MIT team building robotic fin for submarines
...which results in a constant forward thrust with no backward drag. In contrast, a human performing the breaststroke inevitably experiences drag during the recovery phase of the stroke. Tangorra and others in the Bio-Instrumentation Systems Laboratory, led by Professor Ian Hunter of the Department of Mechanic...Agonized death throes probable cause of open-mouthed, head-back pose of many dino fossils
...ead thrown back, jaws open, back and tail reflexed backward and limbs contracted," said Kevin Padian, professor of integrative biology and curator in the Museum of Paleontology at the University of California, Berkeley. He and Cynthia Marshall Faux of the Museum of the Rockies published their findings in the ...The delayed rise of present-day mammals
... record to estimate diversification rates and work backward to establish when specific groups of mammals first appeared on Earth. The study, which included work by Robin Beck, a PhD student in the UNSW School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Science, suggests that while some early mammals may have be...'Electric' fish shed light on ways the brain directs movement
...e task we asked the fish to do -- swim forward and backward inside a small tube -- is very simple and straight...to remain hidden by shifting the tubes forward and backward at varying frequencies. This required the fish to swim back and forth more and more rapidly in order...Nobel Laureate finds 'elegant' explanation for DNA transcribing enzyme's high fidelity
...es involved are capable of moving both forward and backward on the DNA. Forward movement is favored by the binding of NTPs, while backtracking occurs especially when the enzyme encounters an impediment, such as damaged DNA. Kornbergs group captured the first picture of the polymerase II transcribing complex ...University of Alberta researchers discover hummingbird secret
...ing speed and ability to hover and fly forward and backward with more precision than a helicopter. It is critical that the hummingbird remain perfectly still as it feeds itself while darting in and out of flower blossoms with pinpoint accuracy. The bird must be able to maintain a stable position space, despit...Chronic jet-lag conditions hasten death in aged mice
...k, while in the other, mice experienced a six-hour backward shift. A "control" group of young and old mice did not experience any schedule shifts. The researchers found that the young mice generally survived well under the various conditions. In contrast, the light-cycle shifts had a marked effect on the su...Nanoparticle assembly enters the fast lane
... is the use of single-stranded DNA, which can bend backward and attach to the particle's gold surface instead of binding with surrounding nanoparticles. This flexibility, along with the existence of multiple forms of single-stranded DNA, can greatly slow the assembly process. In the Brookhaven study, research...Healing potential discovered in everyday human brain cells
...the aging clock of the mature cells actually turns backward when the donor cells are in a new environment, returning them to past lives as progenitors or as stem cells. "It's been shown that the same sorts of tissue from the mouse brain can give rise to rapidly dividing cells, but this shows it is true with...A more powerful and efficient engine for rice: the C3-C4 challenge
... labor, and capital--millions of people could fall backward into poverty. More than 3 billion people depend on rice as their main food source each day, including most of the world's poor. "Frankly, we have almost exhausted the traditional methods of increasing rice production, especially considering the e...News tips from the Journal of Neuroscience
...irection. Errors in the on-direction that required backward adaptation produced greater changes in CS activity than did control saccades or forward adaptation errors. ATM and DNA Damage Repair Inbal Dar, Sharon Biton, Yosef Shiloh, and Ari Barzilai Cellular DNA damage such as double-strand breaks sets......ing the motor. If the motor could be forced to run backward it would move heat in the other direction from the cool side to the hot side forming the smallest possible refrigerator. The authors do not explicitly address the source of the force turning the Brownian refrigerator's rotor, presumably leaving tha...A new way of looking at molecular motors
...transported within cells by single motors that run backward and forward, the way a person moves hand over hand along a rope. Making muscles contract involves a large number of motors that work very fast in neatly arranged teams, quickly letting go of the track once they have completed their "power stroke." M...UCLA scientists uncover mechanism of response to targeted therapy
...laboratory animals to test their theories. Working backward from responsesin clinical trials is unusual, Thomas said. Responses observed in clinical studies led researchers back to the laboratory. Their laboratory findings will be tested in further clinical studies, bringing the observation full circle, from ...Olfactory input dominates reproductive behavior in mice
... of mammalian gonads -- the scientists could trace backward to find the sensory receptors that first detect pheromones, species- and gender-specific chemical cues that drive animal mating, as well as fighting and territorial behavior. The researchers expected to find neurons in the vomeronasal organ that rece...The brain needs the middle ear to track depth
...rned off, the monkeys were moved either forward or backward and the fixed-distance light flashed, signaling the monkeys that they should look at where they remembered the world-fixed light had flashed. Finally, the room lights and target light were turned on, so the monkey could make any corrective eye moveme......eartbeats, which look the same when run forward or backward in time, are one sign of an unhealthy heart. Researchers from Harvard Medical School and the University of Lisbon have developed a new index that provides a simple measure of the time reversibility of a heart rate signal. The index may lead to better...Space measurements of carbon offer clearer view of Earth's climate future
...ncentration of CO2 in the atmosphere and follow it backward to try and identify sources. We could also use the information as a constraint on our models, ensuring they fit with observed reality." While satellite observation of the greenhouse gas carbon monoxide is well established, and last year Envisat's Sc...Octopuses occasionally stroll around on two arms, UC Berkeley biologists report
...redators - they lift up six of their arms and walk backward on the other two. This first report of bipedal behavior in octopuses, written by University of California, Berkeley, researchers, will be published in the March 25 issue of Science. When walking, these octopuses use the outer halves of their two back...Femtosecond laser technique opens new opportunities for research on neural regeneration
...er side of the body that enable the worm to wiggle backward with a smooth wavelike motion. Hulusi Cinar and Ji..."A normal worm, when you touch its head, will move backward in a smooth motion. In the shrinker mutants, the muscles on both sides contract simultaneously, so t...