Laboratory grows world record length carbon nanotube
...rs, nanoscale diodes, and nanoconducting cable for wiring micro-electronic devices. In research reported in the current online issue of the journal Nature Materials, Yuntian Zhu and his colleagues discuss how they created a single-wall carbon nanotube using a process called catalytic chemical vapor depositi......ds of a developing nerve circuit, somewhat akin to wiring in a home working properly only if an electrician hooks it up to both the power supply and to outlets, lights and appliances. Some human children suffer a disease similar to the mutant mice: a rare birth defect named Mobius syndrome, in which the ...'Dissecting sleep' by studying the strange phenomenon of cataplexy
...is consistent with what is already known about the wiring of the brain's sleep centers, wrote the scientists. Researchers knew that the histamine neurons in the hypothalamus extend themselves into the areas of the forebrain and brainstem known to control sleep and wakefulness. Their latest findings also off...Researchers developing radar technology to detect mold behind walls
...e mold backscatter signature and nails, boards and wiring that would be found in and behind wallboard, Greneker said. They must also find ways to reduce the system's cost, while retaining its sensitivity, he added. This experiment and a larger-scale one that began this spring simulate what might happen to w...UCSD finds genetic time bomb in heart that leads to heart failure in some patients
...ntal effects over time by degrading the electrical wiring of the heart, in particular, the heart's atrioventricular (AV) node (which normally conducts electrical impulses between the upper and lower chambers of the heart), and by encouraging excessive overgrowth of heart tissue. Accor...Leptin rewires the brain's feeding circuits
..."Overall, these findings begin to suggest that the wiring diagram of the feeding circuit is highly dynamic,"...they lead us to at least ask to what extent is the wiring diagram of these neural circuits different in obese people relative to lean people. "If we knew that...Fat hormone leptin alters brain architecture and activity, which in turn drives feeding behavior
...ntists discovered that leptin acts by changing the wiring of the brain, a phenomenon known as plasticity. The hormone alters the wiring by controlling synapses -- the inputs and outputs to neurons that, in this case, regulate feeding be...Optically recording millisecond brain nerve impulses
...sues of higher animals and could help decipher the wiring of the brain and possibly explain consequences of degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer's. "This technique gives us the ability to look at membrane potential in nerve-cell signaling with high resolution deep in intact tissue, where previous ...Special training may help people with autism recognize faces
... processing, but it takes time for a child's brain wiring to become functional. This process starts early and by age 12 normally developing children show activation in the fusiform gyrus when viewing faces. "People with autism tend to activate object-related brain regions when they are viewing unfamiliar...Keck Foundation grant launches interdisciplinary brain research at Illinois
...ying natural chemical signatures to restore proper wiring and functioning in malfunctioning brains....New program interrogates gene pathways
...regulatory pathways, to reveal the cell's internal wiring system. The first data set identifies molecules called regulators that bind to genes to switch them on, the second describes the levels of the products of these genes at any given time. "Each data set independently really isn't sufficient to give us...Gene-expression atlas will provide new direction for brain and spinal-cord studies
...s of CNS cells; guidance molecules that govern the wiring of neural circuitry during embryonic development; and molecules that enable researchers to trace the migration of neural cells during development of the brain and spinal cord. Heintz and his colleagues also hope that data from the atlas will enable b...Software tackles protein pathways
...ap out interaction networks -- the cell's internal wiring system through which genes and proteins communicate. "The 80s and 90s were about sequences," says Trey Ideker, a former Whitehead Fellow who recently was named an assistant professor of bioengineering at University of California, San Diego. "Now we'...Study sheds light on critical relay in visual circuit of the brain
...tex connection and in mapping out further cortical wiring patterns important for vision. The subplate neurons are acting "kind of like teachers," says senior author Carla Shatz, the Nathan Marsh Pusey professor of neurobiology and head of the HMS Department of Neurobiology. "They're needed for the thalamic ...Gold 'nanoplugs' wire up enzymes
...ke the improved biosensors by labeling the enzyme, wiring it to electrodes, and measuring its activity. Brookhaven's role in the work was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Energy, which supports basic research in a variety of scientific fields....First molecule discovered that directs nerve cells to connect with each other
...n to form a synapse with another type, essentially wiring up the body during embryological development, the researchers say. Such molecules have been sought for decades, but this is the first discovered in a living animal. The matchmaker protein, known as SYG-1, was discovered in studies of egg-laying behav...How postnatal experience influences brain development and brain function
...functionally similar examples of what happens when wiring processes go awry, neuroscientist William T. Green...of synapses. We are saying that there is abnormal wiring of the prefrontal neurons, which may initially arise from neurotransmitter abnormalities but which u...Polymers promote nerve regeneration
... plastic insulation tubes. In order for new copper wiring to push out across the gap and fill in the empty insulation tubes, you'd need a way to guide the wires into the empty insulation. And that's where Mallapragada's research comes in. By working on a cellular scale, she has developed a way to help guide...Molecule helps pupils respond to light
...the melanopsin gene did not affect the genesis and wiring of the specific RGCs responsible for the light-sensing pathway, it did make the RGCs unresponsive to light. "Determining that in such animals these specific retinal ganglion cells were still present but they became light-insensitive was crucial, beca...Secretary Abraham announces next steps for artificial retina project
... degeneration or retinitis pigmentosa where neural wiring from the eye to brain is intact, but the eyes lack photoreceptor activity. The artificial retina is a device that captures visual signals and sends them to the brain in the form of electrical impulses. The device is a miniature disc that contains an...