molecular Level
...arious parts of the myosin with different dyes and watch how the lightemitted from the dyes changes asthe protein moves." Selvin's measurement technique is a new twist on a 40-year-old technique calledfluorescence resonance energytransfer. Instead of using conventional dyes, however, Selvin uses a rare-ear...Scientists Discover Key Cog In Receptor That Governs Ripening
...d of tinkering, like figuring out how a clock or a watch works,"Bleecker said. The finding "tells us how the system works at a chemical level." Because plants produce the hormone at such low levels, there has been a greatdeal of curiosity to know just how plants are able to detect it. "It's tricky tosense ...